Massena Man Elected New State Amvets Commander

MASSENA - A Massena man who has served as commander of the local Amvets, American Legion and Navy Club has been elected as New York's Amvets commander.

Mark Phillips was elected as commander of Amvets Department of New York during the state convention held in June in Owego. He assumed his duties July 1. The term runs for one year.

For Mr. Phillips, it was the next logical step up the chain.

"Anybody interested in it or talked into it, they work their way up to the chair. I've been into this for about four or five years. I started out as third vice, second, to first, and now I'm commander," he said.

As the commander for Amvets throughout New York, Mr. Phillips said he's responsible "for every post and every member in the state of New York right now."

"We've got about 8,000 members, which isn't as big as the other two (American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War), but we're growing," he said.

For instance, he said, there will be a new Amvets Post in Mexico in the next couple of weeks, and organizers are also in the process of establishing one in Lake George.

But it's not an easy endeavor, according to Mr. Phillips.

"You have to have at least 10 (members) to start with. Out of those 10, you have to elect officers. That seems to be the stumbling point for a lot of them," he said.

Being commander of a veteran's organization is nothing new for Mr. Phillips, who was the Amvets Post 4 commander for four years, American Legion Post 79 commander for five years and Navy Club commander for two years.

As the head of the state's Amvets organizations, he'll be heading to the national convention Aug. 11 in Louisville, Ky. But Mr. Phillips said his travel schedule around New York will likely be light.

"We don't really go to each one like we used to. Times are a little tougher," he said.

Still, he has set some goals for the state's Amvets posts during his one-year tenure.

"I'd like to see us try to double our membership. It's a hard thing because there are a lot of people who don't understand the Amvets. They see the Legion, they see the VFW. I'm a member of every one of them," Mr. Phillips said.

With five membership chairmen at Amvets Post 4 in Massena, he said membership is starting to pick up.

"We've been getting quite a few lately. Membership has picked up some. We've done 10 new ones in the last month," he said.

The only requirements to join Amvets, Mr. Phillips said, are to have served in the military anytime since World War II and received a discharge under honorable conditions.

Some members of the Massena Amvets remain with the local post, even though they've relocated to other parts of the United States, he said.

"We've got members all over the United States that belong to the Massena post. I think they stay with it because they're appreciative that we picked them up when we did. We sent a lot of care packages to troops overseas," Mr. Phillips said.