September 28, 2017

Richard Nixon Post 679: 'We're a team. We have heart.'

By Jeff Stoffer
Membership
Richard Nixon Post 679: ‘We’re a team. We have heart.’
Richard M. Nixon Post 679 Commander Clay Baxter and Legion Family members in Yorba Linda, Calif., find the presidential library and museum to be a perfect place to plan and execute programs, within a few feet from the modest house where the 37th U.S. president was born and raised (background).

Legionnaires based at presidential library and museum attract members by covering all four pillars of service.

Richard M. Nixon, then vice president of the United States, told delegates gathered in St. Louis for the 35th American Legion National Convention in 1953 that, in addition to President Eisenhower and himself, “there are four members of the Cabinet who are proud to be Legionnaires, six justices of the Supreme Court, 60 senators and 234 congressmen.”

The percentage of wartime veterans in high public office may have dwindled since that time, but Nixon – a World War II Navy veteran who went on to serve as 37th President of the United States – would not find a lack of American Legion presence at his library and museum in Yorba Linda, Calif., if he were alive today.

In fact, Richard M. Nixon American Legion Post 679 in Yorba Linda is thriving.

“I call this the most charitable post on the west coast,” Post 679 Service Officer Ron Fauth says. “We’re a team. We have heart.”

“And we have fun,” adds Marine Corps veteran Martha Huff, judge advocate and first vice commander of the post. “On Christmas Day, we go to the VA hospital. We give out gifts to hospitalized veterans there. Many of them do not have relatives nearby. I have been giving out back scratchers for the last five years, so I’m known as the back-scratcher lady. And we go into the (inpatient PTSD) wards and play bingo there. We also do gifts for them, too, at Christmas. My big thing is the hospital. I love the hospital.”

Post Commander Raymond “Clay” Baxter has made a point to ensure that the Nixon post is hitting on all four pillars of The American Legion. “What you see here is commitment,” he says.

From its meeting space inside the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, the post plans and executes a variety of local programs and services, including:

- Active support for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) out of Camp Pendleton, including welcome-home greetings when the forward-deployed, sea-based air-ground task force returns from war zones like Afghanistan and Syria. Post 679 members, in alliance with the City of Yorba Linda, which formally adopted the 11th MEU, attend briefings, work with the families and even provide diapers for children of Marines.

- The post works with a group called Moms of Military, an Orange County-founded prayer and support group for deployed troops of all service branches, to help with food, clothing, health care and financial assistance when needed.

- Toys for Tots, the Marine Corps’ marquee community-service activity that distributes toys – and hope – for economically disadvantaged children, is a key beneficiary of Post 679’s charity work.

- Baxter and the post have been actively involved in the fundraising and development of Yorba Linda’s Veterans Memorial Park and Gold Star Walkway, honoring those from Orange County who have made the ultimate sacrifice in uniform since 9/11. All veterans from all wars are honored at the walkway at the memorial. “We acknowledge them and read their names in ceremonies twice a year – Memorial Day and Veterans Day,” says Baxter, who said volunteerism and donations brought the park to life after it was established on May 9, 2009.

- Every Thursday evening at the park, located next to a junior high school, Post 679 Sergeant-at-arms Tom Woods and other veterans in the community conduct ceremonies to show the public proper respect for the U.S. flag. “Kids playing football or baseball stop when we are raising the flag and place their hands over their hearts when we play taps,” Baxter says. “So, it’s a very educational program. We do hand out information to keep the public advised as to what the flag ceremony is based on, and what is the proper way to handle the flag.”

- The post also arranged to have a new 10-by-15 U.S. flag delivered and displayed at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach.

- With three high schools near the post, members are also deeply involved in youth programs. This year, Post 679 was delighted when its oratorical contest winner went on to claim the District 29 championship and finish first runner-up in the department competition. “That is a wonderful honor for our post and for the high school,” Baxter says.

- Brett Robinson and his late father Joseph, a World War II veteran who recently passed away, joined Post 679 at the same time about 10 years ago “because it was something rewarding that we could do together,” says Brett, whose father was the post scholarship chairman and was active in the Boys State and Oratorical programs.

- Each year, the post sponsors a half-dozen or so Boys State participants, and this year, with a brand-new Auxiliary unit, a Girls State participant will represent Yorba Linda for the first time, says Leisha Fauth, Unit 679 president.

The American Legion Auxiliary unit beat its membership goal by 163 percent in its first year. “A lot of the ladies who joined were already a part of the post activities because of our spouses,” Fauth says. “We have a small group of ladies, but we are involved in so many things – Toys for Tots, the bowling tournament, the women’s peer group at the VA hospital, Fisher House, bingo at the VA hospital and the post. We’re a small group but very involved.”

- The post’s annual bowling tournament nets between $2,000 and $4,000 a year, Baxter says, and provides the bulk of funds it uses to support Toys for Tots, the 11th MEU, VA, Boys State and other projects, including Ron Fauth’s biggest passion – help for homeless veterans.

- A disabled Marine Corps veteran, Fauth works in the Los Angeles music industry and since 2014 has promoted benefit rock concerts in Las Vegas and southern California to help veterans who have found themselves living on the streets.

“Nobody had a benefit concert for homeless veterans,” Fauth says. “I wanted to do something about that. What I did was Musicians for Vets – a total not-for-profit – and what we did was back in 2014, we had the first homeless veterans benefit concert in Las Vegas.”

Musicians for Vets – www.musiciansforvets.com – has drawn top performers from the hard rock and heavy metal genre, including members of such bands as KISS, AC/DC, Anthrax and Megadeath. “They all believe one thing – that none of my brothers and sisters who served their country should be in the streets of America. No veteran should be homeless.” The series of benefit concerts continued in 2015, 2016 and 2017, building awareness of the problem and funding for organizations like The American Legion, that help.

- Post 679 is also involved with homeless stand-downs in southern California where veterans are connected with care and resources that can help them get back on their feet. “Our goal is to get that veteran off the street,” Fauth says. “We are part of the organizations that show up to do that.”

Fauth says the post makes sure the whole community is well informed about what The American Legion is up to in Yorba Linda. “We social media blast everything out. We let the community know this is what the Richard Nixon Yorba Linda post does in the community, which we are very proud of.”

Baxter, who joined The American Legion in 1987 and transferred from the department holding post to Post 679 in 1990, the year Julie Nixon-Eisenhower authorized use of Richard M. Nixon’s name for the Legion, says the location, identity, dedication and camaraderie among members have all contributed to increased membership – from about 50 in 1990 to more than 200 today, with a 2018 target of 225.

“We’re well known,” Baxter says. “We don’t have a facility or a bar. But it’s amazing what we do here on a monthly basis. We have the honor of having (as our namesake) a veteran president, Richard Nixon, who served in World War II. It is an attraction – not because of the political connection but because of the service he provided in World War II. We have many interested parties who are staying involved with what we have here, and we think we are doing a great job.”

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