Jodrey named Christmas Parade Grand Marshall

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

Vet­er­ans of For­eign Wars Post 8736 Com­man­der Jerry Jodrey has been selected to serve as the 2012 Christ­mas on the Square Parade Grand Mar­shal. Jodrey, the founder of the Ohio Fallen Heroes Memo­r­ial, is also a 2012 All-State VFW Com­man­der and a 2012 All-American VFW Commander.

Jodrey is low key about his recent hon­ors, not­ing that recog­ni­tion really belongs to the Post 8736 membership.

“The Sun­bury VFW has been very active in ser­vice and com­mu­nity sup­port events since 1974 when it came into exis­tence with 25 char­ter mem­bers,” Jodrey said dur­ing a recent inter­view. “Today the post has 278 mem­bers who have ded­i­cated them­selves to com­mu­nity ser­vice for the fam­i­lies and schools in our area. I’m just a frac­tion of that effort.”

Jodrey noted that in addi­tion to sup­port­ing the Ohio Fallen Heroes Memo­r­ial and local schools, Post 8736 mem­bers recently pro­vided upgrades to Veteran’s Memo­r­ial on Sun­bury Vil­lage Square and have been work­ing with the Rose­crans Head­quar­ters Unit to get a bronze eques­trian statue of Maj. Gen. William Starke Rose­crans placed on the square.

Post 8736 also sup­ports Memo­r­ial Day and Veteran’s Day activ­i­ties, is home to the Com­bat Infantry Badge Asso­ci­a­tion Region 7 Head­quar­ters, and also home of the Chris Callen Foun­da­tion that sup­ports needy mil­i­tary families.

“Post 8736 is always out there look­ing for vet­er­ans and active mil­i­tary folks who need help,” Jodrey said. “And we have a very active Ladies Aux­il­iary that sup­ports our com­mu­nity and helps take care of needy fam­i­lies. Ser­vice to the com­mu­nity — that’s what we’re all about.”

Jodrey, who has been a Vet­er­ans of For­eign Wars mem­ber since 1966, entered the U.S. Army in 1963 as an infantry­man and served in Viet­nam from 1966 to 1967.

Jodrey is a recip­i­ent of a Bronze Star and Pur­ple Heart (wounded twice), a Com­bat Infantry Badge, a Medal of Gal­lantry from the Repub­lic of Vietnam’s gov­ern­ment, plus numer­ous other soldier’s com­men­da­tion medals.

Fol­low­ing Viet­nam Jodrey remained in the Army, before retir­ing as a Mas­ter Sergeant in 1990.

Now an audi­tor for Man­heim Auto Auc­tion, Jodrey audits car deal­er­ships. He’s on the road four to five days each week, often trav­el­ing 300 to 400 miles per day through­out Ohio, Indi­ana, Michi­gan, Ken­tucky and West Virginia.

Sunbury’s 31st Christ­mas on the Square is from 5 to 8 p.m., Sat­ur­day, Decem­ber 1; the parade is at 5:30 p.m.

Posted by Gary Henery on Nov 20 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.