IRVINGTON, NJ — Shriners from Golconda Temple No. 24 in Newark came to Camptown VFW Post 1941 in Irvington on Saturday, Nov. 18, to host the third annual Veterans Recognition and Service Awards Ceremony.
Wilson Andrew Carter II, of the temple, said Friday, Nov. 17. “We’re here to honor our veterans. We came to a decision as temple a couple years ago that we need to do more for the veterans within our temple, within our community.”
According to Carter, there was a simple his Newark temple decided to partner with the Camptown VFW Post 1941 to honor veterans everywhere.
“Our organization, historically, has proliferated through the military,” Carter said. “A lot of our membership has traveled the world and, wherever they settled in the world, they would open lodges and Shrine temples to perpetuate the Masonic Order and make sure that people had family, friend and God, wherever they went. So here’s to that and we’re here today to make sure that, every year, we come out and try to honor veterans from our temple and veterans that we have established this family relationship here at the Camptown Post, so that’s what we’re here to do.”
Carter and his nobles presented special plaques to Camptown VFW Post 1941 Chaplain Fred Mulligan, VFS Disabled American Veterans Commander Coley Stratford, VFW District Commander Cheryl Turner, and to the family of Robert Porter, who is deceased. Porter’s plaque, including a special trophy, in honor of his leadership and participation in the Golconda competitive singing group, The Chances, was presented to his surviving family members, including his wife and daughter.
“What can I say about past illustrious potentate Robert ‘Hummingbird’ Porter? He was an amazing man,” said Carter on Saturday, Nov. 18. “It’s very heartfelt for me. I wouldn’t be standing here today, speaking to you at all in a fez or otherwise, if it were not for that man. In 1999, he petitioned me into my lodge, Lodge No. 29 in Newark. He petitioned me into Prince Hall Masonry. I’m not sure if I forgave him for some time afterward, but he then turned around and he petitioned me into Golconda Temple No. 24 and he stuck by my side evermore. I know, I’m confident that he is smiling down from heaven, watching these proceedings, and I know that he has been with me every step of the way.”
Honorary members Charlotte Munnerlyn, Pearl Hamilton and Steve Bishop were also given special certificates for their volunteer service to the VFW post.
“Steve used to come to the post every day,” said Campton VFW Post 1941 Commander Penny Register of Bishop. “We lost the past commander, Louis Sean Johnson, so he stopped coming, because he felt no one cared. No one had reached out to him or anything, so I found him and I told him to come back. So that’s why I’m presenting these three honorary members with these plaques and certificates.”
Register acknowledged another of the post’s honorary members, Timothy Smalls, by giving him a certificate and the jacket he’d always wanted.
Carter said Register and the veterans at the post and their supporters are always doing good for the community.
“We come to this post and this is our third annual year and we plan on continuing it. So this is what we do,” said Carter. “We have entered into a family agreement, not a friendship, but a family agreement with Camptown. They assist us through different endeavors throughout the year, as we do with them to further the community and to again look after our vets, who are too often forgotten.”
Carter said the commitment to service and community is the tie that binds Golconda Noble Shriners to the Camptown VFW Post 1941 veterans.
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