Local veterans seek gifts for family members

Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and on Sunday local communities are honoring those who served in the military with the American Legion Auxiliary’s annual Gift Table program.

Dan Scarborough was a senior in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked and remembers how he and his two best friends were inspired to join the marine corps.

“My two best friends got their parents’ consent but my parents wouldn’t give their because they wanted me to graduate first,” Scarborough said.

He said you needed to be 21 years old before you could join without needing your parents’ consent.

“The school gave you several credits if you went into the armed forces so that was more than enough for me to graduate so my parents gave their consent, and I enlisted,” Scarborough continued.

The three high school graduates enlisted on December 8, 1941, just one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

He said Pearl Harbor was just a location not known by many before it was hit, and 73 years later many American Legion members feel it isn’t remembered the way it should be.

That’s why every year the American Legion Auxiliary board hosts its annual Gift Table program, in order to provide a chance for veterans to give gifts to their family members during the holidays.

“This is a national program where we make sure every veteran and their families are taken care of at Christmas,” American Legion Auxiliary event chairman Toni Gimpel said. “It’s all free of charge and all of the gifts are donated.”

Gimpel said this program has been going on for the past seven decades nationwide, and for the past 22 years in Idaho since the veterans home in Pocatello opened the same year.

She said this year the amount of donations and gifts was at an all-time high, and all 49 residents were able to get gifts for the 155 family members on the list.