Saugus to say goodbye to VFW post, new building due

SAUGUS – It may not be a date that will live in infamy but when the Veterans of Foreign Wars building comes down Wednesday it will be a day that will live in memory of many a veteran.The Main Street VFW Post 2346 is scheduled to be demolished to make way for the new J. Pace & Son market.VFW Quartermaster Nicholas Milo and Post Commander Jack Plunkett both plan to be on hand when the building comes down but their feelings on the issue are very different.Milo is saddened to see the history of the old place slip away and while Plunkett shares his sentiment, he is also excited over what he views as a new beginning for a new generation of soldiers.The post was first chartered Jan. 6, 1932 but years later was renamed to honor World War II Veteran Arthur DeFranzo who died on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day while trying to save other members of his battalion. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.Milo said the Main Street building was put up in 1954. He came to the Post, he said, almost 20 years ago to shoot pool and stayed.”I got drawn in as a member and was then asked to be an officer,” he said.Over the years Milo has worn just about every hat there is to wear at the post including Commander. Plunkett credits him with keeping the place open but Milo is quick to return the compliment.Both also said they owe a debt of gratitude to past Commander Fred Arsenault, who has worked along with them to keep the doors open and Joe Pace for the deal he offered when he bought the property.Pace purchased the property with plans to expand his business that is currently located just a few miles south of the VFW.Milo said the group could have gotten more money for the property had they gone with a different bidder but they also would have been left homeless. When Pace offered to rebid and make a new, smaller Post part of the deal, Plunkett said they knew they had a deal.Pace’s proposed project includes putting up one building made up of three attached units. The center unit will be the new two story home of J. Pace, a 4,200 square foot building on the northern end will be absorbed by Pace or leased and the 5,000 square foot space on the southern end will be the new home of the VFW. It is designed to come with an 18 car parking lot with a separate entrance and a small patio.Milo said it will also have one small function room that will hold between 50 and 100 people.It is a considerable step down in size from the building that’s there now but Milo said 190 Main St. became a building they could no longer maintain.While utility costs have climbed membership dropped by nearly 50 percent over the last decade, down to 650 members from a little over 1,200. Milo said he believes the loss is largely due to fewer veterans. He said with more and more World War II veterans dying and younger veterans struggling in a bad economic climate they don’t have time to join a club. Milo said those two statistics alone cut a wide swath into the veteran pool.”Out of the 650, I’m not even sure how many still exist,” he said, admitting that there are only 20 or 25 active core members at Post 2346.Milo said he’s concerned if they lose too many members, “We’ll still have an organization, we’ll still do the work but it really becomes more of a social club.”Plunkett, however, thinks that a newer, more modern building might attract the younger veterans now coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.”It would be a whole new building for a whole new generation,” he said. “You hate to think it but times change.”Not everything will change though. Milo said he pulled every bit of history from the building that he could, has it stowed away for safe keeping and when the new building opens he will reinstall it.”I never knew we had so many things until I started moving them out,” he said.