Sometime this week Vernon Russell will stand with 114 other Veterans of Foreign Wars post leaders at a national convention in Salt Lake City and realize how much his hard work in support of military veterans has paid off.

Russell, a three-time commander at Lawrence’s VFW Post 852, received notice a couple of weeks ago that he had achieved All-American status as a post commander, a prestigious honor given to only a few by the national VFW leadership.

The last time a Lawrence post commander earned the national honor was in the late 1950s, a VFW records keeper told Russell.

“I’m ecstatic about it,” Russell said recently before leaving for the convention. “It hasn’t really soaked in.”

But the honor should be shared, he said.

“I had all these committee workers, but yet I’m the guy who gets the fame,” he said.

Russell, 52, a 27-year Navy veteran, concluded his most recent year as post commander at the end of May. The commander terms are for a year at a time. Jake Trybom is the current commander.

Vernon Russell, a three-time commander of a local VFW post will travel to the national convention in Salt Lake City to be recognized for his All American status for his contributions to the organization.

VFW commanders and their posts are evaluated on how they institute a variety of programs passed down to them from the state and national levels, their involvement in the community and membership. Among those programs are essay contests and scholarship awards for junior high and high school students, obtaining donations such as phone cards for troops in Iraq or Afghanistan and adopting a local military organization.

The post currently has adopted the 100 Lawrence members of the 2nd Battalion, 137th Infantry (Mechanized), which is deploying to Iraq in the next few weeks.

“We’re getting ready to hold a support function for them, for their spouses,” Russell said. “We want their spouses to know that we’re here to help them; that we are at their disposal. We’re going to have some food and entertainment for them and we’ll do the same when they get back.”

Chartered in 1931, the Lawrence VFW has 562 members, and it’s Ladies Auxiliary has 250.

“They are our right arm,” Russell said of the auxiliary, made up of wives, mothers and even nieces of VFW members.

• Lawrence VFW commander honored (08-02-05)

Relieved of his command duties, Russell is now leading membership drive efforts.

“There are a lot of people in Lawrence I know are eligible (to join the VFW); we just have to find a way of contacting these people,” he said.

Most of the new VFW members are Vietnam war veterans who have decided to get involved, Russell said. But the youngest member now is in his early 20s and is a veteran of the Iraq war. The VFW has worked hard to dispel the often-held image of members as aging World War II veterans sitting around a bar telling stories, Russell said.

“You can come into the building on a Friday night and I think you’ll find the average age of the people here to be in the 40s or 50s,” he said. “You have to make things attractive, and we do a lot of different things.”