Military Milestone – VFW post celebrates 80th birthday

Today Magazine Online
Nov 29, 2025
7 min read

Updated: Dec 25, 2025

• Vietnam Veterans Comprise Majority Of Avon-Based VFW

By Bruce William Deckert

Editor-in-Chief • Today Magazine Online

The Vietnam War has been memorialized via numerous movies. A VFW post in Connecticut's Farmington Valley is celebrating a milestone this year, and Vietnam veterans comprise the lion's share of the post's membership.

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Gildo T. Consolini VFW Post 3272, based in Avon, is observing its 80th anniversary in 2025. A native son of Avon, Consolini was killed in 1943 during World War 2 while serving in the South Pacific. World War 1 veterans established this local post in November 1945 — World War 2 ended earlier that year.

"We no longer have any World War 2 members, but have all the subsequent wars represented," says Brian O'Donnell, a longtime member of Post 3272 who owns the Midas of Canton. "The majority of the post is made up of Vietnam veterans."

Until recently, WW2 veterans were the post's elder statesmen, but earlier this year the two remaining members from the celebrated Greatest Generation died: Morton Katz was 105 years old and John Kostrisak was 100 — both were Avon residents.

Kostrisak received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military award for valor in the U.S. Army, after the Medal of Honor. When Katz was 100, he was still working as a special public defender in Hartford Superior Court — yes, this is not a misprint or typo — at 100 years young, Mort Katz was still utilizing his law skills on behalf of clients. He received the Lifetime of Public Service Award from the Connecticut Judicial Branch.

For the uninitiated, VFW is an initialism that stands for Veterans of Foreign Wars. VFW membership is for war veterans who served in an overseas conflict, while the American Legion is open to all veterans.

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The VFW is a nonprofit veterans service organization that "traces our roots back to 1899 when veterans of the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) founded local organizations to secure rights and benefits for their service," according to the VFW Connecticut website. The VFW was chartered by Congress in 1936.

Before the VFW was organized, many Spanish-American and Philippine war veterans "arrived home wounded or sick," says the Post 3272 website.

"There was no medical care or veterans' pension for them, and they were left to care for themselves. In their misery, some of these veterans banded together and formed organizations that would eventually ... become known as the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States."

The VFW played an instrumental role in establishing the Veterans Administration in 1930, which became the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989.

More recently, the VFW successfully advocated for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, enacted in 2008, that has provided better educational benefits for service members who began their military commitment after September 11, 2001. The national VFW also championed the Veterans Access, Choice And Accountability Act Of 2014.

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REFUGEE RESCUE

The most significant recent achievement of the Avon-based post has been its Afghan refugee resettlement project.

Post members, with crucial help from the local community, brought a refugee family from Afghanistan to Connecticut. This family assisted U.S. and coalition forces during the Afghanistan War that began in 2001 less than a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The war ended nearly two decades later, in August 2021, when the U.S. military withdrew from the war-ravaged country — the Afghanistan conflict is the longest war in American history. In conjunction with the withdrawal, some Afghan nationals who supported the U.S. were evacuated but others were unable to exit the country, and those left behind have faced a dangerous existence in the Taliban-controlled nation.

"Our goal was to fulfill in some measure the moral obligation our country has to those who helped us in that conflict ... at the risk of their own lives," says Tim Healy, who was the commander of the Avon-based VFW when the Afghan refugee project began in August 2023 — the project came to fruition in 2024 when the family arrived in Greater Hartford.

The husband and father in this family fulfilled the role of interpreter for U.S. and coalition forces for 17 years, beginning his service as a 17-year-old. An interpreter translates spoken language in real time. According to the American Translators Association, the distinction between a translator and an interpreter is as follows:

• Translator — "Translators do the writing: Translators work with the written word, converting text from a source language into a target language."

• Interpreter — "Interpreters do the talking: Interpreters work with the spoken word, converting speech from a source language into a target language."

During the war, Afghan interpreters partnered with the United States by converting local Afghan languages into English during interrogations, meetings, patrols and other operations.

"Our goal was to fulfill in some measure the moral obligation our country has to those who helped us in that conflict" — VFW rep Tim Healy

"The family is happily and safely here in Connecticut and working hard to become independent, productive citizens," Healy says.

Safety has been a significant concern for Afghan interpreters stranded in Afghanistan since the war concluded. When the U.S. military evacuated, the Taliban regained control of the country — and since two key combatants in the conflict were the United States vs. the Taliban, any Afghan national remaining in Afghanistan has a proverbial bull's-eye on his or her back.

A secondary goal of the Afghan refugee project, Healy notes, has been "to engage younger veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, to help them bring their personal involvement in these struggles to a meaningful, satisfying conclusion" — he adds that the project has offered younger-generation veterans "a means to write a happy ending to their part in a story that otherwise had an unfortunate conclusion."

The current commander of Gildo Consolini Post 3272 is Jerry Stinson, an Avon resident. The senior vice commander is Peter Savino of Avon, and the junior vice commander is Chris Bulko of Canton.

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CHAOTIC COMBAT

Classic movies about World War 2 and the Vietnam War are copious — including these critically acclaimed Vietnam War films: Apocalypse Now, Born on the Fourth of July, The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon.

Dr. Victor Hesselbrock, the longtime director at UConn’s Alcohol Research Center, is a Vietnam vet who says he hasn't watched any Vietnam War movies.

“There’s no way that Hollywood can capture the sights, sounds and smells of combat," says Hesselbrock, a Canton resident who has researched alcoholism for nearly five decades at the Farmington-based UConn School of Medicine. "Combat is as chaotic as can be imagined.”

Post 3272 meets weekly at Prince Thomas of Savoy, an Italian club located at 32 Old Farms Road in Avon, a stone's throw south of Avon's historic town center where the 200-year-old Avon Congregational Church soars skyward.

The post held an 80th anniversary gala dinner in mid-November at the Farmington Woods clubhouse. The Farmington Woods condominium community is located on 375 acres in the towns of Avon and Farmington. The community encompasses a restaurant, golf course and other athletic facilities.

The Avon post has about 90 members — from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard — who reside in various municipalities in Greater Hartford.

The five-town Farmington Valley has one other post. Metacomet VFW Post 1926, based in Simsbury, was established in 1946. Overall, the VFW has approximately 1.4 million members at more than 5500 posts worldwide — about 80 posts are based in Connecticut. +

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• This article is the first feature in a two-part series — here is the second:

Service Salute – Afghan refugee project is flagship VFW feat

Featuring community news that matters nationwide, Today Magazine Online aims to record Connecticut’s underreported upside — covering the heart of the Farmington Valley and beyond

Today editor-in-chief Bruce Deckert is a multi-award-winning journalist who believes all people merit awards when we leverage our various God-given gifts for good

• Letter to the Editor

Great article on our great VFW Post — they are the absolute best ... and have been outstanding in the 25 years I have worked with them honoring deceased members of the post and in all their community service. The support and relocation of the Afghan family is a good example of the kind of extraordinary service they have accomplished.

Their leadership in student education and community involvement has raised the bar in Avon and other Valley towns to create not only appreciation for our veterans' service but a level of patriotism unmatched in so many communities. Bravo for your recognition.

– John C Carmon – Funeral Director • President – Carmon Funeral Homes

Military Milestone – VFW post celebrates 80th birthday

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