WILDOMAR: Young Marines serve pancakes to rebuild old Post 1508

Fundraiser collects to support programs for the Young Marines and help rebuild VFW post ruined by fire

By NELSY RODRIGUEZ - Staff Writer | Saturday, March 29, 2008 10:29 PM PDT ∞

WILDOMAR ---- Young Marines Staff Sgt. Raul Mendez pulled forks and knives from syrupy dishes as his subordinates carried out plates of pancakes, eggs and sausage to the crowd.

Around him, 20 or so people sat at tables waiting for their $5 breakfast Saturday morning in the mess hall at the VFW Post 1508. More Young Marines served and cleaned as members of the Wildomar Veterans of Foreign Wars Men's Auxiliary flipped flapjacks and cooking bacon.

The two organizations work quickly and efficiently to serve as many hungry bellies possible. What they earned Saturday will fund programs for Young Marines and go toward rebuilding of the VFW building, the front of which is nothing more than a wooden frame. The post was consumed by a fire in early March, destroying the front bar.

Saturday's pancake breakfast served as yet another instance of military helping one another out, said Bill McDonald, formerly of the Army and now a general contractor. The VFW has been good to the Young Marines, helping fund programs such as silent drill and training camps, and in return the Young Marines are dishing out breakfast to raise money for the building. Also, McDonald is rebuilding the Post with the help of 20 active Marines from Camp Pendleton who demolished the portions charred by fire. The fire caused more than $50,000 in damages.

"Being at the VFW has just been such a plus," said McDonald, commanding officer of the Wildomar Young Marines. When the Young Marines need funding for programs, "somehow the money shows up from the Post."

Michelle McDonald, wife of the commander and adjutant of the organization, said the Young Marines have doubled their fundraisers since the fire. What used to be a car wash or pancake breakfast every other month has now become a monthly event. They split the funding, she said, with half of the nearly $1,000 they earn per fundraiser going to the Young Marines and the other half going toward rebuilding Post 1508.

"We always do things with the Post," Michelle McDonald said. "So we stepped up."

Veterans of Foreign Wars posts are common grounds for members from all branches of the U.S. military who served in combat overseas to gather. Post 1508 is also the meeting ground for the Men's Auxiliary, which is a group of men who aren't VFW members, but are relatives or friends of servicemen who are.

Post 1508 has also been the training grounds for the youngest, the teenagers who are looking for the discipline and service opportunities of the military life.

Mendez, 18, said he knows the five-mile hikes he goes on with the Young Marines and the recruit training he completed aren't anything like what he will experience when he enlists in the Marine Corps in September, after he's honorably discharged from the ranks of the young.

Though 4,000 U.S. military servicemen and women have died in an ongoing war in Iraq, Mendez said the same thing that most men and women who feel the call of service say ---- he's not scared. All his life he's wanted to be a Marine, he said. He's willing to fight, willing to die.

"It's just what I want to do with my life," he said. "It's following my dream."

Contact staff writer Nelsy Rodriguez at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or nrodriguez@californian.com. Comment at www.californian.com.

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