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Photo: Courtesy of the IronPigs
In 1967, a young couple picked up a hitchhiking sailor named Dave Binder, getting him within 7 miles of home and giving him cab fare to take him the rest of the way.
He was grateful, he says, not only for their generosity but also for his low-key return to Allentown. Now 79, Binder, who did two tours of duty in Vietnam, knew other returning servicemen had been greeted with ugliness.
In the ensuing years, he gave one presentation to a local fifth grade class and wrote a piece for his employer’s newsletter about his experiences in the U.S. Navy—as an electronic technician, a .50-caliber machine gunner and an occasional swift boat crew member.
Otherwise, Binder’s service in the unpopular war wasn’t recognized. That is, until last year, when AARP Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs—the triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team—honored him in their Salute to Service program.
Binder was escorted by an AARP volunteer onto the field between the first and second innings and presented with an IronPigs jersey emblazoned with his name. The crowd roared.
“It was thrilling,” he says, “to stand there and hold up the jersey and turn and see the crowd and hear the crowd.”
The 2024 season is the third for AARP Pennsylvania’s sponsorship of the program, which honors one military veteran from any branch, of any era, at each of the 75 home games during the season. With as many as 10,000 fans at a home game, the IronPigs have “a platform unlike many other organizations” to honor military veterans, says Aaron Weisberg, IronPigs community relations manager.
The program is part of AARP’s national mission to support veterans and their families, says Kellie VonStein, AARP Pennsylvania’s associate state director for outreach and advocacy.
AARP volunteers also go monthly to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Nazareth, northeast of Allentown, to pack boxes of food for military families. And they write personal messages on cards distributed to veterans and give out resources for veterans at community events.
Repaying the Recognition
Binder was so taken with his IronPigs salute that he now recruits other veterans to be honored. Most are “absolutely thrilled that they had the opportunity,” he says. “It’s very fulfilling to be part of it.”
VonStein says the public can nominate a veteran for the Salute to Service program, and the IronPigs select the candidate to be honored.
Gary Lentz, 73, of Schnecksville, says the Salute to Service program aims to make veterans feel appreciated for their service “because it’s no picnic.”
He enlisted in the Army in 1970 so he could get into mechanics and served two years in Germany. Back in the day, “you got out and basically hung up your uniform and tried to get back to your normal 9-to-5 life,” he says.
Lentz, who along with his wife is an AARP volunteer, started presenting jerseys to other veterans in 2021; he was saluted at a game himself the following year.
Ron Laible, 74, of Bethlehem, likewise was honored in 2022 for his service in the Army Reserve in 1971 and now also presents jerseys to other vets.
Photo: Courtesy of Ron Laible.
“It’s nice to be recognized in front of other people,” Laible says. “We know some of these guys really went through a lot.” (He and his wife are also AARP volunteers.)
Thomas Applebach, who turns 62 this month, was an Air Force weather forecaster for 12 years, providing guidance for military operations such as Operation El Dorado Canyon in Libya in 1986 and Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989. Later, he was an Army reservist working in civil affairs and spent a year in Iraq.
Applebach, who lives in Wescosville and is the Lehigh County director of veterans affairs, says he “was very humbled” when he was honored last August.
“It was a small gesture,” he says, “that was very large to me.”
To learn more about AARP’s work with veterans in Lehigh Valley, go to aarp.org/lvveterans.
Mary Dieter, a freelance journalist, spent two decades covering Indiana state policy and politics for The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky.
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