As Veterans Day approaches on Saturday, a group of San Fernando Valley veterans invites the public to celebrate on Sunday, Nov. 12, to honor those who have served in U.S. wars.
The Valley veterans are hosting a special event on Sunday to honor the 248th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, to be held at the historic Birmingham Hospital Veterans Hall at 6543 Corbin Avenue in Woodland Hills, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The former hospital, built in 1950 to help rehabilitate Los Angeles soldiers returning from World War II, is now better known as BHVH.
“Many of them lost their legs and a lot of them were hurt really badly,” said Bob Akre, a local veteran and BHVH chief executive, describing soldiers in need of the then-hospital on Corbin Avenue. “We owe it to veterans now to keep it going,” said Akre, who joined the Navy after high school and worked on ships as he traveled around the world.
The former hospital was designated a historic cultural monument by the City of Los Angeles and now is formally known as Disabled American Veterans Birmingham Hospital Chapter 73. BHVH was built in 1950 with the goal of providing a space for the rehabilitation of San Fernando Valley veterans who could not make the trip to the Veterans Affairs Wadsworth Hospital in West Los Angeles, now known as the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Since joining the Valley chapter several years ago, Akre and other volunteers have assisted veterans — including donating 13,500 servings of soup, delivering canned goods, and providing sandwiches, clothing and more to homeless veterans. Akre and fellow veterans recently helped house a veteran on the BHVH property.
One of the former hospital’s donors was the late Shirley Temple Black, the famed actress, singer, dancer, and respected diplomat — and Hollywood’s top box-office draw as a child actress, whose brother was wounded in the famed battle of Iwo Jima.
The 77-year-old Birmingham Veterans Hall has an 8,000-square-foot…
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