By RAY WYCHE
Staff Writer

Frank Foronda of Whiteville has been appointed as national deputy chief of staff of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The appointment was made by Allen “Gunner” Kent, adjutant general of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

Foronda, a retired master sergeant major in the U. S. Army, lives on Brown Maultsby Road. He served 20 years in the Army, joining in 1959. He had three combat tours in Vietnam, the first in 1965 at the beginning of the conflict.

Among his decorations is the combat infantryman’s badge, awarded only to soldiers who were in actual combat as infantrymen.

Foronda is a past district commander of the North Carolina VFW and past commander of the local VFW post.

After retiring from the Army in 1986, Foronda received a degree in history from UNC-Wilmington and worked as a disabled veterans outreach specialist in Hendersonville for four years and later with the N. C. Employment Security Commission as a veterans employment representative until retiring in 2002.

A native of California, he says he is not sure of what his duties as deputy chief of staff of the national VFW organization will be.

“I accepted it (the post) and I’ll do it,” he said.

Foronda was awarded the North Carolina Minuteman Award for his service to veterans and for his assistance to the local National Guard unit, Co. B, 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry (Mechanized), while the unit was deployed in Iraq. He received the honor for his work in sending “care” packages of items, such as chewing tobacco, unavailable in military stores.
“I gave the award to the VFW post. I was just the catalyst,” he says of his work in aiding servicemen in combat areas.