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VFW Post #2399 Service Officer on site
Lee B Downs
VFW, FRA, and DAV Certified Service Officer
Lee has been helping veterans get help for over 30 years.
He volunteers because he enjoys helping people.
Call or email for an appointment today.
Help with VA Benefits
Imagine spending years wading through the bureaucratic red tape offered up by VA only to find you’ve been denied a disability claim. Where would you turn? Maybe you’d just throw up your hands and walk way in defeat. VFW understands the frustration associated with claims and that’s why its National Veterans Service program was formed.
So, whether you're a World War II veteran, or the surviving spouse of a WW2 vet, whether your era was Korea, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, or Iraq, whether you saw combat or served in a support role, regardless of which branch you served, if you served this country in military service, we can help. Please contact us.
Veterans don’t have to stand alone in the in their battle for benefits and medical care. Our Service Officer will help veterans and family members weed through the paperwork and bureaucracy of government in order to get the benefits and medical care deserved.
Veterans Service Officer
Work:
- The VFW Post #2399 Veterans Service Officer advises local veterans and their dependents of their rights and entitlements under various federal and state laws, counsels them, and actively assists them by filling out necessary forms and papers and obtaining documents and affidavits.
- Work is generated through inquiries concerning veterans’ benefits or through action of the service officer in seeking out those who need and may be entitled to assistance.
- The work is complex and exacting due to the numerous state and federal laws involved and the regulations by which they are administered. These laws cover many and varied benefits including compensation, pension, insurance, death benefits, hospitalization and education.
- These services are provided at no charge to the Veterans and their dependants.
- Contact Lee B Downs, Service Officer by email or (940) 325-2998. Lee is very flexible and works by appointment only.
Veterans Service Officer Code of Ethics
- Confidential information, whether supplied by the veteran, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or other parties shall remain confidential and will not be released or discussed except to those personally connected to the case with a need to know in order to assist the veteran or the veteran’s dependents.
- The Service Officer will prepare and perfect all claims to the best of his ability with the intent of affording the claimant the benefits to which they are entitled. The Service Officer must insure that all information is true and factual to the best of his knowledge.
- The Service Officer shall maintain high professional standards in dealing with other service officers, (federal, state, and local) and other persons and agencies as necessary in service to his client.
- The Service Officer will provide services without prejudice to all persons making a claim to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
- The Service Officer will, to the best of his ability, maintain a working knowledge of all rules and regulations concerning veterans’ benefits and will strive to keep such knowledge updated in light of constantly changing laws and regulations.
- Veterans Service Officers should not, under any circumstances, accept remuneration in cash or other form for services rendered.
- Veterans Service Officers should not, under any circumstances, serve as guardians, committees, or fiduciaries for any other individuals receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs or any other agency.
About our Service Officer
Lee B Downs was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but moved to Florida when he was a baby. So, I tell everyone I am one of those rare birds – a real Floridian. In 2009 I finally woke up and came to God’s Country – Texas. I lived in Florida all my life at 6 feet above sea level and now that I am in Texas, I live in a flood area at 760 feet above sea level. You have to love the craziness of Texas.
He joined the Navy after Korea when everyone wanted to go into the service. We had 146 of us from Miami join the Navy and Marine Corp., and we were sworn in at Tampa at the stadium and marched in the Gasparilla Parade in 1956. The Gasparilla Parade celebrates the heritage of pirates and buccaneers in Florida. Tampa’s football team is called the Buccaneers and their stadium has old galleons. The day we marched, half of us were dressed as pirates and the other half as buccaneers.
Then they took us to the Great Lakes in January of 1956, the coldest month of the year. Most of us had never seen snow and only had short-sleeve shirts. After I got over being a young recruit, I spent most of my twenty years as an Air Controlman and a Flight Instructor. My last four years was as a recruiter in Southwest Florida with offices in Sebring, Arcadia, Labelle, and Fort Myers.
In my first cemetery I opened a Veteran’s Garden and that started me down the road to being a Veteran’s Service Officer. I found a lot of widows didn’t know anything about Socicial Security nor VA Benefits. I also found that seven out of ten times men die first, leaving a lot of widows with the question, “Now what?”
I have been helping veterans get help for over 30 years. I volunteer because I enjoy helping people. I am proud to be a VFW, FRA, and DAV certified Service Officer.
When I got transferred back to the States in 1970 because of so much death around me, you would have never convinced me that I would have been in the Death and Burial business. I started in the Pre-need sales of Cemetery arrangements and found that making these arrangements in advance allowed the families to discuss their desires without fear and by adding a little humor allowed them to talk about it more openly. These discussions led to questions that people are always afraid to ask and requests that sometimes would be funny. Those situations and my love of visiting cemeteries and burial places of the famous around the world is what promoted my book “The Funny Side of Death”.
I married my wife, Frantastic, in the chapel of our funeral home on her birthday, December 11, 1990. I have four children of my own. Fran has three. Between us, we have seven children, fifteen grandchildren, and five great-grandkids.
