Guilford Rail’s Steve Magyar
leads AMVETS
Magyar, 54, served as a communications specialist in the Air Force from 1963-67.
Heads 9,000-member state group
For Steve Magyar, it all started with a challenge.
Magyar was sitting in a lounge in 1979, “commenting about how things should be run,” when a veteran from a nearby Amvets meeting invited him to join the group and replace talk with action.
“The challenge was there,” he said. “They elected me to a small position and it just started snowballing. I love a challenge.”
That original challenge has snowballed into a much greater role for Magyar, recently elected state commander for the Amvets. As head of the nonprofit group’s 9,000 Massachusetts members, Magyar will be responsible for relaying their concerns to state and federal officials.
“We have to band together and be heard,” he said. “They say, ‘In unity is strength.’ I believe in that.”
Stationed at a base in Maine, he did not see combat action in Vietnam. He began his railroading career only five days after his discharge from the service and came on board with the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1973.
He said Amvets differs from other organizations because it accepts non-combat veterans. The Veterans of Foreign Wars require that members serve overseas and the American Legion requires members to have served during wartime. Magyar is also a member of the Legion.
“To be a member of the Amvets you have to be honorably discharged from the service,” he said.
Amvets also offers an auxiliary group for non-veterans who want to contribute. Magyar met his wife, Suzanne,through her membership in an Amvets auxiliary honor guard.
Magyar said the veterans’ groups collaborate on the major issues that face their members. Those include government efforts to cut benefits or eliminate the veterans’ agent positions now required in Massachusetts towns with more than 20,000 residents.
As state commander, Magyar inherits a seat on the Governor’s Council for Veterans’ Affairs. He also serves on two national committees for Amvets, which has a quarter-million members nationwide.
Magyar supports using empty beds in veterans hospitals for homeless veterans. He said Amvets actively supports those facilities by helping pay for televisions, shaving kits and other services.
To combat declining memberships at VFW posts, Magyar is also recommending a collaborative program between the two organizations. He’s suggesting that Amvets chapters be formed within existing VFW posts.
“They would be getting new veterans to come in and support ongoing activities,” he said. “We’ve already done it in North Adams. That’s a way for the VFW to get new veterans in who don’t meet their criteria but were honorably discharged.”
His responsibilities keep Magyar on the road during much of his free time. Fortunately the commander’s position comes with a car - a big blue Mercury bearing “AMVETS” license plates. Over the course of one week his car will take him to Randolph, Haverhill, Braintree, Hudson, Roslindale and Millis, Massachusetts to attend various AMVETS meetings and functions.
Reprinted Courtesy of The Middlesex News