Christopher Desmond

By Matthew Fleishman, Bucks LocalNews.com

When your entire family is in the military, protecting your country and honoring those who served is in your blood, and for VFW Post 6393 Commander Christopher Desmond, it is how he has spend much of his adult life.Desmond, whose father was a career Naval officer, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1985, and served as an Electronics Technician Second Class aboard the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

"After my cousin joined the Marines, my family has served in every branch of the military," said Desmond.

Desmond was deployed for the Middle East in September 1990, and aboard the U.S.S. Kennedy, which was stationed in the Red Sea, he was responsible for helping to maintain many shipboard systems, including the communication and radar systems.

During Operation Desert Shield, Desmond's carrier made several "tight squeezes" through the Suez Canal.

"Trying to take an aircraft carrier through the Suez Canal was an extremely tense operation," said Desmond.

The U.S.S. Kennedy was large enough to hold 90 airplanes, which sometimes ran around-the-clock missions, on its four-acres of flight decks.

"We didn't have any insight as to where they were going," said Desmond. "We just knew that they were leaving loaded and coming back empty."

Those airplanes were running bombing missions that took them across Saudi Arabia to drop their bombs over Iraq, and then would travel all the way back to the carrier.

"The most effective part of our campaign was that our planes had contributed to the neutralization of the Iraqi Air Force before the ground campaign even started," said Desmond.

Desmond left the Navy in 1991 after Operation Desert Shield succeeded, but since 2001, he has been a member of the VFW Post 6393 in Yardley, and has been elected Commander for the past two years.

"In my role, I just try to provide leadership and cohesion for our group," said Desmond. "It's not just about Veterans Day or Memorial Day, it is about honoring our veterans in any way that I can."

Part of the way that Desmond has helped honor the veterans of Yardley and Lower Makefield Township is by working on the committee that has renamed Pocket Park as "Veterans Square."
That committee will work to create a two-part monument in the park to honor the veterans who came home alive, and those who gave their lives while protecting the United States.

"The vision for the monument is to make it timeless, but significant," said Desmond.

As Post Commander at the VFW, Desmond said that he gets the most gratification by helping connect young citizens with the older veterans at the post by contributing to post events that bring the veterans and children together. Those projects include American Flag retirements, veteran cemetery grave-marker and Flag upkeep, Lower Bucks Lacrosse uniform-flag sponsorship, veteran home visits, essay contests and visits into the schools to share "living history" lessons.

"I get the most VFW-mission satisfaction from working to ensure that our veterans, especially our most senior veterans, get the recognition that they deserve for their service to our country," said Desmond. "Also that our veterans get the opportunity to share their experiences and knowledge with the community as often as possible."
During his time in the Navy, Desmond received the following awards and commendations:

*Good Conduct Medal
*Surface Warfare Specialist
*National Defense Medal
*Liberation of Kuwait Medal - awarded by the Kuwait government
*Southwest Asia Medal