State Veterans Service Board Elects New Leadership

ATLANTA – Georgia’s seven-member State Veterans Service Board recently elected new officers for 2008-09.

Pat Phillips, long-time veteran advocate and resident of Blairsville, was voted in as the new board chairman. He has served on the State Veterans Service Board since April 2004.

Phillips served 20-plus years in Army combat arms units with three tours in Vietnam. He retired in 1975 at the rank of Sergeant First Class.

After the military, Phillips worked for the Georgia Department of Veterans Service; as a Claims Counselor and Office Manager from 1976 to 1999 and from 1993 to 1999 as an Area Supervisor over 16 field offices in the North Georgia region.

Phillips, a life member of Post 112 in Dalton since 1976, is an active member in The American Legion. Since 1978, he has served as a member of the American Legion’s National Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission. Phillips, past state commander of The American Legion - Department of Georgia, has been the state chairman of the Legion’s Rehabilitation Committee since 1993. Besides serving as state vice commander on two different occasions, he has been twice elected district commander over Legion’s posts in the North Georgia area.

Ray Hendrix, a retired Army Sergeant Major and resident of Statesboro, was selected as vice chairman. He was appointed to the Veterans Service Board in September 2001, served as board chairman during 2005-06.

Hendrix, who retired from the Army in 1992 after serving 42 years in uniform, is an active member in The American Legion at the local, state, and national levels. He currently serves as Georgia’s National Executive Committeeman and as a member of The Legion’s National Legislative Commission.

Over the years, Hendrix, a past state commander, also served on The Legion’s National Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation, Military Affairs, and Americanism Commissions.

Hendrix is a retired Bulloch County Magistrate Court Constable and currently a member of the Statesboro’s American Legion Post 90, Scottish Rite Temple, and Shriners Club.

Kenneth W. Birdsong, U.S. Army veteran and former legislator, was named board secretary. 

Birdsong’s appointment to the Veterans Service Board in January 2005 followed his retirement from government after 28 years of continuous service in the State House of Representatives.

Birdsong, who represented Georgians from Bibb, Jones, Twiggs, and Wilkinson counties, served as chairman of the House Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Birdsong, a veteran of World War II and Korea, served in the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1947.   Upon discharge, he enlisted in the Army Reserves serving on active duty in 1949 and 1950 with the 340^th Engineer Construction Battalion. He was discharged from reserve status in 1953.

Birdsong is an active member of both the Gordon and Gray communities, involved in both the local VFW and American Legion posts, Exchange Club of Macon and is a 32^nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason.   

Serving as members of the State Veterans Service Board for 2008-09 with Phillips, Hendrix, and Birdsong are Barbara Jean Aaron of Warner Robins, James Blaylock of Decatur, Rodney Casey of Valdosta, and Fred T. Fincher, Sr. of LaGrange.

The seven-member, Governor-appointed, constitutional Board of Veterans Service recommends policy, procedure, and work projects and through the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Veterans Service controls overall veteran’s policy for the state.

More information about the Veterans Service Board is available here.