KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President and CEO of Henry Repeating Arms Anthony Imperato, presented a $50,000 donation to the VFW during a special ceremony at the VFW National Headquarters in Kansas City. Today’s donation marks the most recent event in its long and storied history of support for America’s veterans.
“I just returned from a trip to France where an 80-year-old woman told me that if it wasn’t for the American soldiers’ bravery that she witnessed during WWII, she and her family and her country wouldn’t have what they have today,” Imperato said during the ceremony. “That says it all and explains why we made the donation and why we will continue to support great veterans’ organizations like the VFW.”
At July’s VFW 116th VFW National Convention in Pittsburgh, Pa., Imperato invited five distinguished veterans to the stage where he presented each with a Military Service Tribute Rifle. During this segment, Imperato told the crowd of more than 10,000, that he was so moved by the patriotism at the convention, he made a surprise $50,000 pledge to the VFW to be used for its many programs available for veterans, service members and their families. “The donation is being made in honor of my father who served in the United States Army in Korea from 1953-1955,” Imperato told the crowd.
VFW Assistant Adjutant General, Kevin Jones was on-hand to accept the donation stating, “The generosity, genuine care and support of America’s service members is the real deal in the heart of Anthony and the entire Henry Repeating Arms’ team. We’re proud to have established a friendship with Henry Repeating Arms and we’re extremely grateful to have its support.”
All Henry rifles are manufactured in the United States. First patented in 1860, the Henry rifle gave a single man the firepower of a dozen marksmen armed with muzzle-loading muskets. Reports of the successful use of Henry rifles in the Civil War were numerous. Major William Ludlow wrote in his account of the Battle of Allatoona Pass, “What saved us that day was the fact that we had a number of Henry rifles. This company of 16 shooters sprang to the parapet and poured out such a multiplied, rapid and deadly fire, that no men could stand in front of it and no serious effort was made thereafter to take the fort by assault.”