- April 28, 2024
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Disabled American Veteran Auxiliary Cmdr. Marty Feidler, 72, has spent 50 years of her life serving disabled veterans in the DAV and DAV Auxiliary.
Feidler is a U.S. Army veteran herself. She enrolled at the age of 21 in 1973 but had to leave service after less than a year because of a severe broken knee she received during basic training. It was very disappointing, she said.
“I decided if I couldn't serve my military life, I would dedicate my life for veterans,” she said.
Now she has been a part of Flagler County's DAV Chapter 86 for over a decade and has been the local DAV Auxiliary commander for six years.
The DAV helped Feidler with her own disability. The knee injury she sustained in basic training permanently impacted her ability to work and required 31 surgeries over 30 years to fix. It’s only through the DAV, she said, that she was eventually able to achieve 100% disability through Veteran's Affairs.
I decided if I couldn't serve my military life, I would dedicate my life for veterans.”
— MARTY FEIDLER, DAV Chapter 86 Auxiliary commander
Feidler was inspired to join the military in the first place because of her father, who served in the Navy for four years and then later joined the Air Force for 20 years. She joined the Army and then continued volunteering with the DAV because of her father, she said.
“My dad was my best friend and my hero,” she said. “A lot of my life has revolved around [my father] and being in the military was part of it.”
Feidler worked in several DAV chapters across the United States. In 2001, she was awarded Pennsylvania's Veteran of the Year for helping build a house for homeless veterans as the commander of Erie, Pennsylvania’s DAV chapter.
Feidler said volunteering with the DAV is almost more rewarding than it would have been to serve a long career in the military because she has more freedom to help veterans and people.
“I think the DAV and the DAV Auxiliary has kept me moving,” she said. “It keeps me young by being active like this.”
Feidler runs most of the fundraising and raffle events at the DAV and Auxiliary; she puts together gift baskets, volunteers at events and even leads the DAV’s holiday food drives. And, more than anything, Feidler said she makes it a point to know and greet every veteran who walks through the DAV.
When she got out and got involved with the DAV and seeing all the people that needed help, her heart just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and it never stopped.”
— IRENE TILGHMAN, DAV Auxiliary adjutor
“I'm not letting down a veteran,” she said. “If I even just say ‘hello, how are you doing?’ Or, ‘I saw you last week and glad you come back,’ you know, that might make a difference in somebody's life.”
She’s a woman who doesn’t know how to say no, DAV Auxiliary adjutor Irene Tilghman said.
“She cuts herself very slim,” Tilghman said. “I don’t know anybody who gives like she does.”
Tilghman and Feidler are close, practically family, after working together at the DAV and Auxiliary for over a decade. Feidler, Tilghman said, doesn’t stop at just donating her time for her the DAV, but her friends and family, too.
Last year, Tilghman's husband contracted COVID-19. While he was recovering at a rehabilitation center for two weeks, Tilghman said, Feidler was at the center every day at 7 a.m. to look after the man, just so Tilghman could relax in the mornings.
She goes above and beyond for anyone in need, Tilghman said.
“When she got out and got involved with the DAV and seeing all the people that needed help,” she said, “her heart just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and it never stopped.”
Larry Rekart, senior vice commander at DAV Chapter 86, said Feidler is an exacting leader, which a military organizations needs.
“Rules are sort of what we live by. And Marty knows all those rules,” he said.
If she ever decides to step down as commander, he said, it will take multiple people to fill her shoes. He said he recently realized the amount of work that goes into events like the DAV and Auxiliary’s holiday pantries, and most of that work is done or led by Feidler.
It's just amazing that she's dedicated 50 years of her life to working with with Disabled American Veterans.”
— LARRY REKART, DAV senior vice commander
“It's just amazing that she's dedicated 50 years of her life to working with with Disabled American Veterans,” Rekart said. "There's a dedication there ... to people in need.”
Seeing the struggles veterans go through reminds Feidler of why she continues to volunteer. Her own daughter was injured on a tour to the Middle East and still struggles, even years later, Feidler said.
“I think that drives me even harder to take care of veterans,” she said. “Knowing there's these kinds of conditions that people are in that need help.”
A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Marty Feidler's name, and has since been corrected.
