COEUR d'ALENE - Post Falls resident Robert Hunt has been elected as the commander of the 570-member Fort Sherman Chapter 9, Disabled American Veterans.

Hunt, the DAV's past Department of Idaho commander, relieves Mike Teall as the head of the local group. Hunt retired from the Navy and served four tours in Vietnam - two off the coast on destroyers and two in-country on river boat patrols and swiftboats.

Teall, who served in the Army in Vietnam, led the group for two years.

The chapter will host the State DAV Convention at the Best Western Plus Coeur d'Alene Inn, April 30 to May 2.

The chapter's projects include placing a memorial at the new Veterans Affairs Community Clinic and raising funds for the Newby-ginnings nonprofit that assists veterans and military families in need with household items.

The chapter will also consider sponsoring an auxiliary unit of the national DAV. Fort Sherman has an auxiliary unit that meets at the same time and place as the chapter - at 6 p.m. during the last Tuesday of each month at American Legion Post 143 in Post Falls.

The only qualification for DAV membership is to be a veteran who has been wounded, gassed or injured in time of war. For the DAV, a two-year period in the early 1980s constitutes the only time American forces were not in action.

For more information, call 773-1074.