Members of the VFW Post 3278 and its Ladies Auxiliary will observe a program Wednesday, 9 February at 6:30PM in memory of the day the USS Maine, a second-class battleship, was blown up and sunk at 9:40 p.m. Feb. 15, 1898 in Havana Harbor in Cuba.

The ship, the first to be named after the State of Maine, was in Cuba to protect the interests of the United States.  The cause of the explosion that killed 266 crew members is believed to have been by a naval mine.  The sinking of the Maine prefaced the Spanish-American War.

After the war, the Veterans of that war returned home and formed the Veterans Organization that has evolved into the current Veterans of Foreign Wars.

VFW Post 2378 is located at 2300 Stephen F. Austin in Brownwood.