By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
American Legion Post 30 — like many other Legion posts around the U.S. — is seeing its membership decline.
Post 30 Commander Al “Sonny” Coffelt said the reason membership is declining is because younger veterans are not joining. Other posts within Kitsap County and surrounding areas are experiencing the same.
“It’s too bad that the older generation is dying off,” Coffelt said. “It’s a shame we can’t get the younger generation involved. They have other things to do with their families.”
The national office in Indianapolis reported its membership has dropped from 3.1 million in 1993 to 2.4 million this year. There are 14,000 American Legion posts in the United States.
Most of the post’s members are now over the age of 60, their numbers including World War II-, Korea- and Vietnam-era veterans.
The American Legion was created by an act of Congress in 1919 which spearheaded the original GI Bill for veterans returning from World War II in the 1940s.
John B. Raughter, communications director for the national office, attributes the decline in membership to World War II veterans dying off and younger people that are slow to join.
The U.S. Veterans’ Administration estimated there are approximately 1.2 million American veterans remaining from the 16 million who served during World War II and that number declines at a rate of just over 600 a day.
Currently, American Legion Post 30’s membership is between 165 and 170 people, but there is a low attendance during their meetings at their building located at 615 Kendall St.
“We just don’t have that many members showing up at the meetings anymore,” Coffelt said. “We’re lucky if we get 10 members there.”
Coffelt said the focus is not only on the younger veterans, but for all veterans who want to join. Membership is $30 per year per individual.
“If we had more people at our post meetings, we could do more within the community,” Coffelt said.
He said the American Legion gives the National Guard donations for low-income families during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“Low income doesn’t just keep itself to the unemployed, it’s even the military folks who are hurting,” said Coffelt. “It’s just something to give them a boost during the holidays.”
To get the younger veterans involved in the local post, Coffelt wants to get more families activities they can enjoy.
He said the group is looking into having a Halloween activity next year at the facility.
Coffelt also said the American Legion is looking at installing Wi-Fi in it’s building.
“Nowadays when kids come to a party, they have their phones and they can take a picture and send it to their friends really quick,” he said.
The post doesn’t have a Ladies Auxiliary because many of the older members’ wives have passed on.
“There is only one woman who is active,” Coffelt added. “We’ve invited her to our meetings and she was thankful for that.”
Coffelt said while the post has also tried to recruit members with a booth at the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup, but not with much success. He plans to set up a booth at next year’s Cruz classic car show in Port Orchard.
Coffelt said the Legion is able to provide some services such as assistance with paperwork for medical benefits, disability or retirement.
“For some reason, it goes through their system faster when they see someone is with an organization such as the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars,” Coffelt said. “They just seem to respond quicker.”
The American Legion is open to all war-time veterans whether they served in a war zone or not.
The Legion has a long history of promoting patriotic programs and mentoring young people, including through the American Legion Baseball and Boys’ State and Nation programs. The American Legion Auxiliary sponsors the Girls’ State and nation programs.
Decline among VFW posts
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2669 on Bay Street in Port Orchard, which opened Sept. 10, 1932, is in a similar situation. The majority of the crowd inside the establishment are Baby Boomers — or older.
“If we can’t get the younger kids this post will die along with others all around the country,” said Roger Montez, 63, of Port Orchard. He served from 1967-76. “There’s still a thought process that it’s an old-man’s club.”
Montez said Post 2669 recently initiated five younger veterans and he encourages them to put their own mark on the organization. Instead of watching reruns of famous TV shows from the 1960s or ’70s, Montez said younger members could bring in live bands to perform at night.
George “Corky” Berthiaume, who is the VFW office manager for Washington state’s daily activities and is a member of the national council of administration for our state, Idaho and Montana, said local posts have fared better than most.
He said the VFW, which has 29,000 members in the state, has seen a 15 percent decline during the last decade and “we probably won’t drop any” this year. That is much better than the national picture, where Berthiaume said many states have seen 40 to 50 percent declines in membership.
Berthiaume, who served 38 years, including stints in South Korea and Vietnam, believes that age should not be an issue when it comes to joining the VFW.
He said the VFW also serves as an important political organization. In an era where deficits — and budget cutting mechanisms — are regular discussion points among politicians, the military is not immune from that. Perhaps no issue is more significant than veterans benefits.
Pete Cholometes, former commander of VFW Post 239 in Bremerton, attributes some of the organization’s recruiting efforts of younger veterans to knowledge.
“People don’t even understand what VFW means,” he said. “They just think it’s some other organization.”
Cholometes, 70, who served in Vietnam, believes the VFW’s slogan change should help with those efforts. It was changed from “Honor the Dead by Helping the Living” to “No One Does More for Veterans.”