Lines of people used to wrap around American Legion posts before a Saturday night dance. Shouts of “bingo!” once clamored through Veterans of Foreign War posts. And once upon a time, entire communities would show up at baked bean suppers at the local veterans halls.
The veterans organizations’ dances, happy hours, bingo games and suppers made up the social fabric of Maine communities large and small for decades. But movie theaters, nightclubs, restaurants and other forms of entertainment have gradually replaced local posts as the community focal point.
And a changing culture is not the only foe of veterans groups in the state.
The other is time.
More than 1,200 World War II veterans die each day across the nation, said Arthur Roy, the public relations officer for Maine’s Veterans of Foreign Wars. World War II veterans have been the backbone that has kept his organization running, Roy said, but now with most in their 80s, others must step forward and assume responsibility.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 to 40 years and I’m getting tired,” said Roy, a Navy Vietnam veteran. “I can’t let go because if I let go, I have nobody to take my place.”
Maine has approximately 150,000 veterans from all branches of the military and war periods, said Peter Ogden, director of the Maine Bureau of Veterans Services. About 15,000 Maine World War II veterans are still alive, 16,000 from the Korean War and 46,000 from Vietnam, Ogden estimated.
Ogden said 72 percent of Maine’s veterans are over the age of 55, and of that group, 60 percent to 70 percent of older veterans participate in organizations such as the VFW and Legion.
With so many veterans, why are numbers running thin?
“I think the necessity of it and the need for it is gone,” said Bud Tower, adjutant for Legion Post 200 in Hermon. “I don’t mean to sound flippant, but these organizations were there when you had nothing to do but listen to the radio.”
Fewer young veterans are getting involved because when they return from Iraq or Afghanistan, they want to go back to school or spend time with their families, said Ogden.
The American Legion has maintained a state membership of nearly 26,000 for a decade, said Ron Sailor, the organization’s state adjutant. The Legion’s membership has slightly grown six out of the past 10 years, and in years it did decrease the number was minimal, he said. The Legion’s success stems from the variety of activities the group offers to the community from youth baseball to Boys and Girls State, Sailor said.
The Disabled American Veterans currently has 8,962 state members, while the VFW has about 12,500. When Roy was state VFW commander in 1991-92, he said the organization had more than 15,000 members.
While not all organizations have recorded decreased membership, leaders from the American Legion, VFW and DAV all said the number of active members has declined.
Sailor said only about 1,000 of the 26,000 state Legion members are active, and posts draw about 20 percent of their membership to meetings. Bill Henshaw, adjutant for the state DAV, said planning meetings is a double-edged sword. Night meetings keep older members at home to avoid night driving, and younger members cannot attend gatherings during the day because of work, he said.
Posts in rural towns tend to be more successful in recruiting and retaining members on average, said Sailor. As an example, he said, the Legion post in Van Buren has around 300 members, while Bangor’s post has 172.
The rural communities “are closer-knit,” said Henshaw. “You get into the bigger areas and everything is spread out throughout town.”
To bolster membership, some organizations have discussed loosening eligibility requirements, but on the whole, the idea has been rejected to preserve tradition.
Many veterans groups throughout the nation have begun to consolidate posts to keep costs down and help spread responsibilities among active members. In the past five years, a handful of Maine VFW posts have consolidated, Roy said.
In order to lobby for veterans rights and benefits at the congressional level, Roy said, these groups have to survive. He said he anticipates further consolidation within organizations and then eventually entire groups merging to stay strong in numbers.
“I’ve been saying there’s going to be a day, and it’s going to come soon, when each organization is going to be so small they are all going to band together and become one large organization,” Roy said.
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