Largest veterans’ group growing

While it may be true that veterans of World War II and Korea are dying at a rate of about 1,300 each day, the nation’s leading veterans’ group wants the rest of America to know that it is open for business – and thriving.

According to The American Legion, the nation’s largest veteran’s organization, the group is not dying off but instead is actually growing – and at a substantial rate.

“Compared to this same day last year, we’re up 110,000 members,” said National Commander Ray G. Smith, noting that the group’s total membership now tops 2.8 million.

The news is important, says Joe March, the Legion’s national director of public relations, because the rising membership figure discounts the widely perpetrated myth that such groups are “dying out” and that veterans may be losing their most vocal voice.

“The new membership figures fly in the face of so many ‘sky-is-falling’ articles about us poor old veterans dying out,” March said.

“For the past several years, there has been a general belief that the veterans community is a dying organization,” he said. “But, as they say, ‘the news of our demise has been greatly exaggerated.'”

“We have launched a concerted effort to ask the young members of the military to continue our legacy, and they have responded superbly,” he said.

He added that Smith — who is very active in recruiting members — deserves much of the credit for growing the group. “Quite frankly, when young members are told about the group, they’re anxious to join and usually do so on the spot,” March said, noting that each subsequent generation of war veterans passes on leadership to the next.

One of the main functions of the Legion is to lobby in support of pro-veterans legislation and a strong national defense, as well as enhancing the quality of life for military members.

Also, the Legion seeks standardization of military voting procedures on state and federal levels, especially after several reports of military ballot and voting controversies during the 2000 election cycle..

The Legion’s members also push to improve benefits for military retirees, and, March said, lend support to local and national-level Boy Scouts organizations and troops.

“Today, more than at any time outside of worldwide war, our young servicemen and women are called upon to deploy and leave their families behind,” Smith said. “Those of us who have had to do the same thing at another time, perhaps even in another generation, well remember what it was like. That’s why The American Legion created the ‘Family Support Network,’ so we could be there to help when the service person cannot.”

Formed in 1919, the Legion’s membership is open to all active-duty military personnel and members of the National Guard and Reserves who have served at least one day on active duty since the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991, in addition to all honorably discharged veterans of World Wars I & II, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Lebanon and Grenada.

“As long as America calls on young men and women to defend our national interests,” Smith said, “The American Legion will be here to defend their interests. They are our comrades and we shall not fail those with whom we share the common bond of military service.”