Pass the Bar-B-Q… it’s a Memorial Day feast!

by Susna Gibbs Record Reporter
Published: May 29, 2008

The American Legion Post 128’s Memorial Day Bar-B-Q, held Monday in Stanardsville was planned to elicit community support for an organization in search of new members.

It worked.

“We got more support than usual from American Legion families and friends. About 128 guests came in and ate with us,” says event organizer Bob Grassi, a Vietnam veteran who will officially take over command of the Post July 1.

Moreover, Grassi added, “We got four individuals who are coming to our meeting to discuss joining.”

The American Legion is an organization of veterans of the United States armed forces who served in wartime.

Founded in 1919 by veterans returning from Europe after World War I, The American Legion meant to re-integrate veterans into their hometowns, while keeping them in touch with others who had served “over there.” It served as a support group, a social club and a type of extended family for returning young men and women.

It was also a political organization, being instrumental in the creation of the United States Veterans’ Bureau - now the United States Department of Veterans’ Affairs during the 1920s. In the early 1940s, it campaigned for the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, more commonly known as the G.I. Bill, which provided unemployment compensation, higher education and home and business loans to veterans.

But in recent years - if not decades - community interest in The American Legion seems to have dropped.

Albemarle’s Tom Perriello, an advocate for increased veterans’ benefits who is campaigning for the 5th District Virginia House of Representatives seat in the November 4 election, says he spent the past weekend visiting veterans’ organizations.

“There does not appear to be an influx of the younger generation,” notes Perriello, who is looking to provide veterans returning from duty in Iraq and elsewhere with “the best education their state can provide.” A national security analyst who believes that “taking care of our troops and veterans should be a priority,” encourages organizations such as Post 128 to make a “concerted effort to attract a new generation.”

Post 128 boasts members who are veterans of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and wars that followed, but it is the older members who have made up the majority, and been the most active in recent years.

County Planning Commission Member Norman Slezak, who has lived in Greene for less than 10 years, is a former Post 128 commander.

“There was a time when (Post 128) went down so low in membership they thought they were going to have to shut down,” says Slezak. “When I came here there were between 50 and 60 members, now there are more than 100 … but we still need people to bring life into the organization.”

After all, wars continue to be waged.

In May of 1999, the American Legion urged the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia. It adopted a resolution that stated, in part, that they would only support military operations if “Guidelines be established for the mission, including a clear exit strategy” and “that there be support of the mission by the United States Congress and the American people.”

When, in the 2000s, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee announced plans to eliminate the annual Congressional hearings for Veterans Service Organizations, The American Legion National Commander said: “Eliminating hearings will lead to continued budgetary shortfalls for VA resulting in veterans being underserved.”

Perriello believes society needs an infusion of younger, active veterans, just like it needs an infusion of new politicians, who are “more interested in getting things done than they are in the partisan game.”

But politics isn’t all The American Legion - currently about three million members strong—is about. Its programs include American Legion Baseball, Boys State and Nation, the National Oratorical Contest and the Legion Riders, Junior Shooting Sports.

It also offers benefits such as assistance to Medicare-eligible members in their search for a program that best fits their needs and discounts on computers, mobile phones, satellite television, home furnishings, travel, financial services, and interstate moves.

Eligibility for American Legion membership is limited to those honorably discharged veterans and current personnel of the United States Armed Forces who served at least one day of active duty during the following wars or conflicts:  World War I; World War II; Korea; Vietnam; Lebanon/Grenada; Panama; and the Gulf “et al.”

Prospects need not have seen combat, so many veterans are eligible for membership in The American Legion.

After all, “There have been very few years we haven’t been in conflict after World War II,” says Grassi