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Members of the Mendon VFW Post 4898 from left, Merlin Huff, Morris Ballman, L.D. Ballman, Vernon Yeomans, Sharon Buchner and Ted Talbot are upset their post is closing. (Photo by Jonathon Gruenke) |
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Posted on 01/29/2008 2:39:37 PM PST by Incorrigible
By JEFF BARR
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Members of the Mendon VFW Post 4898 from left, Merlin Huff, Morris Ballman, L.D. Ballman, Vernon Yeomans, Sharon Buchner and Ted Talbot are upset their post is closing. (Photo by Jonathon Gruenke) |
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MENDON, Mich. — Powder-blue paint peels from the surface of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4898. The brick-and-wood building sits next to a farmer's field gone barren for the winter and, like the adjacent acreage, it sits empty.
The Mendon post, located south of Kalamazoo, was ordered closed Nov. 24 — 62 years to the day after being founded by 60 World War II veterans. Dwindling membership, combined with confusion and spotty adherence to state VFW bylaws, resulted in its shutdown.
VFW officials at the state and national levels, along with former Post 4898 members, say the post is symbolic of a more widespread issue.
Since 1997, the number of VFW posts nationwide have decreased from 10,500 to 8,400. National membership stands at about 1.7 million — less than 10 percent of the approximately 20 million U.S. veterans eligible to join the VFW.
Mendon is one of three Michigan posts to close since November. Post 5003 in Bronson shut down in December and Post 393 in Detroit surrendered its charter earlier this month.
"It's not just Mendon," said Robert Weiss, Michigan's VFW Adjutant Quartermaster and a Vietnam veteran. "It's happening all over."
When Weiss was appointed state adjutant in 1997, there were 404 VFW posts in Michigan. Today, there are 340. In the past year, VFW membership in Michigan declined by almost 5,000.
The Mendon building was an old schoolhouse when it was built in 1871, and then sat vacant for years. It then was transformed into a medical-implement manufacturing facility, sat vacant again, then was given to the VFW in 1971.
"We felt bad about closing down the Mendon post, but there were so few members and they weren't turning in officer-election reports or attending district meetings to keep up on VFW affairs," Weiss said.
VFW membership is aging, and as we members pass on, they aren't being replaced by younger veterans, Weiss said.
"At a lot of places, it's just a few guys in their 80s," he said.
Thirty-nine members were on the books when Mendon's Post 4898 was padlocked, but only six or seven in their late 70s or early 80s took an active role. The vets helped organize community blood drives and they marched annually in local Memorial Day parades.
"The VFW represents tradition, sacrifice and patriotism," said Ted Talbot, 80, a U.S. Army veteran who joined Post 4898 in 1948 after returning home from World War II duty in Honshu, Japan. "I think the reason posts are closing, the reason there are fewer members, is because there is less of all three of those qualities in society today than there used to be.
"Everyone is so busy ... Being a veteran doesn't seem to be as important as it once was."
Former Post 4898 member Merlin Huff, 77, a Korean War veteran who lives in Mendon, was more blunt.
"People don't even want to stand up for the national anthem anymore," he said. "It's as if they don't even understand what the flag represents. It makes me sick."
The most public displays of VFW activity might be the parades and honor guards, but the organization's primary focus is to help veterans receive Veterans Administration disability benefits.
The VFW fights for compensation for Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange and for veterans diagnosed with Gulf War Syndrome. The group also has worked to improve VA medical centers, including better screening procedures for breast and lung cancer.
According to VFW statistics, the organization annually recoups more than $1 billion in VA benefits and compensation claims for veterans or their dependents.
VFW officials say the claims process can be exhausting and frustrating, and often takes years to complete. The VFW guides veterans through the process.
"Without advocacy from the VFW, a lot of veterans apply for benefits, are refused and then just drop it," Weiss said. "But with our help, we let them know what to expect and we stay with them for the long haul."
The most serious ramification of declining VFW membership, according to Weiss, is the danger of the group's bargaining power diminishing.
"If we are to remain a legitimate agency when it comes to fighting for veterans' benefits, we have to be viewed as an organization that represents a good number of veterans," he said. "There are Vietnam vets, there are Persian Gulf vets, but not in the numbers we need.
"We will exist in the future, but in order to remain viable, we're going to have to be leaner and meaner."
(Jeff Barr is a reporter for the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette. He can be contacted at jbarr(at)kalamazoogazette.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
“Hmmm guess they really should have waited for him to kill a family of 4”
No, actually he was the safest driver I knew - never had an accident and his car was showroom condition.
“I have a GTO...I can handle it at 150mph on the interstate
It depends on which GTO. Is it the Tempest with no brakes?
And does driving on the Autobahn turn me into an evil person and then when I get home on the parkway, I am good again?
Or am I evil when doing 65 in a 55 but good the next day when that same interstate got rid of its archaic law and made it 65 again?
Thank you for your leftist/relativist logic.
“Maybe I shouldn’t call the cops on all these drunks I see weaving all over the road after they leave the cantina.”
I am going to call you out on this. I am going to claim that in this day and age of draconian DWI laws, you are false in claiming that you see “drunks weaving all over the road” I drive from 35k to 50 k a year and that does not happen any more!
So put up or shut up - link me to at least 2 drunks that you saw in your area in the recent past.
I dont think you can.
“Cool...by that logic there should be no speed limits...”
No - I’ll type this real slow so you can understand.
I am saying that actions should be illegal not things.
Do you understand the difference?
We all agree that hitting things and causing damage or harm is evil. I will be the first one to pull the switch.
However, in the absence of harm or damage, why should things be illegal?
Do you know who goes to jail if a drunk is stopped at a light and get rear ended by a teetotaler?
ITS THE DRUNK - now what kind of justice is that and is that the slippery slope that all these vets gave their lives for.
The problem is leftist/relativist thinking and it is ruining this country - and in just the last 30-40 years.
I wanted to join.
I was told that my Cold War / Gulf War naval service did not qualify.
That is news to me (they would not let me join) and makes no sense either. I was on both...why Boomers but not Fast Boats? Fast Boat life was actually more grueling!
Been on both and I found it odd as well.
Earning the SSBN Nuclear Deterrent Patrol Breast Insignia after January 21, 1961 is what qualifies a Submariner for VFW membership. Go figure.
NucSubs: "I wanted to join. I was told that my Cold War / Gulf War naval service did not qualify."
Based on your experiences, I can see why the VFW's membership is dwindling. Sounds like the group has only itself to blame. My father wasn't with the VFW; he was with the Catholic War Veterans which might not have the same strict requirements. Still, there's a sense that the senior citizens don't want to make room for the younger crowd in these veterans associations. What a shame.
Recently I heard a member of the Indiana Board of Medicine state that two-thirds of all drivers stopped in Indiana for DUI could be diagnosed as alcoholics. If the blood alcohol level was more than .14, it was over 80%.
The drunk should go to jail...and the teetotaler will get the ticket. That is a fact.
Now...let me type something real slow for you...BEING DRUNK...INTOXICATED...hampers your ability to safely drive a multi-ton vehicle that can kill people. It slows your reaction time. It causes you to weave into other people's lanes (I've witnessed it numerous times and unfortunately...I've done it a couple of times back in the day...20 or so years ago). Being drunk while driving IS AN ACTION. Do you get that?
And these vets should know better. I'm a vet...still active duty and a member of the VFW. I know I do. I am careful to ensure that none of my ACTIONS (such as drinking one too many beers or shots) could ever possibly harm another person.
I guess some people are more selfish. "Let me do what I want to do...and if I do hurt or kill someone...then you can punish me...but for God's sake...don't prevent me from having my fun on the off chance I might have a wreck because I was impaired. I mean...what are the odds?"
Why should things be illegal? There are numerous things that are illegal that don't cause harm or damage solely because we seek to advert the possible pain and suffering that those actions would cause.
I'd say he's one of those exceptions to the rule, like my Great Grandfather who lived through combat in 2 wars and smoked like a chimney until he died in his 90's.
The average drunk driver is a murder waiting to happen. Even the one's with no priors wipe out people and entire families with grim regularity here in NM.
Bull crap. I can give you two easily.
1) 6 Months ago...coming home from church in Jacinto City (east Houston). Church was where I was filling in for a pastor and is off of Mercury Drive...near I-10 and 610. Drunk driver, Hispanic man, weaved over into our lane as we were exiting onto the feeder that leaves I-10 and gets onto 610 South. He was going the same direction we were...610 South on the east side. He was driving the speed limit but was weaving all over...and then through a Busch beer can out the window (drinking such crap beer should be a crime in itself). He moved over 3 lanes of traffic, almost hitting a car. It was at that time I activated my On-Star emergency...and they called HPD dispatch. We followed the guy...on the line with On-Star...all the way to the guys house...in south Houston (Scarsdale area for those familiar)...and HPD never showed up...even though we passed 2 (TWO!) HPD squad cars parked at a 7-11. And...once the guy got out of his car and went inside...its over. You cannot be arrested for DUI if the officer is not there to see you driving (if you have a decent lawyer). WE waited for 5 minutes...pissed off since the dude had almost ran us and about 20 other people off the road...and HPD never showed up.
2) Case 2 - We were driving down a rural road in Brazoria county and were passed by a car that was weaving all over the place a few months before the previous incident. She almost ran off the road several times. I called 911 (I was in my GTO...which does not have On-Star). The Sheriff just happened to have a deputy very close and dispatched them (who turned out to be a High School friend of mine) and I followed her giving them updates on where she was going until they caught her and hooked her drunk butt up.
3) Just 2 months ago a guys was weaving on the beltway (toll-road). I flagged a Harris county constable down and pointed him out. Who knows...he might have had a medical condition...but with the number of people who was weaving around and almost hitting...he didn't need to be on the road.
4) Not me personally...but my best friend...who is a LEO...was working a DUI-related traffic fatality late at night in rural Galveston County...when they were almost done...was hit (as were two other LEO's) by another drunk going 60. Dude was so drunk he didn't see the ambulance or the 4 cop cars. Drunk hit my friends squad car and it hit him...knocking him 20 feet into the air and into the ditch..almost killing him. He was life-flighted to Herman.
So call me out. I don't know where YOU live...but here in SE Texas...in the Harris and Galveston counties area....it is one of the HIGHEST DUI areas in the country...mostly because of our illegal immigrants who go to the cantina and tie one on...but also because our redneck buddies go to the bar and have a 12-pack. It's not like Oregon where people go to the pub and have 3 beers and go home. I've got 3 kids (8, 5 and an infant)...and I be damned if I am going to lose them to some drunk.
I’m not quite 57 and I was in Nam 72-73 USS Midway CVA-41 ... VA 93 Blue Blazers
“The average drunk driver is a murder waiting to happen”
Statistically, that is no where near true.
There are about 200 million incidents of “drunk driving” every year but only 8000 innocent deaths. Thats .004 percent so take that “murder waiting to happen “ propaganda someplace else.
So why are we throwing 1.5 million people in jail.
I’ll tell you why, to keep us “occupied” while the real decay in this country can continue unabated. Plus, it keeps lots of lawyers in skotch money.
“Now...let me type something real slow for you...BEING DRUNK...INTOXICATED...hampers your ability to safely drive a multi-ton vehicle that can kill people. “
Thats a lie - there are about 200 million “drunk” drives every year and only several thousand innocent deaths.
Take your MADD propaganda to Canada and try to raise some money.
“it is one of the HIGHEST DUI areas in the country...mostly because of our illegal immigrants “
Well it sound like the problem is illegals and not what I am discussing - HONORABLE VETS WHO HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG AND ARE BEING THROWN IN JAIL.
PS - see my other posts re: how only a few thousand innocent deaths occur every year from drunk driving - which happens about 200 million times a year.
The odds are infinitesimal.
The VFW has recently allowed sons and parents of eligible VFW members to join in what is called the MENS AUXIALARY. The American Legion has a similar program called SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION.
For those that are saying “If all vets could join they would have plenty of members”. Check out AMVETS. You need to have completed boot camp to be eligible.
The VFW is controlled by medals/awards, while the Legion is controlled by dates, usually if one rates the NATIONAL DEFENSE MEDAL, (sometimes referred to as the GEDUNK RIBBON)they are eligible for the American Legion.
There are periods and areas that people may be eligible for the VFW but not the AL.
BTW IT IS NOT THE ORGANIZATION THAT CONTROLS MEMBERSHIP, they are controlled by CONGRESS as ALL Sanctioned Vets Groups are authorized by Congress, who controls the charters etc. and dates of eligibilty.
VWF LIFE, AL, FRA, AMVETS LIFE.
I had the same experience at the same time with an American Legion Post.
Those dipshits thought they were the '72 Dolphins.
only a few thousand innocent deaths occur every year from drunk driving -
I think that pretty much sums things up!
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