Rallying the troops

Flathead's American Legion posts need a few good men and women

By LYNNETTE HINTZE

The Daily Inter Lake

Whitefish's American Legion Post 108 has 81 members on the roster. Only four showed up for the last meeting.

For years, American Legion posts have relied on World War II veterans for the backbone of their membership. With most of those veterans in their mid-80s, posts are struggling to maintain the activities that communities have come to count on.

In short, they need new lifeblood to carry on the veterans organization that was chartered by Congress in 1919.

"Libby has an active post, but they have a bar. Maybe if we had a bar" we could attract more members, mused Whitefish post Commander Walt Sayre. "If we could get some participation there's a lot of stuff we can do. I'm normally pretty optimistic, but this has me snowed."

Sayre tapped his son Roger, recently retired from the Navy, to head up public relations for the Whitefish post.

"It would be nice to get some younger folks," Roger Sayre said, pointing out that at activities the post and its auxiliary conduct at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls, "a lot of the volunteers are older than the residents."

Past commander Bill Schultz said he always carries American Legion membership forms with him, and is occasionally able to sign up a new member.

Younger veterans are busy with careers, the elder Sayre pointed out. Some hold down two or three jobs to make ends meet for growing families.

Kalispell American Legion Post 137 has similar membership concerns.

"We're doing very well, but we're spending a lot of time recruiting," post Commander Lee Heser said. "And we're still recruiting World War II, Korean War and Vietnam veterans, so our membership has a lot of age on it."

Heser said the post has actively solicited younger veterans, and though some join, very few attend the monthly meetings.

"We need to get them on board," Heser said. "We've begged them to join, so we'll have a larger membership to support" the national organization.

Kalispell's post maintains an American Legion Hall for meetings and other activities. Members have tried offering community meals for events such as Flag Day, but attendance has been low, Heser said.

Post 137 has 165 on the membership roster; Kalispell Post 7 merged with Post 137 about five years ago.

Both Kalispell and Whitefish posts have auxiliary units that are active.

Post 108's auxiliary puts on a monthly birthday party at the veterans home, and the post sponsors a Christmas store that lets veterans chose from a variety of holiday gifts.

It's not only Northwest Montana posts that are struggling with membership, Heser pointed out. Of the 12 posts in District 4, of which Heser is commander, only three are above their membership goal.

"Each year we vow to do better," he said.

IRONICALLY, many of the activities the American Legion supports are aimed at helping youths - American Legion baseball teams, Boys and Girls State, youth shooting programs and oratorical contests, to name a few.

The small group of active Whitefish members has maintained many community projects. Its annual oratorical contest has drawn top-notch teen speakers and has doled out thousands of dollars in scholarships through the years. Post 108 is conducting this year's contest this weekend for Whitefish and Columbia Falls high-school students.

The contest helps students develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the Constitution of the United States. It hones leadership qualities and focuses on the duties, rights and privileges of American citizenship.

Kalispell is "rebuilding and renurturing" its oratorical contest program, Heser said.

For years the Whitefish post has given an Americanism test to high-school seniors to promote the tenets of patriotism and Americanism.

"The last question on the test is a tie-breaker: 'Do you believe the words 'under God' should be taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance, and if so, why?'" Sayre said. "Some of the answers are very thoughtful."

There are times when the post leaders are dismayed with test answers, though, when they learn that some students believe the Civil War happened in the 1930s.

THE WHITE-cross program is one of the American Legion's most visible projects in Montana. For 55 years, the white crosses have dotted the state's highway landscape, marking the sites of fatal accidents.

American Legion Hellgate Post 27 in Missoula started the white-cross project in 1952 after a highway accident killed six people over the Labor Day weekend. It eventually spread to American Legion posts throughout the state, and volunteers take responsibility for maintaining the signs.

Gene Lamb is chairman of Post 108's white-cross program, crafting and welding the crosses as needed. The Whitefish post's territory cuts a wide swatch, from east of Essex to the Lincoln County line.

In Kalispell, Bob Bigler handles the lion's share of the cross program.

DESPITE STRUGGLES with membership, the American Legion remains the largest veterans organization in the United States, with nearly 15,000 posts.

Membership offers a number of benefits, Sayre said, such as life and health insurance, travel discounts and money-market saving accounts.

The organization's focus has changed little in 88 years. With the motto, "Still serving America," it seeks to promote patriotism, Americanism and "the principles of justice, freedom and democracy."

For membership information, call Sayre at 862-5803 or Rita Hanson at 863-4808 for Post 108. Call Heser at 752-5075 or Bill Tharp at 756-9328 for Post 137.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com