Oceanside VFW, American Legion posts looking for new members

Michael Wetherell joined Oceanside Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10577 shortly after returning home from the U.S. Navy in 1987. Though he remained inactive in it for a lengthy period of time to pursue his engineering career and start a family, he is now actively helping to recruit new members so that the post will remain there for those, like him, who discover that they need it.

“We want to keep it going so that when this generation starts having the need to have these kind of places to gather, it’s there,” said Wetherell, who served in the Navy from 1982 to 1987. “People need this place around.”

Wetherell noted that the Oceanside post was booming during the Vietnam War era, but has died down over the years. Though it boasts more than 50 members, only about 10 remain active and attend monthly meetings at the post, while its auxiliary has membership in the single digits. The post often falls behind on bills, Wetherell noted, but he lauded a group of volunteers that have put plenty of effort into creating events and recruiting members.

The issue with getting younger veterans to join is active across Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legions and other veteran posts. The VFW traces its roots back to 1899, when veterans of the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection founded local organizations to secure rights and benefits for their service. The American Legion was founded in 1919, when Congress chartered it as a patriotic veterans organization. Both posts offer an array of services to veterans, including personal assistance, cash grants, donated goods, disaster relief, labor, networking, volunteerism and advocacy.

“This is a nationwide problem and the younger generation doesn’t use the VFW the same way as my era of people,” said Wetherell, who has been commander since last spring. “So what we’re trying to do is, we’re trying to reach out because we realize without new members, eventually we’re not going to have the number of people that we need to keep the place going.”

The effort for American Legion posts to increase membership was given a boost last July when President Trump signed the Legion Act into law. The measure allows military veterans who served any time from 1941 to the present to be eligible to join their local posts — not just those who were deployed during wars. County American Legion Commander Al Ficalora said that the organization wants to spread the word about the act to veterans across the county.

“Before the Legion Act, veterans had to have served during World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War or Operation Desert Storm to be eligible to join a post,” explained Ficalora, a 73-year-old Army veteran. “In the past, I had to turn away some veterans from joining because they didn’t fulfill the requirements. Now officials have said that this will allow 4 million veterans nationwide to join the American Legion.”

Though the Legion Act has helped, Ficalora and Wetherell are still working with the other members of their posts to find younger veterans, and to increase membership overall. Ficalora said he has thought of a countywide initiative that he believes would help entice more veterans to join the legion.

“For the veterans who served in Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, a lot of them will show up to one meeting and not be seen again,” he said. “My initiative would be for us to pay their first year of dues, but they have to attend at least 10 meetings in the year.”

Ficalora noted that the county American Legion usually meets twice a month, and membership is $40 per year. Wetherell said it costs veterans $35 to join the Oceanside VFW, which meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at the Hall, 407 Weidner Ave., Oceanside. He said any war veterans interested in joining can come to a meeting and receive an application.

Having people attend multiple meetings is imperative, Ficalora said. “This is how you meet people,” he said. “I didn’t know anybody when I first started going. Once I was there a couple of times, I started making friends and then started bringing people there.”

Pat Alesia, of Valley Stream, will succeed Ficalora as county commander in June. Alesia noted that he was aiming to get commitments from younger veterans, no matter how much time they have to give. “It’s important that we just get commitments from the younger veterans, even if they’re not able to attend all the meetings,” said Alesia, 72. “I probably won’t be here in 25 years, but they will be, when they presumably have more time on their hands to carry on the organization.”

Wetherell said the VFW post remains active in the community, marching in the annual Memorial Day parade, working with Girl and Boy Scouts troops, hosting bingo games, barbecues and dinners and scheduling visits to veterans’ hospitals, where they deliver holiday cards to veterans. The post will also host a St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser on March 21 at 7 p.m., which costs $25 per person and includes live music, dancing and a dinner that comprises corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie and other Irish delicacies. 

Now, Wetherell and others are working toward ensuring the traditions continue for generations to come. “We are looking for members and we want them to envision what the post can be in the future,” he said. “The mission of the VFW is to serve the veterans, and we want to continue that mission.”

Matthew Ferremi contributed to this story.