New Hampshire

Hampstead VFW post looks to expand its rolls

By Margo Sullivan
margosullivan@eagletribune.com
Published: January 5, 2009

HAMPSTEAD — When Harold Essegian came home from military service in Korea, he buckled down to civilian life, finished his education and found a job. It was decades before he decided to renew his military connections by joining the local Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Now, Essegian, chaplain of VFW Post 11254, is helping to spearhead a publicity campaign to recruit new members.

VFW membership has been dropping. Although 45 to 50 names are on the post roster, only 15 are active.

And the local story is reflected in numbers nationwide. Membership has been declining across the country, according to Joe Davis, VFW national spokesman. "There's been a steady decline," he said.

The drop in membership is due to the decline in the number of eligible people. To join the VFW, a veteran must have served overseas. But of the 16 million men and women who served in World War II, only about 2.5 million are still living. That number is expected to be cut in half in five years, and those veterans are not being replaced.

Also, the U.S. military is smaller today than in the past, relative to the general population. About 2.2 million people are in uniform.

Last June, more than 1.6 million belonged to the VFW nationwide. Ten years ago, that number was 1.9 million.

Besides the loss of World War II soldiers, veterans of other past wars also are dying off.

Essegian, for example, was among 5.7 million soldiers who served in Korea. Today, only 2.7 million of those veterans are still living, Davis said. The largest pool of eligible service members — 7.2 million — comes from the Vietnam War.

So far, the VFW is not drawing from the pool of newly minted veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Essegian. After those soldiers returned home, they have focused on getting back to civilian life and have not dropped by the post.

Essegian wants the new veterans to know the membership includes some benefits. Besides life insurance and discounts on prescription medicine, the VFW can help with trade apprenticeships. "There might be a few vets in the Hampstead area that really don't know much about the VFW in Hampstead and the kind of things we do and would like to do," he said.

Paramount to the organization's mission is helping the troops overseas today.

"It's not an easy place to be," he said.

Eligible veterans who want to join can contact the commander, John Skidmore, at 329-8032.

The VFW meets the second Saturday of every month at Town Hall. There's no smoking and the VFW does not operate a tavern, according to Richard Hartung, Hampstead's selectmen chairman and the quartermaster of VFW Post 11254.

The post is not setting a goal for new members, but is looking for good people who want to help the community. Hartung served in Vietnam.

Howie Steadman, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, joined the local post in the early 1990s when he was still on active duty. He served in Vietnam.

"In my case, it's looking for the camaraderie," he said. Military people enjoy a lifelong bond, Steadman said.

The VFW members are active in Hampstead schools and teach children the importance of the military, according to Steadman, adjutant of the Hampstead post and chairman of the Hampstead Patriotic Purposes Committee.

"We do an awful lot around Hampstead to keep patriotism alive," he said.

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