Allen Murphy tried all he could to save Ashland’s Veterans of Foreign Wars group.
Nearly five years ago, Murphy, 80, and fellow VFW members noticed that veterans in their 40s or younger, were not as active in the group as older generations. Murphy, a former Marine who served in the Vietnam War, drove many of those veterans to and from meetings and spoke to them about the benefits of community service.
But in October, Murphy and the remaining two other members of Ashland’s VFW, both in their late 70s, closed the doors of LeBlanc-Junkins 9699 for good. That leaves only three other VFW posts for Aroostook: Hayward-Frazier 2599 in Presque Isle, Paul-Lockart 6187 in Fort Fairfield and Caribou VFW Post 9389.
The decline of veterans organizations is not exclusive to Aroostook. Nationally, the VFW went from a record 1.2 million members in 1992 to just over 1 million last year, largely due to veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts not joining like their Vietnam and World War Il -era counterparts, according to military.com. The number of active duty service members in the U.S. declined from 3.5 million in 1968 to 1.3 million today, according to the Pew Research Center, reducing the number of young veterans.
“We kept it going the best we could, but we’re all getting older and the younger people aren’t taking much interest,” Murphy said.
Aroostook is known for its widespread support of local veterans. Every year, communities hold ceremonies and parades for Memorial Day and Veterans Day that involve young people, such as the Boy and Girl Scouts and Civil Air Patrol. Children and teens often gain mentorship from older generations and engage in community service projects related to veterans. When Maine Veterans Homes planned to close their Caribou and Machias facilities last year, veterans organizations banded together to help save Caribou’s facility.
But despite pandemic-era gains in population, The County is still grappling with out-migration that has contributed to workforce shortages and the closure of local police departments. Even when young veterans return to Aroostook, many become more focused on starting careers, college education or family, said Vaughn Hardacker, commandant for the Marine Corps League Meo Bosse Detachment 1414, which serves towns from Mars Hill to the St. John Valley.
Hardacker, a Caribou native, has been in the Marine Corps League since returning to Aroostook in 2009. A Vietnam War veteran, Hardacker said that he has only seen two or three Gulf War veterans and none from recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan join the League.
The same has happened within the Aroostook Veterans Advocacy Group, a newer committee Hardacker helped found to help veterans testify on legislative bills related to veterans, he said.
Without enough young people in those groups, many veterans from more recent wars and conflicts often do not feel a strong urge to be involved, Hardacker said.
“I’m 76 years young. All our members are basically around my age, mostly from the Vietnam era,” said Hardacker, who now lives in Stockholm. “The young people see all of us silver-haired veterans in the room and think they have nothing in common with us.”
That has also been true for Caribou’s VFW Post 9389, the third largest VFW post in Maine, with 380 members living in central and northern Aroostook and other states.
Caribou’s VFW commander, Roger Felix, is currently the youngest member, at age 56. Felix has noticed a stark change in group members’ ages since he joined in 2006.
“At my first meeting, there were 25 people and almost half were in their 30s and 40s. Most were from the first Gulf War,” Felix said. “But now our average age is 70. Most members are from the Vietnam and Korean Wars. The few we have from World War II are in their late 90s.”
Most World War II veterans from Caribou VFW have passed away within the past five years, leading to a decline in 100 members, from 480 to 380.
Unlike those older generations, many young veterans that Felix has spoken to prefer to move on with civilian life and not discuss their service with other veterans. Felix, an Army veteran who served in the Gulf War, understands how they feel.
“I didn’t see a need to join either and I didn’t join until I retired from the Army,” Felix said. “A lot of these younger veterans say, ‘Maybe when I’m older, I’ll join.'”
While Caribou VFW still struggles to recruit younger veterans as active members, the group’s Facebook page and family-oriented events, like children’s bingo, have brought more young people to shorter term projects, including local food drives. The VFW also plans to start livestreaming meetings to make them more accessible, Felix said.
Social media might become a more useful tool in the future if older veterans are willing to learn how to connect with younger generations on it, Hardacker said.
“I think that’s one of our problems. We don’t know how to get in touch with these young people. We’re not meeting them where they’re at,” Hardacker said.
