SIDNEY - The morning began with handshakes and coffee at the Sidney American Legion Post on Union Street and moved, in quiet formation, to the Veterans Memorial Park on River Street, where a wreath was laid beneath polished stone. Between those bookends on Sunday, Oct. 19, American Legion leaders from the state, region and Delaware County mapped out the organization’s mission - and its urgency.
The event, facilitated by Delaware County Commander Patricia Svoboda, mixed press questions with a dignitary tour and an afternoon member session.
“We need younger members,” said John Miga, commander for the American Legion Department of New York. Miga sketched the scale of the challenge. “Not too many years ago, we [had] probably two and a half times the number we have today, which is like 72,000 members in the state,” he said. “We need to find the younger people, and need to do things different than what we did in the past.”
New York has “about 800” posts across “62 counties,” he said, noting a statewide swing that can include “two or three different Legion posts per county.”
‘Four pillars’ - and free help navigating the VA
Asked to define the Legion’s core work, Miga pointed to the organization’s “four pillars,” which he described as “a strong foundation” that “each represents something different”: “health and welfare of our veterans, to rehabilitate them and make sure they get the benefits they’ve earned,” children and youth, Americanism (“show respect for the flag and teach young children about government”), and strong national security.
He underscored the Legion’s advocacy in Washington - “we have a legislative group stationed in Washington to make sure they’re there to lobby for the veterans” - and its free, through the assistance of accredited Veteran Service Officers.
“When you hear about these lawyers: ‘We’re going to help you get your benefits’ - they charge the veterans,” he said. “We have free service for that.”
Miga also highlighted the Legion’s suicide-prevention campaign, “Be the One,” developed “hand in hand with Columbia University,” calling it “the number one thing that our National Commander advocates for,” he said. “One life loss is one too many.”
Recruiting where veterans are - and where they will be
Membership, he said, is the “lifeblood.” The Legion is experimenting with tools and venues that meet younger veterans where they are. “We have a Legion Plus app… and there’s a recruiting button… it’s a QR code,” Miga said. But on-base outreach remains a hurdle: “We want to go there and show them what the benefits are when they come out,” he said. “It’s hard to get in there. They don’t want us to recruit in there.”
‘We’re there to support’: the Auxiliary’s safety net
Maureen Morgan, a U.S. Navy veteran who serves as both a legionnaire and Auxiliary president, described the Auxiliary’s role as a direct line of support. “We have the Warriors [Assistance] Family Assistance Program for veterans who fall behind on bills,” she said, citing help with “mortgage [or] car payments,” a “roof or a water heater,” and other needs. “It’s a grant of $1,500… we go and pay the bills for them.” Why it matters? “We need to be there for our veterans… They’re too proud to ask for help, and they don’t know how to ask for help. We have to be there.”
Morgan also ticked through the strain points she sees today: “homelessness, the economy, suicide, the loneliness,” she said. “We’ve got to be there and say, ‘We’re here if you want to talk.’”
At the memorial: a place, and a plea
At Sidney Veterans Memorial Park, Doug Barnard - a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer and president of the Sidney Veterans Memorial Park Association - greeted visitors and offered a ground-level look at stewardship. “It’s kind of a hybrid,” he said. “The village actually owns the park. They do some of the maintenance. We do most of the maintenance.” Fundraisers buy flags, repair poles and pavement - “any of you know what happens [to] masonry… after it’s been out in the winters around here,” he said, half-wryly, referring to future repairs to be made to the interior of the space.
Barnard put out a simple message: the park’s engraved plaques are “for any honorably discharged veteran of the United States military,” with no locality restriction. “The plaques are $300. You can get a plaque or a nameplate on your service horizon - $50, or both,” he said. “
Then he shared a bit of family history - how his grandfather’s flying career pulled the family to Sidney - before the group turned toward the memorial and the wreath.
The long structure of a volunteer army
Much of the afternoon returned to the Legion’s layered, decidedly non-top-down structure. “As a department, state leader, we don’t tell the post what to do,” Miga said. “It comes from the ground up.” From national to department (state) to district to county to post, each level elects its own commander; the aim, he suggested, is leverage through numbers. “If I’m sitting there with one and a half million members, they’re [Washington lawmakers] gonna listen to us. If I sit there with 2 million, more will listen to us.”
The choreography made its argument in two registers at once: a wreath for memory; a microphone for the work ahead. “Part of [this weekend] is recruitment,” Miga conceded. “But the bottom line is, share the information. Share the mission. We want veterans’ health care, rehabilitation. We promote Americanism.”
The event concluded with an afternoon meal back at the Sidney legion post, where state, regional and local commanders and affiliates were recognized.
