American Legion post goes all out for July 4, but it struggles to attract younger veterans

This story has been updated to note that there are certain eligibility time periods during which Armed Services personnel and veterans must have served in order to qualify for membership in The American Legion.

Congress chartered the American Legion in 1919 as a welcome retreat for "war-weary" veterans of World War I. A century later, you might know today's American Legion as:

• The group that distributes red, cloth poppies before Memorial Day.

• Those old soldiers at the cemetery who honor veterans with a final 21-gun salute and a folded flag.

• The hosts of pancake breakfasts, fish frys, Queen of Hearts raffles, Texas Hold 'em and bingo games.

• Part of the lobbying effort that led to the G.I. Bill.

• The charity that sends young people to Springfield to learn about government.

• The first victims of a rare pneumonia now known as Legionnaires' disease.

• The marchers holding the flag at the front of many of today's July Fourth parade.

"We're all those things," says Joe DeCaluwe, a 69-year-old Army veteran from Mount Prospect who serves as commander of the American Legion Post 208 in Arlington Heights. The Arlington Heights parade ends at the post, 121 N. Douglas Ave., where an army of Legion volunteers will be grilling food and serving beer as part of the post's biggest fundraiser of the year during the village's Frontier Days Festival, which runs through Sunday.

The American Legion is open to anybody who served at least one day as an active military member, stateside or abroad, and received an honorable discharge during certain specific time periods. But the post, which has a bar that is open until 11 p.m. on weekdays and later on Friday and Saturday, also is open to the public.

"We have a sign, a big sign, that says, 'Open to the Public,' and people still ask if they can come in," says Gene Fehringer, 77, who spent 1962-65 in the Army in Chicago and now is commander of the post's 14-member honor guard, which became certified by the Department of Defense to participate in funerals.

Getting people to understand what the Legion is about takes work. Veterans from World War I and World War II packed the membership rolls of the American Legion, but veterans from the "unpopular" wars aren't as eager to join. Even Fehringer says of the Legion, "I never heard of it," until he happened upon Post 208 by chance.

"Well, I came by here for a beer," says Fehringer, who lives down the street from the post, where beers are still $2. He met some nice people, heard the honor guard needed volunteers and found a fit.

DeCaluwe, Fehringer, and past post commanders Tom Foglestad and Bob Ferraro say it took some time after their service before they joined the Legion.

"My grandfather, Andrew Foglestad, was a Marine who fought in World War I. He was in the Legion right from the start," says Foglestad, 76, who lives in Arlington Heights. His father, Thomas H. Foglestad, joined the Legion after serving in the Army during World War II.

"But when I came home in 1964, I really didn't get involved," says the third-generation veteran Foglestad, who served as a Marine in the Japanese island of Okinawa and in Thailand.

"Nobody liked us, so I didn't join anything," DeCaluwe says of himself and his peers from the Vietnam era.

That has changed in the last couple of decades.

"Today, the majority of post members are Vietnam veterans," says Ferraro, 79, an Army veteran who spent most of his 1963-65 service in Germany. The post also has Korean War veterans. But it's harder to attract veterans who have served since 1990, who are needed to replace older members.

"There's so many people dying off," Foglestad says. "But our values are still the same."

Donations and money raised are used to fund the weeklong Boys State and Girls State legislative training, provide toys for needy children, help veterans hit by natural disasters, assist veterans in local VA hospitals, support the many honor guard ceremonies, and to support local and national charities that help veterans. The "four pillars" of the legion revolve around helping veterans, promoting national security, supporting children and upholding "Americanism," which can be many things but always manifests itself during graveside honor guard services.

"They're crying when they come up to you afterward," DeCaluwe says.

"That's a lot more rewarding than serving beer," adds Fehringer, who notes that members often volunteer as bartenders.

Post 208 has 474 members plus about 100 in the Sons of the American Legion and another 100 members of the Women's Auxiliary, all of which join forces for charity events. The Post 208 baseball team once featured players such as Tom Lundstedt, Dave Kingman, Paul Splittorff and George Vukovich, who all went on to play major league baseball. The team was disbanded two years ago because the post couldn't attract enough players in this era of elite travel teams.

"The old veterans' organizations have served honorably. But the lounges and the lobbying that have been their signatures hold much less interest for today's retired service members," concludes a 2015 story in Philanthropy Magazine. From a post-World War II peak of 3.3 million, today's Legion has fewer than 2 million members.

"We need new members," DeCaluwe says.

"We hope we're still here in 20 years," Foglestad says.

"Due to the fact that it's an open post with a bar, it will be here forever," predicts Fehringer. But without an influx of younger members, Fehringer says, "It will be just another bar."