A place for veterans
Veterans Mike Ford, left, and Jim Beck stand in the American Legion Hall in Moses Lake Wednesday. The Legion’s participation dropped during the pandemic but is reviving now.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
The American Legion Joe R. Hooper Post 209 Hall hosts a small but growing group of members on Wednesday afternoon.
MOSES LAKE — The American Legion in Moses Lake was on the ropes for a while, but it’s coming back swinging.
“We were only open on Wednesday (nights) and Sundays for breakfast,” said Vice Commander Mike Ford. “We’re currently reopened back to Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and then Sundays if we have somebody available to cook breakfast.”
That caveat is significant because everybody who works at the post, including the bartenders and cooks, is a volunteer, said Past President Jim Beck.
The post formerly operated seven days a week, Ford said. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the post to shut down, and it’s been trying to get back to full strength ever since. The post is hoping to get back to a full seven-day-a-week schedule at the beginning of September, Ford said, just in time for football season.
“Right now, we’re pushing 275 (members), and 75 actives, if that. A lot of our members are out-of-staters or travelers, and they just call this base home. They’ve got their membership and with that card they can get into any American Legion throughout the United States," Beck said.
So why do so few members come down to the post?
“I think one of the biggest reasons is people don’t realize we’re open as much as we are,” Ford said.
American Legion Joe R. Hooper Post 209, to give it its full name, has occupied the building on West Broadway Avenue since 1999, according to county records. The American Legion is open to all honorably discharged veterans of any military branch, whether or not they served in wartime, Beck said. There’s also an auxiliary for spouses of veterans, and the Sons of the American Legion, open to any male whose father or grandfather served his country. Dues for the American Legion are $70 per year, Beck said.
The hall is open to the public, members or not, to rent for events, Beck said.
“We had a wedding here Saturday,” he said. “We pretty well filled the club.”
The American Legion Hall is more than just a place to have a meal and hoist a beer, Ford and Beck said. It’s a place where veterans can be among people who know what they’ve been through.
“I deal with it day in and day out,” Ford said. “Most of these other people do too. There’re times when the stuff that we’ve done (or) seen kind of gets us down. (We) come in here, we can talk to each other. We’ve got somebody to sit down and listen to us or talk to, somebody who’s been through it. It helps.”
Beck is a member of the Legion’s honor guard, which does the 21-gun salute at veterans’ funerals, he said. There’s also a member who works with the Veterans Administration and can help veterans get the benefits they’ve earned. Outside the Legion Hall there’s a depository for worn-out U.S. flags, which the Legion will dispose of with the proper ceremonies.
There’s a perception of the American Legion as an old men’s club, and that’s not the case, Ford said.
“We’re trying to reach the younger veterans out there who are not aware that this even exists,” he said. To do that, the post has started a Facebook page. The page is private, Ford said; anyone wanting to join is asked to answer a couple of questions to show they’re a veteran and not just a troll trying to make trouble.
“I think we’re up to about 40 people on there, and I’m going to say probably two-thirds of them aren’t even (Legion) members,” Ford said. “The younger people (on another Facebook page) say ‘Hey, I’m a veteran. I’d really like to learn more about it. Can I join your page?’”
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an average of 17.6 veterans take their own lives every day, plagued with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, depression or just plain loneliness. The Legion is part of how veterans fight back against those things, Ford said.
“We try and help each other out, and it's not necessarily, ‘Can I buy you a drink?’ help either,” he said. “(If you) need help around the house, or whatever, pick up the phone, call each other, reach out to them. Say, ‘You doing all right today? Yeah, kind of need to get to the store, but I'm here now. What do you need?’ We're a brother- and sisterhood.”
American Legion
Joe R. Hooper Post 209
538 W. Broadway
Moses Lake
509-765-1126
The American Legion Joe R. Hooper Post 209 Hall hosts a small but growing group of members Wednesday afternoon.