Two Mon Valley VFW Posts Merge After Sept. 4 Meeting

Two Mon Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars posts are now one. Following a unanimous vote Sept. 4 on Cline St., Wilkins Township, VFW Post 6681 has merged with VFW Post 5008, formerly on Draper St. in East Pittsburgh. The newly minted post will now officially be known as VFW John Dayton Rodgers Post 5008.

“This is a great opportunity for the VFW as well as our community,” said Marine Beirut veteran William Gribbin, first commander of the consolidated post. “We can all work together now to benefit our membership and those we are pledged to serve.”
William Roland, a former commander of VFW Post 5008 who now heads the roughly three dozen posts that make up VFW District 29 in Allegheny County, agrees that this new configuration will be a marked improvement. Prior to the merger, both posts were only separated by a 10-minute drive, and actively competed for their respective members of combat-decorated veterans from the same communities and neighborhoods.
Like most wars of attrition, however, that conflict was slowly weakening both sides. As of Sept.4, this battle is over. Now the two posts will be working together to serve local military veterans and their families.
“We’re always looking to foster a spirit of co-operation rather than competition between our posts,” said Roland, a retired Army major with 26 years of active and reserve military service. “When it comes down to it, all of us are committed to honoring those who have fallen by helping the living.”

Over the last several decades, recruitment has become more difficult for VFW posts – largely due to high standards. Membership requirements for the 119 year-old society founded in nearby Pittsburgh are often more restrictive than other veterans service organizations. Each candidate for the VFW must present documented proof of receiving a campaign or occupational medal for overseas service, or have served 30 consecutive or 60 non-consecutive days in Korea, or received hostile fire or imminent danger pay. Additionally, no applicant with a dishonorable discharge is accepted.
Also, VFW District 29 must draw new members from a shrinking pool of veterans. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the number of veterans in Allegheny County is projected to decrease from roughly 82,550 to 63,500 over the next five years. And not all of these veterans will be eligible for VFW membership.
And like the Mon Valley, the rest of the country is also following this trend. The American Association of Retired Persons recently released numbers that show the VFW’s ranks have decreased by one-third of over the last 20 years. Currently, the VFW has a few thousand more than 1.2 million members – not including its auxiliary. Of these, more than 400,000 are octogenarians or older.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6681 was officially mustered in on April 12, 1946. At that time, the VFW District 29 commander said, things were different.
“When many of these local posts were founded here around Pittsburgh, it was shortly after World War II,” explained Roland, a Kosovo Campaign and Global War On Terrorism veteran. “Many more men and women served in the armed forces overseas then, and returned back to their hometowns to establish VFW posts. The number of combat veterans since that time, as well as population of many of these towns, has gone down.”
Census numbers would agree with Roland. Allegheny County’s population has decreased 20 percent since 1960, from approximately 1.6 million to 1.3 million.

What hasn’t changed, said Roland, are good reasons to join the VFW. Roland pointed out that over the last dozen years, approximately 2 million service members and their families have received assistance from the VFW Military Assistance Program. Additionally, he said the VFW’s world-wide network of service officers have helped nearly 300,000 disabled veterans recover approximately $6.9 billion in benefits over the last three years.
Locally, VFW District 29 has supported student scholarship programs, and takes part in fundraising activities for the Arthritis Foundation, Roland added.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5008’s former building on Draper St. is slated to be sold, said Roland, and the proceeds of the sale will be used to help strengthen the recently amalgamated post. He added that when it comes to the VFW, the buildings where meetings are held aren’t the most important feature of membership.
“When veterans think about joining the VFW, they shouldn’t be thinking about a bar or a social hall,” Roland said. “They should be thinking about our hospital visitation programs and sponsorship of local youth sports teams. At its heart, that is what the VFW is all about – what good a post membership does to support veterans and its community.”
For more information about the VFW, contact Commander Roland at: 412-721-2602.