Vets recall heyday of Post 522

About 500 posts nationwide have surrendered their charters in the last five years.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- After World War II, the city was teeming with enough veterans to support two Veterans of Foreign Wars posts.
But slowly through the years, membership started to dwindle at the Harry L. McBride VFW Post 522 to the point where it surrendered its charter to the national organization last October.
"We just couldn't get a quorum for our meetings," said Post 315 member Frank Bonfield. "The older members were dying, and the younger ones were not joining."
Today, the only trace of the group is a gray stone flanked by small American flags on Falls Street outside the American Legion Post 343.
Veterans will formally dedicate the memorial Monday as part of the city's Memorial Day activities. The stone also is in memory of Mike Banko, a VFW member who died in 2003.
Consolidating posts
Jerry Newberry, director of communications for the Veterans of Foreign Wars national headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., said it's not unusual to have more than one VFW post in a community, but in recent years the national has seen a consolidation of many posts for various reasons.
Newberry said about 500 VFW posts have surrendered charters to the national organization in the last five years. There are about 8,500 active posts nationwide, he said.
"The most successful posts are active in the community and give veterans a reason to join. If a post has a restaurant or a bar -- the more amenities that are offered, the more attractive it becomes," he said.
James McCracken Jr., past commander of Post 522, attributes the lack of new members to the fact that the post did not have a bar.
"We were basically all business. We had about 90 to 100 members, the majority were World War II veterans in their 70s and 80s," he said. The group spent most of its time raising money, talking to schoolchildren about veterans and volunteering at the veteran's hospital in Butler, Pa., he said.
How it was
But Post 522 wasn't always at a loss for members, says Bonfield.
The post, which was founded Oct. 8, 1920, had its own building built shortly after World War II on Grant Street.
In its day, VFW Post 522 was well established with prominent members who were judges and attorneys, Bonfield said.
As the city changed, however, Bonfield said the members didn't want to travel to the Grant Street area at night because of high crime there. They sold the building and bought another on the corner of East Washington and Mill streets. It housed a dress shop on the first floor and members had their meetings on the second floor, he said.
As the membership started to dwindle, they sold that building and started meeting in American Legion Post 343 until they had to surrender the charter.
Bonfield said the group was able to divide its remaining funds among several groups before handing the charter over.
The group gave $900 each to the following: the veteran's hospital in Butler, Pa., the Lawrence County Historical Society, the Lawrence County Association for the Blind and the Lawrence County Honor Guard.
Its colors and flags were donated to the county historical society.
McCracken added that they were able to buy lifetime memberships to the national VFW for members who did not have them and those who already had life membership were given $50 checks. A lifetime membership permits a person to go to any VFW post in the country.
And about 30 VFW Post 522 members have joined VFW Post 315, the city's other post, said Tom Lane, quartermaster for Post 315. That post, which has a bar, has about 500 members, Lane said.
cioffi@vindy.com