Existing comment:
Perpetual and Evergreen:
-- "We have entered into a new epoch in veterans' organizations. Such societies have come and gone. Others are fading away, but ours is destined to live as long as the country lives -- forever!" -- The Veteran, 1914
Some members of Spanish-American War veterans organizations realized the limitation of restricting membership to participants of a particular war. As GAR posts disbanded due to declining membership during the early 1900s, a number of Spanish War veterans sought to organize a more enduring association, one that would be perpetual and remain "evergreen." In 1914, two Spanish War groups merged to form the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW).
The VFW grew out of a group called the American Veterans of Foreign Service (AVFS), founded in 1899. This was the first such group to open its membership to veterans of past and future wars. But the AVFS imposed its own restrictions, limiting membership to those who had served in overseas campaigns. In 1914, the AVFS merged with the Society of Army of the Philippines for form the VFW.
While the VFW never seriously rivaled the GAR or the USWV before World War I, its organizational innovations made for an enduring association. Its flexible membership policy perpetuated the VFW past a single generation, paving the way for modern veterans' organizations. Successfully recruiting members from later conflicts, the VFW survives to this day. In fact, it is the second largest veterans' association in the nation, claiming more than 2,100,000 members, with more than 50,000 of those in Wisconsin. |