DRAFT ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
FOR JOHN E. HAMILTON
VFW COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
JULY 25, 2012
Thank you, comrades, thank you for this great honor and trust. I will not let you or this
great organization down.
I must first thank my great Department of Florida … District 6 … and my Post 7909 in
Jacksonville for your faith and support.
I also extend my sincere appreciation to Past Commanders-in-Chief Jack Carney and Jim
Nier for their leadership and mentorship.
I want to especially recognize Past Department of Florida Adjutant/Quartermaster Bill
Kirsop and Benny Bachand ... no one has ever had more loyal friends.
To my past National Council member from Florida, Gene Hall, thank you for your years of
faithful service to our great organization.
To Past Commander-in-Chiefs Richard Eubank and Richard DeNoyer … thank you for
your guidance and your leadership. It was an honor to be part of our All Marine team.
I want to congratulate new Senior Vice Commander-in-Chief Bill Thien from Indiana, and
welcome aboard new Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief John Stroud from Nevada.
Gentlemen, get ready to roll up your sleeves because we are going to hit the ground
running.
I also want to congratulate new VFW Ladies Auxiliary National President Leanne Lemley
from Iowa. I look forward to working with you to better both our great organizations.
And to my two sons, John Jr. and Eric, thank you for giving my life meaning … and I’m
very happy Eric could join us today with his girlfriend Kristen.
(pause)
Comrades, I belong to many veteran and military organizations … and just like you, it’s
the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States where I choose to donate my time and
energy.
What I am most proud of is our tremendous military support programs … and our
outstanding veterans’ service and legislative work that we provide daily for America’s 22
million veterans, her 2.3 million service members, and all of their families.
I am extremely proud of our patriotic programs and strong national defense and homeland
security positions.
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And I am especially proud of the VFW National Home and the almost 90 years of support
that we continue to provide to military and veteran families in need of a helping hand.
Comrades, this is what I brag about when I talk to civilians and potential members about
the VFW.
I tell them about our founders coming home from their wars to a nation that bore no
responsibility to care for their wounds, injuries or illnesses.
I tell them that it was the VFW that played a key role in getting the VA created as well as
every significant military and veteran Quality of Life program passed into law in the 20th
and now 21st centuries.
And I tell them about the feeling of kinship that every member shares.
That’s because our organization gets it … we can talk the talk because we have walked the
walk on oceans and lands most people can’t find on a map.
Regardless of when, where or which uniform you wore, all of us have served in harm’s
way. That is a unique experience that surprisingly few can share … which is why the VFW
is one of the toughest organizations to join … as it should be.
A similar experience is also shared by our Men’s and Ladies Auxiliaries, but it’s an
experience filled with pride as well as worry for deployed loved ones.
I speak from my own family’s history. My grandfather was a Marine. My father was a
Marine, and all nine of his brothers also served in the military.
That bond, comrades and sisters, is what makes the VFW so unique and so relevant to
today’s new generation of warriors … and that’s where our focus has to be.
What we have accomplished over the past 113 years on Capitol Hill and in cities and towns
everywhere is legendary, but our future existence is 100 percent dependent on what we do
tomorrow.
Let me repeat that, because it’s a message I need for you to take back home … what the
VFW does tomorrow is more important than what we did yesterday.
To attract and retain eligible membership, we have to focus on what it takes for the VFW
to be strong, relevant and recognized as a leader in all things military and veteran.
Twenty-two-year-old Afghanistan veteran Chris Gray—from VFW Post 1031 in
Springfield, Ohio—said it best last month when he told a local newspaper that the VFW
has people you can talk to because we have something big in common.
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(pause)
Because we have something big in common.
Comrades, that shared experience bridges all generational gaps.
That’s why we must be there … not just for the handshake and pat on the back … but to
help them find jobs … to use our own re-adjustment experiences to help them overcome
whatever emotional scars they returned home with … and to help steer them to a service
officer and into the VA.
This is our sacred duty, comrades … it’s a lifetime commitment to pay it forward …
because we were all young once when we went off to war, but much older and wiser when
we returned. We must pass that knowledge on.
(pause)
Membership is the lifeblood of this great organization and we are in need of a massive
transfusion.
We are rapidly losing the World War II generation to age, even though not all of the 16
million who served were eligible to join us. Nationwide, America’s Greatest Generation
now numbers less than 1.7 million.
Eligible Korean War vets, too, once numbered almost 1.8 million, but their ranks have now
thinned by 60 percent.
Our greatest membership target audience is still the Vietnam Generation and the wars and
conflicts that followed.
Consider these numbers:

There are almost 2.8 million Vietnam veterans who are eligible for VFW
membership.

There are more than 600,000 Desert Shield and Desert Storm veterans who are
eligible for VFW membership.

There are now 2 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are eligible for VFW
membership.

And there are tens of thousands of others … from Beirut to Grenada, Panama,
Somalia, Haiti, the Balkans, Korea and elsewhere … who are also eligible for VFW
membership.
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So with all these member eligible veterans, why again did our total membership decline for
the 20th consecutive year?
(pause)
A national survey last year revealed that half of all new veterans don’t belong to any
organization because no one ever asked them to join.
So why again did only 20 VFW Departments reach 100 percent?
(pause)
Comrades, we recruit and reinstate more than enough new members to offset our losses to
age and illness. Our challenge is to keep annual members from walking out the backdoor
due to disinterest, disagreements or to no follow-up contact.
That is a local issue the National Organization cannot fix.
What’s also distressing is the number of women we have. They account for 15 percent of
the total force but only 1 percent of the VFW. That tells me women either aren’t being
asked to join or they don’t feel welcomed when they do.
Again, that is a local issue the National Organization cannot fix.
What I do know is that all of us must do much more to recruit all eligible service members
and veterans into the VFW, and to urge them to run for leadership positions at the Post,
District, Department and national levels.
Comrades, in the not too distant future the last Vietnam veteran will serve as Commanderin-Chief of this great organization. I see that changing of the guard as a positive
opportunity for growth … and something definitely worth bragging about.
For far too long the VFW has not properly and rightfully bragged about our
accomplishments when we should have. That ends today … today we begin taking credit
when and where it is due.
I hope you have noticed the new branding campaign that came out of the National
Headquarters … “No One Does More For Veterans.”
Those six words are absolutely true, which means we must be in full campaign mode to tell
the VFW story publicly … not only to potential members, but to everyone who will listen
… and most especially to elected leaders and members of the press.
The reason our voice needs to be heard is because all wars end … Iraq last year and
Afghanistan by 2014.
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That means veterans’ issues could once again take a back seat to whatever new national
priority becomes the flavor of the day.
We remember first-hand how much the military downsized after World War II, Korea,
Vietnam, and Desert Storm. It is guaranteed to happen again, especially in this budget
tightening era.
Everything the VFW wants costs money, but everything the VFW wants is for someone
else.
That’s why I am so damn proud of the VFW Washington Office for carrying the fight to
Congress and the White House to protect veterans’ benefits and military retirement
programs and healthcare.
I am equally proud of all the Departments and their legislative committees for taking this
fight directly to their state capitals and inside their city halls.
But our fight is far from over to protect the people programs we fought so hard to create,
protect and enhance.
Most military folks think Congress or the Defense Department are responsible for
increasing their pay or health benefits … or created a new GI Bill or traumatic injury
insurance. You tell them—politely—that it was the VFW who led that charge.
Likewise, the great work by our nationwide force of service officers who have helped
hundreds of thousands of veterans to recoup billions in earned compensation and pension
for their wounds, injuries and illnesses.
You may not need a service officer or use the VA, but millions of other veterans do … and
knowing that our service work is second to none is worth supporting and bragging about.
This is especially important if you reside near one of the 16 military installations and
regions around the country where we have BDD service officers assigned to help
transitioning military.
Our advocacy on Capitol Hill and troop support and service officer work in 7,300 cities and
towns across America are core VFW programs.
And as much as we’d like to support all the community requests we receive every year, we
all know that the economy just doesn’t allow us to support them all. I just ask that you add
VFW’s core programs to the top of your donation priority list.
A donation to Unmet Needs or the Foundation or the Washington Office directly supports
veterans, service members and their families … and let there be no doubt that having core
programs supporting core audiences is why we were founded.
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Our forefathers knew that everyone who serves in harm’s way is in one big foxhole, which
means they inherit a veterans’ responsibility—a survivor’s responsibility—to pay it
forward for the next generation.
That, comrades, is why our six-word slogan—“No One Does More For Veterans”—is so
important. Just don’t forget that what you do tomorrow is more important than what you
do today.
Please help us spread the word about what we continue to do for America’s military, her
veterans and their families. Then ask them to join us … ask them to join America’s
greatest veterans’ organization.
Embracing this new generation is so important that I am appointing Past Commander-inChief Jim Nier to fill a new position to target the entire Student Veterans of America
organization. More about that later.
(pause)
We got to hear from President Obama and Governor Romney this week because both
candidates and their campaigns know that “No One Does More For Veterans” than the
VFW. This is the respect we command in Washington, but it is also an obligation we
cannot abuse or take lightly.
I am very grateful that they took the time to talk to us about our primary concerns …
which are the proper care and treatment of veterans, service members and their families …
and strong national defense and homeland security programs.
I hope you are equally appreciative, because for two straight days the entire country was
listening to the next President of the United States talking about military and veterans’
issues at the 113th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United
States … and that is something to be damn proud of!
(pause)
Before I conclude, I need to talk about my trip back to Vietnam this past May. It was my
first time back since I left wounded in 1970.
The VFW has been sending its leadership to Southeast Asia every year since 1991 … to
Russia since 2004 … and now to the People’s Republic of China … all in an effort to help
our government better account for our 83,000 missing GIs going back to World War II.
The reason is because we can open doors no one else can because we are not politicians or
bureaucrats … we are veterans … and the VFW is respected around the world for our
staunch advocacy of this one humanitarian mission that returns our fallen to their families.
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I’m proud to say that no organization does more for the Full Accounting Mission than your
VFW, and no organization is more supportive of the 600 military and civilian men and
women assigned to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Defense POW/MIA
Office.
Anyway—long story short—at an MIA recovery site outside Da Nang, I met a retired
Vietnamese army colonel who just happened to have been a North Vietnamese lieutenant in
the same location and battle where I was.
We didn’t speak the same language then and nor do we today … but in a way, we do …
because we both served our respective nations in uniform during a time of war.
My war ended in 1970 after being wounded the third time, but the chance encounter
brought back old memories of my friend and fellow Marine, Lance Corporal Andy Rankin.
Andy was from St. Peters, Missouri, and was only 19 years old when his war ended on
April 29, 1969, in action in Quang Nam Province.
He now lives forever in my heart and on Panel 26 West … Line 79 … at the Vietnam War
Memorial in Washington.
(pause)
As I said earlier, we have a veterans’ and survivor’s responsibility to pay it forward for
every Andy Rankin and their families from every generation.
This is a lifetime commitment that I pledge to do for this great organization … and in
return, I ask for your trust … your guidance … and for your support to ensure All
America knows that “No One Does More For Veterans!”
God bless you … your families … the VFW … and the United States of America.
Thank you!
-vfw-
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