Declining numbers threaten a 60 year tradition

Declining numbers threaten a 60 year tradition of honouring fallen comrades

Declining membership numbers threaten the continued existence of the United States Military Veterans Club in Auckland, and the club’s president fears that will mean a 60 year tradition of honouring U.S. Memorial Day will eventually die out, too.

The club has laid wreaths at the Auckland War Memorial Museum every year since 1948. Club President Mike Riley says, “As the years have gone by, original members have died and fewer and fewer new ones have joined. We’re down to about a dozen core members – and the average age is somewhere in the late 60s or early 70s.” In recent years, the club has relied on assistance from the U.S. Consulate General and museum staff to organize their annual memorial ceremony. This year’s commemoration, on Sunday May 30, will mark the 62nd anniversary of the first U.S. Memorial Day service in Auckland.

While attendance at the service has remained strong – he expects around 150 people, New Zealanders as well as Americans, to attend this weekend – Mike is concerned that when the last remaining veterans die or get too old to attend, the ceremony will also die. “Every year we come here to pay respect to the departed comrades who have gone before us,” he says. “We have veterans from Vietnam, Korea, and World War II – many of whom served side-by-side with the Kiwi military. The opportunity to honour the servicemen and women who paid such a high price so that we can be here today is very important to these old guys.”

So Mike is asking for help in spreading the word about the Veterans Club. All are welcome to join the Memorial Day ceremony at the Museum on Sunday (you don’t have to have a link to the U.S. military). But in particular, if there are veterans of U.S. military service in the region, he would like them to come along – and to join the club, to help ensure this important link between the U.S. and New Zealand remains alive.

‘We’re grateful for all the help we’ve received from official sources, as well as friends and families over the years,” he says. “But what we really need is an injection of new blood into the club.”

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