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As the number of surviving World War II veterans continues to decline at an increasing rate, veterans organizations officials look for ways to bring in new members and keep their groups alive.

Hardest hit appear to be American Legion posts. Legion posts in Sun City, Surprise and Sun City West are seeing their member numbers dwindle at a steady pace and officials are searching for new members, but find recruiting difficult. Officials in those groups see two major factors in the recruitment difficulties — the mentality of younger veterans and the lack of permanent homes for the organizations.

"The young people now are not joiners," said Ray Mills, Sun City’s John Harries Legion Post 101 past commander. "That is a problem for most posts."

In addition, some existing members in the post and auxiliary are reluctant to take leadership roles, he added.

The Sun City West Post 94 has no new members from conflicts after Vietnam, according to Harold Stern, post commander.

The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic, mutual-help, war-time veterans organization. It has become a community-service organization which now numbers nearly 3 million members, men and women, in nearly 15,000 American Legion posts worldwide. These posts are organized into 55 departments, one each for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico and the Philippines.

The American Legion was founded in Paris at the first caucus by members of the American Expeditionary Force following America’s participation in World War I.

In the past, Legion membership was limited to veterans who served during periods of war in which the United States participated — April 6, 1917-Nov. 11, 1918 for World War I; Dec. 7, 1941-Dec. 31, 1946 for World War II; June 25, 1950-Jan. 31, 1955 for the Korean War; Feb. 28, 1961-May 7, 1975 for the Vietnam War; Aug. 24, 1982-July 31, 1984 for Lebanon/Grenada; and Dec. 20, 1989-Jan. 31, 1990 for Panama.

However, membership standards were opened up considerably Aug. 2, 1990 to include all veterans and serving military personnel, according to Ed Foerster, Surprise Legion Post 96 incoming commander.

"Membership is open to both male and female military," he said. "We also have an auxiliary for wives and female relatives of members."

Mr. Stern said Legion posts began to see a drop in new members after Vietnam because soldiers returning from that conflict were not treated well by some Americans.

"They saw their service was not appreciated and did not want to volunteer (for community service organizations)," he explained.

The Surprise, Sun City and Sun City West posts do not have buildings of their own, which provide members with a restaurant, bar and room for post activities. That is a disadvantage the Peoria John Morris Post 62 does not have. The Peoria post has more than 2,000 members, many of whom frequent the post headquarters at 9847 W. Dessert Cove Ave., Peoria.

The lack of a post home should not deter veterans from joining their local post because they have access to those posts that have permanent buildings.

"As long as you have your Legion card you can go to any post," Mr. Stern said.

The Sun City West post has 385 registered members while Sun City has 120 and Surprise 216. Sun City’s post has six World War II veterans while Surprise has 37. Mr. Stern said 10 years ago the Sun City West Post’s membership was about 75 percent World War II veterans but that has dropped off drastically.

"It is hard to get an accurate count," Mr. Stern said. "But we have more Korea and Vietnam veterans as members now."

Like Sun City, the Sun City West post has a large number of potential members to draw from.

"We have so many people in Sun City West who are eligible to join, but it is hard to get them involved," Mr. Stern said.

Another factor is people have so many activities to choose from. Many eligible members are so busy with clubs, trips and other activities they do not have time for Legion meetings, Mr. Stern said.

Each post has its own slate of community service activities. The Peoria post hosts a golf tournament and an ROTC benefit dinner for Trevor Brown High School. The post also hosted a car show in February. The event was such a success post officials hope to make it an annual event, according to the post Web site, http://www.alpost62az.org.

Jim McCrady is the serving commander of the Peoria post.

In Surprise, Post 96 sponsored two high school students to the annual Boys State and participated in the Surprise Memorial Day parade.

However, all posts focus their efforts on veterans services. All Northwest Valley posts participate in the annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day observances at Sunland Memorial Park, 15826 N. Del Webb Blvd., Sun City. Each post also has separate color guard and honor guard units. The honor guards are available for military funerals.

"We believe any veteran who dies should get a military funeral," Mr. Mills said.

The Northwest Valley posts alternate months as the "on duty" honor guard for military funerals, many of which are conducted at the National Cemetery on Cave Creek Road in Phoenix.

Sun City’s post members participate in the annual Ring the Bell ceremony for the Fourth of July and, like many Legionnaires, sell poppies annually.

The Sun City West post hosts pancake breakfasts in the spring and fall each year. The events are well attended by community members, Mr. Stern said.