National Commander Daniel Seehafer urged American Legion members to focus on saving and changing lives.
Seehafer visited Post 502 in South Haven Friday before heading to Iowa. Being national commander requires extensive travel, being away from home all but two weeks of the year, he said.
Among the places he visits are the halls of Congress, where he offers advice on issues that affect veterans, active-duty personnel and their families.
Seehafer was glad to see funding preserved for recovering and identifying the remains of servicemen and women from wars long past, including World War II. That line item had been on the chopping block before a deal was reached to preserve it.
“Why does it seem that balancing the budget always has to be on the 1%,” he said.
In Vietnam last year, Seehafer went on a recovery mission. In 1968, two planes were hit. In one case, there wasn’t a parachute spotted.
“They pinpointed for the last time; this is where we’re going to dig. We did find wreckage. We did find remains,” he said. The remains were flown to Hawaii to be processed by the military morgue unit that handles this gruesome task.
“We made that promise for a full accounting,” Seehafer said. “We want them to be buried with name and recognition and for the sake of the family, too.”
Americans have recovered the remains of other nations’ troops and have offered to return them to their country, only to be told to keep them, he said.
“That’s the difference between their nation and ours. If that doesn’t make you start to cry, I’ll wonder why,” Seehafer said.
The suicide rate among veterans is also an issue American Legion members should be concerned about, he said. They’re officially recorded at a rate of 17 to 18 per day, but it could be up to 50 per day if you count accidents that were intentional, he said.
Seehafer told of a veteran who ticked off all the boxes for a potential suicide. The two big red flags are relationship problems and financial problems. This man suffered a divorce and lost his job. He went to an office to ask where to turn for help only to hear someone in the back loudly say, “Son, I fought my war. I can’t help you fight yours.”
“I pray that would never come out of the mouth of any of our members,” Seehafer said.
The man pulled the trigger twice, but the gun didn’t discharge either time.
“Someone was watching over that situation, and I think we all knew who that someone was,” former Navy chaplain Seehafer said.
The man walked into an American Legion post and was embraced by its members. He now has a well-paying job, met someone and remarried. The man is also the commander of a post Seehafer visited.
That post was fulfilling its mission of saving lives and changing lives, Seehafer said.
Local posts help other veterans, but they also help their communities in many ways, he said. Scholarships are available. Help is offered for needy families. Seehafer’s post even buys pizzas for the local football time.
“What makes us special is that we give back,” he said. “I would hope and pray that we don’t lose that spirit.”
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
