Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-18
AgingVe+eran
Against Kids
JoiningL
He Believes Youngsters
Need Own Group
BY DAMON RUNYON

members OF the American
Legion. or veterans of the first
world war. are again in the
service of their country and that
upwards of $4,000 of the sons of
these and other legionnaires are
III the army or navy.
Now as you may have read in
this column. an important queS-
ton before the legion is whether
OF not the rolls of the organiza-
ton shall be open 10 the veter-
ans, OF the current war, who in
many cases would be the off
spring Of legionnaires.
An aging hero Of the Argonne
was telling me the other night
that he thought it would be an
unsatisfactory arrangement 10
both sides and his reason was
rot without some logic. He said
he supposed l remembered that
the spirit of rcvelry was once
very strong among the Legion.
naires when they assembled IN
annual convention.
/ replied that ! remembered
very well. sand | had covered
a couple OF those conventions.
He said then surely / would re-
call that the Legion boys gen.
orally raised merry what's-this.
That they sometimes took towns
apart 10 see what made them
tick. That they whooped and
hollered for days and nights on
end and heaved things around.
| ANSWERED that my rccoi-
Il lection was quite vivid on all
these various points and then nc
said well. all that sort of bust
ness was pretty much over be- I,
cause most Of the legionnaireS
are getting too old TO cut up
any more, even once year.
He said he had been noticing
the declining tempo the last
several conventions, and had
observed that a portly gentle
man with an overseas cap sitting
jack deuce on his noggin no
longer possessed the menace OF
other years.
He thought that In the years
10 come American Legion con-
ventions would be as mild a. a
church gathering, and if the
young veterans of this war were
taken into membership, would
they like this?
The. mildneSS, that is, he
thought not. He said in his
opinion the youngsters would
want 10 tie policemen in knots
and drop laundry bags full Of
water from hotel windows on
pedestrians. just like their dad
dies used 10 do.
And would the daddies, in the
mellowness of the years and
the calm OF conventionality care
10 view spectacles of this ma
ture? He said no, thousand
times no.
He said speaking for himself
personally IL would give him a
severe pain in the neck TO see
his or any other mans son act
ing the way he did at the CON
ventions before his legs got a
trifie dickey and his stomach
started talking back to him.
EFT the kids have their own
~ outfit and frivol as they
pleased, he said. but as for him.
little less noise IN the CORR
dorS from shutdown 10 sunup
hereafter. When the American
Legion meets in Kansas City
next September. his voice will,
be raised against a union OF thu
old and the new, and kindly do
not forget it, ne said.
The convention he mentioned
will nevertheless probably dc.
bate al length the question Of
admitting the youngsters. 1t
would be necessary 10 change
the constitution of the legion.
because as II now stands. II is
last man organiZation-mean-
ing that 1t is 10 continue until
not one member survives. which
Is something far in the future.
While some LegionnaireS favor
holding fast to the present
order, others think the admission
OF the youngsters most advisable.
though all agree that in the end
1t will be the kids who will do
the deciding.
II they want their own organ
ization they will get it. in which
case my aging hero of the Ar
gonne will doubtless heave
sigh of relief and look forward
to Legion convention era of
peace and quiet.
Copyright, 1912, by King Features
Distributed by International Meas Service
0cTB6tT THfEHT