Upstate NY VFW post casualty of membership drop

A Veterans of Foreign Wars post in a rural upstate New York community is the latest veterans club to close because of a decline in membership. More from WAMC’s Dave Lucas.

The Daily Star of Oneonta reports that VFW Post 5088 in Cobleskill will auction off the contents of its building on Saturday.

Post Commander Brian Goodrich says membership has fallen from around 30 seven years ago to about a dozen. He says keeping up the post had become a major expense for the remaining members.

The closing will leave rural Schoharie County with just one veterans' hall, in neighboring Middleburgh.

Veterans' organizations nationwide have seen their memberships decline as World War II and Korean War vets die off and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan focus on family and careers.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.