March 29, 2024

American Legion focusing on outreach

Members hope to connect with local troops stationed overseas

It used to be a common thing to see a yellow ribbon tied around a tree during war time. The ribbon was used to symbolize that either someone from the house near the tree or a person close to one of the occupants was overseas serving his or her country.

As more controversial conflicts occurred, many began to break away from this tradition. However, the downside to moving away from this practice is it creates a lack of community awareness for residents that are stationed overseas, which is an issue one local veterans organization wants to remedy.

“The (Newton) American Legion established a committee for community involvement and outreach. The committee itself wants to turn some of that focus toward people that are still in the service,” said Chris Chartier, a member of the committee.

Instead of tying ribbons around trees, the committee is asking for contact information for any serviceman or servicewoman who will be overseas during Christmas. It also wants information for those families in order to help provide a base of support for them as well.

“Truthfully, we have no way or means to track people that are overseas that are out of this county,” Chartier said. “If you look back to the days of World War II, there were news briefings every day or every week. The paper had a log in it about people overseas constantly, and now, we have nothing like that.”

Chartier said the committee is hoping that by reaching out to those serving outside the U.S., they can accomplish several things. The first would be to see what kind of items those soldiers need. This way, instead of just sending them random things they can create custom care packages.

The committee’s second hope is to create a two-way dialog with local active personnel. If communication becomes a norm for both parties, people in Jasper County could become more in the loop about local service people, Chartier said.

Chartier, who is a veteran himself, said when he came home for Iraq after his first tour, he read a survey that said 50 percent of Americans couldn’t find the country on a map. He attributes this to lack of awareness and communication.

“When these guys do trickle home, no one knows they were even gone. We are spending all of our effort on people that are already home, but these people are still in danger,” Chartier said.

“They’re somebody’s wife, somebody’s kid, somebody’s dad, somebody’s brother or son that’s overseas right now and they should be acknowledged right now. They should be taken care of right now.”

There are also hopes among committee members that this type of communication would help ease the adjustment period for troops coming home.

“It makes for a softer transition when these people are coming home. When somebody gets back, they already know there’s a community waiting for them. There are people that do understand what he is going through, and they’re giving him the opportunity to voice any concerns he’s having,” Chartier said.

In recent years, Jasper County — which is home to more than 3,000 veterans — has seen a resurgence in its support of veterans, and Chartier is hoping to parlay that support for this new project.

“Everyone in Jasper County would probably give the shirt off their back for a veteran —  imagine what they would do for someone who’s overseas,” Chartier said.

The committee is asking all contact information be submitted by Nov. 1 so  it will be able to establish a correspondence with anyone overseas well before Christmas. To submit information contact the American Legion at (641) 792-3353 or the Jasper County Veterans Affairs Office at (641) 792-7793.

Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6532 or trushing@newtondailynews.com