The American Legion, and its veterans club counterpart, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, have been involved many ceremonies over the years. And statewide, membership in those organizations has been declining.

The Parkersburg organizations say, in terms of numbers, they've been holding their own. But they admit recruiting members from conflicts of the past two decades is more difficult.

"It's pretty tough getting young veterans right now," says Jim Viers, Commanderof American Legion Post 15. "The economy is down, jobs are bad, and they're busy with a family, so it's pretty tough right now."

The local VFW has been aggressive in getting younger veterans to sign up. It has been meeting its recent recruitment goals.

"When they deploy to Iraq and come back, we go to them on their return and sign them up when they come back," says Pete Brown, Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1212. "That's the key to it. They're not going to come to you, you're going to have to come to them."

But both commanders say it's not just a matter of membership. There also has to be an effort to keep new members involved in the organization.

"We need something for our younger veterans," Viers says, "so we're trying to change the organization so we can bring younger veterans in."

"We're just going to keep doing the things we're doing," Brown says, "and doing new things to keep the membership interested in the VFW and what it's about."

The VFW statewide says its membership has declined by more than ten thousand since 1990.

The American Legion in West Virginia has seen a slight decline.