08/08/2026
FROM THE WINY RADIO NEWSROOM:🇺🇸
FROM MICHAEL ROCCHETTI, COMMANDER OF Mayotte Viens American Legion Post #13:
A Call to Thompson’s Veterans: American Legion Post 67 Needs You - Historic Post faces possible loss of its charter unless local veterans step forward
THOMPSON — For more than a century, American Legion Post 67 has represented the military veterans of Thompson. Now, after 106 years, that tradition is in danger of disappearing.
Post 67 was chartered in 1920, in the aftermath of the First World War, when communities across America were welcoming home a generation of young men who had served their country overseas. During the decades that followed, the Post became a familiar part of community life in Thompson.
Today, however, Post 67 faces a crisis that money alone cannot solve.
Its membership has declined dramatically, and the Post no longer has enough qualified members who are willing and able to assume the leadership positions necessary to keep the organization functioning.
Officials from the American Legion Department of Connecticut and the Legion's 4th District, which serves Northeastern Connecticut, are working to preserve Post 67. But unless qualified veterans from Thompson step forward to assume responsibility for the Post, its charter may ultimately have to be revoked.
If that happens, Thompson could lose something that can never truly be replaced.
More Than a Legion Post
The military history of Thompson did not begin with the American Legion.
Men from this community have answered their country's call for generations. Thompson's tradition of military service reaches back to the earliest settlements of the region and continued through the colonial wars, the American Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan and the conflicts of the modern era.
Post 67 became one of the institutions through which that tradition was remembered and passed from one generation to another.
The veterans who founded the Post in 1920 could not have known what the next century would bring. They could not have imagined Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Iwo Jima, the frozen mountains of Korea, the jungles of Vietnam or the deserts of Iraq.
But they understood something important.
They knew that military service creates an obligation not only to remember those who served, but also to preserve their memory for generations that follow.
That remains one of the most important purposes of the American Legion.
Legion posts help communities remember the meaning behind traditions Americans sometimes take for granted. Memorial Day is more than a three-day weekend. Veterans Day is more than another date on the calendar.
They exist because generations of Americans put on a uniform and served.
Some never came home.
Local veterans' organizations have traditionally been among the people making certain their communities remember them.
Post 67 has also supported community activities, including involvement with the Tri-Town American Legion Baseball Team, continuing another longstanding American Legion tradition of supporting young people and community life.
A Building Worth Saving
There is another reason for urgency.
Post 67 possesses something increasingly uncommon among small veterans' organizations: its own substantial building and property, located at 17 Thompson Hill Rd, Thompson, CT 06277
The building contains approximately 9,000 square feet between its two levels and has tremendous potential.
The ground floor includes an attractive bar area and large recreation rooms with pool tables and games. Upstairs is a spacious dining and function room capable of accommodating 100 or more people, together with a large, fully equipped commercial-style kitchen.
Men's and women's restrooms are located on both floors.
Outside is a very large paved parking area, approximately a dozen picnic tables and a covered barbecue pit.
The wood-frame, vinyl-sided building has an asphalt-shingle roof that appears to be in good condition. Heat is supplied by an oil-fired boiler and hot-water baseboard system. Three air-handling units for air conditioning are present, although they are presently not operational.
This is not simply an old meeting hall.
It is a community asset with real possibilities.
With responsible management, the facility could potentially host weddings, anniversary parties, birthday celebrations, reunions, banquets, fundraisers, club meetings, veterans' events, a quinceañera, community dinners, youth activities and other private and public functions.
The building has the potential to generate revenue rather than simply consume it.
But first, there must be an organization—and people—willing to manage it.
What Happens If Post 67 Closes?
The consequences of losing the Post's charter could extend far beyond removing the number "67" from the American Legion's rolls.
If the charter is revoked and the Post ceases to exist, control of its assets would be handled according to applicable American Legion rules and legal requirements. The building could ultimately pass under the control of the American Legion Department of Connecticut and potentially be sold, with proceeds applied as required to outstanding liens, debts and other obligations.
Once the property is sold, the opportunity may be gone forever.
A building that Thompson veterans spent generations establishing and maintaining could pass out of veterans' hands.
And Thompson would lose its American Legion Post.
That outcome is not inevitable.
It Doesn't Take Hundreds of Veterans
Saving Post 67 does not necessarily require hundreds of new members.
What is desperately needed is something much simpler:
A small group of qualified, responsible and civic-minded veterans willing to become actively involved.
The immediate need is for veterans capable of accepting leadership responsibilities, restoring effective management and developing a realistic plan for the future of the Post and its property.
There may also be opportunities for financial or organizational assistance if a credible group of veterans steps forward with the willingness and ability to rebuild the Post.
The building itself provides an enormous head start.
Imagine Post 67 once again busy with veterans' meetings. Imagine a Saturday evening wedding reception upstairs, a community dinner, a veterans' breakfast, a fundraiser for a Thompson family, an American Legion Baseball event or a Memorial Day gathering.
Imagine younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan sitting at the same tables once occupied by veterans of Vietnam, Korea and World War II.
That is possible.
But buildings cannot preserve organizations.
People do.
Thompson Still Has Veterans
There are still hundreds of military veterans living in Thompson.
They served in different branches, different places and different generations. Some spent careers in uniform. Others served one enlistment and returned home. Some served during wartime; others served during periods of peace.
They share something relatively few Americans experience: they raised their right hand and accepted an obligation to serve their country.
Post 67 now needs some of them to serve once again—this time at home.
The commitment does not require carrying a r***e, deploying overseas or leaving one's family.
It requires attending meetings, accepting responsibility, managing an organization, maintaining accountability and working with fellow veterans and the community.
It requires leadership.
Those qualities should sound familiar to anyone who has worn the uniform.
What Will Thompson Veterans Leave Behind?
There is a larger question facing Thompson's veterans.
When the last World War I veterans were gone, the veterans of World War II carried the Legion forward.
As that generation aged, Korean War and Vietnam veterans increasingly assumed responsibility.
Today those generations are disappearing.
The question is whether younger veterans will pick up what they left behind.
A charter issued in 1920 has survived the Great Depression, another World War, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War, September 11, Iraq and Afghanistan.
It would be a terrible irony if Post 67 survived all of that only to disappear because no one was willing to take responsibility for it.
Future generations of Thompson residents may someday ask what happened to their American Legion Post.
The answer has not yet been written.
A Few Good Men and Women
There is still time.
Post 67 does not need someone to rescue it single-handedly. It needs a team.
It needs a few good men and women—military veterans who are responsible, energetic and civic-minded—to sit down together, examine the finances, evaluate the property, work with American Legion leadership and determine what can be done.
Perhaps the Post can be reconstituted and revitalized.
Perhaps its building can once again become a busy gathering place.
Perhaps new members can be recruited.
Perhaps Post 67 can begin its second century with a renewed purpose.
But none of those things can happen unless someone steps forward.
More than a hundred years ago, Thompson's World War I veterans came home and established American Legion Post 67 for themselves, their fellow veterans and the generations that would follow them.
They did their part.
Now it is our turn.
If you are an eligible military veteran living in Thompson—or a veteran with ties to the community—this is the time to become involved.
Don't wait until the doors are locked, the charter is gone and a "For Sale" sign appears in front of the building.
By then, it may be too late.
Thompson American Legion Post 67 has stood since 1920. Whether it will stand for another generation may now depend upon a handful of veterans willing to answer one more call to service.
Photo courtesy of Michael Rocchetti.
