FARMINGTON – Least we forget, veterans and others will gather this weekend to honor those who served in the military protecting American freedoms, Charles Bennett, district commander for the American Legion, said Wednesday.

The public may be reminded to honor veterans in the spring and fall with Memorial and Veterans Day observances, but for members of American Legion Post No. 28 and other veterans’ organizations, remembering stretches throughout the year, Bennett said.

Helping veterans and their families is the role of the local legion, Bennett said. Help found in small acts like taking Halloween candy to veterans at Edgewood Manor nursing home so that they will have something to pass out to children, and by larger efforts like raising a $1,500 donation for the Beal House at Togus, a home similar to the Ronald McDonald House for families of patients of the veterans’ hospital.

Legion members not only remember the departed who served this country but those who now reside in local nursing homes because there is no room available at veterans homes, he said.

“If we don’t do it, who’s going to?” he asked as he spoke of the dozens of veterans, many without families, who are living in three local nursing homes.

The legion recently donated an American and state flag to Edgewood Manor and some of the veterans living there attended the brief ceremony, Bennett said.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” he said, as he watched a wheelchair-bound veteran silently salute the flag as it was being raised. “It’s also touching when the legion and auxiliary purchase Christmas gifts and go to the nursing homes for a party only to see a vet open a gift and cry because someone thought of it. The public doesn’t realize those are the people that gave us freedom and we forget them.”

The legion is also involved in the Special Olympics as well as taking part in local area parades, something often taken for granted, he added, as the organization has been so active, but many of the members are getting older.

Like many organized groups, the legion is also experiencing a lack of younger people joining it.

While he finds it puzzling, Bennett understands there’s sometimes a need to separate from anything military when a veteran returns home. A Vietnam veteran who served in 1968, Bennett said he didn’t do anything for 10 years after he returned, mostly because of the attitude that people gave the Vietnam soldiers.

Then he finally realized that he didn’t need help from the legion but someone else might need his help.

“I’ve been in their shoes. It took 10 years but I got over it and realized I could probably help some other guys coming home,” he said of his 25-year membership in the legion where he now serves as a district commander and plans to go on to the state-level next year.

It’s particularly hard on reservists, he added, who go from being a civilian to being back in the army trained to protect themselves, serve 16 months and then are tossed back into the civilian world.

One legion member who is also in the reserves, Maj. Sherry Kempton of New Sharon, agreed that her recent year spent in Iraq was pretty rough, she said. While planning to participate in this year’s Veterans Day service, she said the local legion and auxiliary gave her great support while she was gone through the care packages and letters they sent her.

A nurse-practitioner at Togus who just came home Oct. 1, she said she finds peace being in the legion as members can understand what she’s been through.