The American Legion national commander prompted an audience of about 60 Legionnaires and auxiliary members to be more active with local lawmakers during lunch at Post 213 on Main Street Tuesday.

“We’re a grass roots, issues-driven organization. If you aren’t getting to know your representatives at all levels, we at the national and state level really don’t have a voice,” said Clarence Hill, commander since the organization’s 91st National Convention in August. “We don’t get invited to the table without that reputation that you establish.”

The group’s national Web site has a legislative action center where Legionnaires can visit and sign up for alerts, he said.

“We don’t get involved with a lot of the issues unless they concern veterans – active duty, reserve, guard,” said Hill.

The Legion needs to “have more numbers that when we speak, we have more authority and people pay more attention to us,” said Hill, a member for 27 years.

The 60-year-old commander also gave local members the challenge of giving recruits reasons for joining the American Legion and attracting new members through sites like Facebook and Twitter along with attaching post information to the Legion’s site.

“We need a presence at every level,” said Hill.

He said they should concentrate on adding women and minorities that need to be educated about the group, retiring Vietnam veterans and young servicemen and women with different experiences from other veterans.

“Those born after 1990 have known terrorism all their lives,” said Hill.

The American Legion is the largest veterans group with 2.5 million members, but that’s only a fraction of military veterans.

“There’s somewhere between 23 and 25 million veterans,” said Hill, adding 9.2 percent of veterans who live in Mississippi are members.

“This post and the other Vicksburg post are both doing well,” Hill said of Posts 213 and 3. “You all are the reputation of the American Legion. You established it, and you maintain it by the good work that you do in the community.”

Also during lunch, Hill presented a charter to adjutant James Jackson for Herman Derby Post 216 in Port Gibson.

Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com