Editor, Gazette-Journal:

On July 30, President Trump signed the “Legion Act,” which changed the eligibility requirements for joining American Legion from having “honorably served on active-duty during a time of a declared conflict” to “having served honorably on active-duty during WWI or at any time after December 7, 1941.”

This reduced the number of eligibility periods from seven to two. So, service members of all branches who served honorably for these two periods are now eligible for membership in the American Legion. This new law honors the memories of those veterans while allowing other veterans from those previously undeclared eras to receive all the American Legion benefits they have earned through their service.

The eligibility period now spans from Dec. 7, 1941 until a time when the U.S. is no longer at war, as declared by Congress. All service members who now fall under the new requirements may contact their local American Legion Post fo...