George Holding: “The Veterans of Foreign Wars is one of our largest and most lauded veterans organizations. It has successfully fought…”

“The Veterans of Foreign Wars is one of our largest and most lauded veterans organizations. It has successfully fought for veterans' rights for over a century and its members provide millions of hours a year in community service. Among its goals are to ``assist worthy comrades'' and to ``perpetuate the memory and history of our dead and to assist their widows and orphans.'' Our veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are in a better place because of activities of the VFW. Membership in the VFW is open to Korean war veterans and veterans who have ``served honorably as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States--in a foreign war, insurrection, or expedition in service that has been recognized as campaign-medal service; and is governed by the authorization of the award of a campaign badge by the United States Government or in an area which entitled the individual to receive special pay for duty subject to hostile fire or imminent danger.'' Membership does not require that a servicemember have engaged in actual combat, only that they served in a combat zone. Congress provided the VFW with a Federal charter in 1936. Robert Wallace, executive director of the VFW's Washington office, has sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee requesting that its charter be amended to be gender neutral. This is in recognition, Mr.…”