A year into pandemic, veterans halls ‘barely hanging’ on

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — Many bars and halls run by Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts have fallen on hard times during the coronavirus pandemic.

Organizers say they risk permanent closure after states ordered them, like other bars and halls, to shutter last spring.

Veterans groups argue that their facilities aren’t simply private watering holes and should have been allowed to reopen sooner.

In New Bedford, Massachusetts, VFW Post 3260 dissolved and sold off its hall during the pandemic.

Post leaders say the group fell victim to years of declining membership and a facility it simply couldn’t maintain with no revenue coming in.