'I wear my (Legion) cap everywhere'
Photo by Jeff Stoffer/The American Legion

'I wear my (Legion) cap everywhere'

People are drawn to Patricia Liddell wherever she goes. Whether she’s at the post office, grocery store, church or even the airport, someone always approaches her and asks the same question: “Can you tell me about your hat?”

“I wear my (American Legion) cap everywhere because it brings attention. That’s how I’ve gotten a lot of members,” said Liddell, who was named The American Legion’s 2016 National Recruiter of the Year for recruiting 818 new members. “Veterans are out there and they want to be a part of us. But they are not going to be a part of something that they don’t know about.”

Liddell, a member of Post 333 in Columbus, Ga., is the first female to win the National Recruiter of the Year award since its inception 29 years ago. She spoke to Legionnaires attending the Legion’s National Membership Workshop in Indianapolis Saturday about her recruitment success.

Liddell hit the ground running her first year as a Legionnaire and achieved Gold Brigade status for recruiting 50 or more new members. The 2015-2016 membership year marked her 13th Gold Brigade award, an achievement fulfilled “because I’m passionate about The American Legion,” she said.

As a post and district service officer, Liddell will hold up an American Legion application when a veteran she helped asks how they can repay her for her assistance. She wears the Legion cap to graduations at Fort Benning, which prompts parents to ask about her cap and for a business card.

She attends Post 333's commander’s church once a month, wearing her cap, “because we know at every church there is a veteran, and we always walk away with membership." And she attends military funerals, whether she knows the deceased veteran or not, to pay her respects while wearing her cap. “I don’t go in trying to recruit, but I walk out with recruits,” she said.

The Legion cap isn’t the only way Liddell has been successful with recruiting. She has Legion magnets on her car that draw the same attention. Liddell has walked out to her car with notes left on the windshield that read, “I’m a veteran; give me a call.” She also has approached her car only to find people waiting for her to ask about The American Legion. And whether Liddell’s in her home state of Georgia or traveling, she’s recruiting.

“I don’t care what state I’m in, if I find out that you’re a veteran, I got you,” she said.

While recently traveling through the airport, a security guard asked Liddell about her hat. The security guard wasn’t eligible for Legion membership, so Liddell shared how to join the Legion family.

“You can do what I’ve done with membership,” Liddell said. “People will say Fort Benning is good for us, and it is to a point. But when I wear my hat to the post office or (grocery store), people are looking and they want to be a part of an organization that’s fighting for veterans.”

Liddell’s recruitment speech details how the Legion is fighting for veterans on Capitol Hill, working to provide the best possible health care through VA. She also talks about the Legion’s youth program – Boys State, Legion Baseball and the Oratorical Contest – which is what drew her into the organization.

For the 2017 membership year, Liddell is going to keep last year’s goal and aim for 1,000 new members. And if anyone is up for the challenge, Liddell has put one out there – to accomplish what she has and become the next national recruiter of the year.

“I have no blood relatives in Georgia, but I’ve chosen my family … my family of veterans," Liddell said. “I’m a veteran still serving veterans because those are my heroes; I stand on their shoulders."