He May Be Backing the Wrong Horse

Luke Aumen worked five years at Arlington National Cemetery, helping to carry honored veterans to stately military funerals.

Bill Aumen, who is retired from the Army and lives in Prince William County, Va., says that service should be enough to get Luke admitted to the American Legion, the nation’s largest organization for veterans.

The main obstacle to that dream: Luke is a horse.

A 2,400-pound, 10-year-old Percheron, actually. Luke was one of the powerful horses that pull the caissons that carry the bodies of soldiers to their final resting places at Arlington. Since his retirement two years ago, Luke has lived on Aumen’s farm.

To qualify for the American Legion, an applicant must have been a member of the military during a time of war. As Aumen figures it, Luke was a member of the military--part of the Caisson Platoon, 3rd U.S. Infantry--and he served during the Persian Gulf War.

“I just decided, by God, he’s retired from the U.S. Army and, by God, he served his time during a conflict, and I decided it would be good for him to join the American Legion if I paid his bill,” said Aumen, 65.

Then came trouble. In the words of Steve Thomas, a spokesman for the 2.9-million-member organization, “As it stands, you have to be a person to be a member of the American Legion.”

It’s right there in the group’s constitution, he pointed out, Article IV, Section I: “Any person shall be eligible for membership. . . .”

But that hasn’t stopped Aumen.

He briefly managed to get Luke a membership card at American Legion Post 10 in Manassas, Va. He just didn’t mention that Luke was a horse when he filled out the application in July, noting that the form didn’t ask for his species. (It does, however, require a signature. Aumen jokingly denies knowing who signed it.)

Luke’s membership was quickly revoked when his identity was discovered.

Aumen’s efforts have raised a bit of a ruckus at Post 10. What may seem like a lark to some is insulting to other veterans, who see the legion as an organization that honors men and women who risked their lives for this country. Most of those who object to Luke’s admission don’t want to discuss it publicly.

Carman Cellucci, the finance officer for the post, said he has mixed feelings about the issue. He said he can understand why some people might be offended.

“What’s a widow going to think whose son was killed in Vietnam?” he asked.

This is not the first time Aumen has tried to bring a horse somewhere it was not wanted. He said he has ridden a horse into a restaurant, a bar and a hotel.

A decorated veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, Aumen has his serial number tattooed on his arm. After 23 years in the Army, he is enjoying his retirement on a 20-acre farm, where he smokes cigars and tends to his 15 horses.

Aumen said he’s not giving up. He called the American Legion’s national headquarters but got no satisfaction.

Aumen said that Luke should still get some form of membership and that he plans to write the organization a letter.

Prince William County Supervisor Loring B. “Ben” Thompson, who is a member of Post 10, agrees, although he said Luke shouldn’t get voting privileges.

“I think it’s a great idea to have a horse as a member,” he said. “I don’t think just any horse off the street or out of the pasture would be eligible. But he’s an honorable horse.”