A New Chapter

After 75 years, the print version of Vets News bids farewell

By Tyler Francke, Veterans News Magazine

After 75 years of near-continuous publication, the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs has made the decision to end print publication of Oregon Veterans News Magazine.

In the past 10 years, ODVA has diligently built our online and social media presence into one of the largest, most trusted and most visited sources of veteran information and resources. We will continue to invest in these valuable lines of communication — and will explore and expand on other media as we work to ensure we are reaching and regularly connecting with as many people as possible in our Oregon veteran community.

In this piece, we wanted to look back on and celebrate the 75- year legacy of this remarkable publication.

The publication that you now know as the Oregon Veterans News Magazine began as the Oregon Veterans News Letter, with its first issue being published on Aug. 16, 1946. It was a sparse, typewritten document that no doubt evoked the spartan memos and other military correspondence that the newsletter’s audience (primarily, recently discharged service members from World War II) would be used to seeing.

The newsletter conveyed information about veteran benefits and resources in a straightforward manner, from how to apply for terminal leave pay to how to take advantage of the so-called “Sweetheart Bill.” Legion and VFW Post masters were asked to post a copy of the newsletter on their bulletin boards and read the contents at their meetings, time permitting.

The “Vets’ News-Letter” began to gradually take on a new look in January 1949 under ODVA Director W.F. Gaarenstroom, with a cover printed on colored paper and displaying the contents contained therein.

Beginning with issue 200 in 1963, ODVA staff began experimenting with a series of cover drawings and illustrations that changed monthly, from simple geometrical designs to elborate patriotic scenes from colonial America.

The newsletter adopted a standard cover design in March 1967, which continued until the early 1980s, when the early onset of photos and digital printing first appeared in our publication.

The newsletter was again significantly revamped and rebranded in 1987 as a tabloid newspaper known as Vets’ News, the name by which many veterans and Oregonians (including our staff) tend to refer to it today. Then-Director Jon Mangis explained that the masthead was designed with the help of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and depicted the different generations of veterans served by ODVA.

Though the design and style continued to evolve and improve, Vets’ News retained its tabloid style format throughout the ’90s and 2000s. Publication was gradually reduced from monthly, to every other month, to twice a year in 2016, when it was revamped yet again, as the glossy magazine you are now holding.

It has been an honor to produce this publication and engage with the Oregon veteran community in this way. But, if this research exercise has taught us anything, it is that this last issue is certainly not a “goodbye.”

It is simply the next step in our continued evolution and improvement in the ways we reach, connect with and inform our veterans.