WASHINGTON -- Beulah Cope, in the finest tradition of the battle cry 'Remember the Maine,' keeps track of the nation's oldest old soldiers -- the veterans of the Spanish American War.
With an office in the basement of the Veterans Administration and a salary of $300 a month, Mrs. Cope, 81, is adjutant general of the United Spanish War Veterans.
She organizes annual conventions and corresponds with veterans, widows and relatives, answering questions ranging from pensions to whether someone's great-great grandfather rode up San Juan Hill with Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt.
'To tell you the truth, there really isn't that much to do,' Mrs. Cope said. 'There just aren't that many of these veterans left.'
As of November, there were 52, about half as many as there were two years ago. Their average age is over 100.
'The youngest is 96. He lives in Florida,' Mrs. Cope said. 'The oldest is 108. He also lives in Florida -- in a nursing home.'
At their last convention, held this past fall in Louisville, Ky., about 150 relatives turned out, but just two veterans were able to make it.
'LeRoy Mendel was put in as commander-in-chief,' Mrs. Cope said. 'Harry Embree was made second in command. The previous year, it was the other way around.'
Mrs. Cope was made adjutant general of the United Spanish War Veterans in 1971 following her retirement from the State Department where she was an analyst.
Her uncle, who died in the 1950s, was among the 392,000 U.S. servicemen who fought in the campaign in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines after the U.S. battleship Maine was blown up in Havana on Feb. 15, 1898.
Mrs. Cope, whose late husband was a veteran of World War I, is the only woman adjutant general of a veterans organization.
And as head of the United Spanish War Veterans, she has been invited to the White House on a number of occasions, along with the leaders of other veterans groups.
Mrs. Cope, who has accumulated in her office several boxes filled with war memorabila, is able to rattle off the background of several of her legion of former warriors.
'Mr. MacNamara is in a veterans hospital in Massachusetts. He is 98. He was a musician. And he now heads up a band at the hospital. I understand they have quite a time.'
'Herman Miller was a private in the 34th Infantry. He was cited for bravery in the Philippines. He is 103. He is in Minnesota.
'Cleo Brown was also a private. He lived in Indianapolis. He died last September.'
As for the United Spanish War Veterans, its organization's congressional charter terminates upon the death of the final member.
Said Mrs. Cope, 'Only time will tell.'
