ORGANIZATIONS: Twelve Strong

To Indianapolis for their 80th Encampment this week went the twelve sturdiest of the Grand Army of the Republic's 84* surviving members. They needed their sturdiness. To G.A.R.'s ancients the raucous bedlam swirling around their chairs in the lobby of the Claypool Hotel was almost as terrifying as Pickett's charge at Gettysburg. But after 2,000 members of the Midwest Federation of Syrian Lebanon Clubs had packed up their tom-toms and left town, the old soldiers began to get attention.

As usual, the first order of business was finding the youngest and the oldest. Youngest: Orlando LeValley, 97, of Caro, Mich. Oldest:...