This fall, members of your Post, Unit Squadron or Chapter can take one day and learn about the many different programs and projects concerning the Pennsylvania American Legion. For a $15 registration fee, “students” choose one of eight courses, which will be filled on a first come first served basis.
The General Course provides information on all Department programs, activities and more.
The Adjutant Course is a 1/2 day course which covers membership, various forms as well as other information. The first half of the day will be spent in the General Course.
The Auxiliary Course is an all day class that covers issues pertaining to the Pennsylvania American Legion Auxiliary.
There will also be a 1/2 day SAL Course. The first half of the day will be spent in the General Course
The Service Officer Course is an all day class that will give insight on filing claims and assisting veterans in need.
The Home Association Course is an all day class that will educate attendees on bookkeeping, IRS forms, small games of chance and the Home Association’s relationship to the Post.
Another class is the Legion Riders Course for 1/2 of the day. This will inform the students about the different aspects of the Legion Riders. The first half of the day will be spent in the General Course.
The final program is the Chaplain Course for those who are or may want to become a Chaplain and will explain your obligations and duties within your Post as the Chaplain. The first half of the day will be spent in the General Course.
For your convenience Department offers tow “colleges”. Choose to attend October 30, 2010 at Cumberland Valley High School (Mechanicsburg, PA) or November 6, 2010 at the Latrobe High School in Latrobe PA. Opening program begins at 8:30 am with all classes starting at 9:00 am.
Registration fee includes course material, a full course lunch and a Legion College pin.
Both facilities are non smoking.
Click Here for the Legion College application
View a video of the 2009/2010 year in review.
The 2010 Department Convention held at the Harrisburg Hilton Hotel was a great success. View the great pictures below.
The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest veterans service organization, committed to mentoring and sponsorship of youth programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting a strong national security, and continued devotion to our fellow servicemembers and veterans.
In contrast to other veterans organizations, the Legion offers a number of local programs and activities to strengthen its commitment to our nation’s grass roots and the people we serve. American Legion Baseball is one of the nation’s most successful amateur athletic programs; it continues to educate youths on the importance of sportsmanship and develops the quality of our country’s citizenship. The Heroes to Hometowns program is the only nationwide reintegration assistance service for wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, millions of dollars in donations have been given to fellow veterans and their families in times of grief, and various scholarship opportunities ensure the future success of our youth.
The American Legion is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization with great political influence perpetuated by its grass-roots involvements in the legislation process. Legionnaires’ sense of obligation to their community, state and nation drives an honest advocacy for veterans in Washington. The Legion stands not behind politics, but the issues and people that institute progress by focusing on veterans rights and quality of life.
The American Legion’s success depends entirely on active membership, participation and volunteerism. The organization belongs to the people it serves and the communities in which it thrives.
The Four Pillars of The American Legion Booklet (PDF)
Need a Lift? To educational opportunities, scholarships, grants, student loans, careers and employment.
The American Legion publishes a comprehensive roundup of educational opportunities – including state and federal education benefits for veterans – in a booklet titled “Need a Lift?” Nearly 30,000 copies are distributed to educational institutions each year. It contains up-to-date information on:
- The basics of higher-education funding
- A listing of federal education benefits and programs, including loans, grants, scholarships, work-study opportunities, tax benefits and educational IRAs
- A listing of state education benefits and programs
- Scholarships, grants and loans administered or supported by The American Legion
- Military resources
- Private funding sources
- An index of books and e-newsletters on education benefits
- Basic information on four-year colleges around the United States
- Contact information
The American Legion is again competing for $250,000 for the Legacy Scholarship Fund in July. Additionally, we are entered for August on behalf of job fairs, in which we are quite active. Let’s make it a point to let our “address books” know that we need them to vote every day for the next two months in order to win $500,000 for American Legion Charities. Go to www.legion.org and click on the Pepsi Refresh icon.
INDIANAPOLIS (June 14, 2010) – A letter signed by The American Legion is asking President Barack Obama to restore the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial cross.
The letter, which also copied U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, was signed by National Commander Clarence Hill and also included signatures from the heads of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and Liberty Institute and the veterans counsel for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
“It is time for the President to intervene and restore this tribute to our World War I veterans which stood as a testament to their sacrifice for over 75 years,” Hill said. “After its reaffirmation by the highest court in the land, its clandestine removal by thieves cries out for its immediate replacement.”
This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled lower federal courts’ decisions to tear down the memorial because of a misplaced belief that it was a religious icon on federal land. Soon after the ruling, the memorial was ripped down and carried away by vandals.
“This act was abhorrent and constitutes a federal crime under the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003. And it defies the rule of law, flouting a binding decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,” the letter states. “If Arlington National Cemetery were similarly desecrated, that desecration would be rectified immediately, and rightly so. Unfortunately, however, the National Park Service and the Department of Justice are refusing our request to replace the stolen memorial.”
The letter goes on to state that the National Park Service hasn’t restored the memorial because it is complying with a lower court order, which in their interpretation, the Supreme Court decision did not fully address. Henry Sandoz, the caretaker of the memorial for the last 26 years, has built an exact replica of what was torn down and is ready to reinstall it.
“This impasse is at a point where we now need your intervention as our nation’s leader, Mr. President, on decisive action to direct restoration of the memorial to its original form,” the letter reads. “It is in your power to direct the National Park Service and the Department of Justice to immediately restore the Memorial. And, on behalf of our nation’s veterans, we humbly ask you to do so, as Commander in Chief and as the sole officer constitutionally charged to take care that the laws are faithfully executed.”
Anyone who wants to sign their name onto the letter can do so at http://www.putthecrossback.com/ .
The head of the nation’s largest veterans organization praised Army Secretary John McHugh for “decisive action,” in the wake of an Inspector General’s report which revealed mismanagement at Arlington National Cemetery.
“We are disturbed any time we hear that our nation’s heroes are treated in an undignified manner,” National Commander Clarence E. Hill said. “The findings in the report are quite serious but Secretary McHugh is to be commended for taking decisive action to correct what he called ‘dysfunctional management.’ We are pleased that former Senators Bob Dole and Max Cleland will lead an independent panel to eliminate the deficiencies. Our heroes at Arlington gave their all. We must not fail them. The American Legion offers its assistance to correct the problems.”
A failure to automate records reportedly led to the misidentification of remains. More than 300,000 veterans have been interred at Arlington National Cemetery from the Civil War through the current Global War on Terrorism.
With a current membership of 2.5-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.
Celebrate Flag Day by Protecting Old GloryBy Clarence E. Hill
One sure way to light up The American Legion’s switchboards is for an overzealous homeowners association to ban the display of Old Glory within its community. While these disturbing incidents seem to be on the rise in recent years, I find it completely ironic that while a ban can exist on flying the flag of our country, no such ban is allowed to exist on desecrating it.
“Sorry, Mr. Veteran, you’re not allowed to fly the flag on your private property, but the Constitution says you can urinate on it, spit on it, and burn it all you want,” is what the government seems to be telling us.The American Legion finds this unacceptable. In fact, for 21 years now, dating back to the Supreme Court’s flawed Texas v. Johnson decision, we’ve been pretty fired up about it. In that case, a narrow 5-4 majority ruled that flag desecration was permitted by the First Amendment. Essentially, a margin consisting of one Supreme Court Justice invalidated flag protection laws enacted by 48 states and the federal government. The high court removed from the people the right to protect their nation’s foremost symbol – a right that the people have enjoyed since the birth of this nation.
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist usually voted on opposite sides, but they were both right about flag desecration. “In my considered judgment, sanctioning the public desecration of the flag will tarnish its value – both for those who cherish the ideals for which it waves and for those who desire to don the robes of martyrdom by burning it” Stevens said. “That tarnish is not justified by the trivial burden on free expression occasioned by requiring that an available, alternative mode of expression – including uttering words critical of the flag … be employed.”
Rather than “free expression,” Rehnquist compared flag desecration to an “inarticulate grunt,” and wrote, “I cannot agree that the First Amendment invalidates the Act of Congress, and the laws of 48 of the 50 states, which make criminal the burning of the flag.”
Fortunately, there is something we can do about it. Measures sit in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives that would allow for a narrowly drawn constitutional amendment which would return to the people the right to protect Old Glory. It simply says “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”
Flag protection amendments have passed the House of Representative six times in the past, only to fall short of the necessary two-thirds supermajority required in the Senate.
Flag Day during an election year represents the perfect opportunity to urge your congressional delegation to vote to protect our flag, the embodiment of what Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf called our “national identity.”
While the Constitution is supposed to protect us from the tyranny of the majority, a strong case can be made that protecting flag desecration as free speech represents a “tyranny of the minority.” Polls repeatedly show that Americans support this amendment. Fifty state legislatures have called for the amendment’s passage. Overwhelming majorities in Congress have passed it in the past and the amendment fell only one vote short last time in the Senate.
When is the last time that 66 percent of the Senate agreed on anything of substance?
Don’t be swayed by phony arguments about desecrating red, white and blue neckties, underwear or beach towels. These are not flags. Would anyone consider putting these items on the caskets of our fallen heroes? Would you run a scarf up a flagpole? The beauty of the flag amendment is its narrowness – it covers the flag, not its likenesses. It also covers “desecration,” not the respectful “burning” of it during its retirement, as opponents would have you believe.
The amendment is worth repeating: “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.” Nothing more, nothing less.
By encouraging Congress to support House Joint Resolution 47 and Senate Joint Resolution 15, we can make the statement that our flag is important and that “We the people” matter. You can reach your members of Congress by calling the U.S. Capitol, toll free, at 1-877-762-8762. It’s time to make somebody else’s switchboard light up.
Portion of proceeds will benefit Legion programs
INDIANAPOLIS (June 9, 2010) – A new documentary detailing the 91-year history of The American Legion has just been released and is currently available through the organization’s Web site and Flag & Emblem Sales division.
“History of The American Legion: A National Legacy” was produced by Blackhorse Productions, a California-based company that specializes in military documentaries. Narrated by actor Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers), the movie traces the World War I roots of The American Legion and follows its history from its founding through its support for the military during the Global War on Terrorism.
“The American Legion has been the leading voice for veterans and the military since 1919,” National Commander Clarence E. Hill said. “While many people know that The American Legion played a pivotal role in the creation of the GI Bill, they don’t necessarily know the fascinating history behind it. From the elevation of the VA to cabinet-status to the administration of some of the most successful youth programs in the country, The American Legion has too many noteworthy accomplishments for me to mention here. I am pleased that we now have a DVD that brings the illustrious history of The American Legion to life. This would make a great gift for any Legionnaire and a great educational tool for the general public.
“The National Executive Committee passed Resolution 6 during its October 2008 meetings, which authorized The American Legion to cooperate with Blackhorse Productions in the creation of the documentary. The project was completed at no cost to The American Legion, with a portion of the sales proceeds being allocated to The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund, Child Welfare Foundation and National Emergency Fund.
“Preserving history and teaching viewers about the contributions and sacrifices made by our veterans is a passion for Blackhorse Productions,” said Jason Heit, Executive Producer and CEO. “We were extremely excited to not just tell the great story of The American Legion, but to include the American Legion Auxiliary, Sons of the American Legion and the American Legion Riders.”
The DVDs cost $19.95 each and are available online at www.emblem.legion.org or by calling 1-888-453-4466. The stock number is 755.906.
With a current membership of 2.5-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and the mentoring of youth. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.