Every November we naturally think of “Thanksgiving” and there is nothing wrong with that.  After all Americans have much to be thankful for as we are a society derived from righteousness and Judeo Christian belief that all men are created equal.  Therefore our nation is abundantly blessed with equality, justice, liberty and freedoms found in no other nation.

Let us pause for a moment and think about what I just said.  How did we become a nation with such precious principles?  With an abiding faith in God our nation was born as a result of the unselfish sacrifices of patriots both political and militarily.  For the purpose of this column let us focus on the latter … militarily.

November 11th, Veteran’s Day, originally called Armistice Day, is the only American holiday established to remember a specific moment in time.  In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the world rejoiced following four years of bitter war, World War 1, with the signing of an armistice.  The war to end all wars was over … so we thought.  Since then the name has changed to include veterans of the wars and conflicts that would follow.

As we prepare to commemorate Veterans Day, we proudly and gratefully acknowledge the sacrifice and hardships demanded from and faithfully accepted by the millions of men and women who have defended our nation, and continue to do so, in times of peace as well as in times of war.

Veteran’s Day is a reminder that we do have an obligation to safeguard the precious legacy of our founding fathers, a legacy of freedom, justice and liberty.  this legacy forever commits the nation to preserve our sovereignty , respect our heritage, and instill in us the responsibility of good and faithful citizenship.

Freedom is America’s heart and can only be retained by eternal vigilance.  This has always been the price for freedom.  Freedom is never free.  As the great American patriot Thomas Paine said, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.  What we obtain too cheap,, we esteem to lightly.”

What we remember and honor on Veteran’s Day are the brave men and women who believe (believed) so much in an idea, and are (were) willing to risk death for it.  That idea of course is and always will be “freedom”.

American Legion Post 301 remind you November is indeed a month of thanksgiving … so on Veteran’s Day let us be ever so thankful for those who assure our freedom shall continue to endure the test of time by simply saying, “Thank you” to our nation’s military veterans.

Worth remembering … 92 years ago shortly following the Milton L. Bishop American Legion Post 301, in the Department of Pennsylvania American Legion, receiving its official charter two local veterans, Max C. Floto made a motion on the floor of the local post ans was second by Thomas Scott to campaign to have November 11th, Armistice Day (as it was called) recognized as a national holiday.

The motion passed and was sent on to the Department and National levels of the American Legion where it likewise passed at the First National Convention of the American Legion.  Thus began the long journey through the political system at the local, state and federal levels where it finally became law.

This effort earned Max C. Floto the title of “Father of Armistice Day” and it all began in Connellsville, PA.

Thankful for Veterans

was written by Dennis McKendry

Past Commander and 24th District Deputy Commander

American Legion Post 301

Watch this amazing PSA on honoring veterans.  Veterans Day is coming soon 11/11/11

“Because it’s only fair,” said the government recruiter. “They have served their country so they deserve a job when they get home.”

 

It wasn’t the usual answer to the query “Why should an employer hire a veteran?”. It was the forceful response of one human resources professional at an American Legion-supported women veterans job fair in Arlington, Va., on Oct. 26. More typical, and equally valid, was the answer offered by a recruiter from a regional bank whose manager, a female veteran herself, had briefed him well. “Veterans are hard workers, well organized, and are team players,” he said. “We want veterans because they’re the best candidates we can find.”

The unemployment rate among young women veterans is nearly 15 percent, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics; the rate for male veterans is that is several percentage points lower.

The bank was among nearly two dozen employers, including several federal agencies, interviewing more than 60 job seekers at the Female Veteran Internship and Career Fair. The event was hosted by two D.C. area-based non-profit advocacy and networking organizations. One, The WAVE (Women as Veteran Entrepreneurs), provides information and training for self-employed women veterans wishing to do business with the federal government. The other, Final Salute Inc., supports homeless women vets.

WAVE co-founder Harvetta Spann pronounced the first-of-its-kind fair a “great success” with “every slot filled.” Spann, a member of American Legion Post 1 in Washington, is on the Legion’s Small Business Task Force. She also conducts small business workshops for women veterans. Equally enthusiastic was WAVE supporter and retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier Gen. Wilma Vaught. One of the most decorated women in military history, Vaught deemed the job fair “very successful” and expressed delight that “they got so many employers here.” She is board president of the Women In Military Service For America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Among the job seekers present were former Army Blackhawk combat helicopter pilot Lee Ann Hayley and her sister, Mara Boggs. An Army major, Boggs will soon return to civilian life from her position as military liaison to the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, Hayley, already a civilian again, is marketing herself as a “leadership and management professional.” She was recently laid off from a defense consulting firm, but was upbeat as she talked about the employment opportunities presented at the women’s career fair.

The American Legion was a key presence at the fair, represented by the D.C. office’s human resources generalist Diane Price, assistant director for Health Policy Denise Williams and assistant director for Women Veterans Outreach Amanda Leigh, as well as Economic Division Director Joe Sharpe. The Legion also hosted an information booth the previous day at a D.C. career fair, attended by nearly 70 veteran-friendly employers.

As it stands now, students returning home after completing their freshman year in college are eligible to play Legion Baseball. But come 2015, that will all change - American Legion Baseball will become a junior-high and high-school age program.

Participants in all other American Legion youth programs, such as Boys State/Boys Nation, Shooting Sports and the Oratorical Contest, are limited to those attending high school. Thus, in effort to create uniformity amongst Legion youth programs, the National Executive Committee of The American Legion passed Resolution 46, restricting Legion Baseball player eligibility to junior high and high school students.

As foreseen by the NEC, the restriction will allow more high school athletes the opportunity to play Legion ball, because it will free up the limited number of places on team rosters, which are currently held by college-eligible players. The restriction to high school students will also help increase college coaches and scouts attendance at games and interest in players, allowing the young men a chance to display their skills and talents.

Indianapolis has served as the starting point for all six Legacy Runs. But with Indianapolis slated to host the 2012 American Legion National Convention, obviously a different approach needed to be taken. And now, plans are being made to finalize the 2012 Run.

The American Legion Riders Ad-Hoc Committee has devised a plan that will incorporate a three-day ride with a three-day expo in Indianapolis, and then culminate with the Riders leading off the annual national convention parade.

The American Legion Legacy Run Home begins Aug. 21 with the National Commander’s Ride, which will start in upstate New York in the home department of National Commander Fang Wong. The riders will escort Wong along the 850-mile Run that will traverse Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. A highlight of the planned Run is a special visit to Garden City, Mich., to pay tribute to the founding chapter of The American Legion Riders at Garden City American Legion Post 396. From there the Ride will travel across Michigan and Indiana before approaching Indianapolis from the west, arriving at Speedway Post 500 on the afternoon of Aug. 23.

The American Legion Riders Expo will run from Aug. 23-25 and will feature a planned series of American Legion Rider social events, such as range and classroom training, Rider program development courses, skills training and Motorcycle Safety Foundation exhibitions. Stout Army Air Field and the Joint Forces Headquarters of the Indiana National Guard will provide two hangers, parking, range areas and classrooms to host the events. Dinners, concerts and other activities will be held at area American Legion posts, and the expo will end with a candlelight night ride in downtown Indianapolis and a special ceremony for Legacy Scholarship recipients and their families at the Indiana War Memorial.

The expo has been designed to be family-friendly. Busses will provide transportation for Legion family members to Stout Field for the expo, and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation is setting up a bonding course that riders of all ages can experience, as well as providing virtual motorcycles to ride. National Guardsmen and active-duty servicemembers will ride the provided courses and participate in the night ride and Legacy ceremony.

The three goals of the expo are to develop skills through a lifelong learning model, to share ideas and to facilitate meetings to share best practices. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police drill team will be doing rider demonstrations, and the setting up of poker runs benefitting Roudebush VA Medical Center and Riley Hospital for Children is in the works.

The American Legion National Convention Parade will take place on Aug. 26 and lead off with American Legion Riders. All American Legion Riders are invited, and there is no registration fee.

Registration for the 2012 event will open in early January on www.legion.org. Expo registration is free to all Commander’s Ride participants. Riders who choose not to participate in the Ride but wish to attend the American Legion Rider Expo may register separately.

Dates for all 2012 American Legion Legacy Run Home activities are:

• Aug. 20 - Assembly for The American Legion Legacy Run Home near Buffalo/Niagara Falls, N.Y.
• Aug. 21-23 - The National Commander’s Ride.
• Aug. 23-25 - The American Legion Riders Expo, Indianapolis
• Aug. 26 - The 94th Annual National Convention Parade

The 2011 Legacy Run raised $668,738.39 for the Legacy Fund. To date, six Legacy Runs have netted more than $2.6 million for the fund, which provides college scholarships for the children of U.S. servicemembers killed on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001.

WASHINGTON (Jan. 3, 2011) - As more women serve in the armed forces, the number of women veterans - currently about 2 million - will also grow. Yet only about 25 percent of that population is using the VA health-care system.

The American Legion is launching a two-month, worldwide online survey Jan. 5 to find out why.

“Conducting this kind of survey is very important to us,” said Jimmie Foster, national commander of The American Legion. “After analyzing the data we’ve collected, the Legion will be better qualified to make specific recommendations for congressional appropriations, VA programs and facilities, and to increase public awareness of issues facing women veterans.”

Verna Jones, director of the Legion’s division of veterans affairs and rehabilitation, added, “In order to strengthen our advocacy role, we need to conduct a comprehensive survey of women veterans about their experiences and attitudes concerning health care provided by VA, private practitioners, and other health-care providers.”

Jones said that results from the survey will be used to refine The American Legion’s outreach methods, enhance its written and oral testimony to Congress and federal agencies, and to ultimately improve the delivery of women veterans’ benefits, programs and services.

“The survey will also help to identify unmet needs among women veterans, and guide the Legion’s development of specific remedies and recommendations,” said Denise Williams, the organization’s assistant director of health policy. “Then we can offer them to VA as specific actions to eliminate specific health-care problems faced by women veterans.”

The survey will be conducted by ProSidian Consulting in Charlotte, N.C., which specializes in strategic business issues. Its list of clients includes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other federal agencies.

Survey questions will cover ten aspects of health-care service quality: reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, tangibles and understanding the customer.

The survey was developed by American Legion specialists on women veterans issues. “We understand the sacrifices of women and their role in serving America,” Jones said. “We recognize that women, like their male counterparts, are returning home with illness, disease, injuries and the invisible wounds of war.”

Jones said The American Legion believes the survey’s results “will be a major component in being able to understand the needs of women veterans, and allow us to assist in providing the services needed.”

Women veterans are encouraged to participate in the survey by visiting www.legion.org.  It becomes active on Jan. 5 and will remain online until early March, after which analysis of the results will begin.

This contest is for students who welcome learning.  For the student who looks for an academic challenge and an opportunity to gain scholarship monies, The American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program is a natural fit.  Students learn about our country’s Constitution in a contest that has been held by The American legion for more than 70 years.

The main purpose of The American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program is to develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the Constitution of the United States on the part of high school students.  Other objectives of the contest include the development of leadership qualities, the ability to think and speak clearly and intelligently, and the preparation for acceptance of the duties and responsibilities, the rights and privileges of American citizenship.

Post Contests gets students started

Each Post of The Pennsylvania American Legion may certify one contestant into the district or inter-district contest.  From there, the winner moves onto the next contest eventually moving up to the Department Oratorical Contest having the ability to win $7,500 scholarship.  The Department Oratorical winner will then move onto the National contest with the opportunity to win $18,000.

Don’t let the high school students in your community miss out on this scholarship money.  Ask your members if they know a student interested in scholarship money.  Go to your local high school, take a half an hour and talk to the principal, school counselor, American social studies educator or the speech and debate club sponsor.  You can be the motivator to get things going for families in your community.

Who is eligible to participate?

You are eligible to participate in The American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program if you are a citizen or a lawful permanent resident of the United States.  Further, all contestants must be bona fide students under the age of 20 years and must be enrolled in a high school or junior high school (public, parochial, military, private or home school) in which the curriculum of the school is considered to be of high school level, commencing with grade nine and terminating with grade twelve.  Students must be enrolled in high school or junior high school during the time of participation at any level of the contest.

For more information on the Oratorical Contest, check out our Oratorical program. 

Happy New Year Legion Family members!  As we enter 2011 there are some very important issues before us.  Membership is our lifeblood!  Efforts to retain and recruit members are of utmost importance for our posts, our Department and our National organization.  We must stop the decline in membership!  Our posts are the window through which our communities view The American Legion.  We encourage all our readers to assist our posts in meeting their membership goals.  As we’ve said many time before “membership is everyone’s business!”  Get involved in making your post 100% this year.

 

An area of concern for our members, and especially our post homes, is what is happening with the “small games of chance” legislation.  Department Commander Pete Wasco has met with Governor Elect Tom Corbett’s transitional team and discussed the need to address some real changes in the current small games of chance laws.  The current law is 30-years old and falls short on realistic limits on prizes and how or what those funds can be legally expended on.  The expectations are very high; we will see new legislation passed this year.  We will keep you apprised of the process as the new legislation is introduced.  We would appreciate if you would contact your local legislator and get them to support this needed change.  For those with Internet access the information is on our website at www.pa-legion.com.

 

Another Pennsylvania General Assembly issue is increased funding for Act 66 (the service officers initiative).  Our Pennsylvania American Legion should be very proud of the performance of our Department Service Officers.  Collectively, in a twelve month period, our service officers have served over 6314 veterans, with new federal benefits awarded to these veterans totaling $68,426,503.  We have also served at least one veteran in all 67 counties within Pennsylvania.  One of the pillars of The American Legion is service to our veterans and we set the standard for maintaining this important legacy!

 

Posts should have contacted local schools for candidates in our Oratorical Contest.  Contestants should already be working on their oration.  We would like to see a large turnout for the Department finals in Harrisburg.  These young men and women compete for more than $16,000 in scholarship money and the level of preparation at this level clearly establishes this program as the premier event of its kind.  The contest is held in the Forum Building, a beautiful historic facility located in downtown Harrisburg, March 5, 2011 at 10 AM.   It is the absolutely perfect venue for our event.  Another plus is attending this contest it’s free!  Try and be present at this event.  You will be glad you attended.

 

The National Commander’s Tour is March 7 in the East at Lehighton; March 8 in Middletown and March 9 at Avalon.  Dinner ticket and ad book information have been sent out and is also on our website.  Let’s show National Commander Jimmie Foster that we are “Pennsylvania Proud”.  Please plan on attending when the banquet is in your area.  Also please support the ad booklet as this assists the sponsoring posts in offsetting the costs of planning this dinner.

 

Legion College was again a great success!  Thanks to all committee members who made both events such a complete triumph!  Thanks also to our Legion Family members who attended or helped get the word out about these events. 

 

Our annual Holiday Hospital Tour went extremely well this year.  Thanks to Hospital Entertainment Chairman Ed Connell for working so closely on the scheduling.  We traveled 1328 miles without any glitches as we visited all six State Veterans Homes and ten VAMC’s across our Commonwealth.  Thanks to all three of our Vice Commanders - Alex Dombrowsky, Earle “Spanky” McCarney and Joe Cocco - as they accompanied our Department Commander Pete Wasco when we were in their section. Thanks also to Department President Beverly Reinhard, Art Hollerman, NECman Richard Coccimiglio, and our own Past Department Commander Jim “Sammy Claus” Hales, who traveled to each stop and contributed to making the lives a little brighter for the residents and patients we visited.  Last, but certainly not least, a “special thanks” to all our VAVS Representatives and all the volunteers who make the days a little brighter for our veterans and for representing our goals so well - we salute you!

 

A few 2011 dates to remember:  The annual Allegheny County Youth Achievement dinner will be held at the Pittsburgh Soldiers & Sailors Hall April 10; February 2 is our 80% membership target date; March 3 is our 85% membership target date; April DEC will be April 1-3 at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg East; Department Commanders Testimonial Dinner will be at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg East April 2 and Department President Reinhard’s Testimonial Dinner will be in Allentown April 9. All testimonial dinner flyers have been mailed out and are on our website.  Until next time…

Our Department Commander Pete Wasco is continuing his stand to protect the battlegrounds of the Civil War’s most crucial battle of Gettysburg.  Two months ago, Pennsylvania American Legion Department Commander Pete Wasco toured through Gettysburg and he continues to stand alongside our national organization.  Wasco said, “Gettysburg is to honor those soldiers who fought for this nation.  It is our duty to protect the history of our nation and the unmarked graves of those who gave all.”

The American Legion’s national headquarters expressed strong opposition to a proposed gambling casino that would be located next to the battlegrounds of the Civil War’s most crucial battle.

Gaytan’s remarks reinforced an American Legion press release issued Aug. 12, calling a plan to build a casino near the Civil War landmark a “national disgrace.” The proposed casino site is right next to land where Union and Confederate cavalry fought a bloody engagement.

The formation of a new anti-casino group, Veterans for Gettysburg, was announced at the press conference, where a group of Gettysburg citizens, some sporting “No Casino” T-shirts, stood on the Capitol’s main staircase behind the featured speakers: Gaytan, Jan Scruggs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and historian Edwin Bearrs, who is also a decorated World War II veteran.

Veterans for Gettysburg also sent a letter to Gregory Fajt, chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, asking the board to reject a developer’s application to open a gaming facility a half-mile from Gettysburg National Military Park.

“We are not against a casino; rather, we are for Gettysburg,” the letter said. “We concur with the judgment of over 275 American historians who also voiced their concern for this project’s unavoidable conflict with Gettysburg’s place in American history.

“We stand on behalf of the millions of Civil War veterans who endured four harrowing years of combat, but are no longer with us to speak for themselves. As you would honor (veterans’) service, we ask you to remember theirs.”

Representatives of the Civil War Preservation Trust also attended the press conference. The organization’s president, James Lighthizer, applauded the formation of Veterans for Gettysburg.

In a statement, Lighthizer said that Gettysburg “holds a special place in the hearts of all Americans, but it is particularly dear to those who have felt the heat of battle. The call to military service is a tie that stretches across the generations and makes all of our nation’s veterans truly one ‘band of brothers.’”