MEMORIAL DAY at MINETTO, NY

It was a bright sunny morning as a small group of local residents and veterans from Leadbetter-Brinklow Post 486, American Legion, gathered at the veterans monument in Riverside Park for the annual ceremony at 9:00 a.m. 

 

Sea Scouts Color Guard

The Ceremony

 Cub Scouts looked on

 Placing the Wreath

 VFW Auxiliary took part

 The bugler sounded TAPS

 Commander Wallace and Officer of the Day

 Wreath and flags at Minetto Monument

on May 27, 2013

MEMORIAL DAY at CLEVELAND, NY

A few pictures of the Memorial Day parade at Cleveland, NY. Communities celebrated their own local memorials for fallen veterans and held parades in honor of them. 
 

10th Mountain Division Color Guard

 

Lee Shaw and Mike Vaughan (Silver Star Recipient)

 General Keith Alexander with the 10th Mountain Division Color Guard

 American Legion Post 858 Honor Guard

(Pictures sent by Cleveland Post 858

Commander Sherry Kaderli)

MEMORIAL POPPY

MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE

This is a very touching video. Hope you enjoy it and take it to heart. God bless the USA.

Click HERE for video.

 

Memorial Vandalized

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Vandalized

IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

Tuesday, Liberty Institute attorneys visited Coos Bay, Oregon, to deliver a report and recommendation on the constitutionality of a Vietnam Veterans Memorial that has stood for 41 years in Mingus Park. Upon arriving, our attorneys received the unfortunate news that the memorial – honoring those who bravely served our country – had been vandalized.

A perforation line was drawn at the base of the Memorial’s cross with the word “cut” written above it and an arrow pointing to the line. The word “remove” was written in the middle of the cross.


According to several news reports, local police said they were alerted to the vandalism Monday morning, but no suspects have been identified.
Earlier this year, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to Coos Bay city officials demanding the removal of the Memorial’s cross, claiming it violates “separation of church and state.”
The city retained Liberty Institute to conduct an investigation and make a report and recommendation regarding the constitutionality of the memorial, which was presented to the City Council in executive session on Tuesday.
The Coos Bay Vietnam Veterans Memorial joins a long list of veterans memorials under attack by aggressive groups like FFRF, the ACLU and the American Humanist Association.
It is also not the first memorial to be vandalized because of its religious content.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

 

Let us remember WHY we pause to reflect on Memorial Day and to honor those who have paid the price for our freedoms. We must keep God in our country to preserve our freedoms as we know them. There are those who are trying to slowly take them away, one by one by one.

We must NOT let that happen!

Think about your children and grandchildren and remember that they are the future and deserve the same privileges and freedoms that we have enjoyed for so many years. Surely we want them to have the best lives.

GOD BLESS THE USA

and 

GOD BLESS ALL OUR SERVICE PEOPLE

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD 

MEMORIAL DAY 2013

WHAT IS A VET?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. 

You can't tell a vet just by looking.
 

What is a vet?
 

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is, by far, outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
 

He is the P.O.W. who went away one person and came back another- or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks, gang members, and mama's boys, into soldiers, and teaching them to watch each others' backs. He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career statistician who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. They are the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep. He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp; and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
 

What is a vet?
 

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness.

 
He is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say “THANK YOU”. That's all most of them need and, in most cases, it will mean more than any medals received. Two little words that mean a lot!
 

"THANK YOU, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH, FOR YOUR SERVICE & SACRIFICES!!!

Tribute by Dave Probert

SCAM IN KANSAS

FYI:

Subject: scam in Kansas -- 

could apply elsewhere

All,

I just discovered that there is an active scam on veteran payments. One of the residents here at Ft. Dodge approached me about a text message they received from the “VA” asking them to call a toll free number and confirm their bank account information. The veteran called them and was told that there is a problem processing their payment…could you please provide your account information. Luckily the veteran said no and that he did not have that information available which is why he came to my office. I told him the VA doesn’t do that.

I contacted Muskogee (Direct Deposit Enrollment Center) and they confirmed that they were experiencing that same problem since early Monday. Veterans and spouses had been giving their information over the phone to whoever this is and I’m assuming that they are stopping payment on these accounts until a new account is established. I thought it would be a good time to let everyone know that this is active and to tell your veterans that the VA does not text anyone, nor do they request banking information over the phone!!! This is one very important reason why veterans need to contact us whenever there is any kind of correspondence with the VA.

I also assume that this is because of the VA’s effort to get all veterans enrolled in direct deposit, so please be aware.

Ronald W Friess

Veterans Services Representative

Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs

714 Sheridan, Unit 68

Ft. Dodge, KS 67843

Office: 620-225-4041

Cell: 785-220-8900

Fax: 620-225-6798

E-Mail: mobilevsr002@ksh.state.ks.us

A moment in time

What volunteer program that helps 

veterans has the Legion been part of

since 1946?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS) program. In 1946, the Legion, along with other veterans service organizations and related organizations, met in Washington with VA officials. What came out of those meetings was a blueprint for local volunteer participation in activities meant to help veterans under VA care.

Today, VA describes it as "one of the largest centralized volunteer programs in the federal government," with more than 350 supporting organizations. One of those is still the Legion. Nearly 7,000 volunteers serve 900,000 hours annually at various VA medical centers, community-based outpatient centers, vet centers, nursing homes, state veterans homes and other facilities. Legion involvement stretches from the national level (representatives in VA facilities), to the post and even the individual level. Learn more about how the Legion supports VAVS here

 

PROUD TO BE AMERICAN

"and I won't forget the men who died,

and gave this right to me...

And I'll gladly stand up next to you 

and defend her still today
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt 

I love this land
God bless the USA..."

76th ORATORICAL CONTEST

Please read and look at these videos of the latest American Legion Oratorical winners:

Missouri youth named 76th Oratorical champion 

Agnes Rieger of Kansas City, Mo., was crowned the 2013 champion of The American Legion’s 76th High School Oratorical Scholarship Program, "A Constitutional Speech Contest," April 21 in Indianapolis. Rieger’s winning oration, “Let’s Talk About Pennsylvania,”
http://www.legionemail.com/t/26503880/224615198/55921231/0/  
earned her first place and an $18,000 scholarship. She was sponsored by Legion Post 95.


The finalists
Second place went to Elizabeth Scannell of Goose Creek, S.C., who was sponsored by Legion Post 166, and earned a $16,000 scholarship for her oration, “The Constitution: An American Position Description.” http://www.legionemail.com/t/26503880/224615198/56062938/0/  And third place was awarded to Rachel Schartz of Humboldt, S.D., who was sponsored by Legion Post 62 and earned a $14,000 scholarship for her oration, “Sewing Freedom.” http://www.legionemail.com/t/26503880/224615198/56062939/0/

Rieger, a 2012 Missouri Girls State alum, said “I always respected it (the Constitution), but I never had such a keen appreciation of what we have, until this competition. “This competition has helped me raise awareness (about the Constitution) and speak to my peers about what I’m doing.”
Her oration title was inspired from a history class project in which she and her fellow peers were asked to discuss the Constitution and their obligations as citizens. Instead, “we spoke about how Pennsylvania was misspelled” in the nation’s founding document; it is spelled with one "n." This lack of appreciation and knowledge on the Constitution was not only the inspiration for Rieger’s oration, but also the reason for her encouraging American’s nationwide to study the Constitution because if American’s don’t know the Constitution, “we leave our government in the hands of others, and we exclude ourselves from developing the future of our great nation," she said.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/br1V81A4GHg

Legacy Scholarship awards

Legacy Scholarship awards $49,980 to youth 

The American Legion’s National Committee on Education met during Spring Meetings to select the Legion’s Legacy Scholarship recipients for 2013. Through its Legacy Scholarship, The American Legion ensures that the children of military parents who died while on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, achieve their dream of attending college. This includes legally adopted children or children of a spouse by a prior marriage.

The Legion awarded 28 youth with the renewable Legacy Scholarship, and each recipient will receive $1,785.

New recipients are:

• Austin Alex, Freeland, Mich.
• Sebastian Almanzar, Walden, N.Y.
• Michael Beeler, Sparta, Wis.
• Brian Brooks, Norwood, Mass.
• Sarah Cubert, Lawrenceburg, Ky.
• Demetrius de Moors, Peachtree City, Ga.
• Haley Hartwick, Leander, Texas
• Kelsey Hobart, Naples, N.Y.
• Page Hobart, Naples, N.Y.
• Chelsea Kinlow, Thomson, Ga.
• David Locht Jr., Destin, Fla.
• Tyler Malcolm, Radcliff, Ky.
• Laura Marshall, Los Angeles
• Jacob Martin, McEwen, Tenn.
• Stephanie Mick, Arispe, Iowa
• Craig Thurber, Mayette, Kan.
• Anna Muralles, Savannah, Ga.
• Madison West, Chesapeake, Va.

Returning recipients are:

• Christina Beeler, Sparta, Wis.
• Alexander Bauer, Pipestone, Minn.
• Samuel Bauer, Pipestone, Minn.
• Daniel Bertolino, Murrieta, Calif.
• Stephen Bertolino Jr., Murrieta, Calif.
• Taylor B. Curry, APO AE (Italy)
• Sean McVey, Oak Hill, W.Va.
• Olivia Murphy-Sweet, Mechanicsburg, Penn.
• Eric Witt, Springfield, Ohio
• Emily Harper, Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.

The Legacy Scholarship helps high school seniors preparing to attend college, or graduates working toward an undergraduate degree, with the expense of tuition, books, room and board, and other supplies needed for college. The scholarship can also be used toward private or out-of-state colleges.

DOD Flip-Flops on Faith Policy

The Department of Defense isn't telling us the whole story about Religious Freedom in the Military!

There is an emerging pattern of abuse of religious freedom taking place within the U.S. military.  This pattern has intensified under the Obama Administration, and its now reaching crisis level.

We’ve uncovered a series of disturbing instances in which our brave service men and women – the very people who fight for our freedoms – are having their First Amendment rights taken away.

As the nation’s largest legal organization focused on defending religious freedom in America, Liberty Institute takes attacks on religious freedom very seriously. So, we conducted our own investigation regarding the Department of Defense (DOD) changing position on the First Amendment rights of our service men and women.

“We’re finding a lot of inconsistencies,” said Liberty Institute Director of Litigation Hiram Sasser. “The Department of Defense is flip-flopping. It seems like they’re changing their stories and making things up to keep the public in the dark.”

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

According to an article published last week by Fox News, members of The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, including President Mikey Weinstein – who has a history of attacking the religious rights of Christians in the military – met privately with Department of Defense officials, advising the Air Force to enforce a new regulation that would call for “the court martial of any service member caught proselytizing.”

“Someone needs to be punished for this,” Weinstein told Fox News. “Until the Air Force or Army or Navy or Marine Corps punishes a member of the military for unconstitutional religious proselytizing and oppression, we will never have the ability to stop this horrible, horrendous, dehumanizing behavior.”

The fact that this meeting took place should alarm every American who values their religious freedom.

Following this, an Air Force spokesperson made the following statement to Fox News.

“When on duty or in an official capacity, Air Force members are free to express their personal religious beliefs as long as it does not make others uncomfortable,” said Lt. Col. Laurel Tingley. “Proselytizing (inducing someone to convert to one’s faith) goes over that line.” Read the full article here.

On May 2, the DOD shared the following statement to the press:

“Service members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith to one’s beliefs (proselytization).”

So, Liberty Institute went straight to the source. We contacted the DOD and asked for a copy of the policy stating evangelism is allowed, but proselytizing is not.

The response did not make sense. The policy the DOD sent was dated July 22, 2008, and their spokesperson stated there is no new policy on the issue.

The 2008 policy clearly states:

“Title VII requires employers to accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious belief in engaging in religious expression (e.g., proselytizing) in the workplace.”

From this, it would seem as though current military policy not only allows proselytizing, but also requires it to be protected under Title VII. 

After Liberty Institute went public with the DOD’s inconsistencies, we received yet another “flip flop” communication today from a DOD spokesperson.

“Just wanted you to know what you received from me yesterday is not the dept's position, nor on the record from me, nor is it even correct.”

So, which is it? Is proselytizing allowed and protected, or is there a new policy that the Department of Defense is keeping from us? Looks like the DOD itself is having a hard time coming up with a straight answer.

“I’m stunned by the department’s inability to articulate a clear position on religious freedom for America’s service men and women,” said Sasser. “It is very simple…do they have freedom of religion or not?”

When dealing with an administration that is now being investigated by Congress for a massive foreign policy cover-up, we can’t help but wonder…is this another one?

FACT: The members of the armed forces are being lied to – you are being lied to – and we all deserve to know the truth.

AUXILIARY GOLF TOURNEY

 

The Fuller-Taylor Auxiliary Unit 915 

will host the 

GOLF TOURNAMENT

on

JUNE 1, 2013

at Glennwood Golf Course.

Call for details at

668-6948

OSWEGO POST 268 FUND RAISER

 

 Let's support this great cause to preserve the Oswego William S. Monaghan Post 268. 

Maybe some day your Post will need a little help also in surviving this economy.

We should all work TOGETHER to keep our organization active!