BELLEVILLE POST ESSEXNEWSDAILY.COM
APRIL 2024
VOL. 36 NO. 06
Preparing for confirmation
— See Page 4
Easter Vigil baptism Photo Courtesy of Rusty Myers
Members of the American Legion Post 105 family make the ‘Be the One’ salute at the post’s celebration of the national organization’s 105th birthday.
American Legion celebrates 105 years — See Page 8
Bucs seek fine season
— See Page 30
By Rusty Myers Sons of the American Legion Squadron 105 BELLEVILLE — American Legion Post 105 celebrated the 105th birthday of the national organization on a recent Friday evening in the Post’s clubroom. With perhaps 50 people in attendance, “the 105” had a brief ceremony, a speech by the commander, and of course a birthday cake. Every year, Posts around the world – there are about 12,000 local posts in 55 departments – celebrate March 15, 1919 as the official founding of the American Legion. On that day 105 years ago, about 1,000 officers and enlisted men from the Allied Expeditionary Force met in caucus in Paris, France to create an organization which would specifically advocate for the
young veterans of the Great War returning home. Some of the more famous founding members included Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of the president, Sgt. Alvin York, one of World War I’s most decorated soldiers, and Col. Henry L. Stimson, an ex-Secretary of War. Since then, the American Legion has grown to be the largest wartime veteran’s organization in the world, with around 2 million veteran members, a million American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) members, and around 400,000 members of the Sons of the American Legion (SAL). The organization has been instrumental over the past 105 years by pushing for the creation of the Veterans Administration, the G.I. Bill of Rights, the U.S. Flag Code, and many other veterans’ rights ini-
tiatives like the federal PACT Act and the “Be The One” campaign intended to destigmatize the need for mental health support thereby curbing the veterans suicide epidemic. In so many words, the American Legion serves as a force for good in the world. At a meeting of the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 105 in early March, the membership voted unanimously to purchase a cake for the following Friday night, when the Post normally celebrates members birthdays. The Sons wanted to do something for the American Legion Birthday to stand in solidarity with the veterans for whom they support. At 10 p.m., Post 105 Commander Joe See BELLEVILLE, Page 2