For God and Country
Jari Villanueva salutes after playing taps during the national convention's Patriotic Memorial Service. (Photo by Lucas Carter)

For God and Country

At the May 1919 St. Louis Caucus, where hundreds of World War I veterans gathered to establish the purposes and principles of the newborn American Legion, there was some grumbling. “The inability to come to consensus on critical issues threatened the very existence of the new organization,” American Legion National Chaplain Randy Cash explained Aug. 30 at the 2015 National Convention Patriotic Memorial Service in Baltimore.

At that formative moment in the organization’s infancy, Rev. John Washington Inzer, a Baptist minister from Texas and a former Army chaplain, stepped up to the podium and told the Legion founders about a vision of the future he had. Cash recited Inzer’s message from 1919 in St. Louis:

“While you were deliberating here these past two days, some of you only thought of this hour and this moment. But gentlemen, I had an eye cast into the future, and I was dreaming dreams and seeing visions of the years that are to come and the wonderful work, the wonderful influence, and the mighty power that this organization is going to have and exert upon this nation and upon the whole world…

“If you can only think about this Legion… as the jewel of the ages, I believe that is the best interpretation I know. I cannot say anything greater than this: I believe God raised up America for this great hour; I can say that the strong young man of the time is to be The American Legion in this country and in the world.”

Rev. Inzer’s message brought the veterans in St. Louis together so they could draft and agree on a constitution that would serve veterans, military personnel, families and communities for nearly a century.

“While the organization has evolved and changed over the years, the basic foundational principles are the same – ‘For God and country, we associate ourselves together…’" Cash said. "There was little debate, if any, regarding whether or not to include ‘For God’ in the preamble… To the founders of The American Legion, service to country was service to God, andservice to country was service to God, and service to God was service to country, the two being mutually inclusive. We cannot stand without the other.”

Cash told the gathering that the Legion’s first four national chaplains – Inzer, Charles H. Brent, Francis A. Kelly and Thomas H. Wiles – were influential in establishing non-sectarian “religious and patriotic principles of individual obligation to the community, state, nation and God,” Cash said.

Cash, a former Navy chaplain from North Carolina, said he has often heard from others that war-fighting and spirituality are mutually exclusive. To such questions, he explained, “As one chaplain friend of mine once said, ‘We are all peacemakers. We just have different roles.’ We human beings were created for lives of peace but find ourselves living in a dangerous world, and so we depend on the strength of the military to resist evil and create conditions where justice and peace can thrive. It’s like the one Marine who once said to me, ‘Chaplain, if you were doing your job better, I wouldn’t have to be doing mine.’”

From warriors to chaplains, statesmen and farmers, factory workers, bankers and philosophers, Cash said, America is both a gift of God and that we live here is an act of grace. “It is too unlikely to be an accident and too wonderful to be our own doing,” he said. “The founders of The American Legion – warriors and preachers alike – have given us a great gift. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have helped secure that gift. In every gift, there is a responsibility.”

The national chaplain’s message was framed by hymns like “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art” and patriotic standards like “God Bless America” and “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” sung by the Texas Tenors. The Texas Tenors gained national fame after their debut on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” five years ago and have since won numerous awards, performed in concert worldwide and produced an Emmy Award-winning PBS special now airing.

Sunday’s service also included presentations of memorial wreaths by American Legion National Commander Michael Helm and National Adjutant Daniel Wheeler, by American Legion Auxiliary National President Janet Jefford and National Secretary Mary “Dubbie” Buckler, and by Sons of The American Legion National Commander Mike Moss and National Adjutant Brian O’Hearne.

The American Legion Post 472 Color Guard of Houston, Texas, posted and retired the colors.