American Legion Family members visit burial of President Lincoln to lay wreaths.
The passage of time between the first American Legion Pilgrimage to the Tomb of President Abraham Lincoln and the 2022 event was not lost on National Commander Paul E. Dillard.
“Four-score and seven years ago, American Legion Post 32 in Springfield started this wonderful pilgrimage,” Dillard said at the burial place of the nation’s most beloved president Saturday. “The tradition has endured through a great depression, a World War, snowstorms and a global pandemic. We honor President Lincoln because he is worth it. His legacy is worth it. And, as our 16th president adamantly believed, our Union is worth it.”
Many of the speakers quoted a pledge Lincoln made during the closing weeks of the Civil War. “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan,” has been adopted as the motto for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Those words from President Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address could easily be the motto of The American Legion had the VA not already claimed it,” Dillard said. “The American Legion always has a robust agenda of service – one that I think President Lincoln would adamantly support.”
Sons of The American Legion Squadron 32 Commander James Peters, Jr., served as the master of ceremonies during the wreath laying's at the Tomb. He quoted from an 1863 letter that Lincoln wrote to New York City Mayor George Opdyke. “’Honor the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause,’” Peters read. “’Honor also the citizen who cares for his brother in the field, and serves, as best he can, the same cause. Honor to him, only less than to him, who braves, for the common good, the storms of heaven and the storms of battle.’”
During an American Legion Family breakfast Saturday morning, American Legion Auxiliary National President Kathy Daudistel recalled memorizing Lincoln’s Gettysburg address when she was a young student. “Over 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln delivered his speech that made people stop and think,” she said. “Today, we look back on Lincoln, on his life and we respect him for his insight, his integrity and his undying belief in this great country. God bless Lincoln for having the courage for standing up against popular opinion at the time and to show us what courage and belief in our fellow man looks like.”
Sons of The American Legion National Commander Michael Fox said that the SAL continues to honor Lincoln’s promise to veterans. “We do so through our volunteer efforts at our local VA centers. We do so through fish fry's and BINGO nights by our local SAL squadrons,” Fox told American Legion Family members at the annual Pilgrimage luncheon. “We do these things because our veterans mean so much to us. They are our fathers and mothers, our grandfathers and grandmothers. It is our privilege as Sons of The American Legion, to thank them for the freedom they defended for us and future generations.”
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