The Distinguished Service Medal was presented to the association for preserving the life and legacy of George Washington.
The American Legion presented its highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association during the 107th national convention in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 1. Founded in 1853, the association maintains the estate of America’s first president and Founding Father George Washington to educate its 1 million visitors annually about his life and legacy, and to uphold what the Founding Fathers knew.
“That the survival of the Democratic Republic relies on an educated populace,” said Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association President Anne Neal Petri as she accepted the award on stage inside the Kentucky International Convention Center. “It is such an honor to accept this award on behalf of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. We are especially honored to accept this award because we know we share a mutual commitment to teaching the next generation and inspiring the next generation about this incredible country of ours and the legacy of George Washington.
“We at Mount Vernon are grateful for the hundreds and thousands of brave men and women who have defended our liberties over two centuries to affirm the revolutionary principles. George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, is your home.”
It was 50 years after Washington’s passing that “Mount Vernon was nearly lost forever,” Petri said. His estate had fallen into disrepair and Washington's relatives could no longer afford to retain the estate, and both the federal government and the Commonwealth of Virginia did not want to maintain it. “So a group of fearless ladies, known as the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, banded together to rescue the home, raising $200,000 to purchase the estate at a time when women could not vote or own property in their own right.”
The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association has been responsible for the management and oversight of Washington’s estate for over 170 years. There are 26 board members representing 25 states and the District of Columbia with a $70 million operating budget. “We take no state or federal dollars, and we never have. We rely on the American people,” Petri said.
The Distinguished Service Medal poignantly honors the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.
“At the end of the day, we would have no country without the bravery, courage, perseverance, humility and vision of George Washington. Which is why we call him the indispensable founder,” Petri said. “We keep track of what George Washington was doing 250 years ago. To win the fight for independence was by any account literally impossible. America had no standing army. There was no formal military training. Our soldiers had varying skills and commitment. And yet, Washington made the impossible possible. With nearly superhuman patience, he took command of a diverse array of American soldiers and defeated the most fearsome military force on Earth.
“Thanks to George Washington and his revolutionary generation, today Americans are not subjects, we are all citizens… where all of us can enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Petri closed with encouraging the Legion Family delegation to visit Mount Vernon to fulfill Washington’s wish of educating generations to never “forget the sacrifices that had been fundamental to America's creation,” she said. “As Washington wrote, ‘Every valuable end of government is answered by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights.’”
- Convention