September 11, 2017

American Legion honors the victims of 9/11

By The American Legion
Legiontown
American Legion honors the victims of 9/11
A Buckley Air Force Base firefighter helmet is displayed during a Patriot Day ceremony Sept. 9, 2016, on Buckley AFB, Colo. Patriot Day serves as a day of remembrance for the nearly 3,000 men, women and children that lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Gabrielle Spradling/Released)

Posts and departments can share 9/11 commemoration details on Legiontown.

A 2002 resolution by The American Legion’s National Executive Committee encourages members, posts and departments “to honor the victims of 9-11 by planning and executing an appropriate annual patriotic or memorializing event in the community on that September date so their memories do not fade.”

President Trump issued a proclamation for the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset to "honor the nearly 3,000 innocent lives taken from us on September 11, 2001, and all of those who so nobly aided their fellow citizens in America's time of need," he stated in the proclamation.

The American Legion sent out an email alert for the flag to be flown at half-staff through its Flag Alert e-newsletter

On the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, here are what a few posts have planned in commemoration:

• Custer (S.D.) Post 46 is using the power of the media to ensure that the significance of 9/11 and the Global War on Terror isn’t lost by placing an advertisement in the local newspaper.

“It’s a little thing, but it’s amazing how much impact it really has,” said Mark Mills, Post 46’s public relations and financial officer. He said the advertisement can serve as a basis for future events tied to Patriot Day, as the post has done in similar fashion with other events designed to honor veterans of other war eras in conjunction with holidays such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

• Post 342 in Thornville, Ohio, is coordinating a car show on Sunday which will include a DJ, door prizes, and dash plaques for the first 50 cars.

• In Las Cruces, N.M., the Auxiliary at Joe Quesenberry American Legion Post 10 is coordinating a National Day of Service Project on Monday. A remembrance ceremony will take place at Las Cruces Veterans Memorial Park at 8 a.m. with an employment and recruitment fair at the post from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Other posts and departments are encouraged to share their Patriot Day events on www.legiontown.org.

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