June 30, 2023

Top 5: Be the One on July 1, deploying to a secret war, cremains from 9/11 returned home

By The American Legion
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Top 5: Be the One on July 1, deploying to a secret war, cremains from 9/11 returned home
Top 5: Be the One on July 1, deploying to a secret war, cremains from 9/11 returned home

Stories you may have missed: wear Be the One on Saturday to support the Legion’s suicide prevention initiative, an Air Force veteran deployed to Northern Thailand as part of “Nixon’s secret war,” the cremains of woman killed in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, are returned to her husband, and more.

1.      Be the One on July 1

Saturday, July 1 is the next “Be the One Days” – an opportunity to raise awareness about veteran suicide and reduce the stigma around asking for mental health support.  

On the first day of every month, American Legion Resolution 13 calls on Legion Family members to wear a Be the One item to start a conversation about what Be the One is and how to save the life of a veteran. Legion posts should also promote Be the One on the first day of every month. There are many resources available to support this effort here

Remember to wear your Be the One gear on July 1. You can purchase a Be the One shirt or tack through American Legion Emblem Sales.  

Remember a loved one: If you lost a veteran to suicide, The American Legion wants to honor him or her during September, Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Please send an email to sbrooks@legion.org with the following information: a photo of the veteran, in uniform if possible; the veteran’s name, branch of service and time of service, and date of birth and death; and who that veteran is remembered by, e.g. “Loved and missed by his family.”

 

2.      A celebration of patriotism

As we prepare to celebrate America’s independence on July 4, American Legion Post 129 in Pleasure Island, N.C., hosted its annual Flag Day event for youth ages 6-12 on June 14. The children recited the Pledge of Allegiance, learned the history of the flag, and watched a flag-folding demonstration and retirement ceremony. The children painted their own flag on a small canvas.

“It is so important to teach our young leaders of the future the importance of protecting our flag, and we here at Post 129 will continue to do so!” said Post 129 Commander Tiffany "TAB" Bryan.

Share your flag education story: Please share with us how your post teaches flag education or provides flags to classrooms by sharing on Legiontown.org under the category Rally Around the Flag. 

 

3. A deployment to “Nixon’s secret war”

American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast welcomes Bruce Roberson, who discusses his deployment in “Nixon’s secret war,” his career path following military service and what he’s brewing up now.

Roberson joined the U.S. Air Force in 1967 and deployed to Northern Thailand where he was stationed with the 56th Special Operations Squadron on the Mekong River across from Laos.

“We had a major computer base there … and we were monitoring traffic from North Vietnam through the Ho Chi Minh trail, which was running down through Laos into Cambodia and then arm them with what’s going on in Vietnam. We were actually dropping listening devices on the Ho Chi Minh trail,” Roberson said. “On a straight line from where I was living, I could be in North Vietnam in less than 200 miles short flight, so we had a lot of operations going on when we weren’t supposed to.” 

But his military service shaped the rest of his life. Listen to the episode to hear more from Roberson.

Support the podcast: Since its debut in April 2020, the American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast has captured the compelling stories of veterans and servicemembers, won multiple awards and sharply increased its audience. Click here for three ways you can support the podcast.

 

4. Don’t let your Legion membership lapse

As of last week, The American Legion welcomed 77,074 new members to posts across the country and overseas. This exceeds the goal of 75,000 new members that American Legion National Commander Vincent J. “Jim” Troiola called for during his election on Sept. 1, 2022. However, there are 172,850 members who paid dues to their posts in 2022 but have not yet renewed. At the department headquarters level, we have 21,343 non-renewals. Online renewal is an easy click away.

Receive your weekly membership benefit: Every Thursday, members will receive exclusive offers, great deals and even some free stuff as a way of saying thank you for your service. Subscribe now to the Thank You Thursday e-newsletter and start receiving your exclusive offers and discounts every Thursday. 

 

5. Husband receives cremains of wife killed on 9/11

Matthew Paul was in a building across the street from the World Trade Center while working for Verizon on Sept. 11, 2001. The now nearly 20-year member of Sons of The American Legion Squadron 13 in Bennington, Vt., remembers vividly what he witnessed. And those memories are why Paul worked diligently over the past two years to return to her family the cremains of a woman killed on that same day at the Pentagon.

On June 16, Paul was on hand for a small, private ceremony at Kenneth H. Nash DC Post No. 8 in Washington D.C., where cremains of Carolyn Halmon were returned to her husband, Vietnam War combat veteran Herman Halmon. The couple had been married nearly 30 years before Carolyn was killed while working as a budget analyst in the Office of the Secretary of the Army.

 

 

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