Tango Alpha Lima honors American Legion history

This week’s Tango Alpha Lima podcast celebrates The American Legion’s birthday, which is March 15 to 17, with a special guest.

Jeff Stoffer, the director of the Legion’s Media and Communications Division, shares a range of interesting stories and anecdotes from throughout The American Legion’s 102-year history.

Among the topics Stoffer addresses:

• How the Legion established the “roots of disability compensation for combat veterans” shortly after World War I.

• How a police and Army escort from the hills of Georgia eventually led to a critical vote in a House committee on June 10, 1944.

Stoffer also talks about the recent 13-part documentary series, To Strengthen a Nation, that chronicles the first 100 years of the nation’s largest veterans service organization. military training camp in Plattsburg, NY. (Start here to view the prelude and then check out the other episodes, organized by topic.)

Looking forward, Stoffer also talked about what’s next for the nation’s largest veterans service organization, including how American Legion posts continue to serve their communities during the global pandemic.

He discusses the way “The American Legion organically went to work in every community, state and throughout the nation to provide relief” during the year-long pandemic. He discusses a new book that chronicles the work of Legion posts that delivered food, checked on their buddies, provided personal protective equipment and handled other vital duties. The book, “COVID Operations,” is available from Emblem Sales at www.legion.org/emblemsales or by calling (888) 453-4466.

Check out the new episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or the podcast webpage for this week’s Tango Alpha Lima, as well as links to all the previous episodes.