LTE – Tom Aebly – 3-25-2020
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To the Editor and all who read this,
To Veterans, March is an important month. Here starting at the end of WWI are some of the reasons:
In January 1919 Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. invited three other officers; Col. William “Wild Bill” Donavin, Lt. Eric Fischer A. Wood, and Lt. Col. George A. White, to meet with him in Paris. From the meeting approved by Gen. John Pershing, at the Allied Officers Club (Paris, France) a caucus was called. Officers and enlisted men attended the caucus held March 15-17, 1919. On the final day, the caucus adopted the name “American Legion.” The first stateside caucus of the American Legion was held in St. Louis, May 8-10, 1919.
September 16, 1919 President Woodrow Wilson signed the American Legion’s federal charter, for a time, September 16 was recognized as “American Legion Day.” The first national convention of the American Legion was held in Minneapolis, MN. November 10-12, 1919.
Therefore March was the beginning of the American Legion. The United States lost over 58,000 veterans during the Vietnam War. The names of these veterans are inscribed on “The Wall”, the most well known Vietnam Memorial.
In 2018 President Trump signed into law The Vietnam Veterans Recognition Act, which designated March 29 to be National Vietnam War Veterans Day in perpetuity.
If you are a veteran I encourage you to join the American Legion.
Tom Aebly