American Legion

Our very own Christopher Adam was awarded The American Legion National Eagle Scout of the Year.

The American Legion National Convention hosted Mr. Vann Morris as a guest speaker. Vann is a motivational public speaker that moved out Legionnaires about the American Flag. Please watch the video below as he speaks on Old Glory.  His website is https://evangelomorris.com/

The Department convention ended with an a lot of energy as a new department commander was elected. The 2022-2023 Department Commander is Craig A. Wilhelm.

Pictures are posted below and you can download here

Commander Wilhelm was born in Sellerville, PA on Jun 11, 1943. He graduated from Pennridge High School in 1961 and attended classes at Temple University. He graduated from Lansdale School of Business with an Associate Degree in Business.

He was drafted into the US Army 1964 and served a tour of duty in Vietnam as company clerk in Infantry Company - Command C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division.

After being discharged from the U.S. Army, Craig joined the American Legion in 1966 and served in the Legion since that time. He served in numerous capacities in The American Legion as Post Commander, 9th District Commander, Eastern Vice Commander. Commander Wilhelm has served as chairman of the National Commanders Dinner five times.

Commander Wilhelm has been involved with his community in many capacities including being the chairman of the Memorial Parade for over 20 years. He was very proud to receive Post Commander of the year in 2011.

Please see pictures below

Goals for this year include

• Retain current Legion Membership and obtain new members into the organization
• Make every attempt to get younger members
• Promote all Legion Programs, especially the programs for the youth: Keystone Boys State, Keystone Girls State, State Police Youth Week, Oratorical and Essay Contest
• Promote our organization as a Veteran's Organization that helps other Veterans
• Get our organization known as a group of people who assist and give back to our communities
• Make every attempt to make the next 100 years of our organization as good as the past 100 years

The 2022 PA American Legion Department Convention started with a day full of awards. Some of the awards that were given on the first full day of convention are:

Pictures are posted below and you can download here

Essay Contest

• Jadyn Horner from Waynesboro

Keystone Boys State

• 2022 Governor Simon Ndl from Bethlehem
• Post Sending the Most Boys to KBS - Post 202 Gettysburg (5 Students)
• District Sentding the Most Boys to KBS - District 9 (32 Students)

VA&R Employer Awards

• Large Employer of Veterans - R.J. Rhodes Transit of Ambridge
• Employer of Older Workers - R.J. Rhodes Transit of Ambridge
• 2022 Health Care Worker of the Year - Kimberly Nutt, RDCS, RCS, RVS of the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia

Children & Youth Awards

• Educator of the Year - David Holmes
• Class I - Post 88 Elm Tree of Philadelphia
• Class 2 - Post 366 Corp. John Loudenslager of Philadelphia
• Class 4 - Post 262 Ira E. Lady of Biglerville
• Class 5 - Post 641 Baden of Baden

Marketing, Media, Fundraising Awards

• John C. "Ace" Mann Blue Cap of the Year - James "Pat" Miesowitz from Post 138 of Smethport
• Post Public Relations Award - Post 437 John Ashley Dennis, Jr. of Philopsburg
• Public Relations Volunteer Award - George McCleary from Post 385 of Philadelphia
• Media Award - Daily Newspaper - The Progress of Clearfield
• Media Award - Weekly Newspaper - The Philipsburg Journal of Philipsburg
• Media Award - Internet - Beaver County Events of Beaver Falls
• Media Award - Television, Radio - WMGK 102.9 of Cynwyd

Blood Donor Awards

• Class 1 - Post 385 of Philadelphia
• Class 2 - Post 366 of Philadelphia
• Class 3 - Post 507 of Norwood
• Class 5 - Post 15 of Waynesboro

Americanism Awards

• Class 1 - Post 385 of Philadelphia
• Class 2 - Post 534 of Wyalusing
• Class 3 - Post 473 of Freeland
• Class 4 - Post 267 of Ligonier
• Class 5 - Post 571 of Erie

New Post/Post Home Awards

• Class 2 - Post 548 of Bakerstown
• Class 5 - Post 641 of Baden

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends - John 15:13

A call to order was taken at the Opening Ceremony of The Pennsylvania American Legion's 103rd Department convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Post 109 Honor Guard presented the Colors. A beautiful program was created through the Department Chaplain, Rev. Richard Denison and his committee. Rev. James Fox, Rev. Donald Cosby, Rev. John Trout, and Rev. Grover DeVault all took part in the evenings program.

All PA American Legion members who have passed this past year were honored with a spotlight on those that held Department offices - Henry Parha, Albert Hess, Larry McFall, Benjamin Spickler, Robert Mallette, Dominic D. DiFrancesco, Edward Manko, Norlynn John, Michael Wydra, and Mark Brown.

The Post Everlasting Ceremony was preformed by the 5th District Degree Team.

Pictures are posted below

In mid-June, eleven different ALR Chapters came together to celebrate the 101st birthday of local Chambersburg Legion Member and WWII Veteran Mr. Sam Worley. Mr. Worley was a member of the Army Air Corps and served this country around the world until his honorable discharge from active service before becoming a member of the Air Force Reserve.

To honor Mr. Worley, 50 plus Riders gathered at the Chambersburg American Legion Post 46 and were led by a Chambersburg Police Motor Patrolman to his home where his family was having an outdoor celebration. As part of our celebration to Mr. Worley we asked the Blankets of Honor team to join us and they did a fantastic presentation led by their CEO Veteran Manny Acuna which included a rundown of Mr. Worley's military service.

At 101 years old Mr. Worley is still very active in the community as well as still being very active with the American Legion at the local and state levels. At the end of the presentation, as in the past few years, Mr. Worley hopped on the back of ALR Head Committee Person Jon Hosfeld's trike and went for his annual ride.

It was our honor to do this for Sam and we look forward to doing it again for 102nd birthday. God Bless this WWII Veteran for his service to our country and our community.

Welcome to the new American Legion Auxiliary Department of Pennsylvania website! Thank you for your patience while we worked together to create a website that you can be proud of. This is a work in progress. We welcome any and all suggestions to improve the website.

Leadership is to develop and prepare knowledgeable and capable leaders to carry on the growth and success of the ALA by promoting resources that educate, motivate, and mentor members of all ages and at all levels of the organization.

If you’re willing to devote your time and energy to listen, learn, and communicate, you can be trained to be a leader. Leaders are not born; they are trained because they are committed.

I encourage each member to take the Leadership Correspondence Course to help educate themselves and others about the ALA. You can go to the website www.alaforveterans.org for more information.

Leadership is the responsibility of every member, not just our current and past leaders. You can do this by encouraging others. Hopefully they will embrace our vision and contribute their own unique skills. This will help to strengthen the future of our organization.

I think about sacrifice, honor, and hope.

When I was about 8 years old, I was chosen to recite the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae on Memorial Day at a local cemetery. I had to memorize the poem. I was not good at memorization. So, I studied the poem to help myself remember it.

I remember asking my parents many questions. Where is Flanders fields? Why are there so many crosses? Why are there guns? Did all those people die in the war? Who were they? Why? Why? Why?
I learned about the war and the many soldiers that lost their lives. It upset me to realize that people died so that others could live. I continued to try to understand the poem. So far, I had learned about death, war, and sacrifice. What did that have to do with birds singing and poppies blowing?

That year my mother and I grew poppies in a little garden by the fence in our yard. She told me we did this to honor the soldiers that died. I was a little closer to understanding.

I’ve always loved music. It lifts you up when you are feeling down. Bird song is music! Then I really began to understand. This was a poem about honoring the soldiers that sacrificed their lives to protect others, but it was also about hope.

This year, share your own poppy story! Poppy Day is May 27, 2022. Make sure to order your poppies through department.