Blackwell-Frazier American Legion Post #142 Hominy, Oklahoma

Photo by James V. Carroll

>>> From the National Organization.

Legionnaires, Sons of The American Legion and Auxiliary members, along with other distinguished guests, will convene at the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel from Sept. 16-18 for the Legion’s fifth annual Children & Youth Conference.  Presentations and topics during the three-day event include fundraising, Internet crimes against children, Sesame Street Workshop: When Families Grieve, the Child Welfare Foundation, Temporary Financial Assistance, American Legion Auxiliary Children & Youth programs, Our Military Kids and the National Children’s Cancer Society.

Registration is free for Legion family members.  For further information regarding the Children & Youth Conference, click here.

John P. Powers, commander of Post 2001 in New York City, joined with other New York Legionnaires in a memorial service aboard the USS Intrepid Friday. Photo by Amy C. Elliott

>>>From the National Organization

The events of 9/11 had an enormous impact on the national level. But for a group of New York Legionnaires, it also meant finding a new home.

American Legion Post 1870 was based out of the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City. During the terrorist attacks, the DAC was badly damaged and never reopened, meaning Post 1870 needed to either relocate or die off. But like the spirit of New York, the Legionnaires refused to go quietly into the night.

The post eventually moved aboard the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and later changed its named to The American Legion 9-11 Memorial Post 2001. And on Friday, Post 2001 Legionnaires, along with other New York Legionnaires, took part in a memorial sunset ceremony to begin a weekend filled with remembrance of the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. The free, public ceremony took place on Intrepid’s Pier 86, near a display of pieces of 9-11 World Trade Center steel. Officers and crew from USS New York also attended.

The USS New York arrives in New York for Commissioning ceremonies on Nov. 2, 2009. Photo by Amy C. Elliott

>>>By Alan W. Dowd, National Organization

Nine years have passed since the attacks of September 11. Attacks that breached the Pentagon’s walls, maimed Manhattan, scarred rural Pennsylvania and erased some 3,000 innocent lives. The American people may choose to forget or suppress what happened that terrible Tuesday morning, but their military has not. Just consider how the Navy is remembering Sept. 11.

Most people have heard about the transport dock ship USS New York, delivered to theNavy last year. With 7.5 short tons (15,000 pounds) of steel from Ground Zero forged into its hull and “Never Forget” as its motto, the symbolism is unmistakable. And during a ceremony for the ship in September 2002, George Pataki, governor of New York at the time, stated, “On September 2001, our nation’s enemies brought their fight to New York … The USS New York will now bring the fight to our nation’s enemies well into the future.” Continue reading →

Fang A. Wong, Photo by Amy C. Elliott

>>>A message by American Legion National Commander Fang A. Wong

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, drew a line through human history. Time is now defined as either pre-9/11 or post-9/11. I will leave it to social scientists to study and interpret the differences between the two eras. I can only say what 9/11 meant to me, as a member of The American Legion, and how the attacks stand to influence the work of our organization going forward.

First of all, Kimlau Post 1291 in Chinatown was The American Legion’s closest presence to Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks. I was adjutant of that post on 9/11. Another post, housed in the Downtown Athletic Club in lower Manhattan, was destroyed in the attacks; it has since reconstituted itself onboard the USS Intrepid, as 9-11 Memorial Post 2001. Continue reading →