The American Legion [Volume 151, No. 5 (November 2001)]

y in i mm SB ii mmmEll Mm f i; \m s z z ESI iiir x i • CIS« x •m 1 1 r HEi a c mmw i 1 " IT ^ ' each Big, and Tall of warmth! Sizes.' The plush "shearling" acrylic lining throws off more BTUs than a woodstove! 95 2 for 38.25 1 That's the joy of this hefty, 'each 3 for 56.50 ramie/cotton flannel SHIRTJACK 4 for 74.50 shirtjack! With two big Haband 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Peckville, Pennsylvania 18452

chest pockets, it has a Send shirts. I enclose $ purchase price plus $3.95

sturdy zip front, side slits, toward postage. GA residents add sales ta Regular Sizes 19.95 each: WHAT HOW plus side-seam pockets! S(34-36) M(38-40) L(42-44) XL(46-48) IQ 77N-32H Easy-on sleeves are fiberfill Big Sizes 19.95 each: 2XL(50-52) 3XL(54-56) 4XL(58-60) insulated with diamond Green Plaid 5XL (62-64) quilt nylon lining. Tall Sizes (6'2" & over)19.95 each: LT(42-44) XLT(46-48) 2XLT(50-52) PS Red Plaid It's a shirt — it's a jacket. 3XLT{54-56) 4XLT(58-60) 5XLT (62-64)

1 00% wash & wear. Under $20! Order now! D _VLsa. feg B2H3§ Exp.: / 1 Mr./Mrs./Ms. Address Apt. # Zip City & State j Duke Habernickel, Pres. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Full Refund of Purchase Price at Any Time! 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Peckville, PA 18432 «iTca" 1-800-543-4810°* 12 THE AMERICAN • Legion "Amid the smoking ruins of the Twin Tow- L ers one could make out the Statue of Liber- egion ty holding high the NOVEMBER 2001 M For God and Country torch of freedom. It is Vol. 151, No. 5 J freedom's flame that the terrorists sought to

extinguish. But it is that same torch that 12 'A wake-up call From Heir can lead the free In a speech before the House Government Reform Committee, world to crush the former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns of the forces of terror." far-reaching tentacles of terrorism. - Benjamin Netanyahu 18 veterans Day 2001 America's most enduring symbol of peace: the people who fought for it. By Jeff Staffer 20 The 83rd National Convention Legionnaires spice up the Alamo's hometown with patriotism, pride and the President of the United States. By Steve Brooks 32 Sizing up America's Banks Hometown banks and major financial corporations jockey for market position in the wake of '90s merger mania. By Gurney Williams III 38 The Power of Perseverance The Brooklawn, N.J., team shows what it takes to win The American Legion Baseball World Series. By JeffStoffer 40 'The U.S. Marine Corps Changed My Life' A night in a Georgia drunk tank led young Zell Miller to Parris Island, S.C, and a whole new world of responsibility. By James V. Carroll 44 Men of Honor Paying final respects to a parting comrade is the toughest duty a veteran faces. By Larry Bingham departments

| 4 vet voice 8 Commander's Message Veterans can help America heal from the tragic events of Sept. 11. 52 Living Well Coloring your diet healthy, spinal cord injuries, and the link between Agent Orange and Type 2 diabetes. 58 Washington watch Tobacco-settlement spending habits, what to do with an antique nuclear bomb and who's touring Cuba these days. 60 Legion News Christmas cheer for troops in South Korea, a bill before Congress that emerged from Boys Nation and Navy veterans who dream of a mobile museum from the LST-325 they saved last winter. 66 Comrades 72 Parting Shots

't. The American Legion Magazine, a leader among national general-interest publications, is published monthly by The Ameri- I can Legion for its 2.7 million members. These wartime veterans, working through 15,000 community-level posts, dedicate P themselves to God and Country and traditional American values; strong national security; adequate and compassionate care for veterans, their widows and orphans; community service; and the wholesome development of our nation's youth.

November 2001 11 The American Legion Magazine j , 6

THE AMAZING LegionTHE AMERICAN • M W For God and Country

Ends 700 N. Pennsylvania St. P.O. Box 1055 Back-Breaking Indianapolis, IN 46206 (317) 630-1200 Property Cleanup http://www. legion .org Forever! National Commander Richard J. Santos published by The American Legion Commercial-power vacuum turbine lifts and EDITORIAL pulverizes tons of leaves, twigs, pine needles Editor John Raughter and lawn debris as you drive. Managing Editor Jeff Stoffer Contributing Editor Steve Brooks Great for big grass-mowing jobs—Giant 300 gallon Assistant Editor James V. Carroll Assistant Editor Matt Grills capacity clears huge areas without stopping. Assistant Editor Elissa Kaupisch Hitches to virtually any riding mower or tractor. Editorial Administrator Patricia Marschand General Administrator Brandy Ballenger Folds up flat for compact storage. You can actually General Administrator Robin Bowman hang it on the wall! GRAPHICS/PRODUCTION Graphics/Production Director Jon Reynolds Free Information Kit YES! Please rush me FULL INFORMATION Art Director Holly K. Soria on the revolutionary CYCLONE RAKE® and Designer Douglas Rollison special pre-season sale prices. ADVERTISING MAIL THIS Advertising Director Diane Andretti COUPON TODAY Advertising Assistant Sara Palmer The American Legion Magazine OR CALL TOLL-FREE P.O. Box 7068 1-800-358-8834 Indianapolis, IN 46207 Publisher's Representatives MAIL TO: WOODLAND POWER PRODUCTS, INC. Dept. AL1 101 Fox Associates, Inc. 72 Acton St., West Haven, CT 0651 www.CycloneRake.com/aL pSI\oAm Chicago: (312) 644-3888 New York: (212) 725-2106 Los Angeles: (310) 841-0280 Detroit: (248) 543-0068 Atlanta: (404) 252-0968 San Francisco: (415) 989-5804 Finely Crafted Leather THE AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE COMMISSION

Footwear For Men Dennis J. Henkemeyer, Chairman, Sauk Rapids, MN; Samuel Barney, Vice Chairman, Lancaster, OH; Robert H. Nji sizes 6 to 20 e widths AAA to EEEEE Allen, National Commander's Representative, Mechanics- As a Paid-Up-For-Life Our ctassically styled dress, burg, PA; Theodore R. Hartmann, Smithton, IL; Donald R. Conn, South Bend, IN; James W. Conway, Charlestown, Member of The American casual and athletic designs ma; Hoy M. Haught, Huntsville, AR; James H. Hall, offer exc eptiona l comfort. Legion, you gain the Hopewell, NJ; Bettylou Evans, Laurel, DE; Eugene J. Kelley,

Savannah, GA; James P. Comiskey, Pittsburgh, PA; George benefits you deserve—for life' For aFREfbtfALOG G. Sinopoli, Fresno, CA; Philip B. Finley, Colby, KS; Joe D. Crafted in Italy; Vrff call toll-free Mercer, Oklahoma City, OK; Russell H. Laird, Des Moines, ~k Never pay annual dues again England and th< IA; J. Fred Mitchell, Brewton, AL; J.O. Berthelot, Gonzales, yjnited States. Wl\ i.877-220./#4, ir Enjoy lifetime discounts on LA; Everett G. Shepard III, Woodstock, CT; Dolores Ziegler, \ • code )409Si prescriptions, eyewear and Bellevue, WA; Silas M. Noel, Frankfort, KY; Frank C. Ward, Greenville, SC; Robert E. Vass Sr., Huntington, WV; James J. travel services Charleston, Arlington Hgts., IL and Casimir F. Sojka, New * Receive The American Rochelle, NY, consultants. Copyright 2001 by The American Legion Legion Magazine—for life The American Legion (ISSN 0886-1234) is published *k Support vital programs of monthly by The American Legion, 5745 Lee Road, India- The American Legion napolis, IN 46216. Periodicals postage paid at Indianapolis, in 46204 and additional mailing offices. Annual non-mem NOW you can take 12 full months ber and gift subscriptions, $15 ($21, foreign); Post-spon $3.50. to pay your PUFL Membership, sored and widows' subscriptions, $6; single copy, Member annual subscription price $3.00, which is included with just 10% down! in annual member dues. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The American Legion, input Services, P.O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, IN 46206. internet address: http://www.legion.org. Change of Address: Notify The American Legion, Input Plus, when you apply by Dec. 3 1 Services, P.O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, IN 46206. (317) 860- 2001, we'll send you a special gift 3111. Attach old address label, provide old and new addresses and current membership card number. —an American Flag Kit. Canada Post international Publications Mall (Canadian Dis-

* Excludes NE, Ah, A'.S c ( \ihjnnihi I iuuhjuarter Post mernben tribution) Sales Agreement No. 546321. Re-entered second-class mail matter at Manila Central Post office dated Call for an application today at Dec. 22,1991.

1-800-433-3318 Tradition Sin^^3^^6 Printed in USA Member Audit Bureau of Circulations

2 I November 2001 The American Legion Maga -

Soar with the eagle and feel the exhilarating rush of freedom, EAGLE OF FREEDOM COLLECTOR KNIFE

1A Shown approximately actual size of 7'/2" (19.05 em) when opened.

A Limited Edition. Rich with accents of 24 karat gold. Enhanced by a dramatically sculptured bolster hand-set with a brilliant decorative stone of abalone. Etched stainless steel blade.

The Bald Eagle is the enduring symbol the intricately sculptured bolster bears a dramatic IBHEyn) of the ideals that make our country great. portrait of the great bird. Accents of 24 karat gold ^Epl^/ Now, this extraordinary creature inspires are applied to the beak to enhance the visual impact the creation of a compelling showpiece. of this memorable rendering. A red abalone stone is

EAGLE OF FREEDOM COLLECTOR KNIFE is hand-set into the opposite bolster. The folding blade a powerful work that combines the finest traditions is crafted of tempered stainless steel, with the word of wildlife portraiture with the demanding skills of "Freedom" etched into its gleaming surface. And the the knifemaker's art. You will be impressed by the minted medal of Franklin Mint Collector Knives is custom-designed handle which features an exhilarat- inset into the reverse of the knife. The entire edition ing full-color portrait of an eagle soaring high over is forever limited to just 45 casting days. Complete a mountain range. Meticulously painted by hand, with its own padded and zippered case.

Please mail by November 30, 2001. i>MB The Franklin Mint Franklin Center, PA 19091-0001

Please enter my order for Eagle of Freedom Collector Knife .

I need SEND NO MONEY NOW. I will be billed $37.50* when my knife is sent. Limit: one knife per collector. "Plus my stale Miles lax and S-i <)S for shipping and handling.

SIGNATURE. ALL ORDERS ARE SUBJECT TO ACCEPTANCE

MR/MRS/MISS. PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY

ADDRESS

CITY/STATE

TELEPHONE #(.

Sharing www.franklinmint.com Your Passion For Collecting AOL Keyword: Franklin Mint vet voice

Flag needs protection Where's the money? A 'masterpiece' If there were ever a time to We taxpayers ought to help New The September issue, "A Salute push for the protection of our York with the enormous financial to America's Heroes," is a master- flag, this is burden of cleaning up the destruc- piece of journalism. It's terrific and it. Under the tion caused by terrorist attacks. is what all America needs to hear. banner of What I keep wondering, though, is This issue deserves to be in every our flag, how we can scrape up $20 billion school library so our children can America has to clean up the mess when we know the truth. I'm impressed. rallied can't find the financial resources to - Roy Wolford, Rochester, Ind. against the provide affordable health insurance terrorists for every American. A great surprise who killed I don't begrudge handing over Those of us who are women so many my hard-earned tax dollars to make veterans sometimes feel over- Americans a down payment on the war on ter- looked, so Jay Stuller's article "Sis- in New York rorism. I can't help wondering, ter Soldiers" and Wash- though, why we can't come up with (September) was ington. I a few nickels and dimes to pay for great fun to find it hard prescription drugs for seniors. read. I was in to believe that any member of We never seem to have the mon- the WAAC, Congress would dare to stand up ey to do what we ought to do, but WAC, Army Air and defeat our amendment, we always seem to have the money Corps and the knowing the fervor of the Ameri- to do what we are forced to do. Air Force as we can people for our symbol of free- - Chuck Emerson-Henry, Hugo, Minn. moved through dom. Go get 'em. that progression during World War - Martin Witt, Burlington, Mass. Keep up good work II and the years immediately there-

I send my congratulations to after. I served two tours of duty in America united The American Legion Magazine for Japan and Korea and continued as Congratulations, bin Laden. a top-flight veterans' publication. a reservist during the Korean War. You've united the American peo- This is especially true of the Sep- It's refreshing to know The Ameri- ple in a way no one would have tember issue, with its features "GI can Legion Magazine's editorial thought possible in the past 50 Joe: Person of the 20th Century," staff sees women as an indispens- years. "America's Volunteer Warriors" able asset to the armed forces.

Incidentally, if the Navy has and "Sister Soldiers." - Alba C. Thompson, Plymouth, Mass. any use for a 68-year-old retired I've seen a definite upgrade in guy who can type and has picked the magazine over the past year Women glue of family up some computer skills, I'd love with better articles and better lay- What is the purpose of the na- to serve again on a destroyer as a outs. Is this the result of new edition's military? Isn't it the security yeoman. I'd accept such an offer tors on board or perhaps better of its citizens? Since the basic so- in a New York minute. overview by senior Legion officials? cial unit is the family, what sense

- Donald C. Lehmkuhl, Fairfield Township, Ohio Whatever it is, keep it up. does it make to remove the glue - - Jack R. Olsen, Venice, Fla. that holds the family together Seal nation's borders that is, the mother - for the pro- Americans are killed while in a tection of that unit? dozen countries those supporting the WE WANT The question isn't "Are women terrorists dance and sing. We have YOUR OPINIONS qualified for military jobs?" Rather, been too lenient with those who it's "Does the presence of women hate us and want to do us harm. The American Legion Magazine wel- in the military best serve the coun- Congress must close the borders comes letters concerning articles try?" According to Jay Stuller's arti- to the United States until we get a that appear in the publication. Be cle "Sister Soldiers," 20 percent to handle on who's inside our coun- sure to include your hometown and 25 percent of the armed forces con- try. If other nations don't like it, a daytime phone number for verifi- sists of women. It appears, then, tough. We should stop dealings of cation. All letters are subject to edit- that we're spending a lot of tax any kind with countries that en- ing. Send your opinions to: dollars on short-term personnel or gage in or support terrorism. If that we're sentencing their children The American Legion Magazine that doesn't get their attention, we to motherless homes. Either way, P.O. Box 1055 should take the battle to them with the country suffers. Indianapolis, IN 46206 our military. Women, due to their resiliency, Let terrorists be remembered for You can also contact us via courage and strength, have always unleashing the wrath of the United e-mail directly or through the pitched in and done the job. But States on their homelands and or- World Wide Web: with the exception of nurses in the ganizations. May they be wiped e-mail: [email protected] services, this heroic assistance has from the face of the earth. internet: http://www.legion.org always been given on a temporary - Don A. Bender, Glen Burnie, Md. basis for the duration of an emer-

4 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | erectile dysfunction (ED), too many men give their

doctors the silent treatment.

But ED is a health condition. It can be linked to

things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and

stress, so doctors are trained to discuss it. In fact, doctors have already prescribed VIAGRA to more than 9 million men. Because doctors know that VIAGRA

works for most men, no matter what's causing their ED. So instead of making excuses, make an appointment with your doctor. For more information, call 1 -888-4VIAGRAVIAGRAor visit www.viagra.com. (sildenafil citrate) tablets

Join the millions. Ask your doctor if a free sample is right for you.

VIAGRA is indicated for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Remember that no medicine is for everyone. If you use nitrate drugs, often used to control chest pain (also known as angina), don't take VIAGRA. This combination could cause your blood pressure to drop to an unsafe or life-threatening level. Discuss your general health status with your doctor to ensure that you are healthy enough to engage in sexual activity. If you experience chest pain, nausea, or any other discomforts during sex or an erection that lasts longer than 4 hours, seek immediate medical help. The most common side effects of VIAGRA are headache, facial flushing, and upset stomach. Less commonly bluish vision, blurred vision, or sensitivity to light may briefly occur.

Please see patient summary of information for VIAGRA [25-mg, 50-mg, I OO-mg) tablets on the following page. i n t h m i 1 PATIENT SUMMARYVIAGRAOF INFORMATION ABOUT (sildenafil citrate) uMas gency. Do women have a place in

This summary contains important information about •have low or high blood pressure peacetime military service? Sure,

It not take the place of doctor's VIAGRA". is meant to your •have a rare inherited eye disease called retinitis p but not at the expense of the family. instructions. Read this information carefully before you start •have ever had any kidney problems taking VIAGRA. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you do not - Catherine Dillon, Manhasset, N. Y. •have ever had any liver problems understand any of this information or if you want to know more about VIAGRA. •have ever had any blood problems, including sickle cell anemia or leukemia This medicine can help many men when it is used as prescribed Sister she didn't know allergic to sildenafil or of the other ingredients of by their doctors. However, VIAGRA is not for everyone. It is •are any I intended for use only by men who have a condition called erectile VIAGRA tablets just finished reading the Sep- dysfunction VIAGRA must never be used by men who are •have a deformed penis, Peyronie's disease, or ever had an tember issue. The articles were taking medicines that contain nitrates of any kind, at erection that lasted more than 4 hours any time. This includes nitroglycerin. If you take • have stomach ulcers or any types of bleeding problems outstanding, especially "Sister Sol- VIAGRA with any nitrate medicine your blood pressure •are taking any other medicines diers." When my husband was on could suddenly drop to an unsafe or life threatening VIAGRA and Other Medicines level. shore duty in Washington, we Some medicines can change the way VIAGRA works. Tell your What Is VIAGRA? doctor about any medicines you are taking. Do not start or stop spent time sightseeing. At the VIAGRA is a pill used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence) in taking any medicines before checking with your doctor or men. It can help many men who have erectile dysfunction get and Smithsonian, we went to see a col- pharmacist. This includes prescription and nonprescription keep an erection when they become sexually excited (stimulated). medicines or remedies. Remember, VIAGRA should never be used lection of memorabilia people will not get an erection just taking this medicine. VIAGRA You by with medicines that contain nitrates (see VIAGRA Is Not for helps a man with erectile dysfunction get an erection only when he have left at the Vietnam Wall over Everyone). If you are taking a protease inhibitor, your dose may is sexually excited. be adjusted (please see Finding the Right Dose for You) VIAGRA the years. I broke down and cried How Sex Affects the Body should not be used with any other medical treatments that cause

erections. These treatments include pills, medicines that are when I across a full When a man is sexually excited, the penis rapidly fills with more came nurse's injected or inserted into the penis, implants or vacuum pumps. blood than usual. The penis then expands and hardens. This is uniform that was left by the called an erection. After the man is done having sex, this extra Finding the Right Dose for You blood flows out of the penis back into the body. The erection woman's devastated family. I felt VIAGRA comes in different doses (25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg). If away. If an erection lasts for a long time (more than 6 hours), goes not the results expect, talk with your doctor. You you do get you as if I'd lost a sister who I didn't it can permanently damage your penis. You should call a doctor and your doctor can determine the dose that works best for you. immediately if you ever have a prolonged erection that lasts more •Do not take more VIAGRA than your doctor prescribes. even know. So many times women than 4 hours. • If you think you need a larger dose of VIAGRA, check with aren't given credit for all they do Some conditions and medicines interfere with this natural your doctor. erection process. The penis cannot fill with enough blood The for their families, much less their •VIAGRA should not be taken more than once a day. man cannot have an erection. This is called erectile dysfunction if country. for reminding If Thanks us it becomes a frequent problem. you aie older than age 65, or have serious liver or kidney problems, your doctor may start you at the lowest dose (25 mg) During sex, your heart works harder. Therefore sexual activity may of their importance. of VIAGRA If you are taking protease inhibitors, such as for the not be advisable for people who have heart problems. Before you treatment of HIV, your doctor may recommend a 25 mg dose and - Jennifer start any treatment for erectile dysfunction, ask your doctor if your M. Robinson, Bryan, Texas may limit you to a maximum single dose of 25 mg of VIAGRA in heart is healthy enough to handie the extra strain of having sex. If a 48 hour period. you have chest pains, dizziness or nausea during sex, stop having sex and immediately tell your doctor you have had this How To Take VIAGRA Common bond hits home problem. Take VIAGRA about one hour before you plan to have sex. I just finished reading National How VIAGRA Works Beginning in about 30 minutes and for up to 4 hours, VIAGRA

can help you get an erection if are sexually excited. If you VIAGRA enables many men with erectile dysfunction to respond you Commander Ray Smith's article take VIAGRA alter a high-fat meal (sucn as a cheeseburger and to sexual stimulation. When a man is sexually excited, VIAGRA "Veterans' Common Bond" (Sep- trench tries), the medicine may take a littie longer to start helps the penis till with enough blood to cause an erection. After working. VIAGRA can help you gel an erection when you are sex is over, the erection goes away. tember) . Having served during the sexually excited. You will not get an erection just by taking VIAGRA Is Not for Everyone the pill height of the Cold War, I commend As noted above (How Sex Affects the Body), ask your doctor if Possible Side Effects for that your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. Smith an eloquent piece Like all medicines, VIAGRA can cause some side effects. These If you take any medicines that contain nitrates-either clearly veterans' effects are usually mild to moderate and usually don't last longer summarizes most regularly or as needed-you should never take VIAGRA. than a few hours. Some of these side effects are more likely to feelings about their military service. If you take VIAGRA with any nitrate medicine or recreational drug occur with higher doses. The most common side effects of containing nitrates, your blood pressure could suddenly drop to VIAGRA are headache, flushing of the face, and upset stomach. The friendships I made during an unsafe level. You could get dizzy, faint, or even have a heart Less common side effects that may occur are temporary changes attack or stroke. Nitrates are found in many prescription my own three-year Army service in color vision (such as trouble telling the difference between medicines that are used to treat angina (chest pain due to heart blue and green objects or having a blue color tinge to them), continue to the present day. I can disease) such as: eyes being more sensitive to light, or blurred vision. •nitroglycerin (sprays, ointments, skin patches or pastes, say without hesitation that my In rare instances, men have reported an erection that lasts many and tablets that are swallowed or dissolved in the mouth) hours. You should call a doctor immediately if you ever have an friends then and the veterans I've • isosorbide mononitrate and isosorbide dinitrate (tablets erection that lasts more than 4 hours If not treated right away, that are swallowed, chewed, or dissolved in the mouth) permanent damage to your penis could occur (see How Sex met through organizations such as Nitrates are also found in recreational drugs such as amyl nitrate Affects the Body). the Legion, the VFW and the Ma- or nitrite ("poppers"). If you are not sure if any of your medicines Heart attack, stroke, irregular heart beats, and death have been contain nitrates, or if you do not understand what nitrates are, ask reported rarely in men taking VIAGRA Most, but not all, of these rine Corps League are among the your doctor or pharmacist. men had heart problems before taking this medicine. It is not best men with whom I've had the VIAGRA is only for patients with erectile dysfunction VIAGRA is possible to determine whether these events were directly related not for newborns, children, or women. Do not let anyone else take to VIAGRA. pleasure of association. your VIAGRA VIAGRA must be used only under a doctor's VIAGRA may cause other side effects besides those listed on this - Mike Norman, Lake Havasu City, Ariz. supervision. sheet. If you want more information or develop any side effects or What VIAGRA Does Not Do symptoms you are concerned about, call your doctor. •VIAGRA does not cure erectile dysfunction. It is a treatment for Accidental Overdose No experience needed erectile dysfunction, In case of accidental overdose, call your doctor right away. I read George Will's article "The •VIAGRA does not protect you or your partner from getting Storing VIAGRA sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV-the virus that Keep VIAGRA out of the reach of children. Keep VIAGRA in its GI Gap" in the September issue. I causes AIDS. original container. Store at room temperature, 59°-86°F came away with the feeling he was •VIAGRA is not a hormone or an aphrodisiac. (15°-30°C). What To Tell Your Doctor Before You Begin VIAGRA For More Information on VIAGRA writing for a certain audience, and

Only your doctor can decide if VIAGRA is right for you. VIAGRA VIAGRA is a prescription medicine used to treat erectile I wasn't in it. can cause mild, temporary lowering of your blood pressure. You dysfunction. Only your doctor can decide if it is right for you. will need to have a thorough medical exam to diagnose your or says, "At point during This sheet is only a summary. If you have any questions want He one erectile find if safely take dysfunction and to out you can VIAGRA more information about VIAGRA, talk with your doctor or doctor determine the last administration, we had a alone or with your other medicines. Your should pharmacist, visit www.viagra.com, or call 1-888-4VIAGRA. if your heart is healthy enough to handle the extra strain of having 23-5515-00-4 June 1999 president, a director of the Central sex. Intelligence Agency, a secretary of Be sure to tell your doctor if you:

•have ever had any heart problems (e.g., angina, chest pain, defense, a secretary of state and a heart failure, irregular heart beats, or heart attack) national security adviser - all five •have ever had a stroke (sildenafil citrate) tablets with zero military experience." I

The blue diamond tablet s i :i,iili'iri.nl -I I'll.'." In. say, so what?

Printed in USA/September 2001 President Clinton is a Rhodes

6 November 2001 Legion Magaz 7

Scholar. Personally, I think 2,500 died. Dowd also says 70,000 Rhodes Scholars are of a higher U.S. soldiers died at the Battle of quality of intelligence than most the Bulge. That's also incorrect. officers in any branch of our mili- About 19,000 were killed and tary schools. Besides, it doesn't 50,000 wounded, for a total of take a mental giant to set up a 70,000 casualties. good working relationship with - Paul Faist, Lakehurst, N.J. the military - control them, sup- Editor's note - Dowd's story ply them and understand them. should have stated that D-Day and Having served is not important. the Battle of the Bulge resulted in A tough task Will reminds me of a war hawk. 9,000 and 70,000 casualties, Thank you for the article "Thir- - Edward Whalen, Salinas, Calif. respectively. We regret the error. teen Months as a POW" (Septem- ber). My neighbor brought your Kudos to Carroll Stop draft registration magazine to me when he saw the

What a moving article by Jeff I would like to commend Martin picture that included Capt. John P.

- Stoffer about r- Anderson on his fine article "Ameri- Ahlers. I was married to John. We

'" II. I Andrew Carroll, , ca's Volunteer Warriors" (Septem- both served during World War the man who ber). The draft needed to go long was an Army nurse from New Jer- published a col- before it did. During World War II, sey, John was a B-26 pilot from lection of war the need for military manpower was Illinois. We met, fell in love and correspondence obvious, with a major war being married when we returned home. ("He Got Mail," fought on two fronts. But now, with Shortly before the birth of our September). no formidable enemy remaining for second daughter, John received - Thank God for Americans like the United States, it is indeed time orders sending him to Korea. The Carroll. nay, past time - to stop draft regis- night before he left, we sat down

- l/a/ Eucare, Severna Park, Md. tration and return pride to military and talked about what I should do

service by making it truly voluntary. in the event of his death. I clearly A date to remember - Leland D. Sigley, Romoland, Calif. remember that he said if he were The caption accompanying the shot down, he hoped it would be photo of 28th Infantry Division Keep draft in place over water and that his body troops marching down the Champs I was taken aback by Martin An- would never be recovered. He hat- Elysees in Paris is wrong ("GI Joe: derson's ideas concerning doing ed funerals. Person of the 20th Century," Sep- away with our nation's Selective When Capt. Robert Henry and tember) . I was in H Company, Service registration requirements Robert Festa were taken prisoner, 109th Infantry, 28th Division, and ("America's Volunteer Warriors," they made a pact: whoever was we marched down the Champs September). I agree our all-volunteer repatriated first at the conclusion Elysees on Aug. 29, 1944. force has worked well, producing a of the conflict would come and tell - Ivor McKay, Copperas Cove, Texas high-quality military, but in the past me that my husband had died. It Editor's note - The date of the few years all the military branches fell to Capt. Henry to make that Champs Elysees victory parade in have struggled to make their enlist- visit. He said the North Koreans Paris in the September issue was ment quotas. Anderson also insinu- who captured them said John's incorrect. We regret the error. ated that drafted men wouldn't or parachute never opened and that didn't perform as well as an all-vol- he died on impact. They showed Some salute unteer military. That is ridiculous them John's dog tags and wrist

I read the September issue from and insulting. The draft produced radio. Naturally, I was devastated. cover to page 64. There I threw it many a Medal of Honor winner for All those 13 months I hoped John down in disgust. I don't know our country in time of need. was a POW. what others think, but I don't con- Anderson also says it would be For Capt. Henry, his arm in a sider it a salute to America's he- unlikely we would ever become sling, it was a difficult task to tell roes to have a picture of the ex- involved in a confrontation that me John was dead. To this day I draft dodger in chief reviewing would last more than six months, appreciate what he did. Several troops. If you remember, he once the time it would take to have the months later I drove to Connecti- said he loathed the same people first draftee inducted. But what if cut to see Robert Festa, but he you honor. we did? At $25 million, the Selec- wasn't home. I am so thankful -James W. Gibson, Anderson, Calif. tive Service System is the federal both these men made it back.

government's least expensive pro- - Florence Louise Ahlers Bost, Centralia, III. Casualties, not dead gram and a cheap insurance policy In the September article for our nation's defense. Correction: In a photo caption ac-

"Memorial to a Generation," Alan I don't feel we need to reinstate companying the article "The Wages W. Dowd says 9,000 Allied the draft now, but I'm glad we of War" (September), the name of soldiers died at Normandy on D- have the tools in place to do it and Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Day. That's incorrect. About 9,000 for it to be done fairly if needed. James R. Hendrix was misspelled. were killed or wounded. About - Sam Snyder, Yoe, Pa. We regret the error.

November 2001 1 The American Legion Magazine | commander's message

Veterans: Rally America!

Americans have a new day of infamy, pierced the collective soul of Americans, and the date is Sept. 11, 2001. On regardless of their political party or that date, terrorists hijacked four religious persuasion. "War" was no longer commercial jets and rammed them into a term used to describe past conflicts or the World Trade Center in New York City, disputes amongst other countries all the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and the around the world. The violence is now Pennsylvania countryside. Thousands of here in the United States, a nation we people were killed or injured in the thought to be outside the bloodshed and attacks, which will go down in our carnage that engulfs other lands. The inci- nation's history as the single most devas- dents of Sept. 11 are proof that we in tating assault ever carried out on Ameri- America are no longer immune to such at- can civilians. tacks and that we must take all necessary Let there be no mistake - the victims steps to prevent future assaults. died in an act of war. Many of our mem- Veterans know terrorism firsthand be- bers will recall that they were placed in cause they fought on the battlefields of the shadows of war in the days follow- the world, and that is the terror of all ter- ing the attack on Pearl Harbor. As hap- rorism. The hell of war came home in ter- National pened then, an enemy who despises rifying, unforgiving ways. So who better Commander democracy has challenged America on than veterans - men and women who Richard J. Santos her soil. And as then, our president has have seen the worst of human nature, Chase Studios promised that those guilty of the destruc- from the battlefields of Europe and Viet- "As tion will be identified, apprehended and nam to the desert of Saudi Arabia - to brought to justice. comfort and counsel a generation of veterans, In the meantime, still in searing pain young Americans who never thought over the lives lost in this greatest of Ameri- they'd see New York, Washington or any though, we can tragedies, we wait for justice to be other American city under siege? must do done. As veterans, It is not naive to though, we must do assume our more than more than wait. We children and grand- can be the connec- children will ask wait. We tion that brings the "Why?" Our duty is nation together. to gently remind can be the them that freedom connection War Comes Home. is not free. It has A crisis such as this and never will - that brings is new to most mean that lives Americans. Sure, even the lives of the nation we plunked down innocent civilians, cash for "Saving in the fragile secu- together." Private Ryan." We rity of their office watched the Gulf buildings - will not War on CNN. But be lost. That is the the tremendous loss cost of democracy. of life within our And on this occa- own borders and sion, we, as a na- the nauseating reali- tion, paid the ty that some forces heavy price with would prefer our our dearest blood. country and way of America contin- life be terminated ues to heal, and it has impacted the is our responsibility nation in a way as veterans to tend never before experi- to the wounds. enced. Some will panic - Let us face it about the future; when those planes Gulf War veteran Jeff Barber bows his head we must reassure penetrated the tow- in Albuquerque, N.M. during a moment of them. Some will ers of the World prayer for the victims of September's ter- weep over a lost Trade Center, they rorist attacks, ap family member or

8 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | "Before my

Select Comfort bed, I / spentfrom 3 to 4 hours in my recliner most nights because of backaches, shoulder aches and generally sore muscles. Not any longer. I sleep well and deeply in my bed now. This was a very good investment!' — William B., Lindon, CO WhyBack Pain Sufferers Sleep Better On Air!

"For the past ten years, until I bought my Select Comfort bed, I sufferedfrom lower back pain due to an injury I sustained while on Select"Comfort mattresses Metal coil mattresses can 1 contour to your body, create uncomfortable pressure active duty. Ever since I began sleeping in my more properly support your back and points andprovide uneven

spine, andndhelphelp tto reduce pressure points. support over time. Select Comfort bed, I have not suffered any pain and I sleep 100% better!' TRY IT FOR 30 NIGHTS! —Ramon R., Levittown, PR We're so sure you'll sleep better on air, you can take up to 1 month to decide, or your money The SELECT COMFORT® mattress. It's not back.You've got to sleep on it to believe it! just a better mattress, but a better way to sleep. Even back pain sufferers can sleep For a FREE VIDEO and Brochure, call now! more comfortably! The Select Comfort mattress doesn't rely 1-800-831-1211 on springs or water, but on Ext. 27165 ^ ^ *

friend; we must hold their hands. Some will be angry; we must temper their rage. Lending a hand For decades, veterans have Since World War II, America their that shown country you has not seen such a national out- cannot break the bond amongst pouring of love and unity as oc- those who have served in the mil- curred after terrorists attacked

itary. Our Legion history reflects the United States on Sept. 1 1 our coming together for the caus- American Legion departments es of national defense, veterans' and posts around the world have benefits and a flag-protection responded by organizing volun- amendment. Now, let us remain teer efforts and inspiring local together to support the families of acts of patriotism. Now, with the men and women of our tens of thousands of U.S. troops armed forces who urgently and alerted for duty - including a large percentage of expeditiously went to, and still Reserves National maintain, full alert in light of the and Guardsmen with families and careers they must terrorist attacks. put on hold to fight the war on terrorism - Legionnaires are do- Reviving Patriotism. After the ing even more on the home World Trade Center and Pentagon front. Here are some programs, disasters, it did not take long to Air Force Capt. Matthew Demers approaches and ideas for mem- see the American people unite. reads about the terrorist attacks bers who may be seeking Once debates about the economy, while waiting to give blood in answers to the question: "What education, Social Security and the Portland, Maine, ap more can I do?" tax cut were laid aside, members Family Support Network. This revitalized program, which helped more of Congress joined in a chorus of than 30,000 families during the Gulf War, provides assistance to the loved "God Bless America" on the Capi- ones of military men and women mobilized to defend our nation in time of tol steps. The rest of the country crisis. Simple acts of kindness, like baby-sitting, shopping, home mainte- followed by expressing a common nance, repairs and other needs are met by Legionnaires through FSN. De- desire those at- to see behind the partments and posts are encouraged to appoint an FSN "point person" to tacks apprehended and punished. personally spread awareness of the program - especially at bases, forts, It did my heart good to see pa- armories and reserve centers - and to connect willing veterans with fami- triotism, which has been in the lies in need. The Family Support Network hotline is (800) 504-4098. shadows far too long here in Temporary Financial Assistance. This program provides direct cash America. Debates of the day have assistance to military families in order to meet the basic needs of children to love taken a backseat of coun- when no other resources are available. Funds can be used to make pay- try. Catching, again, a glimpse of ments for pre-approved medical expenses, food, clothing, utilities and shel- patriotism makes me certain that ter. American Legion membership is not a requirement for financial assis- our nation will weather this storm. tance, but basic eligibility criteria must be met. Application information is I am not alone in my desire to available by calling (800) 504-4098. see a revival in American patrio- Armory Outreach. Post commanders can make themselves available tism. is to display The time now and offer member services at National Guard armories and reserve centers flag the American at our homes, that may be short-staffed due to the sudden call to duty. The local military our businesses and our churches. facility, for instance, may need clerical or janitorial help while troops are We must take this opportunity to moving out. Post and department leaders are urged to make personal con- educate young people on the mat- tact at those installations to see where the Legion can volunteer. ters of freedom and its relationship Lobbying Employers. Legionnaires are urged to contact business lead- to Old Glory. ers in their communities to assure National Guard and Reserve members At this crucial point in our do not face financial hardship because they are serving their country. Many country's history, we must stand companies are willing to make up the difference between military pay and a behind President George W. Bush regular paycheck, but some need to be reminded of that patriotic duty. and the U.S. Congress. As they Local Leadership. The American Legion post can serve as a clearing deal with threats to our security as house for local efforts among all civic organizations and schools to support citizens, it is our role veterans as the troops and build on the current high level of patriotism. to lead the way in supporting our Media Support. Local newspapers should be asked to publish the nation's leadership. names of local troops in action. No one believes in a strong If full, local donor America more than veterans do. Blood Donor Lists. area blood banks are currently a list of names of people willing to give blood can be assembled and man- We, as veterans, have another op- aged by Legionnaires. portunity to help keep our country strong. Let us recommit to that challenge.

10 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine New EasyTab. Changing your hearing aid batteries is easier than ever. 'A Wake-Up Call From HELL'

destroy our societies and our way war against more powerful enemies. Former Israeli of life. I am certain that I speak on These regimes mount a world-

behalf of my entire nation when I wide propaganda campaign to legit- Prime Minister say: Today, we are all Americans - imize terror, besmirching its victims in grief, as in defiance. and exculpating its practitioners - Benjamin In grief, because my people as we witnessed in the farcical have faced the agonizing horrors spectacle in Durban last month. Netanyahu shares of terror for many decades, and Iran, Libya and Syria call the we feel an instant kinship with United States and Israel racist both the victims of this tragedy countries that abuse human in America's grief and the great nation that mourns rights? Even Orwell could not its fallen brothers and sisters. have imagined such a world. and defiance but In defiance, because just as my Take away all this state sup- country continues to fight terror- port, and the entire scaffolding of warns not to side ism in our battle for survival, I international terrorism will col- know that America will not cower with one evil to before this challenge. I have absolute confidence that

if we, the citizens of the free world, defeat another led by President Bush, marshal the enormous reserves of power at our Editor's note - The following is a disposal, harness the steely resolve direct statement delivered by former of a free people, and mobilize our Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin collective will, we shall eradicate Netanyahu before the U.S. House of this evil from the face of the earth. Representatives' Government Re- But to achieve this goal, we must form Committee on Sept. 20. first, however, answer several questions: Who is responsible for this CHAIRMAN BURTON, distin- terrorist onslaught? Why? What is guished representatives: the motive behind these attacks?

I want to thank you for And most importantly, what must inviting me to appear before you be done to defeat these evil forces? today. I feel a profound responsi- The first and most crucial thing bility addressing you in this hour to understand is this: There is no of peril in the capital of liberty. international terrorism without the What is at stake today is nothing support of sovereign states. Inter- less than the survival of our civi- national terrorism simply cannot lization. There may be some who be sustained for long without the would have thought a week ago regimes that aid and abet it. that to talk in these apocalyptic Terrorists are not suspended in terms about the battle against inter- mid-air. They train, arm and indoc- national terrorism was to engage in trinate their killers from within safe reckless exaggeration. No longer. havens on territory provided by ter- Each one of us today under- rorist states. Often these regimes stands that we are all targets, that provide the terrorists with our cities are vulnerable, and that intelligence, money and operational our values are hated with an un- assistance, dispatching them to serve matched fanaticism that seeks to as deadly proxies to wage a hidden

12 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | . ,

lapse into the dust. is the result of several developments haven to militant Islamic terrorist The international terrorist net- in the last two decades: Chief groups such as Hamas and Islamic - work is thus based on regimes among them is the Khomeini Revo- Jihad. Like their mujaheedin Iran, Iraq, Syria, Taliban lution and the establishment of a cousins, they drew inspiration from Afghanistan, Yasser Arafat's Pales- clerical Islamic state in Iran. This Israel's hasty withdrawal from tinian Authority and several other created a sovereign spiritual base for Lebanon, glorified as a great Arab regimes such as the Sudan. fomenting a strident Islamic militan- Moslem victory by the Syrian- These regimes are the ones that cy worldwide - a militancy that was backed Hizballah. Under Arafat's harbor the terrorist groups: Osama often backed by terror. Equally im- rule, these Palestinian Islamic terror- bin Laden in Afghanistan, Hizbal- portant was the victory in the ist groups made repeated use of the lah and others in Syrian-controlled Afghan war of the international mu- technique of suicide bombing, going Lebanon, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and jaheedin brotherhood. so far as to run summer camps in the recently mobilized Fatah and This international band of Gaza that teach Palestinian children Tanzim factions in the Palestinian zealots, whose ranks include how to become suicide martyrs. territories, and sundry other terror Osama bin Laden, saw their victory Here is what Arafat's govern- organizations based in such capi- over the Soviet Union as providen- ment-controlled newspaper, Al tals as Damascus, Baghdad and tial proof of the innate supremacy Hayat Al Jadida, said on Sept. 1 1 Khartoum. These terrorist states of faithful Moslems over the weak the very day of the suicide bomb- and terror organizations together infidel powers. They believed that ing of the World Trade Center and form a terror network, whose con- even the superior weapons of a su- the Pentagon: "The suicide bombers stituent parts support each other perpower could not withstand their of today are the noble successors of operationally as well as politically. superior will. the Lebanese suicide bombers, who For example, the Palestinian To this should also be added taught the U.S. Marines a tough groups cooperate closely with Saddam Hussein's escape from lesson in (Lebanon) . . . These sui- Hezbollah, which in turn links destruction at the end of the Gulf cide bombers are the salt of the them to Syria, Iran and bin Laden. War, his dismissal of U.N. moni- earth, the engines of history . . These offshoots of terror have affil- tors and his growing confidence They are the most honorable peo- iates in other states that have not that he can soon develop uncon- ple among us ..." yet uprooted their presence, such ventional weapons to match A simple rule prevails here: The as Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. those of the west. success of terrorists in one part of Now, how did this come about? Finally, the creation of Yasser the terror network emboldens ter- The growth of this terror network Arafat's terror enclave gave a safe rorists throughout the network. This then is the who. Now for the why: Though its separate parts may have local ob- jectives and take part in local conflicts, the main motivation dri- ving the terror network is an anti- western hostility that seeks to achieve nothing less than a rever-

sal of history. It seeks to roll back the west and install an extremist form of Islam as the dominant power in the world.

It seeks to do this not by means of its own advancement and progress, but by destroying the enemy. This hatred is the product of a seething resentment that has sim- mered for centuries in certain parts of the Arab and Islamic world. Most Moslems in the world, including the vast majority of the growing Moslem communities in the west, are not guided by this Iranian students cheer during a 1999 speech by Ayatollah AN Khamenei on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the hostage-taking from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Regimes such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Taliban Afghanistan and Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority are critical links in the international terror network. afp/coMs

November200l|13 The American Legion Magazine | "

"We must dismantle the entire terrorist network. If any part of it remains intact, it will rebuild itself and the specter of terrorism will re-emerge and strike again." interpretation of history, nor are 23, 1998). For the bin Ladens of ing as a new breed of "domestic- they moved by its call for a holy the world Israel is merely a international" terrorists, basing war against the west. sideshow. America is the target. themselves in America to wage But some are. And though their jihad against America. numbers are small compared to But re-establishing a resurgent Such groups, I wrote then, nullify the peaceable majority, they nev- Islam requires not just rolling in large measure the need to have ertheless constitute a growing hin- back the west; it requires destroy- air power or intercontinental mis- terland for this militancy. ing its main engine, the United siles as delivery systems for an Is- Militant Islamists resented the States. And if the United States lamic nuclear payload. They will be west for pushing back the cannot be destroyed just now, it the delivery system. In the worst of triumphant march of Islam into the can be first humiliated - as in the such scenarios, I wrote, the conse- heart of Europe many centuries Tehran hostage crisis two decades quences could be not a car bomb ago. Its adherents, believing in the ago - and then ferociously but a nuclear bomb in the basement innate supremacy of Islam, then attacked again and again, until it of the World Trade Center. suffered a series of shocks when in is brought to its knees. Well, they did not use a the last two centuries that same But the ultimate goal remains nuclear bomb. They used two hated, supposedly inferior west the same: Destroy America and 150-ton fully fueled jetliners to penetrated Islamic realms in North win eternity. wipe out the Twin Towers. But

Africa, the Middle East and the Some of you may find it hard does anyone doubt that given the Persian Gulf. For them the mission to believe that Islamic militants chance they will throw atom was clear: The west had to be first truly cling to the mad fantasy of bombs at America and its allies? pushed out of these areas. Pro- destroying America. Make no mis- And perhaps long before that western middle eastern regimes take about it. They do. And unless chemical and biological weapons? were toppled in rapid succession, they are stopped now, their This is the greatest danger fac- including in Iran. attacks will continue and become ing our common future. Some And Israel, the Middle East's even more lethal in the future. states of the terror network already only democracy and its purest man- To understand the true dangers possess chemical and biological ifestation of western progress and of Islamic militancy, we can com- capabilities, and some are feverish- freedom, must be wiped off the face pare it to another ideology which ly developing nuclear weapons. of the earth. Thus, the soldiers of sought world domination - com- Can one rule out the possibility militant Islam do not hate the west munism. Both movements pur- that they will be tempted to use because of Israel; they hate Israel sued irrational goals, but the such weapons, openly or through because of the west - because they communists at least pursued terror proxies, or that their see it is an island of western demo- theirs in a rational way. weapons might fall into the hands cratic values in a Moslem-Arab sea Anytime they had to choose of the terrorist groups they harbor? of despotism. That is why they call between ideology and their own We have received a wake-up Israel the "Little Satan," to distin- survival, as in Cuba or Berlin, they call from hell. Now the question is guish it clearly from the country backed off and chose survival. simple: Do we rally to defeat this that has always been and will al- Not so for the Islamic militants. evil, while there is still time, or do ways be the "Great Satan" - the They pursue an irrational ideology we press a collective snooze button United States of America. irrationally - with no apparent and go back to business as usual? Nothing better illustrates this regard for human life, neither The time for action is now. than Osama bin Laden's call for their own lives nor the lives of Jihad against the United States in their enemies. The communists Today the terrorists have the 1998. He gave as his primary rea- seldom, if ever, produced suicide will to destroy us, but they do not son not Israel, not the Palestinians, bombers, while Islamic militancy have the power. There is no doubt not the peace process, but rather produces hordes of them, glorify- that we have the power to crush the very presence of the United ing them and promising them that them. Now we must also show that States "occupying the land of Islam their dastardly deeds will earn we have the will to do just that. in the holiest of places." them a glorious afterlife. This Once any part of the terror net- And where is that? highly pathological aspect of Is- work acquires nuclear weapons, this

"The Arabian peninsula," says lamic militancy is what makes it equation will fundamentally change, bin Laden, where America is "plun- so deadly for mankind. and with it die course of human af- dering its riches, dictating to its fairs. This is the historical imperative rulers and humiliating its people. When in 1996 I wrote a book that now confronts all of us.

Israel, by the way, comes a about fighting terrorism, I warned And now the third point: What distant third, after "the continu- about the militant Islamic groups do we do about it? ing aggression against the Iraqi operating in the west with the First, as President Bush said, people." [Al Quds al Arabi - Feb. support of foreign powers - serv- we must make no distinction be-

14 November 2001 | The American Legic Magazine j Two fully fueled jetliners made effective bombs when they hit the towers of the world Trade Center in September. Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons may be next if terrorists and the regimes that support them are not denied the technological power to wage even greater destruction, us Navy

rorism against Americans, Israelis, Spaniards, Britons, Russians or anyone else, is all part of the same evil and must be treated as such.

It is time to establish a fixed principle for the international community: any cause that uses terrorism to advance its aims will not be rewarded. On the contrary,

it will be punished and placed beyond the pale. „Armed with this moral clarity in defining terrorism, we must possess

an equal moral clarity in fighting it. If we include Iran, Syria and the Palestinian Authority in the coalition to fight terror - even tween the terrorists and the states knew that some acts are evil in though they currently harbor, - that support them. It is not and of themselves, and do not de- sponsor and dispatch terrorists enough to root out the terrorists serve any consideration or "under- then the alliance against terror who committed this horrific act of standing." They did not ask if will be defeated from within. war. We must dismantle the en- Hitler was right about the alleged Perhaps we might achieve a tire terrorist network. If any part wrong done to Germany at short-term objective of destroying of it remains intact, it will rebuild Versailles. That they left to the his- one terrorist fiefdom, but it will itself, and the specter of terrorism torians. The leaders of the Western preclude the possibility of overall will re-emerge and strike again. Alliance said something else: Noth- victory. Such a coalition will melt Bin Laden, for example, has shut- ing justifies Nazism. Nothing! down because of its own internal tled over the last decade from We must be equally clear cut contradictions. Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan to today: Nothing justifies terrorism. We might win a battle. We will the Sudan and back again. So we Nothing! certainly lose the war. These must not leave any base intact. Terrorism is defined not by the regimes, like all terrorist states, To achieve this goal we must identity of its perpetrators nor by must be given a forthright first have moral clarity. We must the cause they espouse. Rather, it demand: Stop terrorism, perma- fight terror wherever and when- is defined by the nature of the act. nently, or you will face the wrath ever it appears. We must make all Terrorism is the deliberate at- of the free world - through harsh states play by the same rules. We tack on innocent civilians. In this and sustained political, economic must declare terrorism a crime it must be distinguished from legit- and military sanctions. against humanity, and we must imate acts of war that target com- consider the terrorists enemies of batants and may unintentionally Obviously, some of these mankind, to be given no quarter harm civilians. When the British regimes will scramble in fear and and no consideration for their bombed a Gestapo headquarters in issue platitudes about their opposi- purported grievances. 1944, and one of their bombs un- tion to terror, just as Arafat, Iran If we begin to distinguish be- intentionally struck a children's and Syria did, while they keep their tween acts of terror, justifying hospital that was a tragedy, but it terror apparatus intact. We should some and repudiating others based was not terrorism. When Israel not be fooled. These regimes are on sympathy with this or that fired a missile that killed two already on the U.S. lists of states cause, we will lose the moral Clari- Hamas arch-terrorists, and two supporting terrorism - and if ty that is so essential for victory. Palestinian children who were they're not, they should be. This clarity is what enabled playing nearby were tragically The price of admission for any America and Britain to root out struck down, that is not terrorism. state into the coalition against ter- piracy in the 19th century. This is But terrorists do not uninten- ror must be to first completely how the Allies rooted out Nazism tionally harm civilians. They delib- dismantle the terrorist infrastruc- in the 20th century. erately murder, maim and menace tures within their realm. They did not look for the "root civilians - as many as possible. Iran will have to dismantle a cause" of piracy or the "root No cause, no grievance, no apol- worldwide network of terrorism and cause" of Nazism - because they ogy can ever justify terrorism. Ter- incitement based in Tehran. Syria

November 2001 115 The American Legion Magazine | will have to shut down "To win this war, we must fight on and disarm them of their Hizballah and the dozen weapons of mass terrorist organizations that many fronts. The most obvious one is destruction. operate freely in Damascus direct military action against the ter- and in Lebanon. Arafat will This is the great mis- have to crush Hamas and rorists themselves'.' sion that now stands be- Islamic Jihad, close down fore the free world. That their suicide factories and mission must not be wa- training grounds, rein in his tered down to allow cer- own Fatah and Tanzim ter- tain states to participate in rorists and cease the end- the coalition that is now less incitement to violence. being organized. Rather, To win this war, we the coalition must be built must fight on many around this mission. fronts. The most obvious It may be that some one is direct military ac- will shy away from tion against the terrorists adopting such an uncom- themselves. Israel's policy promising stance against of preemptively striking at terrorism. If some free those who seek to murder states choose to remain its people is, I believe, on the sidelines, America better understood today must be prepared to and requires no further march forward without elaboration. them - for there is no But there is no substi- substitute for moral and tute for the key action strategic clarity. that we must take: Im- I believe that if the posing the most punish- United States stands on ing diplomatic, economic principle, all the democ- and military sanction on racies will eventually all terrorist states. join the war on terror- To this must be added ism. The easy route may these measures: be tempting, but it will • Freeze financial assets not win the day.

in the west of terrorist On Sept. 11, 1, like regimes and organiza- everyone else, was glued A masked Hamas supporter, dressed in a belt made tions. to a television set watch- to resemble explosives, clutches a hand grenade dur- • Revise legislation, sub- ing the savagery that ing a march in the streets of the Jebaliya refugee ject to periodic renew- struck America. Yet amid camp in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, ap al, to enable better sur- the smoking ruins of the

veillance against organizations plicity with, terror. If vigorously Twin Towers one could make out inciting violence. and continuously challenged, most the Statue of Liberty holding high

• Keep convicted terrorists be- of these regimes can be deterred the torch of freedom. It is freedom's hind bars. Do not negotiate from sponsoring terrorism. flame that the terrorists sought to

with terrorists. But there is a real possibility extinguish. But it is that same torch, • Train special forces to fight terror. that some will not be deterred - so proudly held by the United And, not least important, im- and those may be ones that pos- States, that can lead the free world pose sanctions on suppliers of nu- sess weapons of mass destruction. to crush the forces of terror and se- clear technology to terrorist states. Again, we cannot dismiss the cure our tomorrow. I've had some experience in possibility that a militant terrorist It is within our power. Let us pursuing all these courses of ac- state will use its proxies to threat- now make sure that it is within tion in Israel's battle against ter- en or launch a nuclear attack our will. rorism, and I will be glad to elabo- with apparent impunity. Nor can rate on any one of them if you we completely dismiss the possi- Born in Tel-Aviv in 1949, Ben- wish, including the sensitive ques- bility that a militant regime, like jamin Netanyahu is the grandson tions surrounding intelligence. its terrorist proxies, will commit of a Lithuanian rabbi who emigrat-

But I have to be clear: Victory collective suicide for the sake of ed to Palestine in 1 920. He received over terrorism is not, at its most its fanatical ideology. all of his higher education in the fundamental level, a matter of law In this case, we might face not United States and has both Ameri- enforcement or intelligence. How- thousands of dead, but hundreds can and Israeli citizenship. A forever important these functions of thousands and possibly millions. mer ambassador to the United Na- may be, they can only reduce the This is why the United States must tions, he served as Israeli prime dangers, not eliminate them. do everything in its power to pre- minister from 1996 to 1999. The immediate objective is to vent regimes like Iran and Iraq end all state support for, and com- from developing nuclear weapons, Article design: Doug Rollison

16 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | You've Served Your Country. Now Let Us Serve You.

Veterans save between 20% - 50% on Goodyear tires for two days only, Nov. 12-13.

m'i .///* 0/t Mi Jfft On The Wings Of goodWyear

See store for sizes, availability and complete details.

Be sure to ask about our Winter Warm-up Car Care Package. This service, performed by ASE Certified Technicians, automotive OA mm will help keep your car running in tip-top shape this winter!

Call 1-888-GDYR-STORES for the participating retail location nearest you. veterans day

The only enduring Veterans symbol ofpeace Veterans Day was so- or dead - past, present and named because peace, future - and for all the unfortunately, doesn't armistices they forged. The last forever. History never American veteran became the stops proving that point. symbol of world peace. For the United States in the In a prepared Veterans Day past quarter-century, war has speech in 1955, Legionnaires drifted in and out of a restless, across America reminded distant slumber. It has bolted their communities that "... no awake in places like Lebanon, segment of our people could Bosnia, Somalia, Panama or be more determined Kuwait - locations hard advocates of peace than our enough for most Americans to veterans, who have actually find on a map, let alone un- felt the sufferings of war. The derstand the often-complicat- chief difference, perhaps, be- ed reasons why our troops tween veterans and non-veter- were asked to fight there. On ans lies in the degree of real- our own continent, war had ism with which they approach slept for nearly 140 years until the whole subject of war and everything changed Sept. 11. the prevention of war."

And as we all know, it did not Gen. Douglas MacArthur just reawaken in America. It put it this way in a speech at erupted, in broad daylight, the U.S. Military Academy in before our disbelieving eyes. 1962: "The soldier, above all, Fiery explosions. The dust prays for peace, for he must and rubble of crumbled build- suffer and bear the deepest ings. Americans in suits and wounds and scars of war." ties or dresses and heels - Veterans also know that some in military fatigues - power and the ability to exe- running for their lives, jump- cute it is the surest route to a ing out of windows, as a bil- peaceful end. In 1966, J. lowing, smoky cloud of hor- William Fulbright explained it corbis swckMarket ror closed in on them. Then Ms way t0 his fellow U.S. sen- came the unmistakable scent of end all wars. "With the World ators: "In a contest between a death. Impressions like these are War was born the hope for per- hawk and a dove, the hawk has not easily absorbed by ordinary manent peace," American Legion the great advantage, not because it Americans, most of whom pos- National Commander Edward is a better bird, but because it is a sess, at best, a Hollywood under- Spafford said in 1927. "It was a bigger bird with lethal talons and a standing of war. faint and uncertain hope, and that highly developed will to use them."

War veterans are different that is all it is today. History and facts As workers continue to pick way. Experienced in chaos, they show it to be nothing more." through the rubble in New York often know from fighting in distant Spafford sounded cynical for the City this Nov. 11, American war lands where terror has ruled that time, but world events to follow, veterans, non-veterans, Reserves, America has been lucky for a of course, proved right. Guardsmen and active-duty per- good : him long time. Veterans also know the Indeed, the next generation of sonnel alike find themselves price of peace, the lives it invari- veterans marched in and out of standing together, sharing a ably costs, and the difficulty of re- various hells around the planet - "highly developed will" of patrio- - capturing its blessings should it es- Bastogne, Iwo Jima, Tarawa, tism, faith, courage and resolve cape. And it always does. Anzio, the Chosin Reservoir, Pork values veterans have always On the 11th hour of the 11th Chop Hill - and it was obvious by drawn upon in times of crisis, day of the 11th month in 1918, the middle of the century that the when the price of peace might the guns of World War I were fi- World War I armistice was just just be paid in human lives. nally silenced, and Nov. 11 was one in a series. They are the values America established as Armistice Day. It In 1954, the holiday was right- will honor, perhaps more acutely was America's time to celebrate fully revised and renamed to than ever, on this particularly sig- the renewal of world peace, the stand as an annual moment of nificant Veterans Day. end of what was to be the war to tribute to all war veterans, alive -JeffStoffer

18 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine j A & E STUDIOS PRESENT A WORLD PREMIERE MOVIE Keeping his word

Smith's promise to halt membership slide realized at 83rd National Convention.

BY STEVE BROOKS

he was sworn in as Whennational commander during the 2000 Ameri- can Legion National Convention in Milwaukee, Ray G. Smith made a promise to Legionnaires. At this year's national convention in San Antonio, Smith proved he's a man who keeps his word. Approximately 12,000 Legion- naires, their families and guests traveled to San Antonio Aug. 25- 30 for the 83rd National Conven- tion. There they got the message from Smith that the future is bright for America's largest veterans organization.

"A year ago, I pledged as national commander to stop the membership slide," Smith told Legionnaires at the Henry B. Gon- zalez Convention Center. "I felt tackling this challenge would be the focus during my year in office because, as you know, membership is the lifeblood of any organization. I am delighted to report that our membership slide has stopped. Not only that, it has been reversed. Thanks to you, we are growing again." Smith said membership stands National Commander Ray G. Smith promised to halt the membership at 2,701,002, four departments slide. At the 83rd National Convention, he told delegates he followed reached all-time membership through on that promise, rom strattman highs, and 19 departments achieved their 100-percent goals, ranks. We now have a stronger Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman a five-year high. Additionally, foundation to continue this Gen. Henry H. Shelton, five 2002 membership as of Aug. 25 membership growth going into members of Congress and two stood at 1,153,070, up 104,000 the 2002 membership year and Cabinet members. from one year ago. beyond." Secretary of Defense Donald "This didn't happen because Smith's success story was one Rumsfeld and NBC news anchor we changed our values," Smith of many highlights at the conven- Tom Brokaw spoke to Legion- said. "It happened because you tion, which included speeches naires via videotaped presenta- asked new veterans to join our from President George W. Bush, tions. Brokaw, whose book "The

20 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | .

"I am delighted to report that our membership fits applications, and 53,000 have been pending for more than a slide has stopped. Not only that, it has been year. Many of those were filed by veterans 70 and older. reversed. Thanks to you, we are growing again." "Think about that. Here are - 2000-2001 National Commander Ray Smith thousands of men who served their county in Korea and World War II, or both," Bush said. Greatest Generation" salutes many delays. And that is exactly "The last thing they need to hear those who fought in World War II how government ought to operate from any federal office is more and then returned home to (in administering) the benefits routine excuses. That's wrong. rebuild America, was presented you earned. And this administration is going the Legion's Education Award. "Some of you are among the to get it right." thousands of veterans whose To meet that goal, Bush said claims have been delayed, or sad- he's created a task force to rec- ly enough, lost in the bureaucra- ommend major reforms in the de- cy. In my direction to the Depart- livery of health care to veterans if ment of Veterans Affairs, it has and military retirees. National Ad-

begun to change the way it does jutant Robert Spanogle has agreed

business. And I put a good man in to serve on that task force repre- charge, my friend and your friend, senting the Legion. Tony Principi. Under Secretary Bush pledged higher spending Principi, claims are being given on the military, another one of the highest priority. They will be his campaign promises, and con- brought to a fair resolution with- tinued support for the flag-protec- President George w. Bush greets out excuses and without delay." tion amendment. the crowd on the convention Bush said VA has a backlog of "We must, and we will, make floor. Tom Strattman more than 600,000 pending bene- major investments in (military) Hail to the Chief. President Bush received a boisterous welcome from Legion delegates and guests. National He immediately praised the orga- Commander Ray nization for sticking by the princi- G. Smith, right, ples of its founders despite an presents 2000- ever-changing world. 2001 Department "You've seen wars and the af- of Arizona Com- termath. You received millions mander Mary Piotrowski with a into your ranks. You've seen our plaque during the culture change for better, and convention. Ari- sometimes for worse," Bush said. zona set an all- "Yet from that founding day in time high in mem- 1919, to this very day, The Amer- bership and also ican Legion has never met the 100-per- compromised its principles. As cent membership Gen. Douglas MacArthur said at mark. James V. Carroll your 1951 convention, The Amer- ican Legion has been invincibly faithful to God and to country." Membership numbers result in awards At the 2000 National Conven- In a banner year for Ameri- ma, Idaho, Hawaii, Virginia, tion in Milwaukee, Bush can Legion membership, Na- North Carolina, West Virginia, campaigned to Legionnaires on tional Commander Ray G. Wyoming, Vermont, New promises of increased spending Smith spent part of the 83rd Hampshire and Montana. for both veterans affairs and na- National Convention thanking The Department of France tional defense. In San Antonio, he many people and departments had the highest percentage of said those promises stand. for their hard work. membership gain from Feb. 1 to

"Those commitments are now Four departments hit all-time May 1 , while Delaware came in becoming policies, and the needs highs in membership numbers: second. Vermont was a close of our veterans are once again Nevada, Delaware, Arizona and third. priorities of our government," Florida. And a total of 19 Howard Van Dyke of the De- Bush said. "If you've worn the departments hit 100-percent partment of Virginia was hon- uniform, you know just how effi- membership marks. They were ored as the Legion's National ciently government can Nevada, Delaware, Arizona, Recruiter of the Year. Van Dyke sometimes work. When govern- Florida, France, South Carolina, brought 414 new members into ment needed your services, it Utah, Colorado, Georgia, Alaba- the organization this year. moved pretty fast; there weren't

November 2001 1 21 The American Legion Magazine | research and development," he said. "We are committed to de- fending America and our allies Robinson is Legion's "Good Guy" against ballistic missile attacks, against weapons of mass destruc- David Robinson has accom- tion held by rogue leaders and plished almost everything a pro- rogue nations that hate America, fessional basketball player can hate our values and hate what we accomplish. As a member of the stand for. It's a dangerous world." San Antonio Spurs, he was the Bush also delivered a message MVP of the National Basketball of hope for the economy. "Our Association, won an NBA title economy began slowing down and was named Rookie of the last year, and that is bad news. Year in 1990. I'm deeply worried about the But Robinson's impact off the working families all across the court is just as impressive. As a country," he said. "But with the result, he was selected as the Le- tax reduction already in place, gion's James V. Day Good Guy Americans will have more of their Award recipient at the Past De- own money to spend, to save and partment Commanders Club lun- invest, the very things that make cheon Aug. 27 in San Antonio. our economy grow. Tax relief is "Standing in this room, it's a exactly the right kind of thing, the little bit overwhelming," Robin- right prescription at the right time son told the packed luncheon. for the American economy." "All of you have a lot more expe- Prior to Bush's speech, First rience and probably have done a David Robinson was presented the Lady Laura Bush was honored as lot more for this country in your Legion's James V. Day Good Guy

The American Legion Auxiliary's communities than I have. But Award during the Past Depart- Woman of the Year. hopefully I'm well on my way." ment Commanders Club luncheon Robinson's off-the-court in San Antonio. James V. Carroll Principi Addresses Legionnaires. accomplishments include creating establish the Carver Academy at Secretary of Veterans Affairs An- the David Robinson Foundation San Antonio's Carver Cultural thony J. Principi, a lifetime mem- with his wife, Valerie. The foun- Center. The academy is a pre- ber of Blair dation is a Christian organization kindergarten to eighth-grade in- American Le- that aims to support programs dependent school. Its primary gion Post 17 in that address the physical and purpose is to provide an inten- Kodiak, Alas- spiritual needs of families. sive academic environment for ka, echoed He also donated $5 million to student enrollees, while molding Bush's plan to improve VA's service to reaching these goals. "We need to said Shelton, who planned to re- America's vet- address this crisis with a sense of tire from service Sept. 30. "In my erans, listing a urgency, the same sense of opinion, The American Legion five-point pro- urgency we had during World War today is still on the front lines Secretary of gram that in- II," he said. "If we could do it serving the country. The only dif- veterans Affairs cludes: then, we can certainly take care of ference is you don't have to eat Anthony J. Making it now. Veterans, not the VA, are C-rations, Ite- Principi VA the nation's the victims of these delays. I want rations or recognized leader in efficient, to go back to a time when claim MREs." high-quality health care for U.S. decisions are made in 90 days and Shelton told veterans. done right the first time." Legionnaires Making VA the nation's rec- that America's ognized leader in disability com- Praise for Military Support. Gen. armed forces pensation and evaluation. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the face the chal- Making VA the recognized Joint Chiefs of Staff, was present- lenge of both leader in research. ed the Legion's Distinguished Ser- complacency Showing America's troops vice Award. Smith cited Shelton's and change. Gen. Henry H. they will forever be remembered support of the Reconnect program, Despite being Shelton in national cemeteries that are which unites organization mem- the world's recognized as national shrines. bers with active-duty personnel at only superpower, Shelton said the Making VA a recognized installations throughout the coun- United States must begin to leader in the application of sound try. Shelton in turn praised Legion- increase its military spending business principles. naires for the work they do sup- while not falling into the trap of Principi agreed that addressing porting the military. complacency. the department's current backlog "I salute you for the important "It's certainly an unpredictable needs to be the top priority in work the Legion continues to do," world we live in today," he said.

22 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine: Supporting Old Glory. Several of Fame, thanked the Legion for speakers, in addition to the presi- its support of children's hospitals dent, voiced their support for the across the country. flag-protection "Each year, 14 million (child- creative future leaders. The amendment, ren) are helped by the Children's core curriculum of the Carver SJ Res 7, in- Miracle Network hospitals," Academy will promote acade- cluding retired Olsen said. "Your support has mic proficiency in reading, Maj. Gen. been astounding." mathematics, science, Patrick H. The Legion has raised approxi- languages and technology. It Brady, chair- mately $1.8 million for the CMN opened this fall. man of the Cit- this year and $3.6 million in "I've always felt that acade- izens Flag Al- three years. mics were important," said liance and a "No success feels better or Robinson, who graduated from longtime means more than that of helping a Maj. Gen. the U.S. Naval Academy in spokesman in child," he said. "There is nothing Patrick H. Brady 1987. "But more important the fight to more heartbreaking or uplifting than that is for the kids to feel combat flag desecration as a form than a child who valiantly battles like they're a part of something of "free speech." through an injury or a birth de- greater, that they have a vision "Once again, you are engaged fect. These children and their fam- above going out and just being in a great battle for America," said ilies are real-life champions." successful and making money. Brady, a Medal of Honor recipi-

"That's what I want to teach ent. "Once again you are standing Honoring Fallen Comrades. these kids here in San Antonio. for what is right. Today you do Three past national commanders

I want to teach them how to not stand against tanks and rock- who passed away this year - E. live their lives. I want to teach ets and missiles. Your wounds Roy Stone Jr., William R. Burke them why to do things that are certainly will not be mortal. right, why you should stay "But the wounds to America with your wife, why you could be, if your special kind of Legionnaires should pay your taxes, why patriotism ever dies. It's my thanked for you should not sell drugs." great honor to stand with you in "I think David epitomizes this effort." memorial the spirit of the award, not only The House of Representatives' as a legendary figure in the Na- version of the flag-protection support tional Basketball Association, amendment, HJ Res. 36, over- Retired Army Maj. Gen. but also in believing in and car- whelmingly passed July 17 and John P. Herrling briefed Leg- ing for others," said PDCC has been sent to the Senate and ionnaires attending the 83rd President Robert D. Scott. referred to the Committee on the National Convention on the Judiciary. status of the National World "Never forget that the founda- War II Memorial. The audience "The truth is, we've never pre- tion of all we are doing for the loved what he had to say. dicted the use of force (against flag is the Constitution," Brady "My message is a simple the United States) in any of Amer- said. "The Constitution is the one. Work on the World War ica's major wars." only guarantee of our future. Flag II memorial has begun," Her- U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R- burners are not the problem. The rling said, as the convention Texas, thanked the Legion for go- problem are those who distort floor roared in approval. "If ing to bat for overseas military the Constitution by calling flag you visit Washington, D.C., personnel whose votes were al- burning 'speech.'" next month, you will see the most tossed out of last year's World War II memorial under presidential election and vowed construction. There are no to see that such a thing never more 'whens' or 'maybes.' We happens again. are on the way." "We need to guarantee by law Herrling said site mobiliza- that when people put on the uni- tion began Aug. 27 and that form of this country, when construction process should they're abroad serving this coun- last 30 months. A spring 2004 try, they have a right to vote and dedication is anticipated. they have a right to see those Herrling praised the Legion Merlin Olsen, for votes counted," he said. "I want spokesman the family, which donated $4.5 Children's Miracle Network, pre- us to form together this year to million to the memorial. sents a beneficiary of the CMlM's guarantee that never again is the "There's no better spokesman work. Shelly Urdiales. James v. carroii right of military personnel to vote than your national comman- ever challenged when they have Thankful for CMN Support. Mer- der, Ray Smith," Herrling said. followed what they believe to be lin Olsen, spokesman for the Chil- "Thank you for being there the rules and procedures in dren's Miracle Network and a when you were needed." effect." member of the Pro Football Hall

November 2001 1 23 (The American Legion Magazine and James M. Wagonseller - were honored during a Post Everlasting tribute. Burke, national commander from 1960 to 1961, passed away 2001-2002 May 6; Wag- SAL National onseller, who Commander led the Legion Clifford Smith from 1974 to The Department of Tennessee delegates conducted their caucus in 1975, was called to Post Everlast- the hallowed Alamo. James V. Carroll ing May 26. Stone, who passed away April Tennessee caucus 'recaptures' Alamo 29, was named past national com-

If at first you don't succeed, so in San Antonio, the only place I mander at the 1987 convention. try, try again. wanted to have it was the Alamo." Stone also was honored when the Then try again. It worked for Hammer started out by e-mail- National Emergency Fund was Department of Tennessee Adju- ing the Alamo staff with his re- presented with a check in his tant Mike Hammer. quest to hold the delegation's honor for $13,866 from delegates His perseverance led to the caucus there for approximately of the southern caucus. Tennessee delegation conducting two hours. The staff denied the its caucus on the hallowed request. Reaching Out. Delegates chose grounds of the Alamo. Hammer then wrote a letter Maryland Legionnaire Richard J. The story of the Alamo has on American Legion letterhead to "Ric" Santos, a U.S. Navy Viet- been told in movies and served the staff, explaining the many nam War veteran, as the new na- as a rallying cry for U.S. forces roles the Legion fills in working tional commander on the conven- for more than a century. Ameri- for veterans, their families and tion's last day. can settlers in Texas were America's youth, among other Santos, 57, a member of attempting to form their own duties, along with another Greenbelt American Legion Post republic against the wishes of request. He again was told no. 136, has held numerous leader- the Mexican government. That's when Hammer, a re- ship positions at the post, state Armies were massed to stop the tired U.S. Army officer, pulled and national levels. He also has rebellion. out his trump card. served on the Maryland Veterans A small group of volunteer "I sent them another letter, Commission and the Maryland and professional soldiers, includ- this one with my military Military Monuments Commission. ing former U.S. Rep. Davy Crock- insignia and branch of service on Santos presented Legionnaires ett, a Tennessean, occupied the it," he said. "I also explained with his theme for 2001-2002, Spanish mission "Alamo" in San that the Alamo owed a great deal "Reaching Out in All Directions," Antonio as Mexican Gen. Santa of debt to Tennessee, that Davy which is based upon the four pil- Anna's forces marched through Crockett and his volunteers came lars of The American Legion: the territory. from Tennessee, that Sam Hous- Americanism, Children and For 13 days, the rebels held ton, who was the governor of Youth, National Security, and Vet- Mexican forces totaling more Tennessee and later the governor erans Affairs and Rehabilitation. than 2,000 at bay, but on March of Texas, was from Tennessee "You are being asked to reach 6, 1836, Santa Anna's troops and defeated Gen. Santa Anna a out in order to increase member- stormed the mission and killed few weeks after the Alamo. ship and to improve the services all 189 men inside, including 31 "I basically suggested that if it provided to and the benefits Tennesseans. Mexican casualties weren't for Tennessee, there earned by our nation's veterans," have been estimated at anywhere wouldn't be a Texas. They wrote Santos said. "By reaching out, we from 1,000 to 1,600. back and said, 'Dear sir, you can can and will make a difference in It's no wonder Hammer want- have your caucus here.'" the lives of our nation's veterans ed his caucus to meet there. But Forty-two delegates, along through the enhancement of the special occasion didn't hap- with 30 guests and alternates, American Legion membership pen easily. attended the caucus in the Alamo and its service programs." "At every national convention, Hall. "We're going to recapture Santos said those goals can be I've tried to have our caucus at a the Alamo," said Tennessee dele- achieved through implementing unique location," Hammer said. gate and department finance offi- new membership enhancements "Last year in Milwaukee, for exam- cer Carl Levi as his entourage and creative service programs con- ple, we had it on a riverboat. And entered the mission. ducive to sustaining membership growth. One such program will be

24 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine "By reaching out, we can and will make a differ- Convention awards veterans The 83rd National Convention once again ence in the lives of our nation's through provided a forum for The American Legion's American Legion membership numerous yearly awards. the enhancement of Spirit of Service Awards Enlisted armed services members honored and its service programs." for volunteering in their local communities ARMY - 2001-2002 National Commander Ric Santos Spc. Jousette Durkop NAVY Petty Officer 2nd Class Anjail F. Weaver MARINE CORPS Sgt. Charles T. Crossfield COAST GUARD Petty Officer 2nd Class Charles C. Martin AIR FORCE Staff Sgt. Joseph Cormier Youth Program Honorees BOYS NATION PRESIDENT Evan Wilson JUNIOR SHOOTING SPORTS CHAMPION Brandon Green NATIONAL ORATORICAL CONTEST CHAMPION Caleb D.Williams EAGLE SCOUT OF THE YEAR Michael Beckel 2000 BASEBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR Joshua R. Zender Fourth Estate Award for outstanding journalism Tammy Pearson, assistant managing editor for the Marion, Ind., Chronicle-Tribune, for

the 120-page, 1 0-month series "Moment of Truth," which dealt with problems facing the newspaper's community and how those National Commander Richard J. "Ric" Santos is sworn into the office by problems should be resolved. Past National Commander Clarence M. Bacon, nm stmttman William Randolph Hearst Americanism Trophy Department of Ohio the "Ric's Retrievers" group, based mander in 1990-1991, my theme Frank N. Belgrano Trophy upon the Chesapeake Bay retriev- was 'Membership and Service.' Department of New Jersey for its support of er. Santos said the breed of dog is Membership and service do go the Boy Scouts. for traits dedica- said. "If known such as hand-in-hand," he we Ralph T. O'Neil Education Trophy tion, unswerving devotion, com- have membership growth, we Department of Florida for showing the great- mitment, strong physical abilities will have the finances to fund est Americanism activity in use ofThe Amer- ican Legion School Medal Awards. and courage. "The membership and the manpower to operate our Employer of the Year slide has stopped. are proceed- service programs. We For companies and businesses dedicated ing up the membership ladder," he "Serving together, we will make to hiring veterans. said. "A group of committed and a difference in the lives and inter- SMALL BUSINESS Discount Printing, Winter Haven, Fla. dedicated Legionnaires will lead ests of our nation's veterans, their MID-SIZE BUSINESS the climb. The group will be families and the people of our Maine Machine Products Co., known as 'Ric's Retrievers.'" communities, states and nation." South Paris, Maine Santos said increased member- LARGE BUSINESS PEMCO Aeroplex, Birmingham, Ala. ship numbers will improve the Steve Brooks is editor of The National Law Enforcement Legion's ability to serve the na- American Legion Dispatch and a Officer of the Year tion's veterans, their families and contributing editor of The Ameri- Minnesota State Patrol Cpl. members of communities across can Legion Magazine. Jeffrey D. Goldsmith, Hutchinson, Minn. the country. Local Veterans Representative of the Year "When I was department com- Article design: Holly K. Soria Michael E. Daugherty, Ponca City, Okla.

William F. Lenker National Command- National Service Trophy Department of Ohio for best supporting and er Richard J. "Ric" implementing programs to benefit veterans Santos and Auxiliary and their families. President Sherry Garland Murphy Award McLaughlin wave to Department of Florida for providing the most convention dele- contributions to the Children's Welfare gates. Tom Strattman Foundation. CWF Legacy Award Department of Pennsylvania for contributing the most funds to the Children's Miracle Network by the department's entire Legion family.

November 2001 1 25 The American Legion Magazine Retired

Patrick M. Brady salutes Braving Old **heat* _ Glory. Patriotism Mike Alvaro walked off end, giving the thumbs-up to the parade route, saxo- the Department of Texas dele- phone in hand. His gation, the last to cross in front brow was damp, his arms of the reviewing station. speckled with drops of sweat. Lt. Gen. Freddy E. McFarren, And he loved every minute of commanding general, 5th Army

it. at Fort Sam Houston, served as Alvaro, a member of Fort the parade's grand marshal, Cralo Post 471 of Rensselaer, while Past National Comman- N.Y., had just finished marching der Al Lance was honorary with the Yankee Doodle Band in grand marshal. The parade in- The American Legion's 83rd Na- cluded six American Legion tional Convention Parade. bands, two military bands and Not even temperatures in the band from John Marshall The 2001 American Legion youth champi- the high 90s, with humidity to High School in San Antonio. ons take part in the parade. match, could temper his en- - Photos by Tom Strattman thusiasm. "It's hot and humid, and I'm Tonawandas sweeps band competition tired," said Alvaro, a World

War II veteran. "But I've done It was deja vu all over again in this for 40 years, so what's the the battle of Legion bands at the big deal? To me, it's dedication. 83rd National Convention. We come here to do our job The American Legion Band of

and do it to the best of our abil- the Tonawandas from Tonawan- ity. That's what this is about." da, N.Y., repeated as the Concert Alvaro was one of approxi- Band winner and also captured mately 3,000 members of The the Parade Band contest. The American Legion family who Tonawandas band was the Con- chose to brave the San Antonio cert Band winner in 2000. heat and participate in the The Joliet American Legion nearly three-hour parade. Na- Band of Joliet, 111., finished sec- tional Commander Ray G. ond in both categories. The Smith was there to the very Oconomowoc American Legion Band, of Oconomowoc, Wis., finished third in the Concert Band competition, while the Waltham American Legion Band, of Waltham, Mass., placed third in the Parade Band contest. Concert Band participants were judged on instrumentation, conducting, articulation, and intona- tion and repertoire skills. Parade Band contestants were The American Legion Band of the rated on musicianship, march and Tonawandas won both the Con- maneuver skills and general effect. cert Band and Parade Band com- Tonawandas was named the petitions. National Commander's Band. The parade provided patriotic moments for viewers of all ages.

26 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | Department of New York Legionnaires Edgar Smith of Post 1060, James Middleton of Post 1765 and Richard Hochbrueckner of Post 421 salute the colors during the Sunday parade.

Legion drill competition brings out the best

Drill units were again on display during the convention, competing for top honors in the Le- gion's Color Guard competition. The top three finishers in each of the categories were: MILITARY CLASS American Legion Post 500, Speedway, ind. American Legion Post 10, Albany, Ore. American Legion Post 321, Piano, Texas Members of the MILITARY OPEN Rockville, Md. Post 86 CLASS Color Guard placed first American Legion Post in Senior Military Open 86, Rockville, Md. Class and named the Sons of The Ameri- National Commander's can Legion Squadron Color Guard. 148, Baltimore Top: National Sons of The American Legion Squadron 77, Commander Ray G. Easton, Md. Smith rides in the CLASS parade alongside his OPEN Legion Auxiliary Unit Scottsville, N.Y. wife, Helen. American 1830, American Legion Auxiliary Unit 1, Rockland, Maine Legion Post Louisiana, Mo. Above: Members of American 370, Team American THE NATIONAL COMMANDER'S COLOR GUARD Legion ride in American Legion Post 86 formation at the convention parade.

Right: A high-horse- power Auxiliary member rumbles past onlookers at the parade.

November 2001 1 27 The American Legion Magazine fees, textbooks and other supplies for a commuter student at an accredited university, Now, therefore, be it resolved... college or trade school for which they qualify; the educational cost index should be reviewed and adjusted annually; a monthly tax-free subsistence allowance indexed for inflation must

AMERICANISM be part of the educational assistance package; enrollment in the Montgomery GI Bill shall be Chairman Joseph E. CaouetteJr. (N.h.) automatic upon enlistment, however, benefits will not be awarded unless eligibility criteria

Res. No. 169 - Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance - Opposes any and all changes to have been met; the current military payroll deduction ($1,200) requirement for enrollment in the Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance, as used in naturalization ceremonies, that would Montgomery GI Bill must be terminated; if a veteran enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill dilute or eliminate any of the following important and necessary elements of the oath: acquired educational loans prior to enlisting in the armed forces, Montgomery GI Bill benefits support for the Constitution of the United States of America; renunciation of all allegiances may be used to repay existing educational loans; if a veteran enrolled in the Montgomery GI to foreign states or sovereignties; support for and defense of the U.S. Constitution and laws Bill becomes eligible for training and rehabilitation under Chapter 31 of Title 38, United States of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; bear "true faith Code, the veteran shall not receive less educational benefits than otherwise eligible to re- and allegiance" to the United States of America; and bear arms, perform noncombatant ceive under Montgomery GI Bill; a veteran may request an accelerated payment of all month- service or perform work of national importance on behalf of the United States of America. ly educational benefits upon meeting the criteria for eligibility for Montgomery GI Bill financial Res. No. 170 - veterans Day - Opposes any and all efforts that would designate Veter- payments, with the payment provided directly to the educational institution; separating ans Day on any day other than the traditional Nov. 1 1 date. servicemembers and veterans seeking a license or credential must be able to use Mont- gomery GI Bill educational benefits to pay for the cost of taking any written or practical test or ECONOMICS other measuring device; eligible veterans shall have 10 years after discharge to utilize Mont- Chairman Robert £ David (S C.) gomery GI Bill educational benefits; eligible members of the Select Reserves, who qualify for - Res. No. 25 - Preserve Priority of Service to Veterans in All One-Stop Centers Montgomery GI Bill educational benefits shall receive not more than half of the tuition assis-

Affirms the practice and definition of "priority" and asks that such definition and practice be tance and subsistence allowance payable under the Montgomery GI Bill and have up to five formally codified by the Congress in Title 38 United States Code, Chapter 41, and that the years from their date of separation to use Montgomery GI Bill educational benefits.

Sei retary of Laboi and I he Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training require and extend the policy and practice of priority of service to all service FOREIGN RELATIONS providers in America's system of workforce development through the authority granted Chairman William M. Bishop (Alaska) them under Section 4102 of Title 38 United States Code; opposes federal funding for any Res. No. 4 - Support for Taiwan - Supports and encourages the continued sales of employment service-provider unless it adopts as a policy that eligible veterans receive sophisticated American weapon systems to the Republic of China, including such systems maximum priority of the above-noted services; seeks that Disabled veterans Outreach as Aegis-equipped destroyers, Kidd-class guided-missile destroyers, diesel-electric sub- Program and Local Veterans Employment Representative staff remain state employees, that marines, MK-48 torpedoes, P-3C Orion anti-submarine aircraft, anti-missile systems, heavy they will work within the evolving system and that they will operate and maintain services to artillery, so that the Republic of China can maintain a sufficient self-defense capability. veterans as mandated by statute; and seeks that the One-Stop Centers work with the U.S. Res. No. 22 - Opposition to Trade with China - Asks the Congress to reverse its Department of Labor, Veterans' Employment and Training Service to ensure the operations decision to grant the People's Republic of China the status of Permanent Normalized Trade of the One-Stop Centers meet or exceed the federally mandated service to veterans. Relations and that the American people be urged to refrain from purchasing goods made Res. No. 26 - Make TAP Training Available to All Separating and Retiring Person- in the People's Republic of China. nel - Reiterates strong support for the Transition Assistance Program and supports making Resolution No. 69 - Priority POW/MIA Actions - Urges the President of the United it permanent and requires that all service members be given an opportunity to participate in States of America and every member of the U.S. Congress to speak out on every occasion training not less than 180 days prior to their separation or retirement from the military to expedite the return of those U.S. servicemen who remain missing in action; pledges The Res. No. 27 - Adequate Funding for veterans' Employment and Training Service American Legion will continues to exert the maximum effort to account for MiAs from World

- Strongly encourage Congress and the Department of Labor to provide adequate funds to War II, Korea, Southeast Asia and the Cold War; and, believes the following priority actions support the mission of the Veterans' Employment and Training Service. should be taken by the U.S. government: Continue to provide sufficient personnel and - Res. No. 28 Support Reinvention of Veterans' Employment and Training Ser- resources so that investigative efforts of World War II, Cold War and Korean War POW/MIA vice - Supports reorganization of the Veterans' Employment and Training Service to make situations can be broadened and accelerated; continue to provide necessary resources so it more effective, efficient and responsive to the needs of America's veterans and supports field operations can be conducted at a maximum rate of activity with more timely follow-up all other efforts that will improve and expand the employment assistance this country of live sighting reports; and continue to declassify all POW/MIA information (except that provides to former members of the armed forces. revealing intelligence sources or methods) in a form readily available to public review. Res. No. 30 - Support Further Study of Licensure and Certification Requirements Res. No. 70 - United Nations - Urges the U.S. government to seek the following reforms - Supports efforts to eliminate employment barriers that impede the transfer of military job in the United Nations and to use American leverage to obtain these desired ends: Encour- skills to the civilian labor market; seeks that the armed forces and the Department of age the united Nations to focus on limited, necessary, achievable tasks that truly better the Defense take appropriate steps to ensure that service members are informed about any lot of humankind in a sensible, cost-effective manner, encourage the United Nations not to licensure or certification they may be required to meet when they enter the civilian work- infringe on national sovereignty when operating economic and social programs; adopt force; supports making the Montgomery Gi Bill eligibility available to pay for all necessary weighted voting procedures in the General Assembly, allotting voting power in relation to civilian license and certification examination requirements, including necessary preparato- funds contributed by each member nation to the United Nations; provide truly independent ry courses; supports efforts to increase the civilian labor market's acceptance of the occu- authority to the inspector General and ensure that UN agencies become subject to periodic, pational training provided by the military; and urges the Congress, the Department of unannounced auditing, the finding of such audits to be reported to member nations; admit Defense and the Department of Labor to fund a study of the effect of civilian licensure and the Republic of China to full membership in the United Nations since that nation has fulfilled certification requirements on all military occupational specialties identified by the study all that is expected of a developing country by adopting democracy, respect for human undertaken by the Commission on Servicemembers' and Veterans' Transition Assistance. rights, free enterprise and a peaceful foreign policy; and establish an equitable fiduciary Res. No. 31 - Support Revision of Veterans' Employment and Training Service relationship between the United States and the United Nations. Performance Standards - Seeks and supports a revision of existing veterans' Employment Res. No. 71 - Vietnam POW/MIA Policy - urges the administration to maintain a seri- and Training Service reporting requirements for measuring performance standards and for ous oversight of the Vietnamese government to insure that the pledges made by the determining compliance with requirements for providing employment services to veterans. Socialist Republic of Vietnam are honestly fulfilled; requests that in the absence of fulfill- Res. No. 32 - The National veterans' Training institute - Strongly encourages Con- ment of these pledges. The American Legion opposes any further economic and political gress and the Department of Labor to provide adequate funds to support the National steps to improve bilateral relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Veterans' Training Institute. Vietnam; and calls on Congress to oppose further steps on this same basis. Res. No. 33 - Veterans Hiring Preference for Federal Contractors - Urges Congress Res. No. 72 - Japanese Compensation and Equity to America's POWs - Demands to amend the covered groups under Section 4212, Chapter 42, Title 38, United States Code that the Japanese government and Japanese corporations who employed American POWs by removing the terms "Vietnam era" and "special disabled" and replacing with "veteran" in slave labor during world War II issue an unequivocal apology for their heinous actions; and "special emphasis on disabled veterans." supports efforts by the U.S. Congress that would facilitate legal actions by former POWs Res. No. 60 - Oppose the Transfer of Veterans' Employment and Training Ser- taken against the Japanese government and Japanese corporations to force reparations; vice to the Department of veterans Affairs - Opposes all legislative efforts to transfer and supports other appropriate means and remedies to achieve equity and fairness for the Department of Labor, veterans' Employment and Training Service to the Department of these courageous veterans. veterans Affairs Res. No. 100 - America's Future - Recognizes the unprecedented changes throughout Res. No. 81 - Remove Delimiting Date for Using the GI Bill - Supports retaining the the world and urges the U.S. government to adopt a bipartisan national security -foreign

10-year delimiting period for veterans to use Montgomery Gi Bill educatonal benefits, urges policy of "Democratic Activism": promoting democratic values, maintaining adequate the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a waiver to any eligible veteran beyond the military strength to deter or defeat aggression, cooperating with allies, and encouraging 10-year limit on a case-by-case basis. free and fair trade. Res. No. 141 - Oppose Eliminating or Contracting Out of Veterans Employment Res. No. 172 - Support for the Republic of Korea - Urges the government of the United and Training Governmental Programs - Vigorously opposes contracting out of the States to assist the Republic of Korea by authorizing the sale of sophisticated weapons sys- DVOP and LVER program or removal of the enabling and resourcing provisions of the tems to the Republic of Korea to safeguard her freedom and promote security in the Asian-

United States Code that provide for: (1) The Disabled Veterans Outreach Program; (2) The Pacific region and encourages the government of the United States to maintain a strong policy

Local Veterans' Employment Representative Program; (3) The National Veterans Training to bear on North Korea to reduce its military forces and to engage in serious discussions with

Institute; and (4) Wagner-Peyser State Employment Service Grants. the Republic of Korea to work toward bringing a lasting peace to the Korean peninsula. Res. No. 164 - National Employment Service Award Recipients - Continues to recognize National Employment Service Award winners at The American Legion National INTERNAL AFFAIRS Convention. Chairman Herman G. Harrington (N.Y.) Res. No. 12 - Support the Small Business Administration - Supports the efforts of Res. No. 94 - National D-Day Museum - Supports the mission of The National D-Day the United States Small Business Administration's Office of Veterans' Affairs in its initiatives Museum, without financial obligation, in New Orleans, which seeks to preserve the memo- to provide outreach to military personnel who may be affected by the downsizing of the ries and instances of the veterans in the Great Wars, particularly the amphibious landings military and supports legislation that would permit the Office of veterans' Affairs of the U.S. of the Allied Forces in World war II; and encourages all department offices to publicize the Small Business Administration to enter into contracts, grants and cooperative agreements mission of the Museum and in particular the events surrounding the dedication of the to further its outreach goals. Pacific Wing of the Museum, Dec. 6-9, 2001, and all posts are encouraged herewith to Res. No. 14 - Help for veteran-Owned Businesses - Strongly encourages the Con- notify their respective members of these events. gress of the United States to require a reasonable set-aside of federal procurements and Res. No. 103 - World War II Memorial - Urges the construction and completion of the contracts for businesses owned ai id operated by veterans and for those veteran business- National World War II memorial without further delay. es affected by base closings and reduction in our military forces. Res. No. 107 - Blue Star Service Banner Program - vigorously promotes the use of Res. No. 35 - Home Loan Guaranty Program - Seeks that the Department of veterans the "Blue Star Service Banner" throughout the United States by encouraging Legionnaires Affairs Home Loan Guaranty limit be raised to at least $250,000 and also be geographically and local American Legion posts to purchase and present Blue Star Service Banners to the adjusted as local market conditions require. families of service people in their communities to display in the windows of their homes Res. No. 101 - Major Enhancements for the Montgomery GI Bill - Supports passage and to offer assistance, information, and services to military personnel and their families, of major enhancements to the current All-Volunteer Force Education Assistance Program, when needed, as part of the Reconnect program. better known as the Montgomery GI Bill, to include the following: The dollar amount of the Res. No. 171 - Appreciation to Host City - Expresses deep appreciation to the Depart- entitlement should be indexed to the average cost of college education including tuition, ment of Texas, Gov. Rick Perry; Mayor Ed Garza; the city officials of San Antonio, including

November 2001 28 | The American Legion Magazine -

the Fire Department, Police Department, and other Public Safety Officials, and to the 2001 VA provide the best possible quality of care for mentally ill veterans, irrespective of the National Convention Corporation Officers, John Morris, president. Around this nucleus has cost of prescription medication; and strongly reaffirms its commitment that all veterans are been built the moving force that provided for every necessity that made for a successful entitled to the absolute best state-of-the-art treatment, irrespective of cost and that the and enjoyable convention. diagnosis and treatment of each veteran should be evidence-based and in the best judgment of the attending physician. NATIONAL SECURITY Res. No. 23 - Support the Automatic Waiver Debts of $250 or Less - Requests the Chairman Allen L. Titus (Ind.) Congress of the United States amend title 38, United States Code, to state that any alleged Res. No. 61 - Military Funeral Honors - Reaffirms that the Congress mandate and overpayment in the amount of $250 or less be granted an automatic waiver. appropriately fund the Department of Defense and the military services, to include reim- Res. No. 47 - Relocate Denver VAMC to the Former Fitzsimmons Army Hospital bursing the National Guard, so as to provide military honors upon request at veterans' - Supports relocating the Denver VA Medical Center from its current location in Denver, funerals in coordination with veterans service organizations such as The American Legion Colo., to the previous site of the Fitzsimmons Army Hospital; encourages VA to immediate- at local levels; that Legion posts and departments be encouraged to participate with the ly develop a plan to relocate the Denver VAMC to the former site of Fitzsimmons Army military in the rendering of funeral honors to veterans; urges that the Department of De- Medical Center; and urges VA to coordinate the proposed relocation of the Denver VAMC fense implement equitable and expedient reimbursement procedures for members of the exploring the opportunity to develop new concepts in cooperative agreements and sharing veterans service organizations who participate in military funeral honors; and urges that of state of the art facilities to coincide with the planned relocation of the University of veterans of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard be authorized to Colorado Health Science Center. receive military funeral honors from those Military Services. Res. No. 58 - Remove 30-year Delimiting Date for Agent Orange Claims - Fully Res. No. 62 - Anthrax Vaccination Immunization Program - Recommends that the supports the removal of the 30-year delimiting date on all veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Department of Defense expeditiously develop a second manufacturer of anthrax vaccine, Res. No. 59 - The American Legion Policy on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses - En- and in the quantities necessary, which surpass the funding, credibility and FDA inspection courages the Department of veterans Affairs to devote the appropriate resources to find- issues which are currently under criticism; urges the Department of Defense to re-evaluate ing effective medical treatments to alleviate the unexplained physical symptoms of Gulf the Anthrax Vaccination Program and maintain individual medical records with the greatest War veterans; requests that the Department of Veterans Affairs fund more scientific stud- of accuracy; and urges both the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to provide ies that exclusively investigate the health of women Gulf War veterans; encourages the timely medical assistance and health care to those participants who experience vaccina- Department of veterans Affairs to quickly implement any reasonable recommendations tion reactions. contained in institute of Medicine reports regarding its Gulf War veterans programs and Res. No. 63 - Department of Defense Health Care for Military Beneficiaries - research; encourages the scientific community to focus its efforts on the most likely caus- Recommends the following guidelines be incorporated as a coherent part of the Depart- es of Gulf War veterans illnesses and to refrain from supporting or encouraging investiga- ment of Defense TRICARE health care package, or any military health care package, for tions of risk factors that are not likely related to Gulf War veterans illnesses; encourages military retirees, dependents and military survivors: The U.S. government must honor its the Department of Defense to not use investigational drugs on U.S. troops without their obligation to provide free, lifetime health care to military retirees in exchange for their informed consent; encourages the Department of Veterans Affairs to consider offering numerous sacrifices made over decades of service to the nation; timely access to a contin- health care and compensation to disabled Gulf War veterans who suffer from unexplained uum of quality, comprehensive and equitable health-care benefits covering the full array of physical symptoms, or medically unexplained symptom syndromes similar to chronic services ranging from preventive health-care and dental treatment plans to prescription fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia, requests VA continue to develop the Persian Gulf Reg- services for all military beneficiaries, regardless of age or health care status should be istry; and pledges that The American Legion will continue to consult with medical experts provided; access, and administrative, barriers to an effective TRICARE system to include from time to time in order to ensure the effectiveness of its advocacy. inefficient business practices such as benefit portability, claims processing, and delays in Res. No. 84 - Amend Title 38, United States Code, to Remove the Specific date claims payments need to be removed; that the TRICARE Senior Pharmacy Program, which for the Award of DIC Benefits for Surviving Spouses of Former POWS - States is availed to Medicare-eligible military retirees, their dependents and military survivors and The American Legion shall sponsor and support legislation to amend section 1318 of title who now have access to the national mail order program and retail pharmacies since April 38, United States Code, to remove the date of Sept. 30, 1999, and substitute "who died

1 , 2001 , be fully funded; that the TRICARE Senior Prime Medicare subvention demonstra- any time after discharge from active duty and who were rated totally disabled for over tion program be made permanent and extended nationwide to all military treatment facili- one year." ties (MTFs) and availed to all Medicare-eligible military retirees residing stateside as well Res. No. 85 - Allow Veterans to Retain $90 of Their Compensation While in as outside the continental United States; that TRICARE for Life, to include TRICARE as a Medicaid-Covered Homes - Pledges that The American Legion shall sponsor and sup- second payer, be fully funded; full access of military retirees and their dependents be port legislation to change the Medicaid-covered nursing home care provision to allow extended to VA and DoD medical facilities for TRICARE and Medicare-eligible military veterans who are receiving compensation to keep $90 of their check for incidentals. retirees and their dependents, and that all military beneficiaries have access to VA phar- Res. No. 109 - The Operations in Lebanon, Grenada and Panama as "Periods of macies; that dual eligible disabled retirees continue to receive health care from both mili- War" - Urges Congress and the President to enact legislation to include in the definition tary treatment facilities and VA medical centers; that adequate military medical personnel, "period of war" in Subsection 11, Section 101, Title 38, United States Code, the following to include graduates of the uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and members periods as "periods of war": the operations in Lebanon in 1958 and 1982-1984, Grenada of the Commissioned Officer Corps of the Public Health Service, should be retained on and Panama. active duty to provide health care for active duty and retired military personnel and their Res. No. 120 - Reduce Disability Requirements for Non-Service-Connected Pen- dependents; that all military beneficiaries be authorized to receive annual oral examina- sion - Supports legislation to amend Title 38, United States Code, Section 1501 to restore tions at military treatment facilities, and that a joint military medical command be autho- the special consideration of age in determinations of entitlement to nonservice-connected rized to integrate and optimize capacities, capabilities and cost effectiveness of medical pension by providing that the disability requirement at age 55 shall be 60 percent; at age treatment facilities of the military services. 60, the requirement shall be reduced to 50 percent; and at age 65, the disability require- Res. No. 64 - United States Army Rangers and Black Berets - Reaffirms that military ment shall be presumed to have been met. berets or any United States military uniform items, equipment, systems and components Res. No. 121 - Special Pension for World War I Veterans - Supports legislation to be procured only from American sources in accordance with "Buy American" laws. amend Title 38, United States Code, so as to provide that: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Res. No. 65 - Reforming the Military Absentee Voting System - Urges that appro- shall pay to each veteran of World War I, who meets the service requirements set forth in Title priate laws and guidelines be developed at federal, state and local levels with the intent 38, United States Code 1521©, a special pension in the amount of $150 per month; such that all military absentee voters and their families will have their votes counted in every special pension shall be paid without regard to (1) any income of any kind payable to the election; that the satisfactorily drafted uniform acts and/or regulations, developed with the veteran's spouse, and (2) the corpus of the veteran's estate; and any eligible veteran in receipt assistance of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, are made of pension under Title 38, United States Code 1512 may also receive such special pension. available to all appropriate state and local election entities; and that The American Legion Res. No. 131 - Additional National Cemeteries in Florida - Urges the Department of take an advocate role on this vital issue at national, state and local levels. Veterans Affairs to develop a plan to establish additional national cemeteries in geographi- Res. No. 66 - The Uniformed Services University of The Health Sciences - Urges cal areas of the State of Florida and that these sites will be established based on current the Congress to continue its determination to retain and expand the F. Edward Hebert and proiected geographical needs. School of Medicine and the Uniformed Services university of the Health Sciences as a Res. No. 156 - improve the Disability and Death Pension Program - Supports continued source of uniformed physicians, advanced practice nurses, and scientists dedi- amendments to Title 38, United States Code, to accomplish the following: Establish the cated to careers of service in the Army, Navy, Air Force and the United States Public Health pension rates of surviving spouses at 90 percent of the rate for a veteran without depen-

Service and strongly supports new construction at the university to fulfill the urgent need dents; establish the pension rate for a surviving child where there is no surviving spouse for small classrooms and housing for the Graduate School of Nursing. entitled at 90 percent of the rate of a veteran without dependents; delete the requirement Res. No. 68 - The Korean Defense Service Medal - Urges the Congress and the that the income and corpus of estate of a person legally responsible for the support of a Department of Defense to authorize the funding and presenting of the Korean Defense surviving child be counted in the determination of annual income of such child; provide Service Medal to those United States military personnel and veterans who served in de- that when two veterans who meet the service, disability and income requirements for fending the Republic of Korea between July 28, 1954, and the present. pension eligibility are married to one another, each shall be paid at the rate of a single Res. No. 122 - Medal of Honor for Dorie Miller - Urges the Congress of the United veteran without dependents reduced by the amount of countable family income; exclude

States to award the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, posthumously, to in the determination of annual income payments all proceeds from government life insur- Done Miller, United States Navy; and that the nation fully acknowledge his distinguished ance policies; and change the effective date for reduction or discontinuance of pension devotion to duty, extreme courage and the total disregard of his own safety during the based on a change of income from the last day of the month in which the change occurred attack on Pearl Harbor. to the last day of the calendar year in which the change occurred. Res. No. 132 - Support for the Maritime Administration - Supports the retention of Res. No. 160 - The American Legion Policy on the National Cemetery Adminis- the U.S. Maritime Administration, strongly opposes any plan to eliminate the Maritime tration - Supports the establishment of additional national and state veterans cemeteries

Administration thus putting the economic and national security of America in jeopardy, and columbaria wherever a need for them is apparent and petition Congress to provide urges the U.S. Congress and President Bush to oppose any bill that would dismantle the required operations and construction funding to ensure VA burial in a national or state

U.S. Maritime Administration or weaken the Merchant Marine. veterans cemetery is a realistic option for veterans and their eligible dependents; opposes Res. No. 133 - Commercial Shipbuilding for Defense - urges the president and any attempt, now or in the future, to collect "user fees" for burials in any national or state Congress to boost naval budgets, promote commercial shipbuilding, expand the use of veterans cemetery; supports restoration of a veterans' burial allowance and an increase in U.S. flagships in world commerce and resist foreign actions that would further damage the burial benefit; along with restoration of the pre-1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation America's defense industrial base. Act criteria to provide eligibility for a government furnished headstone or marker Res. No. 134 - Retention of the United States Marine Academy and State Acade- allowance and restoration and increase of the burial plot allowance; and supports action to mies - Supports maintaining the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the six provide that when an eligible veteran dies in a state veterans hospital or nursing home, the state Merchant Marine academies. Secretary of veterans Affairs shall pay for the cost of transporting the remains to the place Res. No. 139 - Exoneration of Capt. McVay, USS Indianapolis - Requests that the of burial as determined by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. president issue an executive order overturning Capt. Charles Mcvay's conviction, exoner- Res. No. 161 - The American Legion Policy on Entitlement to VA Headstones - ating him posthumously, and that a Presidential Unit Citation be awarded to every crew Supports entitlement for all honorably discharged veterans to an appropriate grave marker member of the USS Indianapolis. provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, without regard to whatever other private monument or headstone that may already be in place at the time of application. VETERANS AFFAIRS AND REHABILITATION Res. No. 168 - Oppose Consolidation/Regionalization of Claims Processing Chairman Thomas P. Cadmus (Mich.) Opposes any efforts to consolidate, regionalize or centralize any VA claims adjudication Res. No. 1 - Quality Care for Mentally III Veterans - Urges Congress to mandate that activities that abrogate the authority or junsdiction of the local VA regional office.

November 2001 1 29 The American Legion Magazine ,, ,

Roster for a New Legion Year

Terry D. Lewis Russell H. Hanseter Dale Salmen National Vice Commander National Vice Commander National Vice Commander Northeast Region Midwest Region Western Region Home: Philadelphia Home: Seymour, Wis. Home: Round Legion member- Legion member- Mountain, Nev. ship: 19 years, Post ship: 38 years, Post Legion member- 881 106 ship: 19 years, Post Military service: U.S. Military service: U.S. 18 Marine Corps, 1967- Navy, 1952-1956 Military service: U.S. 1971 Occupation: High Army, 1966-1968 Occupation: Philadelphia Parking school biology teacher (ret.) Occupation: Miner Authority Legion highlights: Post Cmdr Legion highlights: Post Cmdr Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., 1967-68, 1991-1992; Dept. vice Cmdr., 1982-1985; Dept. Cmdr., 1990-1991; 1989-1990; Dept. Cmdr., 2000-2001; 1994-1995; Dept. Cmdr., 1995-1996; Dept. Oratorical Chair, 1997-2001; Dept. Vice Cmdr., 1995-1996 Dept. Boys State Director, 1998-2001 Dist. Cmdr., 1985-1988, 1992-1996 National positions: Security Cmsn., National positions: Legislative National positions: Constitution and National Security Cncl. Cmsn. Bylaws Cmte., Distinguished Guests Natl. Region includes: Connecticut, Region includes: Illinois, Indiana, Cmte., Alt. Exec. Cmte. Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, lowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Region includes: Alaska, Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin Mexico, Montana, Nevada, New Mexi- Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont co, Oregon, Phillippines, Utah, Wash- ington, Wyoming James F. Mareschal Sr. Charles Ralph John National Vice Commander National Vice Commander Southeast Region P. Central Region Home: St. Louis Raymond Jacquez National Sergeant-at-Arms Home: Duncan, Okla. Legion membership: Home: Laurel, Md. Legion membership: 24 years, Post 444 17 years, Post 55 Military service: U.S. Legion membership: 36 years, Post Military service: U.S. Army, 1961-1963 's, 60 Air Force, 1952-1955 Occupation: Structur- Military service: U.S. Occupation: Hallibur- al steel ironworker Army, 1947-1969 k\lH ton Services (ret.) (ret.) Occupation: Legion highlights: Post Cmdr., Dept. Legion highlights: Post Cmdr Parole/probation officer (ret.) Vice Cmdr., 1992-1993; Dept. Cmdr., 1985-1986; Dept. Vice Cmdr., 1990- Post Adj., Dept. 1993-1994; Dist. Cmdr., 1990-1992; 1991; Dept. Cmdr., 1991-1992 Legion highlights: Exec. Cmte., Dist., County and Post Dist. Cmdr., Dept. Exec. Cmte., 1988- National positions: Foreign Rela- 1992 tions Cmsn., Cmte. on Committees Judge Advocate; Dept. Constitution and Bylaws Chmn., Dept. License Tag National positions: Internal Affairs Region includes: Florida, Georgia, Chmn. Cmsn., Cmsn. on Children & Youth, Kentucky, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, National positions: Constitution and Alt. Natl. Exec. Cmte., Constitution South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and By-Laws Cmte. West Virginia Bylaws Cmte. Region includes: Alabama, Arkansas, France, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Joseph Miller Texas Walter L. Davis National Historian Aide to the National Commander Home: Spring Arbor, Home: Greenbelt, Md. Dr. David F. Russell Mich. Legion membership: National Chaplain Legion member- 36 years, Post 136 Home: Spotsylvania, ship: Nine years, Post Military service: va. 246 Navy, 1963-64 Legion membership: Military service: Occupation: Retired 15 years, Post 320 U.S. Army, 1965-1972; from U.S. Geological J&Jj^^ Military service: U.S. U.S. Army Reserve, Survey A " Foirc 1949 - 1952 1981-2000 1983- FiiJH ' Legion highlights: Post Cmdr. 'MM/KM occupation: Ordained Occupation: Realtor 84; Post Adjutant, 1998; County Baptist minister, Bible teacher Cmdr., 1989-90 Legion highlights: Post Cmdr , Post Legion highlights: Dept. Chaplain, Adj., Dept. Finance Officer, Dept. Con- National Positions: Foreign Rela- 1991-1992, 1995-1996, 1997-2002 test Supervisory Cmte. Chmn. tions Cmsn.

Photos by Tom Strattman

30 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magaz Colors of Courage - SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION by Tom Nielsen

honors fill veterans and members ofAmerica's Armed Forces

Flying proudly before America's "Colors," our national symbol clutches streamers representing WWI Victory, WWII Victory, POW, Korean Service, Vietnam Service, Southwest Asia Service (Desert Storm)

- and in this special limited edition only - the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.

Since its original publication, Colors of Courage has been acclaimed by veterans, members of the military, their families and friends as a dramatic and beautiful tribute to those who have answered America's call. Now, thanks to friendly comments from fellow veterans, artist Tom Nielsen has painstakingly added the Armed Forces Expeditionary streamer directly onto the original artwork. The resulting 'new' painting has been beautifully reproduced on collector-quality art print paper and is available in this special limited edition only.

Colors of Courage is the perfect way to say "thank you for your service!"

Overall size: 19" x 26" 23" Image size: Approx. 14" x Order by phone: or send check or money order to: Edition size: 4,950 plus 50 Artist Proofs Call Toll-free 1 .877.328.221 2 Tom Nielsen Fine Art, Dept. AL Printed in the USA #44 Artist signed and numbered $79.00 VISA 122 West 14th Street With remarque $149.00 Front Royal, VA 22630 Shipping $6 each VA, GA residents add sales tax

A great gift idea - but order now - this is a limited edition! Sizing Up America's "R

What is lost and what is gained when the hometown bank becomes part of something bigger?

BY GURNEY WILLIAMS III

smallest bank in the Unit- merger giants, both in Theed States is located in a 97- the same town. year-old two-story, red-brick building that stands out like an A Financial Family. The Bank of antique of the early 20th century. Lowes looks like a stage set that It's easy to find in the modest someone forgot to dismantle. "You Two. When some- downtown of Lowes, Ky., amid a know the kind of places in the one overdraws, McClellan gets on grocery store, funeral parlor, real movies where Jesse James goes to the phone and says, "You know estate and auction office, two rob those old banks?" McClellan what? We gotta have a deposit from beauty shops, two churches and says. "That's exactiy what we look you right now." no traffic lights to slow the pace like." Three teller cages. Wall safe. Her brother grumbles amiably: of this 200-resident community. A staff of four that knows the name "She spoils all the customers."

The Bank of Lowes, with total - and a good bit of the credit history "I'm sure if something assets of only about $1.2 million, - of everyone in town. Everything happened to me, they'd save my recently became another player in but eyeshades, spurs and spittoons. neck if they could," says Clara a big trend that has transformed Changes resulting from the sale Reisner, who runs the grocery store the way millions of Americans han- of the Bank of Lowes aren't imme- across the street from the bank. dle their money. The family that diately evident to those who come Banks like this offer nimble deci- owned the Main Street institution in from the farms nearby where sion-making on farm or business for almost 60 years has sold it to an beans and corn, wheat and tobacco loans, according to the Independent attorney from Georgia, "a nice fam- nourish the local economy. McClel- Community Bankers of America, a ily man," says Lowes' vice chair- lan still addresses the envelopes for Washington-based advocate and woman, Dorothy McClellan, 64. customer statements by hand. "It's lobbying group for some 5,300

The transaction plunges the local faster to write them out than it is to small banks in the United States. landmark, now named Heritage put them in the typewriter," she Community banks channel most of First Bank, into the green sea of explains. Besides, nobody sells the their loans to the neighborhoods mergers and acquisitions where for ribbons for the two ancient black where their customers reside and much of the past decade big finan- Royal typewriters in the bank. Ma- work. Bank officers live in the same cial fish have been swallowing chine print is pale compared with neighborhoods and generally make smaller ones at a voracious rate. McClellan's strong handwriting. themselves accessible to their cus- The number of mergers in this feed- The key advantage of the small tomers, while "CEOs at mega-banks ing frenzy actually peaked in 1995 bank - where customers expect to are often headquartered in office at about 600, but has remained be treated like family - is practiced suites, away from daily customer high with 453 last year alone. here. Lowes still makes a loan the dealings," the ICBA argues. Is all of this buying and merging old-fashioned way, after McClellan Running a community bank re- good for Americans? As with most and her brother, bank President Jack minds Robert N. Barsness, presi- financial statements, there are two Wilkerson, talk about the applica- dent of Prior Lake State Bank in Pri- sides to the ledger. The bottom line tion. "One little old lady, her last or Lake, Minn., of his service as a - balancing what's gained against loan was maybe $35 to $50," says Marine Corps artillery officer. "We what's lost by bank mergers - isn't President Wilkerson, who approved always did more with less," the re- clear as black and white. Some ex- the woman's application without a tired major says. "In Vietnam, we perts say there is probably room for formal meeting with his sister. Num- didn't have a lot of stuff, and the mom-and-pop banks and mega- ber of mortgages granted last year: equipment was old. But people had

32 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | Sam Bank" for catering to military personnel - in 1942. He kept the account through World

War II after his B- 17 "Flying you're in trouble," warns Fortress" bomber was shot down, pride in fixing it and making it Richard J. Rosen, assistant professor and he spent two years in a German work." In his bank, with $105 mil- of finance at Indiana University and prison camp. After the war, "Wher- lion in assets, he says, "Good peo- a former economist for the Board of ever I was stationed, I'd set up a ple working hard can get a lot more Governors of the Federal Reserve. new account," he says. He estab- done than bureaucracies (in large For now, there's no sign of trou- lished accounts at 10 or 15 different banks) sitting around and talking." ble at the Bank of Lowes as it banks, he says, as he moved from In a loan application at Prior Lake, morphs into its new identity. In base to base until his retirement as a Barsness says, "the person across fact the previous owners, still on colonel in 1971. But he never closed the desk has a big share of the deci- the job, are excited about the his Fort Sam Bank account, even

sion-making process." That often change. For the first time, early after the Bank of America bought it means same-day approval. this year, the bank fired up two and changed its name in 1999 to the Such advantages, coupled with computers and began dealing with Bank of America Military Bank. good management, have left sur- a home office out of state. Dorothy BOA has $642 billion in total assets, viving small banks in surprisingly McClellan doesn't expect to be the largest holding in the United good shape in the wake of the con- writing out those addresses much States and more than 500,000 times solidation revolution. "There's longer. The new owner plans to bigger than the Bank of Lowes. been a shakeout among them in help the bank grow and be able to The net result of the acquisition the past 15 years," says Ross Wal- offer loans larger than the previous to Trojan: He says he's happy be- drop, a statistician who tracks the cap of $59,000. cause the same people he's known strengths and weaknesses of all Still, Reisner, the grocer, says and liked for years still work

8,315 U.S. commercial banks at the she's worried that her banker there. He found it easy to get a Federal Deposit Insurance Corpora- friends across the street will retire. homo-equity loan from BOA, and tion in Washington. The total num- She's opposed in general to bank he was satisfied with its 7-percent ber of banks has dropped by more acquisitions and mergers. "I'm rate. Some bank features have im- than a third over the past 15 years. sure it's good for the economy," proved, he says. Trojan now pays "We've seen a Darwin type of exer- she says. "The more money you all his bills through his computer, cise," Waldrop says. The survivors work with, the more you can give saving postage and gaining time. tend to be fiscally fit. the people. But it's just not person- And now there are more ATM ma- But what happens when the al. You're just a number." chines where he can get cash, neighborhood bank's neighborhood without paying a transaction fee. runs into hard times? Some bank Power in Numbers. Thirty years of More is better: that's the selling observers say small banks' sensitivi- service in the U.S. Air Force taught point that drove merger mania in ty to local issues won't necessarily Joseph "Jay" Trojan of Houston a the 1990s, fueled by the Riegle-Neal protect them. "If you're a very small lot about banking. He opened an Interstate Banking and Branching bank in Kentucky and your account at the National Bank of Fort Efficiency Act of 1994. The federal - local economy gets in trouble, Sam Houston famous as "Fort . law allows banks to branch across

November 2001 1 33 The American Legion Magazine [ state lines. There's some evidence that the resulting boom in consolidation - which had begun even be- Small Big . fore the act - has been good for the banking business. On average, insti- Banks tutions with assets of more than $1 Banks . billion are more efficient businesses i than smaller banks, according to FDIC figures. The secret is they can centralize some of their fixed costs. Community A single data-processing center, for New law example, can serve many branches. banks recycle That's good for a bank's bottom gave rise

line, and it can be good for dollars in their local to one-stop customers like Trojan. "The larger economies. they are, the better able they are to financial-service offer additional and more sophisticated services," like extra ATMs industry in America. BY GEORGE W. HAMLIN IV and credit cards, says FDIC statisti- Independent banking, or cian Waldrop. "community banking," is as The sheer size of a bank like

distinctive a value today, in BOA means that it can reach mil- Tnstead of buying insurance at an era of rapid banking-industry lions of customers and even play a I one company, stocks and consolidation, as it ever has behind-the-scenes role in American X bonds at another, and check- been. These values can be seen culture. The Bank of America pro- ing accounts and CDs at a bank, at the consumers' level and in vides about 1,100 mortgages a day consumers can consolidate all of the role that banking plays in - averaging about one every 80 their financial services with a underwriting the economic de- seconds - and claims that it can few providers or just one. One- velopment of local communities. pre-qualify applicants at its Web stop shopping is no longer the

But first some statistics: Twen- site in less than 10 minutes online. exclusive domain of retailers; it ty years ago there were 14,300 Total ATMs: 14,000. Total number is the prevailing trend among FDIC-insured commercial banks of banking centers: 4,500 in 21 larger financial institutions in in the country. Today there are states and the District of Columbia. America. That's due to the his- 8,315. Back then, 40 percent of Tom Myrick, senior vice presi- toric Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of household deposits were held by dent, consumer marketing pro- 1999. It dismantled Depression- the banking industry; today that grams, says BOA isn't about to era laws - which put banks and share has shrunk to 14 percent. cede any ground to small banks on other competitors in regulatory Where did the money go? It the customer-service front. A di- boxes - and allows banking, se- was converted into investments verse menu of personalized curities and insurance firms to in mutual funds and money-mar- services includes photo-identifica- join together in one enterprise. ket funds, essentially securities, tion credit cards, investment ad- The new law created the po- rather than bank deposits. The vice, insurance policies, round-the- tential for unprecedented con- problem is, as a consequence, clock accessibility and a personal venience, competitive pricing these funds are no longer avail- banker assigned to every customer. and more choice than ever be- able to make business loans and Most small banks can't offer all of fore for consumers. home mortgages but are invested this, Myrick says. As a result of Gramm-Leach- instead in other things outside the The size of a bank like BOA also Bliley, more banks will affiliate community. In addition, within makes it, and others like it, easy with insurance companies, more the banking industry itself, there targets for critics. Some take aim at insurance companies will join has been a considerable consoli- customer service. "Getting spotty," with asset-management compa- dation. That is, 84 percent of the writes one anonymous customer, nies and more brokerage firms banking assets are now held by grumbling about BOA on a Web- will merge with banks. Even 315 very large banks, leaving site bulletin board. "Response to more consolidation is ahead. only 16 percent of the banking e-mail takes forever. " Myrick ac- The financial-services indus- assets in the hands of the remain- knowledges that service can suffer try still is very fragmented. Wal- ing 8,000 community banks. for a month or two in the wake of Mart, for example, controls In the public's mind, small a merger but adds that regular sur- about 45 percent of the discount banks have the reputation of de- veys indicate consumer satisfaction department-store market. Citi- livering friendly, personal has been climbing steadily group, the nation's largest finan- service. "Neighbors helping throughout the BOA system. cial services company, has only neighbors" is the tag line. Prices James W. Brock, an economics about 4-percent market share. are affordable and sometimes professor at Miami of Ohio Univer- Larger, diversified financial-ser- free. Why? Because community sity, argues* that consolidations, in vices companies will be able to banks balance priorities different- general, can cause consumer trau- operate more efficiently, com- ma "as you wait on hold for what

34 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | 1

HELP! Save Classic Country Music Original, Full-Length #1 Hits—Not Available Anywhere Else!

CLASSIC COUNTRY MUSIC Jim Ed Brown «-*•*•' • Pop A Top • Bottle Bottle • The Three Bells (The Browns) nrusi Name Cassette Compact Disc • Looking Back To See (The Browns) • Scarlet Ribbons (For OR t9n QR ROY ACUFF King of Country Music DUUI u $10.30W u-ouu $£U.30 Her Hair) (The Browns) • I Don't Want To Have To Marry You RRM.r «11 or (w/H. Cornelius) • Sometime Sunshine • Fools (w/H. REX ALLEN Great Singing Cowboys OOU 1 li $ 1 1. 30 D-8801 $14 98

{ n no Cornelius) • Morning • Saying Hello Saying I Love You Saying BILL ANDERSON Greatest Hits $ 3.90 u-ooio $14.30$1d QR Goodbye (w/H. Cornelius) • If The World Ran Out Of Love t1K OR LYNN ANDERSON Rose Garden 434IU-U JIU.30 U-934IU $13. ys Tonight (w/H. Cornelius) • Morning Comes Too Early (w/H. Cornelius) • It's That Time wnn.r C19 QR n mnn t1R QR EDDY ARNOLD CMG Signature Series U'OUUU $10.30 Of Night • Lying In Love With You (w/H. Cornelius). t11 OR n uir tm qr BOXCAR WILLIE King Of The Hoboes Dllo-U U-34I0 $13.30 Cass 3002-C $12.98 CD D-3002 $16.98 1191 n^.p n.ii9iirc WALTER BRENNAN Old Shep JtmIU.30qr $10.30tm qr tm or n.AAlAtt tm qr CHET, FLOYD & BOOTS Great Country WW li U 44/4U $10.30 Charley Pride t11 OR n t90 QR JERRY CLOWER 3 Volume Set

MERLE HAGGARD 24 Greatest Hits 6024-C $10.98 D-6024 $18.98 Cass 3003-C $12.98 CD D-3003 $16.98

MERLE HAGGARD & BONNIE OWENS 5119-C JIU.30qr D-5119 $15 98 t7 QR tm qr Porter FREDDIE HART The Best Of I3U3U li $ 1.30 U I3U0U $IU.30 Wagoner • The Cold Hard Facts Of Life -The Carroll County HEE HAW GOSPEL QUARTET J lot 0 $11.30t1i QR U'OIOtn.n(!9 $l/.30t17 QR Accident • Green Green Grass of Satisfied Mind «1C no Home* A JOHNNY HORTON America Remembers 6004-C Un.finndOUIW $£0.30W QR • Eat Drink And Be Merry • Misery Loves Company • Skid Auaila (1-91 Love: Classics hoiMM lie U l IDUR(1 tm qr SONNY JAMES Young Hvaiia $13.30 Row Joe • Sorrow On The Rocks • If Teardrops Were Pennies

JOHNNIE & JACK Greatest Hits 6108-C $10.98 D-6108 $17.98 (w/Dolly) «Just Someone I Used To Know (w/Dolly) • Please Don't Stop Loving Me (w/Dolly) • Company's • Plans (w/ Dolly) • Ole Slew-Foot. GEORGE JONES &MELBA MONTGOMERY 111-C $t 0.30R QR D-111 $l£.30t19 QR Coming Making

CRISTY LANE 20 Greatest Hits 6000-C $11.98 n-finnn $18 98

WILMA LEE &ST0NEY COOPER t$0.30R QR U-040n lifl $13.30tm or Bobby Bare • Detroit City • Marie Laveau • 500 Miles Away From ANNE MURRAY What A Wonderful World uuo£3 u $l/.30t17 QR U UU0£3 $13.30t1Q QR • The Streets Of Baltimore • Four Strong Winds • OCQM.P Home BUCK OWENS Legendary Country $14.30t14 QR n.9RQd9 $10.30tm OR Miller's Cave • (Margie's At) The Lincoln Park Inn • Just «409.p cm or WEBB PIERCE 22 Country Hits 43413'U J1U.30tm OR u-33410 $13.90 To Satisfy You • The Game Of Triangles (with Norma Jean (11 QR n.finiR t17 QR PORTER & DOLLY 20 Greatest Hits DU 1 0 1 $ 1 1 .30 U'OUIO $ 1 1.30 and Liz Anderson) • Ride Me Down Easy • Daddy What t11 QR n KA99 t17 QR RAY PRICE 20 Hits $l 1. 30 $ 1 1.90 If • Dropkick Me Jesus • Redneck Hippie Romance • Vegas (with Jeannie Bare). tm or ROAD MUSIC Classic Truckin' Hits 7nnn.p $1U.Soan nU-/OUU7snn $13. yo Cass 3001-C $12.98 CD D-3001 $16.98

MARTY ROBBINS #1 Cowboy DUUJ'Ufirnn.r $10.30tn qr u-ouuo $£U.30t9n QR t R QR n mm tm qr CAL SMITH Cal Smith $ 0.30 $13.30 CATALOG MUSIC CO. Oult ct Shififud J7QQC n /I700G t1Q OR CARL SMITH The Essential '50-'56 p $14.30t1d QR u-4/syo $19.30 "Within i 4301 Hillsboro Rd., Nashville, TN 37215-3345 onri/1 P t19 Oil HANK SNOW CMG Signature Series $l£.30 U-jUU4 Huaineaa (Day

RED SOVINE BestofRedSovine 601 1 -C $14.98 D-6011 $19.98 Name

STATLER BROS. Lester Roadhog Moran Not Available D-581944 $13.98

STEEL GUITAR BY MOONLIGHT 8041-C $11.98 D-8041 $15.98

MEL STREET Greatest Hits 7824-C $10.98 D-7824 $16.98 City State ZifL HANK THOMPSON 20 Greatest Hits 7807-C $14.98 D-7807 $19.98

MEL TILLIS 36 All-Time Greatest Not Availa ble D-17007 $35.98 Phone

ERNEST TUBB Retrospective 1 & 2 205056-C $11.98 D-205056 $20.98 Card# Exp. Date GENE WATSON Farewell Party 6033-C $14.98 D-6033 $20.98

KITTY WELLS 20 Greatest Hits 6023-C $11.98 D-6023 $19.98 | Artist item*

HANK WILLIAMS Beyond The Sunset 834574-C $13.98 D-834574 $20.98

MAC WISEMAN 20 Greatest Hits 7790-C $14.98 D-7790 $18.98

SHEB WOOLEY/BEN COLDER 22 Greats 6017-C $10.98 D-6017 $16.98

T Re |—I Check or I I Visa, MasterCard " «fS q U Money Order U Discover, AmEx shippTg (Forelg'n ofdlrs Add$6 00 $2.95 Order Toll Free 1-800-349-4541 AL1101 T^;) seems like all day just to talk with ly than larger institutions. The somebody." Brock is more pete globally and give business- owners - shareholders - are gen- concerned about what might hap- es greater access to capital. erally people who reside in town. pen if even one large U.S. bank Gramm-Leach-Bliley merely Likewise, the directors, officers runs into financial trouble. "There recognized the reality of what and employees are members of is no evidence that they are more already had occurred in the mar- the same community. Their chil- intelligent risk takers than small or ketplace. Banks today control dren go to school together there. medium-sized banks," he says. less than 25 percent of the coun-

When it comes to making de- "But they have a decisive advan- try's financial assets, less than posits, or the recycling of them in tage," he warns. "They are consid- half of what they controlled just the form of loans, the "who" and ered too big to be allowed to fail." a few decades ago. "where" of that process is influ- The distinctions among banks, enced by what is familiar and is Bank on Continued Change. Wal- securities firms and insurance done in accord with local priori- drop at the FDIC says that since companies have disappeared. ties. For example, it takes 20 de- 1993, American banks have been They're all competing for the posit accounts of $5,000 each to on the kind of run that bankers same customers. They're all part underwrite a single $100,000 love - record earnings each year of the same industry - financial mortgage loan. Most deposits until 2000, which was "still a very services. It has $2.4 trillion in as- tend to be owned by people old- strong year," he says. Consumers sets and is estimated to have er than 50 who are not using have more choices than they used grown by more than 25 percent their dollars any more for build- to, with a wider range of services the past three years alone. This ing families or businesses, sometimes balanced by more fees new industry - years in the mak- whereas the borrowers tend to and by what some consumers ing - was created by deregula- be younger than 50 and are in think is less-personalized attention. tion, technology, over-capacity need of funds to expand family The banking business as a whole, (too many banks chasing too few or business activities. Waldrop says, may be dividing customers) and the emergence of In a very real sense, an inde- into two extremes, with large full- the so-called "non-banks." pendent bank manages the spectrum banks at one end, and Money-market funds now financial resources of its commu- strong but small survivors at the have more assets than all bank nity. That's a great philosophy other. In coming years, middle- checking accounts. Mutual funds and good business. Providing an sized banks with assets between now have more assets under equipment loan for the local dry $1 billion and $5 billion may find management than exist in the en- cleaner provides a ready and ac- themselves too big to be communi- tire banking system. Stocks now cessible service for the members ty lenders exclusively, and too account for almost one-fourth of of the community. Doing the small to compete with the full-ser- U.S. household assets, exceeding same for a small manufacturing vice mega-banks, he speculates. even the value of our homes. concern provides jobs for those Whatever happens next, our Despite consolidation and in- who live locally so that they can biggest and littlest banks in the creased competition, many small afford to patronize the dry clean- future are likely to be vastly differ- banks will continue to thrive if er, and everyone has some de- ent from the institutions many they stay close to their posits with the bank. This is re- Americans grew up with. Jay Tro- customers, understand their cycling at its best: deposits, jan's dad owned one of the clas- needs and provide great service. loans, jobs and deposits. sics: Bison State Bank in Bison, The key, for small banks and Individual customers of banks Okla. When Jay was a boy in the large diversified financial today are seeking safe places to 1920s, his father sealed loans with services companies alike, will be hold their funds, process their a handshake. Once, he took a who has the best people - talent- payments and provide conve- check written in charcoal on a ed, professional, caring people nient access to the occasional wooden shingle. When his bank who take the time to understand loan. They are looking for finan- was decimated at the start of the their customers' needs, ask the cial-service providers who make Great Depression, "he paid off 100 right questions, and provide the them feel smart, comfortable percent on the dollar to every per- products and advice that will and secure. son who had an account," Trojan help satisfy all their customers'

It matters now, more than says, much of it out of his own financial needs and help them ever, where you choose to bank pocket. If his father could have succeed, n and acquire your financial ser- seen what would happen to bank-

vices. It is not just about the ing in America in the past 10 years Jerry Gillaspia manages the money, its safety and return, but alone, Trojan says, "I think he Worldwide Military Banking

also about who is managing it would have been astounded.": market for Wells Fargo &Co., a and how. $290 billion diversified finan- Gurney Williams III of New York cial-services company with W. Hamlin W is presi- City is an award-winning writer more than 5,400 stores, Internet dent and chief executive officer for and frequent contributor to The and other distribution channels Canandaigua National Bank and American Legion Magazine. across North America and else- Trust Co. in Canandaigua, N.Y. where in the world. Article design: Doug Rollison

36 I November 2001 The American Legion Maga Improve your hearing discreetly . . . improve your life dramatically

^ Things you should know about Phonak digital hearing aids: rr »jp mt% •Clinically proven to reduce background noise* • Real-life tested and rated #1 in customer satisfaction*

ciaro- hearing a ch • Discreet! No one will notice you are wearing one shown actual size . . Some can be contro || ed with a wristwatch remote

Just a few of the reasons why more people are now turning to Phonak, the leader in digital hearing aids.

Let Phonak improve the quality of your hearing . . . and the quality of your life.

Call NOW for your FREE booklet, Advanced Hearing Solutions and to find a hearing professional near you. 55=="^ Call 1-888-566-6473 PHONAK GOOd Housekeeping hearing systems

Powered by Innovation

4520 Weaver Parkway Warrenville, IL 60555 www.phonak-us.com

*Clinica! results available upon request. Individual results may vary. Th r rRower

way. In the sixth inning, as Noe and Brooklawn, N.J., makes a habit of battling back Lewiston starter Julius Smith contin- to win American Legion Baseball World Series. ued their duel, Rucci stepped up to the plate with one man on and took BY JEFF STOFFER by last year's one-run defeat in the two straight strikes. The third pitch semis at Alton, 111. Rucci, whose also was in the strike zone. And

an American Legion Baseball ground-out ended the 2000 season then it was gone, launched high InWorld Series loaded with heart- one game short, wanted another over the left-field fence. pumping comebacks and punc- chance in his final season of Le- The two-run shot made it 4-2. tuated by an unlikely champi- gion eligibility. He and his team- The pitching duel continued - 10 onship pairing, one of the most mates got it. "They really put their strikeouts for Noe, six for Smith - important lessons sports can teach noses to the grindstone," Coach and Rucci's home run grew more was delivered over and over again Dennis Barth said. "Our kids decisive. Brooklawn added an in- at Parker Field in Yakima, Wash., worked hard all year." surance run in the top of the ninth in August. That would be the les- Before a final-game crowd of on an RBI single by left-fielder son about never giving up. 2,688 spectators at Parker Field, Mike Falasca, and the three runs Brooklawn, N.J., Post 72, en- Lewiston jumped out to a 2-0 lead might as well have been 10. Noe tered the national tournament with four doubles in the bottom of coolly retired the side to end it. with a 51-4 record, best among the third inning. But Brooklawn And then he was swarmed upon. the eight regional champs from retaliated in the fourth when In the chaos of celebration that fol- across the country. But it would third-baseman Nate Schill scored lowed the final out, the players all take three big comebacks - on a fielder's choice, and right- realized that something very rare including a four-run rally in the fielder Bryan Ciconte came in on and special had just occurred, a mo- bottom of the ninth inning to win an error to make it 2-2. ment to be cherished for the rest of the semi-final game 10-9 over Om- Six-foot- 5 right-hander Andrew their lives. More than that, they will aha, Neb. - for the New Jersey Noe resumed his composure after remember forever that it was by club to earn its first title shot since the third-inning barrage and held never giving up that they became winning it all in 1991. "They've Lewiston scoreless the rest of the the 2001 American Legion World been coming back all year," Series champions. said Joseph "Pops" Barth, "This bunch of guys is un- who at Yakima celebrated his believable," said Rucci, his 50th season as Brooklawn's voice hoarse, his face streaked manager with a 10th appear- with tears and sweat after the ance in the ALWS. "These game. With a .410 postseason kids stuck together and got batting average and relentless better every game." work behind the plate, he was

It was all about persever- named the 2001 ALWS Most ance. And in the championship Valuable Player, and then cred- contest - a 5-2 win over the ited it all to teammates who surprising Lewis-Clark Twins believed in themselves. "All of Lewiston, Idaho, Post 13, along, if one of the big hitters who narrowly made the tour- at the top of the order couldn't nament with a 44-18 record - get it done, others did. Great no one embodied that spirit guys, one through nine. We like Brooklawn's Mike Rucci. definitely had the confidence. Playing in an unprecedented We knew we could do it." fourth consecutive Legion World Series, the hard-hitting Jeff Stoffer is managing ed- catcher remembered his team's Brooklawn catcher Mike Rucci happily itor of The American Legion 0-3 effort at Las Vegas in 1998, plants his foot on the plate after his deci- Magazine. the one-run semi-final loss in sive sixth-inning home run in the champi- Connecticut in 1999, followed onship game at Yakima, Wash, jeffstoffer Article design: Holly K. Soria

38 | November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | The Bose® Wave® radio/CD. When we designed the Wave® radio/CD, we spent over a year

making it one of the smallest, most compact systems available. One ^por Free Shipping ,, , „ that fits almost anywhere. But despite all that, all anyone seems to order by Dec. 2001. talk about is how lifelike its sound is. 31,

What they're really talking about is our patented acoustic waveguide speaker technology.

Its unique design means no other system can produce such room-filling sound from such a small

enclosure. The result is music that's truly distinctive in its clarity and full, natural bass. So striking,

the Oregonian called the Wave® radio/CD "one of those little unexplained miracles of acoustic physics."

Experience the lifelike sound of the Bose Wave® radio/CD yourself or choose the Bose Wave®

radio without CD player. Both are available directly from Bose, the most respected name in sound.

And with our 30-day money-back guarantee, your purchase is entirely risk free. Our flexible payment

plan lets you decide how many interest-free payments you'd like to make. (Choose from 1 to

12 monthly payments). So why wait? Call today and hear for yourself what everyone's talking about.

To think, all that time making it Small,

and all anyone talks about is h « sounds

.00-539-2073, e,,

y, Please specify color when ordering: Wave* radio/CD: Platinum White n Graphite Gray Wave* radio: Platinum White Graphite Gray

Day Evening Phone Number

tail to: Bose Corporation, Dept CDD-T7520, The Mountain, 0S ''Or Framingham, MA 01701-9168. ^ ^\N-'° °re inf products- °rmation on all our Better sound through research®

Installment payment plan and free shipping offer not to be combined with any other offer or applied to previous purchases. Payment plan available on credit card orders only and subject to change without notice "

A night in a Georgia drunk tank led young

Zell Miller to

Parris Island, S.C, and a whole new world of responsibility. 'The U.S. Marine Corps changed my life'

BY JAMES V. CARROLL Georgia points to that hot August Zell Miller's 42-year political night in 1953 as an epiphany. He career has carried him from the Miller was in trouble. knew he needed help, so he turned mayor's office in rural Young Har- Zell ris, Ga., in 1959, to the U.S. Sen- Drunk as he was, he knew to the United States Marine Corps. ate in 2000. Sandy Schaeffer it. For the first time in his In his 1996 book "Corps Values: life, the 21 -year-old thought he Everything You Need To Know I tence, discipline, shame, brother- understood what his mother, Learned in the Marines," Miller said hood, courage, achievement, Birdie Bryan Miller, meant when he needed more than the tender punctuality, respect, pride and she would tell him, "Take what mercies of his local church, more loyalty. you want. Take it and pay for it." even than a strong mother and lov- His service in the Marine Corps

Miller was paying for it, all right. ing friends. He decided to "cure or also provided Miller an opportunity He was paying for his rotgut-moon- kill" himself by signing up for a to continue his education. shine-drinking spree with a splitting three-year enlistment in the Corps. "I would have never been able to headache and sickening hangover. Miller remains an unabashed go to college were it not for the U.S.

He was paying for sideswiping a car spokesman for his beloved Marines Marines. I did go to this little junior and careening into a nearby ditch. 45 years after his honorable college in my hometown, but when

He was paying for it all with a night discharge. The Marines instilled in I finished there I didn't have the re- behind bars in the Gilmer County him a set of core values, he says, sources to go anywhere else," Miller

Jail in Ellijay, Ga. one that has guided him through says. "But I came out of the Marine He had an overwhelming feel- the daily rigors of public and pri- Corps with the GI Bill and went on ing that he had let everyone down. vate life. Much of what he is today to finish my undergraduate and He had let his mama down, and he attributes to those three years. graduate work at the University of he had let down all the people in "Everything that has happened Georgia. I gave something to my his mountain hometown of Young to me since that fateful night in country and my country gave some- Harris, Ga. He was overcome with the mountains of Georgia is a di- thing back to me." self-pity and shame. He knew he rect or indirect result of my deci- Not a day goes by, Miller says, had to do something to turn his sion to join the Marines," Miller that he's not called upon to draw on life around. says. "The Marines taught me lessons learned during his weeks in Today, the junior senator from neatness, responsibility, persis- boot camp at Parris Island. He is

40 I November 20C The American Legion Magazine Officially Authorized By CacHllglC « f|. Released By The National Motor^fuleum MintW

So Authentic It Features Moving Parts Cadillac grille... official emblems, logos, insignia and distinctive hood ornament, all topped off with baked enamel, Doors That Open—Balloon Tires That Roll a showroom perfect finish—as gleaming mirror-bright as the was the most imposing sight on the road. The 'toy' of It day it first rolled off the assembly line. the in-crowd. Racing down the road with the top down, bundled in their raccoon coats and a flask of whiskey in Comes With Certificate Of Authenticity And their pockets. They loved it. They flaunted it. The 1932 Satisfaction Is Fully Guaranteed! V-16 Cadillac Phaeton... the ultimate 'pleasure-mobile' of first-edition, die-cast replicas of classic vintage princes and rogues. Authentic cars normally sell for up to $29.98. But under the Precision-Engineered From Original terms of the official Cadillac and Packard licenses we are authorized to offer this special edition of these collector's Cadillac Dies—Not Even The Most Infinite treasure-pieces at the special introductory price of only $10 Detail Has Been Overlooked! each. At these prices supplies are severely limited... to make Here in master model maker detail are the Phaeton's sure you do not miss out, ACT NOW! classic chrome bumpers with twin-mounted lamps... dual FOR OTHER GREAT COLLECTIBLE CARS VISIT US AT side-mounted spares... rubber spoke-wheeled balloon tires that actually turn... side-engine louver-ports for all 16 cylin- www.motormint.com ders... convertible top... doors that open and close. . .massive © 2001 The National Motor Museum Mint, 1 Eversley Ave., Norwalk, CT 06851-5844

NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM MINT, Dept. SCPH-0751 1 Eversley Ave, Norwalk, CT 06851-5844 Please send me the following on your money-back guarantee, less p&h. One Die-Cast Vehicle Only $10 (valued at $29.98) Cadillac Phaeton Packard Victoria Set of both models Only 520 Two Sets Only 540 (Limit two sets per address) Add $5 p&h No Matter What You Order (CT residents please add 6% Sales Tax) Enclosed is $ check or money order. OR Charge it: Visa MasterCard American Express

Acct# _Exp. Name 1934 PACKARD VICTORIA Critically acclaimed as the greatest Packard ever, Address although less than 100 were ever produced. Comparable value $29.98 Sale $10 City. _State_ Zip. "I don't know particularly attuned to persistence. It what might have forming his childhood character is the value Miller ranks first among traits: honesty, respect and disci- become me had I not those he learned in boot camp. He of pline. He credits the Marine Corps credits dogged persistence, more turned to the Marine for the core beliefs he embraces as than any other trait, with any suc- an adult. But it is Edna Herren, his cess that has come his way. Take Corps in my darkest high school teacher, who is respon- politics, as an example. sible for Miller's curiosity and quest "I got elected governor of Geor- hour of need" for greater experiences. gia, not because I was the richest or - Sen. zell Miller, D-Ga. "She saw something in me no- smartest or best-looking or the best body else saw. She pushed me to be speaker or any of those things," on the debate team. She was the one Miller says. "I got elected governor over the years who encouraged me of Georgia - and a United States matter of responsibility, he says. to broaden my horizons," Miller re- senator, for that matter - very sim- Another lesson learned in the calls. "After I moved to Adanta, she ply because I just wouldn't go Corps. sent me a season ticket to the away. I wouldn't give up." "I saw it as part of my duty. If I Adanta Symphony. I had to write to

Miller began his career in public had been governor and I chose her after each performance to tell service in 1959 with a term as may- somebody that I wanted to fill Sen. her what I thought about what I or of Young Harris. In 1960, at age Coverdale's Senate seat, I would heard. Up until that time I had never 28, he was elected to the Georgia hope that person would respect me cared about anything except base- Senate. In 1974, he won the first of enough to go and report for duty," ball - not even girls, much. She also four consecutive terms as lieutenant Miller says. "I had never been hap- taught me how beautiful the written governor. In 1990, Miller ran for pier than those 18 months between word is and how you can use it to governor and won the first of two being governor and being appoint- tell stories and create emotion." terms he would serve as the state's ed to the Senate, but I kind of saw As beautiful as the written word top leader. He retired in 1999. it as reporting for duty." might be, Miller continues to love His retirement from public ser- Shame is another Marine Corps baseball. As a child, he was a New vice was cut short 18 months later lesson learned well by Miller. It is York Yankees fan. when Gov. Roy Barnes asked Miller the key to a more civil society, he "I was one of the few Yankees to accept an appointment to the says. Humiliation is a strong mo- fans who lived in the South. I was a

U.S. Senate after the death of Sen. tivator. Yankees fan because I admired Lou Paul Coverdale. Miller accepted, "I'm convinced that shame Gehrig and saw the movie 'Pride of and later that year won a seven- works. It's not politically correct the Yankees' 14 times," Miller says. candidate race, with 58 percent of today, but it works. A person who When Mickey Mantie came the vote, to serve the remaining doesn't have shame doesn't have a along, that was something special to four years of Coverdale's term. lot of other things either. If a person Miller. Little did he know back then Miller's resolve was tested more can't be ashamed of himself, there's that they'd someday be friends. than once during his 40-year politi- something missing there." "It was very special - something cal sojourn from Young Harris to Miller says he has often been the I never dreamed would happen. Capitol Hill. In 1964 and 1966 he target of permissive sociologists Mickey had always been my idol," failed to win a seat in the U.S who argue that using shame or em- Miller says. "It was fate, I guess, House. He also was unsuccessful in barrassment as a disciplinary tool that we hooked up together. We a 1980 effort to win a seat in the does more harm than good. He used to talk about it. Here we were U.S. Senate. But he did not give up. doesn't buy the argument. just two small-town boys who had

He turned to that dog-eared page of "I heard about it when I ordered some success." Marine Corps recollections tided the photographs of deadbeat fathers It's unlikely Mantie would have

"Persistence." on wanted posters, but it worked. become a friend had Miller not been Miller recalls reading about Win- Georgia is now one of the leading Georgia's governor. But he might ston Churchill and a particular re- states in collecting child support not have become governor without port card he received during his from absent fathers," Miller says. the strong sense of values drawn prep school days. The teacher had "It also worked when I was from the North Georgia mountains, written that young Churchill "shows successful in getting a law to put his mother's teachings and the U. S. a conspicuous lack of success." Lat- photographs of three-time DUI of- Marine Corps, Miller says. er, Prime Minister Churchill was fenders in their local newspapers." "I don't know what might have invited back to the same school to The Marine Corps' insistent use become of me had I not turned to give a commencement speech. of shame as a force to modify be- the Marine Corps in my darkest Churchill got up, went to the ros- havior is sound, says Miller. hour of need," Miller confides. "But trum and simply said, "Never give "I want to see a society in which I do know what has become of me up. Never give up. Never give up." inspiration to succeed and determi- as a result of my choice that night

"I've always thought it was the nation to avoid the humiliation of nearly 50 years ago." best commencement speech I've failure are equal incentives in in- ever read," Miller says. spiring all children to grow up to be James V. Carroll is an assistant editor Miller was comfortable during all they can be," Miller says. at The American Legion Magazine. his short political respite. But duty Miller credits his mother and his called and he answered. It was a maiden aunt, Verdie Miller, in Article design: Doug Rollison

42 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | 1

Hand Carved Charming replica of a German Woodcutter's Cottage actually forecasts the weather. And Painted German Black Forest Chalet Weather House Friendly couple keep an eye on changing weather Forecasts conditions for you. The Weather Real Wood Mail coupon with DutchGuard, Dept. AL1 PO Box 411687

card information to: Kansas City MO 641 41

Please add Wmm One Weather House for $24.95 From $5.00 and $5.00 S&H total) Germany ($29.95 shipping 2 or more just $19.95 each per order. and $5.00 shipping per order. What's the secret? Inside the rustic little cottage is a High-Tec Hygrometer, a weather Send me forecasting device. Hygrometers are precise weather instruments used by experts to ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-821-5157

forecast the weather. As weather conditions change from fair to stormy or from stormy Order online: www.dutchguard.com to clear the sensors register the change and rotate the man or woman into the front Card # door. If you see that the mister has come outside his house you'll know you'll need an Exp date Signature

umbrella or snowshoes, bad weather is coming. When the lady is standing in the door We accept MC / Visa / Discover

you can expect fair weather and sunny skies. Everyone loves this rustic little cottage

with mom and pop forecasters as good as on TV. Order Deluxe hand carved & § Add painted weather house $24.95 each. 2 or more just $19.95 each. wooden © Citv State Zip

The Johnny Carson Collection The Most Beautiful Coin

His Favorite In The World .8333 Pure Silver

Moments From While supplies last you can The Tonight Show participate in this amazing offer of 1 780 Maria Theresa Talers.This Large, 39.5mm, Silver Coin has great collectors (numismatic) value and important silver value as £Sj well. Larger than a US Silver

Dollar, .8333 pure silver, and

date marked 1 780. A genuine conversation piece. Comes in a special holder to keep your

investment in perfect condition. While supply lasts we offer BRILLIANT UNCIRCULATED MINT (NEW) CONDITION FOR ONLY $19.95 each,

BONUS VIDEO 3 or more $18.00 each, 1 0 or more $1 5.00 each. While supplies last. FREE Animal Hijinks

. Mail coupon with DutchGuard, Dept. ALB Johnny Carson check, money plus I POBOX 411687 tape set bonus Heeere's Johnny! The King Of Comedy picks his favorites in this order or credit animal hijinks $49.95 | card information to: Kansas City MO 64141 hilarious four-tape set. Each video is loaded with great gags, How Many I I 1-800-821-5157 classic skits and celebrity interviews. Selected from the 60's, 70's, I ORDER TOLL FREE Maria Theresa Talers 80's,&90's, it's four decades of pure mayhem! Includes: Bob Hope, Order online: www.dutchguard.com | $19.95 each Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Tiny Tim's wedding, Carnac, Aunt Card# 3 or more $18.00 ea. | Blabby, Ed and plus 10 or more $15.00 ea. Doc hundreds of famous guests and Expd .Signature

| side-splitting episodes. You'll also receive the free bonus video ; accept MC / Visa / Dis How Many Johnny's Animal Hijinks, that's 5 tapes total. You'll laugh yourself Name j Please add silly from the good-natured fun of this classic video collection. $5.00 shipping Order #JCTS $49.95 and $5.00 shipping. per order. Paying final respects to a parting comrade is the toughest duty a veteran faces.

BY LARRY BINGHAM Here, ask this tall, broad-shouldered fellow in this is how a war ends. the front seat of a Crown So The honor guard of The Victoria, his arm thrown American Legion Mason- over the back of the seat Dixon Post, No. 194, last year like he's out for a Sunday buried 95 veterans, most of them drive instead of on his survivors of World War II. way to a funeral. The year before that, 105. Charles "Chik" Smith By Memorial Day this year: 36. is the honor guard chap- That's nearly two funerals a lain. He's like Walter week for the honor guard in the Matthau, the ornery one town of Rising Sun, Md. who calls himself "a sen- So this is how a war ends. timental old bastard." At On the final front, injuries 20, he invaded Italy on a come from age. The wounded bloody beach south of wear hearing aids and can't see Salerno, dodging German without their glasses. On this bat- bullets that whizzed by tlefield, a winter wind can threat- like darting birds. At 78, en an old soldier's life. he hasn't missed a funeral in Honor Guard Chaplain Chik Smith Some 572,000 veterans are ex- two years. watches for the funeral proces- pected to die this year nationwide, Like all the veterans in this sion while waiting in the chapel so many that Congress has passed procession, Chik has reasons for of the Delaware Veterans Ceme- a law appointing two servicemen going to the cemetery. tery. Smith attended all of the funerals that to perform graveside military hon- Here, ask this man sitting in the guard worked last year. Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun ors. But in this town near the the back seat of a Cadillac. Pennsylvania border, other veter- This is Billy Davis, who at 81 has just become the oldest mem- ans do the honors. is the third-oldest man in the hon- ber in the honor guard, so look at Because in their minds, two or guard. Billy's from Kentucky. him closely. Note the way he men is not honor enough. He says things like "by gosh" and laughs with his shoulders; the The military is downsizing. "back home." Billy survived a tor- way he walks on shuffling feet; Bases are closing. Younger men pedoed aircraft carrier in the Bat- the glint in his one good eye. aren't joining veteran groups. tle of the Coral Sea and lived for a Commit him to memory And all the while, World War II half century more. He was diag- because the day will come, and veterans are slipping away - an nosed with stomach cancer in the soon, when Staff Sgt. Smith dis- average of 1,100 a day. early 1990s and has lived for a appears from these ranks. Imagine what kind of man will decade more. This is how a war ends. be lost when the last World War Imagine what time means to With a procession of old men II veteran is gone. Think not only him. in Cadillacs and Crown Victorias of all he saw, but of the clarity he Or ask this man sitting beside leaving the funeral home, idling brought to the battlefield, and the Billy. at the only stoplight in town. burden he carried away. Francis Auvan Smith is an 87- The casualties mount, and the Imagine what life means to year-old war veteran, hero of the living take one step closer to the him now. Or death, for that mat- 1939 town baseball team, the grave. ter. Or time. man they call Little Smitty. He It is only a matter of time.

44 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine

| Imagine what kind of man will be lost when the last World War II veteran is gone. Think not only of all he saw, but of the clarity he brought to the battlefield, and the burden he carried away.

postponed until spring. But "no guy talkin' about baseball, and siree Bob," says 81 -year-old Ray- you'll never shut him up." mond Jones. "There are too many To pass the time until the to do that now." hearse arrives, the men talk. At the cemetery, they park The commander, a Korean where they always do: near the War-era veteran named Riley road, so they can be first to leave. Bennett, asks: "Raymond, what A few sit in their cars while the was that story he told about younger men, Korea and Vietnam pitching so damn long?" veterans, gather the ceremonial Raymond says: "I don't know flags and rifles from the guard how many innings it was. Damn commander's truck. near pitched 'til dark, didn't he?" It is cold and foggy, and no man It was July 15, 1939, years be- is in a hurry to get to the grave. fore Smitty was drafted. He was To bury one of their own, the 26 and a pitcher for the Calvert commander jabs an M-l rifle into town team in Cecil County. the mud, then sets a helmet atop His opponent that Saturday af- the gun. It is a symbol from the ternoon was "Dutch" Smith, a 6- battlefield: Soldiers marked the foot-2, 240-pound southpaw from place where their comrades were the nearby town of Bayview. By

killed. Now it is a rare honor re- all accounts, big Dutch was the served for post commanders - or superior pitcher, but after nine brothers in the guard. innings, the score remained 0-0. To bury one of their own, they Farmers left to do their evening stood in pairs at the funeral milking and came back when they home, at the head and foot of the heard the game still wasn't over. casket, for 15 minutes without Spectators who had gone into Ris- talking or moving, each holding a ing Sun for dinner spread the 10-pound M-l rifle. "Standing word, and a crowd gathered under

watch," as it is called, is hard on the trees down the right-field line. The time is 2 p.m., Jan. 15. arthritic legs, replaced knees and After 18 innings, the score re- When the light changes, the men degenerative hips. Harder yet on mained 0-0. turn onto Main Street and don't an old man's heart. Finally, in the bottom of the say much. Walking through the mud to- 23rd inning, the Calvert shortstop Their journey takes them past ward the funeral tent, Raymond hit a grounder and worked his the police station, the National stops to point out the grave that way around the bases. He was on Bank of Rising Sun, the doughnut awaits him. Then he turns and third when a batter hit a sacrifice shop, the pet store, the insurance points in another direction, past fly to center field. agent, the diner, the Western Auto Little Smitty and the other guard The game would become Smit- where lawnmowers are set on the members who stand in small ty's most legendary battle, but he sidewalk when the weather is nice. groups of conversation. He points would never take credit for what On this winter day, they bury a to a distant column of cedars, to happened that day. founding member, Charlie Earl "Pauper's Row," where veterans The runner barely beat the ball Owen, a World War II veteran without money are buried. across home plate, the umpire who was just five months older He points again, this time to called him safe and Smitty won, than Little Smitty. West Nottingham Academy, 1-0. They are in the country when where Little Smitty went to For the rest of his life, though, they drive by Owen's house; pass- school and coached baseball. Smitty would say it was the other ing empty fields, gray barns, silver Every man in the honor guard men who kept him in the game. silos, frozen ponds, flocks of Cana- has heard Little Smitty's stories. da geese on their own journey. "Oh, God yeah," Raymond The men are still waiting for the Another WWII veteran, a fel- says. hearse when the commander low who survived in the Especially the story of one says, "Well, Raymond, looks like hedgerows of Britain, says he can game. we got 'em all here today." remember when funerals in "By gosh, he was a cracker," Raymond says, "Riley, I've northern Maryland were says Billy Davis. "You get that never seen that before. Never in

November 2001 1 45 The American Legion Magazine Burying the dead, a my whole life." man learns a few To pass the time, the men talk All 25 members of the honor about their children, their grand- guard present. things about the living. children, their former occupations, "It just goes to show you how favorite ball teams, politicians, much they thought of him," Riley health problems and the weather. says. mother was dying. How cold it is. How hot it was. Then they hear the wheels on Chik begged to go see her, but How deep the snow, thick the fog, the wet pavement, crunching his captain said no. hard the rain. How the weather at gravel, splashing mud. The hearse By the time Pfc. Smith could this funeral differs from the last. appears: dark and sleek, its head- go home - before his deployment Another thing a man learns lights cutting through the fog the to fight the Germans - his mother going to funerals: A survivor's way a boat sails through water. was gone. He could only visit her debt is never entirely paid. "Here we go," someone says. grave in the cemetery. The service ends after the 21- "Here we go." He believes he's here at this gun salute. When a thin gray The men hobble into place. The funeral because of the coward blanket of smoke hovers over the chaplain flicks an unfinished Camel who captained the transport boat cemetery, the bugler plays. The into the mud, the commander that carried Chik's unit to shore weeping mourners stop and look barks an order, Little Smitty stands near Parnum. The captain feigned up. The sound of passing trucks at attention in the firing squad. engine trouble and turned around and honking geese is drowned Six pallbearers open the back as the assault began. The ploy out by the 24 notes. door of the hearse to bring out bought them time, and Chik land- Imagine how it feels to be the casket, draped in the blood- ed in the fourth wave of the inva- those old veterans. To pick up red stripes of the flag. sion, passing the floating bodies their spent shells, to hear "Taps" Slowly through the mud, they of the men who'd gone first. playing in their heads. carry their old friend. Past the bu- Today's funeral is his 824th. Ask Billy Davis. Billy fled the gler, past the Navy flag, past the "I present to you, on behalf of coalfields of eastern Kentucky be- lonely rifle and empty helmet. the United States of America, the fore the war and joined the Navy, Their friend was a Navy cook flag under which your loved one even though he didn't know how on the trains that carried troops served." to swim. from Maryland to California, and The words still bring a lump to On May 8, 1942, a few days though he never saw combat, he his throat. It is a hard lump to after his 21st birthday, Fireman spent 53 years after the war in the swallow when you bury one of 1st Class Davis was in the engine honor guard, burying veterans. your own. room of the aircraft carrier USS Mourners part as his widow Burying the dead, a man learns Lexington when he felt the passes. Slowly the crowd follows a few things about the living. tremors of Japanese torpedoes her into the tent, where the chap- For one, most people bury their striking the ship's hull. lain is reading "A Prayer to a De- loved ones around lunchtime. Locked down in the dark engine parted Comrade." For another, even if the obitu- room for seven hours, Billy could "Eternal God, Supreme Com- ary says no flowers, people send hear ammunition exploding. When mander of us all, Lord of the far- flowers. the captain finally gave the order flung battle line, to whom the ranks A young minister seizes the cap- to abandon ship, it was listing so of life report, we bow before you tive audience to preach of missed badly that climbing topside was with reverent hearts and in sublime opportunities, pending judgment, like climbing a hill. On the deck, faith, knowing that you lead us on fiery eternities. A wise pastor goes a Billy found chaos and catastrophe: in death as you have in life." more comforting route: "ashes to Men badly burned, men being His voice is phlegmy and gruff. ashes, dust to dust," "In my Father's tossed overboard in body bags. "For again you have ordered a house are many mansions," "He With the sound of a bugler veteran to that realm in the West, leadeth me beside the still waters, playing "Taps," Billy followed or- beyond the twilight and the He restoreth my soul." ders and walked off the ship, evening star, where beauty and A savvy undertaker wears falling 40 feet into the sea. valor and goodness dwell forever duck boots on a muddy day. Years later, Billy plays "Taps." with the unnumbered multitude." A thoughtful gravedigger hides He stands behind the tent and Chik Smith is not a religious his backhoe behind a tree. presses the play button on the man. He became the honor guard A bored man acts like a boy. "jukebox," his name for the CD chaplain 12 years ago because During the course of every fu- player. somebody had to do it; the other neral, without fail, somebody in Sometimes, the notes bring chaplain had died. the honor guard calls somebody back the faces of those burned

It was fitting. For most of his else a name: Lobster Louie, Skull men. "As black," Billy says, "as life, death went first, and Chik Tony, Pop-Pop, the Sex Maniac, the ace of spades." came two steps behind. the Polish Prince, the Mayor of Sometimes, Billy cries. Not long after he enlisted in Farmington, Madame Butterfly, 1942, when he was whisked from Liquid Viagra. He shouldn't be here. a foundry town in Pennsylvania The name-calling usually The North East River, behind to an Army base in Texas, a comes before the hearse arrives, the St. Mary Anne's Episcopal telegram arrived, saying his during the wait. Cemetery in the town of North

46 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | COMPASS^

Announcing the Official ""* rh Stat mlllLAV V Compass Watch Engraved with your Service Branch Emblem and Personal Initials

case, both decorated

•ith 23 Karat Gold, foi rugged beauty.

Designer hip-pouch with belt loop protects watch when not in use. i hour military time, FREE BONUS; luminous "Nigl, Service Emblem Sport Band For YOUR line'' dial with larg engraved watch "Cushioned" on back of numerals, and dat Comfort in High with your personal initials windo Impact Activities. and service years.

A rugged timepiece & precision compass in one beautiful, solid stainless steel bracelet

Field & Stream, since 1871, trusted apparel and gear • Both a gold plated steel dress bracelet and a rugged sport outfitters to millions of servicemen, hunters, fishermen band are included.

and naturalists throughout the world is proud to issue its • Satisfaction guaranteed or return within 30 days for replace- official Military Compass Watch, with some features ment or refund-no questions asked. never before found in even the finest timepieces: • Lifetime Service Warranty on vital watch movement.

• Quartz crystal watch movement with date window & sweep- This is not a toy. It's a High-Tech watch and compass for second hand for accuracy within seconds per month. dress or leisure outdoor use. THANK YOU priced at just

• Luminous dial with 24 hour military time. Stop-second $99.*, a convenient payment plan is available with no "Hack" feature allows exact synchronization of time. interest charges. So, order yours today. A Lifetime Service Warranty will assure you of quality performance • Steel-clad solid brass case water-resistant to 100 feet. and reliability. • Watch case opens to reveal easy-to-read compass, engraved with YOUR military service emblem, initials and service years. Call toll-free to Reserve Your Watch: 2*- ORDER FORM 1-800-255-3048 Mail to: Field & Stream® Military Compass Watch Monday-Friday:9am-5pm. 7453 Shipley Avenue, Hanover, MD 21076 Have your credit card ready when ordering by phone.

YES! I wish to order the following Field & Stream Military Compass Signature watch(es) engraved with my Service Emblem and Initials: (/Choices)

Army Navy Air Force Marine Coast Guard Daytime Phone Number ( )

My Initials Service Years to Name Year Year Enclosed is my check for $99,* payable to "Veterans Address.

Commemoratives," , as payment in full, OR City Charge my credit card $99,* as payment in full, OR Zip. Charge four installments of $24.75* each to my credit card: *plus $7.95 shipping/handling and engraving Visa MasterCard or AMEX Exp. Date / *PA residents add $6.42 for slale sales tax. CMIWAT-ALM-I 1/01 |

Credit I 1 1 1 1 1 I Card# 1 I 1 I For other veteran commemorative products visit our welisilc at www.velcom.com

Field & Stream® it med by and licensed under the authority of Field & Stream Lie Imagine how the commanderfelt when he stuck

that rifle into the muddy ground at Owen's funeral

Imagine how the others felt when they saw the empty helmet.

Imagine what it was like to walk past that rifle carrying the body of a friend.

moved to Elkton, after he took a The commander makes the de- job at the Aberdeen Proving cision to stop calling. Ground. He went to funerals after There are more funerals, the Legion team he coached won more veterans dying, but at the state championship, after they Smitty's house, the telephone Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun won 49 consecutive games, after doesn't ring. two of his boys went on to play His wife doesn't write the de- East, is frozen. The wind is com- major league baseball. tails on her calendar beside the ing off the ice, climbing over the Nothing stopped him. fridge, and he doesn't polish his riverbank onto the battlefield, re- Not a tornado one year or a shoes or dress early or wait by lentlessly coming for him. hurricane another. Not the chap- the door for the Korea-era veteran He's standing against an old lain almost falling in the hole. who gives him a ride. stone building, shivering. Not the guard showing up at the Imagine how the commander felt Billy stands beside him. wrong cemetery. Not the bugler when he stuck that rifle into the "When you get to be 80 years old, playing reveille instead of "Taps". muddy ground at Owen's funeral. you can't take the cold," Billy It never mattered that Little Imagine how the others felt says. "Your blood gets cold." Smitty never saw combat. It only when they saw the empty helmet. The Korea and Vietnam veter- mattered that other men did. Imagine what it was like to ans tell the older men to go back But time is his enemy now, walk past that rifle carrying the to the cars. and all winter the other men body of a friend. "Go warm up." have watched his health slide. In The honor guard had to do it "Look at you. You're freezing." the cold, his hands turn white once this year. They don't want

They point to Kitty Bennett, and his face pale. This is not the to do it again. the commander's wife who car- first time the wind has made In the spring they will call Lit- ries the flag in the color guard. him shiver. tle Smitty. A new baseball season She has gone back to the truck. He hasn't been the same since will have started, and what a dif- They point to Raymond Jones, he went to a ball game and suf- ference that will make. the 81 -year-old who survived the fered a stroke on the way home. Just imagine. cold, damp hedgerows of Britain It could have killed him if his A procession will drive - he's in his truck. wife hadn't found him at the back through town on its way to the

Little Smitty won't listen. He door, if she hadn't been a nurse cemetery. Past the liquor store, says he's fine. He insists on stay- and recognized the reason he was the restaurant, the grocery store, ing in the cemetery, in the game babbling, if they hadn't lived so the car wash, the ice cream par- until the end. close to the hospital. lor, the baseball diamond behind When Smitty was drafted he Little Smitty came back to the the Catholic church. was placed on limited service be- honor guard with a plastic shunt See the old men looking out cause he'd been born with a lazy in his head and most of his their car windows. Watch them eye. Nonetheless, he was told memory lost somewhere on that turn to the action on the field. twice he was heading overseas. ride home. They know winning is not But those orders never came, He surprised the younger vet- what's important. Only the other and Smitty never left the safety erans when he regained the use players matter. Only the game. of the States. of one arm, then the other, when When 41 veterans met on he could still fire the rifle in the Editor's Note - This article March 6, 1946, to create an Amer- 21-gun salute. originally appeared in the May 27, ican Legion Post in Rising Sun, But since Owen's funeral, he 2001 edition of The Baltimore Smitty was there. has seemed to be slipping away. Sun. When the post formed an hon- Two Korea-era veterans have or guard in April of 1947 to bury to hold his hands to help him Larry Bingham writes for The a World War II veteran, Smitty across the street. Another man, a Baltimore Sun. ©2001, The Balti- was there. Vietnam veteran, closes the car more Sun He went to funerals after he door gently behind him. He can't married Anna Mary, after he stop shivering in the cold. Article design: Holly K. Soria

48 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | —

Duty • Honor • Courage From these virtues are forged A Few Good Men

What does it take to be one of the proud few to wear the uniform of the United States Marine Corps? The answer may be found in three virtues—duty, honor, courage that mean as much to Marines today as they did to their brothers fighting in Tripoli or Guadalcanal or Hue City. Armed with a faithfulness to Country and Corps, brave Marines of every age have done the impossible. Now, for the first time, a panoramic plate collection salutes the brotherhood of the Corps and the values that have driven it to glory over two centuries. Four ceramic plates fit together to create a 272-foot high tribute to duty, honor, courage and the semperfi ideal that blazes in each Marine. The A Few Good Men panorama is the work of artist Glen Green, and he captures with extraordinary detail and emotion just what it means to be a Marine. Anyone who ever served in the Corps, had a friend or loved one in the Corps, or who has been fascinated by its proud history shouldn't miss this new collection. Start your A Few Good Men panorama with the top plate, available for just $39-95. The $60-value wood frame is yours free** when you complete the four-plate collection. Demand is sure to be very high for this Plate Market First, which is issued in a strictly limited edition. Send no money now. Mail the coupon today!

Act Now. . .Limited Availability

Don't miss the chance to own the first

large-scale Marine Corps panorama— it's a big, bold 2V2 feet high! FREE OFFER: Order now and receive the $60-value panoramic plate frameforfree!

collectiblestoday.com Home of The Bradford Exchange and All Things Collectible

YES. Please enter my order for the four-plate A Few Good Men vertical panorama and free** plate display beginning with Plate One. I need SEND

NO MONEY NOW. I will be billed $39.95* when each plate is shipped. Limit: one panorama per order. Please Respond Promptly

Mr. Mrs. Ms.

Name (Please Print Clearly)

Address

City

State Zip

Signature 42248-E94991

'Plus $4.99 postage and handling per plate. "There is a one-time postage and handling

charge of $8.99 for the plate frame which is shipped after Plate 4. Illinois residents add state

sales tax. Pending credit approval . This special Limited Edition Presentation is restricted to 95 firing days. Prices higher in Canada. Neither the United States Marine Corps or any other component of the Department of Defense has approved, endorsed, or authorized this product. 'J j ^ j 3 Hp

Your Legion Card Can Save You the Cost of Membership!

Did you know that as a member of The American Legion you are entitled to

discounts on prescription drugs and eyewear, as well as hotel and rental car

discounts, movers and more? In addition, The American Legion offers insurance

plans that can provide valuable protection for you and your family.

Did you know that each time you take advantage of these benefits, The American

Legion receives revenue that is directed to one of our many youth and veterans

programs? In fact, in some cases, a portion of the revenue is directed to your

Department, to support programs.

See the opposite page for a complete listing of your benefits.

For additional information visit www.Iegion.org (under MEMBERSHIP) or call 1-800-433-3318 to request a member benefits brochure. — —

TRAVEL SERVICES FINFINANCIAL; SERVICES Dental Plan vW^n, Covers routine RAMADA First National and^ Bank Omaha <3» more extensive dental work. Save 15% -30% Call 800-621-3008, Ext. 45284 AVIS The American Legion every time you stay. Affinity Credit Card Call 800-462-8035 / Health Saveup-to-25% off Call 866-546-8472 5sfe> Offer ID#: 00020204 " ^ Insurance mart Daily, Mention offer #23965 SuperValue Weekly Individual health insurance and Weekend Rates. for members and their families Call 800-331-1212 First National Bank 800-323-2106 Offer AWD ID#: G343600 Omaha Save up to 10% -25% CDs, Money Market Savings, H0ME off daily, weekend, weekly, QSL^-£22 IRAs, Equity Products, Protection monthly and business rates. Home Deductible reimbursement Call 800-227-7368 Outstanding Rates on paid homeowners or Call 877-709-3626 Save up to 25% off standard Offer #: 5176669 ID renters insurance claims. time and mileage rates. Legion Call 800-576-3445. Call 800-455-2848 The American Annuity Not available in all states. Call 888-353-4466 Offer BCD#: T756500 Travelodge Offer ID#: Legion

- Membership Save 15 30% Card HEALTH SERVICES more than 500 Travelodge and Thriftlodge hotels. INSURANCE Save 15% -30% off already Call 800-545-5545 Level Term Plan Eye Care Plan ofAmerica standard rates. Offer ID#: 00020204 low room Higher benefits to cover debts 800-268-2195 Save up to 40% Call that reduce over time. or more on eyewear. Offer ID#: 00020204 Call 800-542-5547 Call 800-221-3272 CHOICE HOTELS ^t~T) Modern Present your Legion jm^^y Vets Plan Membership card. A more economical choice for You save when you mention you Younger members (under 40). Save 15% -30% are a member of the Legion Call 800-542-5547 fjfamerica off your next stay. Call 800-424-6423 Save as much as 20% Call 800-682-1071 Offer ID#: 00800800 Whole Life Plan or more on prescription drugs. Offer ID#: 00020204 Smaller debt coverage - Call 800-905-9818 MOVERS never terminates due to age. Present your Legion Call 800-523-5758 Membership card. northAmerican TPJCARE Supplement Supplements both active Members can save 15% -30%. Minimum discount and MAGAZINE & 50% duty and retired military Call 877-202-8814 $50,000 Free coverage. INTERNET SERVICE member's health care. Offer ID#: 00020204 Call 800-524-5533 Call 800-542-5547 Eegiop American Small Employer RIDBALL Plan xg^» Full year's subscription to the % benefits award-winning American Save 15% -30% Employees for small businesses, including Legion Magazine. off standard rates. Up to 55% discount on interstate moving expenses. Posts and Departments Call 800-769-0939 The American Legion Offer ID#: 00020204 Call 800-877-7332 Call 800-321-1998 Web Site Latest news on issues that NOTE: Rates/Discounts for Hotels and Rental Cars are subject to availability and are not guaranteed. Advance reservations are required. concern Legion members, Your Legion Working For You veterans, active/retired Customer Service and/or Emblem Americanism/ Legislative and/or military and reserve. National Emergency Fund Sales Children & Youth Veterans Affairs www.legion.org Call 800-433-3318 Call 888-453-4466 Call 317-630-1203 Call 202-861-2700 living well

Color your diet healthy

was associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Cooking actual- What does the color of your ly helps release the lycopene, so food say about your health? cooked and stewed tomatoes If you're like most Ameri- and sauces are best. Even so, a cans, your plate is filled with single glass of tomato juice beige, brown and white every day raised the lycopene foods such as meat, pota- in the blood stream by 43 toes and breads. The lack percent in prostate cancer of color on your plate is patients, according to one more than an aesthetic study. problem - it means you Green foods, such as are missing out on crucial broccoli, Brussels sprouts nutrients and foods that can and kale, contain keep you healthy, battle can- / sulforaphane, isothiocyanate * cer and extend your life. and indoles, which spur the "If your diet is beige and liver to produce enzymes that brown, you're in deep trouble," eliminate carcinogens and pesti- says David Heber, director of the cides from the body. UCLA Center for Human Nutrition Green-yellow foods include and author of the book "What Col- spinach, avocado, corn, peas and or is Your Diet?" Heber's mission honeydew melon. Those foods is to get more people to color-code suggests that everyone eat at least contain lutein and zeaxanthin, sub- their eating plans, filling their five servings of fruits and vegetables stances that concentrate in the eye plates with orange, yellow, green, a day, but only 32 percent of adults and improve optical health. Lower red and purple foods. The natural meet that goal. That means nearly intakes have been linked with age- result of colorizing your diet will two-thirds of the adult population related blindness and cataracts. be to consume more fruits and ignores the fact that fruits and veg- Orange foods include carrots, vegetables. "The three vegetables etables are proven to lower the risk butternut squash and pumpkin, most Americans eat are iceberg of cancer. In countries where people and they all contain alpha- and lettuce, potatoes and ketchup," eat a pound of fruits and vegetables beta-carotene. For years, people Heber says. a day, the risk of common forms of have taken beta-carotene supple- At a time when many popular cancer is 50 percent lower. ments, but research now suggests diets require complicated calorie And virtually every disease of that you need both alpha- and or carbohydrate counting, high aging, such as heart disease, dia- beta-carotene to reap the benefits. protein intake or complex food betes and prostate cancer, results The nutrients can help improve combinations, color-coding is a from damage created during nor- night vision and also are believed deceptively simple way to improve mal cell processes - damage that to be cancer fighters. eating habits. And there's growing can be prevented by substances Red-purple foods include red evidence that colorful fruits and found in fruits and vegetables. wine, raspberries, blueberries and vegetables contain nutrients that Red foods, such as tomato juice strawberries. They contain the protect your heart, prevent age- and sauce and raw tomatoes, con- powerful anti-oxidants called an- related blindness, boost your im- tain lycopene, a nutrient that is thocyanins which attack renegade mune system, reduce inflamma- concentrated in the prostate gland. particles in the body that can tion and help fight cancer. A Harvard study found that five eventually cause cancer or other The National Cancer Institute servings a week of tomato products health ^see healthy, page 54 TRICARE Plus adds enrollment option for MHS users A new TRICARE enrollment op- the Defense Enrollment Eligibility individual military treatment facili- tion called TRICARE Plus allows Reporting System and will use the ties. Beneficiaries with existing pri- some Military Health System bene- military treatment facility as their mary-care relationships at partici- ficiaries to enroll with a military source of primary care. pating military treatment facilities primary-care provider. Enrollees TRICARE Plus is not a compre- will have the first opportunity to will be provided access to primary hensive health plan. It does not enroll. If capacity is no longer avail- care on the same basis as benefi- lock beneficiaries into "managed able, eligibility may.be revoked. In ciaries enrolled in TRICARE Prime. care." It does not guarantee access any case, TRICARE or Medicaid There is no annual enrollment fee. to specialty providers at military benefits will not be affected. Beneficiaries enrolled in treatment facilities. Availability is For more information about TRI- TRICARE Plus will be identified in based on enrollment capacity at CARE Plus, call (888) 363-5433.

52 I November 2001 The American Legion Maga/ine !

Ampli-Ear 2001 ... SO SMALL & POWERFUL YOU'LL THINK YOU HAVE

BIONIC HEARING !

100% Guaranteed So Powerful Your Signature is required! EH 1 00% State-of-the-Art

Yes! The AmpO-EOF 2001 is fully adjustable, fits both men and women and is nearly invisible in your ear. So, end those Direct from the embarrassing moments. Manufacturer! Never apologize again for not being able to NEARLY hear. Begin to: INVISIBLE

Hear whispers and quiet conversations Clearly Listen to Faint Phone Conversations with Ease ^ Watch TV with the volume on Low Even Hear quiet footsteps on a carpeted floor

Rush Delivery... Don't Delay

Send Order TO: American Research Institute 21 Bridge Square, Dept HD1-AL2, Westport, Ct. 06880 VIS! Please RUSH me (1) Ampli-Ear 2001 unit for only $9.95 + $4.95 rush delivery SAVE 20%: 2 Ampli Ears Only $15.95 + $6.95 P&H Lifetime Damage Replacement Guarantee $5.95 Bonus Deal! 1,000 Hours of Batteries Only $4.95! Postpaid! Super Bonus! Both the Lifetime Guarantee & the 1,000 Hours of Batteries Offer for Only $9.00! Postpaid! Check or money order enclosed Charge my: Visa QAmex MC Discover

FREE: 4 Batteries Card #:_ Exp: FREE: Cleaning Brush FREE: Full Color Guide Address: City: .Zip: FREE: 3 Custom Fitting REQUIRED Signat,

or test before purchasing the Ampl i- l-'.n V'l I nnkii

Ear Pieces would W served if 1 h.id .i medial evjlu;iiinn h) j lice! 'mil'< pun hh.iMriL'i mi ihi-il \mnliunp Kii "l Ln .iiesihs lf licensed "

living well |

VA clears Type 2 diabetes [healthy] problems. The compounds also may help for disability compensation heart disease by inhibiting blood-clot formation. In ani- Vietnam veterans with "Type 2 ans have Type 2 diabetes. High mal studies, blueberries have diabetes may apply for disability blood-sugar levels caused by the been shown to slow degener- compensation from VA after new body's inability to process the hor- ative brain disease. rules published this year in the mone insulin characterize the ill- Orange-yellow foods, such Federal Register. "The hazards of ness. Approximately 16 percent of as oranges, lemons, grape- the battlefield include veterans currently fruits and other citrus fruits, more than bullets and receiving care in VA contain vitamin C, an anti- shells," VA Secretary medical facilities oxidant which many Anthony J. Principi have been diagnosed researchers believe can help said in announcing with diabetes. stave off cancer. Heber says the new benefits pro- Cost of the new the skin of lemons and gram. "As our under- benefit during the next oranges contain compounds standing of the health five years is projected that have been shown to actu- risks faced by our mil- to be $3.3 billion, with ally kill cancer cells. He sug- itary personnel about 220,000 veter- gests you regularly add zest of increases, VA will ad- "The hazards ans receiving benefits, lemon or orange to drinks. just its programs and VA says. White-green foods, such as the battlefield benefits to fit the of Vietnam veterans garlic, onions and chives con- needs of veterans." include more suffering from Type 2 tain allicin, the compound Veterans affected diabetes are encour- that gives the vegetables their by the new rules will than bullets aged to file a disabili- strong smell. The compound receive a priority for ty claim with their was used as an antibiotic dur- VA health care, and, and shells." local VA Regional Of- ing World War II and also can depending upon the fice by calling (800) kill cancer cells. - Anthony J. Principi severity of their 827-1000. Adding color doesn't mean VA Secretary illnesses, disability Professional Amer- giving up all the foods you compensation that ranges from ican Legion service officers also love. You still need some $101 to $2,107 monthly. are available to assist veterans white and beige foods, such as The announcement follows a with the VA claims process as well high-fiber grains and low-fat report last year by the National as other VA-related matters. This proteins, such as white meat, Academy of Sciences' prestigious service is provided free of charge white fish and soy products. Institute of Medicine that found and is not dependent on member- The bottom line: don't "limited/suggestive" evidence of a ship status. To locate an Ameri- think about counting calories link between adult-onset, or Type can Legion service officer in your or fat or protein. Think sim- 2, diabetes, and Agent Orange and state, call (800) 433-3318 or con- ply about adding color, and a other herbicides used in Vietnam. sult the service officer directory healthful diet will follow. VA estimates that about 9 per- under Veterans Issues on the Le- "You put the whole food in, cent of 2.3 million Vietnam veter- gion Web site, www.legion.org. and you get the benefits," Heber says. "If you add in fruits and vegetables, you Emergency care benefit expands push out something else."

The Department of Veterans Af- enrolled veterans who have no Tarn Parker-Pope writes a fairs can now reimburse non-VA other means to pay for weekly health column for The hospitals for emergency care to emergency medical treatment and Wall Street Journal and is eligible veterans who have no oth- is only for emergency treatment. author of "Cigarettes: Anato- er means of payment. The emer- Veterans should keep their insur- my of an Industry from Seed gency-care benefit does not apply ance, VA said. Spouses generally to Smoke. to all veterans. To qualify, veter- do not qualify for VA health care ans must be enrolled in VA health and could be left uninsured. If a Living Well is a section de- care, have been seen by a VA veteran is covered by Medicare signed to provide general in-

health-care professional within 24 Part B and decides to cancel it, it formation to our readers. It is months and carry no other form of cannot be reinstated until Janu- not intended to be, nor is it, health insurance, including Medi- ary ot next year. medical advice. Readers • care or Medicaid. If any third party For more information about should consult their personal pays all or part of the bill, VA can- emergency-care benefits contact physicians when they have not provide reimbursement. the nearest VA health-care facility health problems. The benefit is a safety net for or call (877) 222-8387.

54 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine The Only Credit Card that benefits The American Legion.

If Your American Legion Credit Card Doesn't Look Like This, It's Not Benefiting The American Legion.

The American Legion has chosen First National Bank Omaha as their new preferred provider of financial services so you can get the products and service that you deserve. That means that there is only one credit card that benefits The American Legion. So apply today for your new American Legion Visa Card. Not

only will you get a low introductory rate of 3.9% APR* and no annual fee, but your relationship with First National Bank Omaha will help support programs like American Legion Baseball, Boys Nation, and the National Oratorical Contest. For more information, or to apply, call 866.LGN.VISA (866.546.8472) extension 25330.

First National Bank Omaha

Investing in you.

* Fixed 3.9% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on purchases for 6 billing cycles after the account is opened. After that, your APR for purchases may vary and will be equal to 14.99% or 9% over the highest one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as quoted in The Wall Street Journal each month ("Index Rate"), whichever is greater (14.99% as of September 2001). Your APR on cash advances may vary (19.99% as of September 2001). Accounts that are repeatedly or seriously delinquent (full details provided with card) have a Default Rate which will be a variable APR equal to 23.99% or 18% over LIBOR, whichever is greater (23.99% as of September 2001). Minimum finance charge: $.50 (any month a finance charge is imposed). Transaction Fee for Cash Advances and Special Check Transactions: The greater of S10 or 3% of the transaction (the greater of $10 or 5% of the transaction for certain "Cash

' t Transactions"). Cards are issued by First National Bank of Omaha. livin well g |

Spinal cord injury affects more than mobility

ple of this is treadmill training, in VA scientists work to restore hope which an individual is suspended above a moving treadmill while for Americans who suffer from SCI physical therapists move his legs to simulate stepping. Definitive clinical

1 R. FEUSSNER trials are needed, but this technique appears to lead to recovery of func- More than one-fourth of the tion in persons with incomplete SCI. 200,000 Americans living with In the short term, the technique in- spinal cord injury are military veter- creases bone density and improves ans. Treating and caring for these heart and lung function. veterans is among the highest priorities of the VA health-care system. VA Research Initiatives. Five of SCI is a chronic condition that 12 VA rehabilitation research and greatly affects all aspects of an in- development centers are focused dividual's life. The impact is evi- on problems related to SCI. In dent in terms of functional inde- Pittsburgh, researchers study pendence, quality of life and over- wheelchair design and training all health status. mechanisms aimed at reducing Until recently, care for persons repetitive strain injuries. The with SCI focused on providing state- Cleveland VA Medical Center leads of-the-art technologies to assist with the nation in using artificial nerve the activities of daily life. The VA systems to help restore lost func- research portfolio now encompasses tion. A newly funded center at the restorative therapies, treatment of AP Bronx is emphasizing prevention secondary complications and devel- "The whole VA and treatment of medical compli- opment of assistive technologies. cations of SCI, such as kidney in- system today is a fections and pressure ulcers. Re- Impact of SCI. Spinal cord injury is searchers at the center in Miami model what research usually the result of a traumatic for are focusing on spasticity, pain event, such as an accident that can and must be." management and recovery of mo- abruptly leads to devastating neu- tor and sensory function. Scientists rologic impairment and affects an - Christopher Reeve, in West Haven, Conn., are explor- individual's ability to move, feel, actor and director ing ways to restore lost function. control bowel and bladder Together, these centers form a function, regulate body tempera- of compensating for injury, along powerful consortium with a com- ture and control blood pressure. with basic health precautions, and prehensive approach to improve Such basic functions, normally tak- encouraged counseling and support how we view and treat SCI. en for granted, require assistance groups. They emphasized building In addition to the centers, VA and may take hours to accomplish. upper-body strength and heavy in- researchers across the nation are Medical complications include vestment in wheelchair design and studying areas such as vocational bone density loss, insufficient heart other assistive technologies. rehabilitation, stress management, and lung function, depression, bed- treadmill training and tele-medi- sores, urinary tract infections, mus- Search For a Cure. As recently as a cine. In partnership with the East- cle spasticity and pain. These com- decade ago, few scientists believed ern Paralyzed Veterans Associa- plications may occur even with in- a cure could be found for SCI. To- tion, VA research also is support- complete spinal cord injury, in day, few do not believe a cure is ing new scientists through which some muscle control is re- possible. We have learned a great fellowships and pilot studies. stored. Additionally, individuals deal about the mechanisms of in- As we increase our knowledge, with SCI may not be able to return jury, and studies show the central new possibilities for people with to work, may suffer social isolation nervous system has more ability to SCI stretch our imaginations. VA is and family dysfunction, and may reorganize itself than once thought. bringing together its best minds to experience diminished ability to The search for a cure means re- extend traditional boundaries of engage in sexual activity. habilitation has an expanding and care and make a difference in the Physicians and other health-care evolving role in caring for persons lives of veterans. providers must address these con- with SCI. For instance, nerve con- cerns as a whole to return an indi- nections may develop more readily John R. Feussner, M.D., M.P.H., vidual to the highest possible func- when movement is stimulated and is chief research and development tion after SCI. Traditionally, reha- muscles are pushed to activate be- officer of the Veterans Health Ad- bilitation clinicians taught methods yond their apparent limit. An exam- ministration.

56 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine "

Give the gift of si

don 't know what I would I do without the VideoEye. It has given me 20 years

back. It's wonderful.

Howard L. Fountain Gaylord, MI

VideoEye Millennium II Washington watch

Lost and found? The U.S. Air Force and a group Massachusetts of retired military and intelligence State Sen. Mark officials are at odds over what to Montigny, left, for- do with a nuclear bomb buried for mer Massachu- 43 years somewhere near Savan- setts Attorney General nah, Ga. Rep. Jack Kingston, R- Scott Harshbarger, and Ga., said he agrees with the Air TOBACCO his successor Force, which recommends leaving BIB Thomas Rellly dis- it alone. The American Sea Shore fgqjQQ^M- play a check in Underwater Recovery Expedition 1999 for $99.7 mil- (ASSURE) wants to find and possi- lion, representing bly retrieve it. the state's first The Mark 15 weapon, which accaSeltlement_ installment from may or may not be armed with a 7* the national tobac- 118V: I 1007": 56819 24 568 1 plutonium capsule or trigger, has 1 co settlement, ap about 100 times the explosive power of the Hiroshima bomb. It Tobacco settlement monies up in smoke was jettisoned from a bomber that Money from the tobacco set- noted National Taxpayers Union was struck by another aircraft at tlement was supposed to go to associate policy analyst Sayeh 36,000 feet during a training exer- anti-smoking campaigns. The Daee. "Instead, tobacco compa- cise off the Georgia coast in 1958. federal Centers for Disease Con- nies have been exploited as an A 10-week search at the time trol and Prevention recommend- easy source of revenue by big- failed to find it. ed that states spend at least 20 spending politicians eager to Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Derek percent of their payments on fund their pet projects. New col- Duke, president of ASSURE, is criti- smoking prevention to cut future lege scholarships and grants, cal of the Air Force position. "They tobacco-related health expenses. flood-control projects, teen- said the weapon wasn't worth look- But only 5 percent has been pregnancy programs and ing for because it did not contain a spent for that purpose, according remodeled schools may be nuclear capsule. On the other hand, to a report from the National worthwhile state programs but they said it was so dangerous that Conference of State Legislatures. they are all contrary to the ad- any search may cause more harm "Two years ago, the states vertised intent of the tobacco than good. Our response to that is attempted to justify their law- settlement. Unfortunately, the you can't have it both ways." suit by promising that this mon- taxpayers will be left with pro- Another official of ASSURE, re- ey would be used to reimburse grams that must be funded long tired CIA officer Bert Soleau, said taxpayers for societal costs re- after the tobacco settlement the bomb should be recovered "to lated to tobacco use and to dis- money has been spent." preclude the possibility of a terror- courage future tobacco use," - C.K. ist group gaining access to any nuclear materials." nalists may visit the island with a that students attending nonpublic Partying with Castro Treasury Department license, the schools did significantly better. The Treasury Department is in- purpose has to be story-related, not Students in the same grades at vestigating the media's love affair just partying. Spokesmen for the private schools had significantly with communist dictator Fidel Cas- entertainment executives said they higher scores than those in public tro. CBS President and CEO Leslie obtained permission before flying schools. In 12th grade, for exam- Moonves, MTV chief executive Tom to Cuba and voiced puzzlement ple, public-school students had an Freston, William Morris talent agent over the federal inquiry. average score of 300 out of a pos- Jim Wiatt, Vanity Fair magazine In a victory for Castro, the sible 500. But students in Catholic editor Graydon Carter and HBO pro- House of Representatives voted nonpublic schools had an average ducer Brad Grey traveled to Havana 240-186 in July to lift restrictions score of 315. In the fourth grade, for a private dinner with Castro. on travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens. public-school students scored an "None of us had ever been to average of 226. But students in Cuba before," one said. "We went Private vs. public schools Catholic, Lutheran or conservative to the beach. We went to a lot of A report concerning math skills Christian nonpublic schools scored jazz clubs. And we drank a lot of from the Education Department's 238, 241 and 235. white rum ... Cuba is the most ro- National Assessment of Educational One of the most fascinating rev- mantic, soulful and sexy country Progress shows that students in the elations was that the scores of stu- I've ever been to in my life." fourth, eighth and 12th grades had dents who reported heavy televi- Travel to Cuba is restricted, so higher average scores in 2000 than sion watching were lower than the the Castro regime, under a general in 1990, but average scores of nth- results of those who watched little U.S. economic embargo, can't ben- graders declined over the past four or moderate television. efit from tourist dollars. While jour- years. The report didn't emphasize - Cliff Kincaid

58 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine Revolutionary Hearing Aid—Free Information Soft Hearing Aid with Remarkable Sound! ^

EarMate-63 enlarged Our Customers Say it Best!

F=This aid is the best thing that "I have had my EarMate-63's "Comfortable, enjoy hearing ^| has happened to me in years. I about five weeks and am very again, forget it is in at times.

can enjoy TV, radio and family." pleased with them. I went to Can hear birds. Thank you." D.D., Bryan, TX one of the most well known H.W., Brinkley, AR hearing aid companies for an "Thank you very much for this "I have been wearing two estimate and they asked $3,600 product. It has helped me a hearing aids for about ten years. for two aids that did almost lot. No more asking people to I find yours better & I am very exactly the same thing as speak louder or repeat what satisfied. I will be ordering your's. Thanks so much and they said. I only wish I knew another for left very my ear keep up the good work." about your company earlier." soon." RD., Dearborn, MI K.H., Phoenix, AZ E.H., Bartonville, IL J

Call 1-800-843 3773 dept 34-395 for your Free Information! Hearing Help Express, Inc. DeKalb, IL 60115-0586

You can get the best fit and easily You order by mail ^Hearing Help Express the best sound possible from a family business 1 105 North First St., Dept 34-395 from a new ready-to-wear with more than 150,000 | DeKalb, IL 60115-0586 American made hearing satisfied customers and 20 Free Shipping! aid. All for less than $300 years in business. I Please rush me details with our introductory offer. Shipping is free. You try on the EarMate-63 introductory offer. J great fit You get a with a the new, soft EarMate-63 1 1 understand there is no obligation and soft, flexible hearing aid risk-free with a 45-day | no salesperson will call. which conforms to your home trial & money-back I ear canal. Your superior guarantee. Compare to Mr.Mrs.Ms.. sound quality comes from hearing aids over $1,000 & Address the Class-D receiver in the decide which is best for City/State/Zip. EarMate-63. you. Write or call today! legion news |

Post captures Christmas spirit Boys Nation bill considered by Members of Chapin, 111., Post 878 That's when Rigor came up with are playing Santa Claus again this the idea of sending Christmas goodies Congress year to soldiers stationed in South Ko- to the troops. Camp Stanley's chap- A bill before Congress has rea. Last year, the post, with the help lain provided a list of names. its roots in American Legion of local residents, shipped 220 Christ- "When I received over 120 names Boys Nation. H.R. 1625- mas boxes to American service mem- of young people who had little or no Samuel Kelner Commission - bers stationed there. They hope to contact with family members and on Youth proposes the creation of a national youth ad- double the number this Christmas. could use a pick-me-up, I was over- visory commission to pro- Legionnaire Don Rigor started the whelmed," Rigor said. "I was expect- mote teen involvement in project in 1998 after mailing a holi- ing about 40 or 50. I soon learned to public affairs. The bill was day care package to his son, who have faith in people when it comes to authored in 1999 by Boys was stationed at Camp Stanley, helping a cause." Nation delegate Samuel Kel- South Korea, about 20 miles from That year Rigor's post, with the help ner of Plymouth, Minn. Camp Casey, where Rigor was sta- of the local community, shipped more The bill seeks to reduce tioned in 1966. than 150 boxes. The following year apathy among youth by "When I was at Camp Casey, I got they sent 180 boxes. Last year, 220. making recommendations plenty of packages from home," Rigor Rigor said he hopes other posts on issues affecting teens: said. "But I was about the only one will start similar projects to remem- education, wages, higher- who got anything." ber the nation's service members dur- education financing, drug His son was also one of few who ing the holidays. abuse and violence. received boxes from home. He shared U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, his treats with other service members, R-Minn., and President Clin- but it wasn't enough to go around. ton - who were 1963 Boys Nation delegates - support- ed Kelner's proposal. Soldiers of the Last year, while a fresh- 602nd Aviation Sup man at George Washington port Battalion at University, Kelner met with Camp Stanley, Ramstad and began working South Korea, on H.R. 1625. This summer are remem- Kelner joined Ramstad for a bered each press conference announc- Christmas by ing the bill's introduction. members of Kelner is currently chairman of the Plymouth Youth Chapin, III., POSt 878. Advisory Commission, Courtesy 602nd which deals with teen is-

Aviation Support sues. "I want to give back to Battalion this country," he said. "It's given me so much."

Spirit of the Tampa still alive Eighty-three years have passed has been recognized and long- Guard Overseas Association. In since a German U-boat torpedoed overdue Purple Hearts have been 1920, USS Tampa Post 5, was and sank the U.S. Coast Guard presented to descendants of the chartered in Tampa, Fla., in mem- Cutter Tampa in the Bristol Chan- crew as well as to the Tampa's ory of the cutter, and Post 167 nel off the coast of Wales, killing three namesake Legion posts. The was later chartered in the same all 131 aboard. The most fatal sea cutter also was memorialized city to remember crew members attack on a U.S. military vessel with a monument on Coast Guard who were killed in the attack. during World War I, the destruc- Hill at Arlington National Ceme- Twenty-four of those who died in tion on Sept. 26, 1918, was so tery in 1999. the attack were from Tampa. complete that only two bodies Two American Legion posts in The New York and Florida and scant wreckage were recov- Florida and one in New York are posts have long continued their ered after a three-day search. chartered in memory of the cutter respect for the original cutter Purple Hearts were not award- or her crew. with anniversary observances ed during World War I. However, New York's Post 719 was char- and support for the present-day in recent years the historical sig- tered in 1919 as the successor or- USCGC Tampa, a 270-foot vessel nificance of the original Tampa ganization to the U.S. Coast stationed out of Portsmouth, Va.

60 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine legion news

World war I vet seeks Purple Heart

World War I veteran lis. French officials also and lifetime member of honored Streeter in 1939 The American Legion Gus- with the Medaille de Ver- tave "Gus" Streeter of Indi- dun for his courage and anapolis celebrated his valor during the war. 105th birthday Sept. 29. Post 34 Director and His birthday wish - to re- First Vice Commander Bill ceive a Purple Heart for Brennan, as well as fellow wounds he claims to have post members, are received while serving in attempting to expedite the the U.S. Army - had yet to presentation of a Purple be realized. Streeter served Heart to Streeter. in France as a cannoneer "This is a bigger issue with the Army's 89th Divi- than just handing out a sion, 340th Field Artillery. medal," Brennan said.

"I'm proud to be an Eight decades after serving in World war I, Gus "The benefits we as veter- American," said Streeter, Streeter, a member of Indianapolis' Robert E. Ken- ans enjoy today, such as a member of Indianapolis' nington Post 34, is still hoping to receive a Purple the VA and the GI Bill of Robert E. Kennington Post Heart. Courtesy The Criterion Rights, are due to the ef-

34. "I fought for world forts of World War I vets. peace and unity and was wounded twice in both legs This is an important time to remember those few sur-

After 83 years, I still have scars to show for it." viving vets, because literally, an era in military histo- Two years ago, the French government named ry is passing quickly. We mustn't forget what they've Streeter a Chevalier of the National Order of the Le- done for us." gion of Honor for his courageous wartime service in Streeter joined The American Legion in June 1919 France. M. Jean-Rene Gehan, the French consul gen- while stationed in Paris, shortly after the Legion was eral in Chicago, presented France's highest national created there at a caucus of the American award to Streeter during the ceremony in Indianapo- Expeditionary Forces.

Vets receive high school diplomas Bestseller has Legion ties their His post Sixty years ago, many young diplomas. sup- Almost everyone knows a veteran or Americans lied about their age ported the efforts. has heard a veteran's story passed down to enlist and fight in World War At the same time, a history through family or friends. "Chicken Soup

II. The same thing happened a class from a local junior high for the Veteran's Soul" is a decade later during the Korean school created a similar resolu- collection of stories that War. Many never received their tion and testified at the state- came directly from veter- high school diplomas. house in favor of the ans and their families, Several states have rectified legislation. people who "will always this situation, thanks to the ef- The students' bill and Cobb's be custodians of our na- forts of Legionnaires. Earlier resolutions were combined into tion's history," claim the this year, Maine Gov. Angus one bill, which passed unani- best-selling authors Jack Canfield, King Jr. signed into law legisla- mously. The governor signed it Mark tion granting diplomas to World into law in May. Victor Hansen and Sidney R.SIagter. Sto- War II and Korean War veter- Post 5 didn't stop there. ries Sen. John Mc- ans who received honorable They're contacting veterans by Cain, Bob Hope, Con- discharges. The impetus behind who haven't received diplomas, nie Stevens, Charles Kuralt and the measure came from Legion- and a formal graduation cere- many others are featured in this book, naires at Bourque-Lanigan Post mony is planned for the future. which is available in bookstores across the 5 in Waterville. Over a dozen states have country. Nathaniel Cobb, a 57-year similar legislation on the books. The book also has a connection to The member of Post 5, after learn- would like to see every Cobb American Legion. Sixteen of the stories ing similar legislation about in state follow suit. are written by or about Legionnaires. Florida, decided to take action. "The value of the diploma is According to the authors, the book rep- With the help of the Maine Vet- symbolic," Cobb says. "A grate- resents the fulfillment of "a lifelong desire erans Service, Cobb wrote two ful nation needs to publicly ac- to give something back to those who gave resolutions calling for the knowledge veterans for the ser- so much for their country." They offer the state's veterans of World War II vice and sacrifices they made book as a "small payback toward a debt and the Korean War to receive more than a half-century ago." that can never be fully repaid."

November 2001 1 61 The American Legion Magazine J |

legion news

Reconnect effort lands 300 recruits

Just a few days before Three days later in a the maiden voyage of separate event, nearly the USS Iwo Jima LHD7, 10,000 people - many the ship's crew and its who were Iwo Jima commanding officer, survivors - attended Capt. John T. Nawrokie, the ship's commission- participated in a Recon- ing ceremony in Pen- nect-program visit spon- sacola, Fla. Capt. Jack sored by American Le- H. Lucas of Hattiesburg gion Department of Mis- Post 24, one of only sissippi's 9th district and three surviving Iwo Hattiesburg, Miss., Post Jima Medal-of-Honor 24. Reconnect is an out- recipients, was honored reach program between at the ceremony. Lucas' Legionnaires and service story appears on the members at military in- Hattiesburg, Miss., Post 24 Commander Len Thames mast of the Iwo Jima. stallations around the presents an American Legion membership card to USS An oil painting by re- country. Iwo Jima seaman recruit Crystal Cibak during a recent tired U.S. Marine Corps Department of Mis- Reconnect visit while the ship was under construction Col. Charles Water- sissippi officials and at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. joeKersh house depicting Lucas Post 24 members wel- in action will soon be comed 300 young men and women into the Legion in displayed in the ship's wardroom. a ceremony conducted in the hangar bay while the The principal mission of the Iwo Jima, the Navy's ship was under construction at Ingalls Shipyard in newest amphibious assault carrier, is to transport the Pascagoula, Miss. The ceremony was hosted by Navy and Marine Corps to land battles, primarily as Nawrokie, a member of Gautier, Miss., Post 1992. the command ship. LHDs are designed to deploy to "The main goal in being there," Mississippi Depart- troubled areas of the world and insert forces by heli- ment Adjutant Johnny Bracy said, "was to show our copter and LCAC hover craft. Iwo Jima is fully capa- active-duty members that the Legion understands ble of amphibious assault, advance force and special- what they're going through and plans to work hard purpose operations, as well as non-combatant evacu- for their rights and benefits." ation and other humanitarian missions.

Lost WWII honor roll discovered in attic Join us! Legionnaire Harry Kneute can testify the Korean War, made a glass case for The American Legion is to the truth of the adage "One man's the honor roll, printed in 1946, and an organization of veterans junk is another man's treasure." presented it to the local mayor. serving other veterans, their families and communities. A dusty cardboard tube he found After researching the 349 names on The Legion serves as the recently while cleaning out the garage the list, a local official discovered that veteran's voice in Washing- attic of his daughter's Union Beach, five of the veterans were still living in ton, fighting for the benefits N.J., home looked like junk but turned Union Beach. None of the veterans had and rights of those who out to be something valuable. Kneute, ever seen the honor roll before. served our country in the a member of Keyport, N.J., Post 23, The borough plans to immortalize armed forces. found the container among other items its World War II veterans by recreating Membership eligibility is based upon dates set forth by the previous owners had left behind. the honor roll in bronze or brass for Congress. Eligibility dates are The tube contained a large white display at the local veterans' memorial. from 4/6/17 to 11/11/18; poster, yellow and crinkled with age, Borough officials said they hope the 12/7/41 to 12/31/46; 6/25/50 displaying the names of every Union plaque will make people more aware to 1/31/55; 2/28/61 to 5/7/75; Beach resident who had served in of the sacrifices made by the nation's 8/24/82 to 7/31/84; 12/20/89 II. in veterans. to 1/31/90; and from 8/2/90 to World War Kneute, who served present. For information concerning membership, write The Our nation's children depend on you American Legion, Attn. Since 1954 The American Le- every penny of your donation Membership Division, P.O. gion Child Welfare Foundation goes directly to helping children. Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN If in the 46206-1055; call (800) 433- has provided youth-serving orga- you participate 3318; e-mail [email protected]; nizations with a means of edu- Combined Federal Campaign, or visit the Web site at cating the public about the needs please consider the Child Wel- www. legion, org/ member of children. The Legion gener- fare Foundation and check box ship/membership.htm. ously covers overhead costs so No. 1397.

62 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine If you have contracted MESOTHELIOMA or LUNG CANCER due to exposure to

You may be eligible to be compensated for your combined group verdicts of $166 million. injuries by bringing a lawsuit against the We maintain a staff of over 50 attorneys and asbestos industry. 250 support personnel all primed to work close- At Weitz & Luxenberg we maintain an extensive ly with you to achieve maximum results. This

practice in representing the interests of may explain why over 70% of all asbestos cases

asbestos victims. In fact, we represent thou- on the New York City trial docket for the year

sands of victims, from all across the United 2001 are being handled by Weitz & Luxenberg. States, and were instrumental in upholding the constitutionality of asbestos litigation through For further information, and a free informa- the landmark Brooklyn Navy Yard and tional booklet, call the law firm of Weitz & Consolidated Powerhouse trials, resulting in Luxenberg today.

WeitzLAW& Luxenberg,OFFICESP.C. Setting the standard in asbestos litigation for over a decade 180 Maiden Lane • New York, NY 10038 1(800)476-6070

www.weitzlux.com n, slm„ oll, m„m, „,„

Future verdicts or settlements cannot „ „ „ ... - , - . respective state will help determine Cal1 for a free consultation &D booklet be predicted from prior results. ^ afi/% ffl ,/g g dgim legion news vets dream of mobile museum from LST-325 Group hopes completion coincides with World

War II Memorial.

Challenges continue for a dedicated group of U.S. Navy veterans who last year saved a 328-foot

World War II Landing Ship, Tank (LST) from a Greek bone yard on Crete. The crew, whose average age exceeds 70, spent the latter part of 2000 making the amphibious LST-325 seaworthy enough for a strenuous 43-day, 6,500-mile trip across the stormy winter waters of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. With a traveling crew of 28, she finally arrived in Mobile, Ala., on Flag-waving crowds were on hand to greet the LST-325 and crew when Jan. 10 to await her next incarna- it sailed into Mobile, Ala., last January. Steve Earley/Hampton Roads Virginian Pilot tion - a floating museum to show- case the LST's unique role in D-Day. In the 1950s, the LST-325 funding comes entirely from pri- American naval history. also helped construct radar outposts vate donations," he said. "Also, Getting the ship, which had been along the arctic coasts of Greenland we need volunteers - skilled or not on loan to the Greek navy since and Canada. For Greece, under the - to help perform work on the ship 1964, back to the United States re- name Syros L-144, she served an- in Mobile. This work ranges from quired congressional action and other 35 years until a third decom- the technical to the grungy, but it transfer of title from the State De- mission in December 1999. all needs to be done." partment to USS LST Ship Memo- Voges said that due to the LST- LST Memorial Ship souvenirs rial, Inc. Then came the repairs on 325 's age alone, it will take are sold to raise funds for the pro- Crete, mustering a crew of experi- between $1 million and $2 million ject through the organization's Web enced LST veterans and the long for a complete restoration. The site at www.lstmemorial.org, which trip to Alabama. If that were not 1942-built vessel went into dry also offers history, regular progress enough, the biggest dock last summer. reports and ways people can do- challenge may lie 6 Ships of war The restoration nate or volunteer for the effort. Vo- ahead: raising on the air group then con- ges said donations may also be funds necessary to The History Channel airs a tracted to have the made directly to USS LST Ship fulfill the project's documentary on the LST 325 and ship's hull sand- Memorial, Inc., in care of American bigger purpose as a her return last winter on Veter- blasted, primed Savings Bank, P.O. Box 627, real-life porthole to ans Day. "The Return of the LST and painted before Danville, IL, 61834. The project is the past. 325" appears at 7 p.m. Eastern a September public governed by a seven-member board

"Our intention Time the evening of Nov. 1 1 . Lo- appearance in of directors, including six from the is to find a perma- cal listings may vary. downtown Mobile, crew of last winter's voyage. nent home port PBS premieres a special four- coinciding with the Volunteers hope to make all the where a city could part series called "Warship" U.S. LST Associa- necessary mechanical repairs and Nov. 7 and Nov. chronicling provide us free or 14, tion's annual re- replacements in the coming 150 years of U.S. Navy technolo- reasonable docking union there. "Guys months, Voges said. "If we get it gy in times of war and peace. space," said Bruce from all over the working right we could run this The four hour-long programs in Voges, an Ogden, country were anx- thing right up onto a beach." He the series are titled "Sea Power," 111., Legionnaire ious to set foot on said the group would love to have "Big Guns," "Submarines" and who at age 74 one again," Voges the project finished in time for cer- "Aircraft Carriers." Check local served as boat- said. "It's a great emonies to commemorate the listings for times. swain's mate for opportunity." World War II Memorial in Wash- last winter's transatlantic voyage. "At the moment, we're in great ington. "We could take it right up He said the non-profit corporation need of two things to accomplish the Potomac," Voges said, noting has been paying $4,500 a month to our mission: funds and volunteer that a major corporate sponsorship dock the big craft that in World manpower," said Capt. Bob Jorn- is nearly essential if the LST-325 is

War II delivered tanks, trucks and lin, of Earlville, 111., American Le- to become the mobile maritime supplies to Italy, Sicily, northern gion Post 549. He commanded the museum the group envisions. Africa and also to Omaha Beach on LST-325's trip last winter. "Our -Jeff Staffer

64 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | YOUR HEALTH NEWS Male Virility Enhanced Guaranteed! Now There Is An Easy, Safe, Natural and Affordable Approach To Enhancing Male Strength, Stamina and Performance. A GIANT BOOST OF MALE RESPECT FOR OUR CUSTOMERS PRIVACY IS TOP OF THE LIST VIRILITY... AT ANY AGE! EnerX customers are also greatly pleased with Modern technology and ancient herbal science the discretion in which EnerX is delivered has come up with a product that battles and — right to their doorstep (Overnight delivery is available) in discreet wins the fight for male virility. Now, an unmarked package. millions of active American men have a safer, WE GUARANTEE IT! natural, more affordable alternative to prescription drugs when they want to enhance strength, stamina, EnerX will enhance performance and an extra burst of energy. EnerX, your male virility orR send it back for a full an all-natural herbal supplement, contains | product refund-30 day!' ingredients to enhance sexual energy and money back guarantee! performance when taken on Satisfied Customers a regular basis. Testimonials From Our Many Call now and ask - "I am't believe the new man I am. At 58, 1 have me drive aim I No doctor's visits, or loss of how you can get a wasl8and28." -BobbieS. privacy. -"After being married for over 25 years, love making wasn't the 30 day supply of No more expensive same... but after taking EnerX, Ifelt and acted like I did thefirstfew EnerX free! prescription drugs which years." -Harris H.

are notorious for causing - "Our whole life is {afferent He has more energy... EnerX is great!' -GeorgjaimT. dangerous side effects. EnerX Fast Service Call Toll Free. is a safe, NATURAL, chemical- A BURST OF ENERGY AT CRITICAL "EnerX stimulates sexual free herbal supplement, proven energy by expanding blood MOMENTS EnerX stimulates sexual energy effective alternative that's vessels causing increased by expanding blood vessels causing increased 1-888-742-9998 bloodflow to specific affordable, and it gets the ~ blood flow to specific areas of the body. Men 24 hours a day 7 days a week results men want. are amazed that with EnerX they can actually /We accept checks by phone! M.D. Internal Medicine feel the increase of energy and confidence. Ask about EnerX special formula for women! or The Ver OVER 500,000 CUSTOMERS CAN'T BE WRONG! ew spray solves snoring problem instantly... Guaranteed! It's true! A quick spray with D-Snore Nbefore bed and you'll sleep like a baby all night long. This amazing fast-acting, all-natural formula " "We put D-Snore to the test... instantly moistens the membranes of the soft palette to "We gotflooded with calls with volunteers..." allow free and easy breathing that lasts. Forget surgery, "Ifyou have a snoring problem...give D-Snore t special pillows, and all the other contraptions—D-Snore "It works!" is the safe, affordable solution you've been looking for. -KATV-7 ABC News, Little Rock, Arkansas "/ have been married to my husband for 13 years. The past CLINICALLY PROVEN FORMULA ! — 5 \rti> v. In- luis U pi m< mntkv nighth with his wring... lie - - — Clinical Studies boast an 84% suc- has been using D-Snore for one month, and I have never felt just 11s what the rested! the night, ; cess rate Studies als0 state that so well From first NO MORE SNORING!!! doctor ordered! . ...Thank You, Thank You!!!" peop , e usi D Snore showed an —T. McCrory increase in their deep sleep. That _____ "/ means feeling more rested when you bought it for my husband, but it was going to benefit me. wake. He snored so much, so loud that I felt I almost needed to go outside and apologize to my neighbors. It was that loud... ACTUAL RESULTS TAKEN He's been using it for 6-8 months. [The change] happened FROM THE CLINICAL overnight, it was immediate." STUDY: - S. Fernandez "The decrease in the average snoring "I tried nose drops and those breath things you stick across

level represents a very significant your nose. Nothing worked. I had tried other products i change. 84% of the subjects showed a significant improvement while using D-Snore." Mark J. Buchfuhrer, M.D Let D-Snore workfor you too. Call now and order D-Snore- Guaranteed Snore-Free nights for yourself and your loved ones. for- One quick spray with D-Snore and And don't you and your loved ones will sleep get to ask hOW VOU Can get a 30 day "SSm^^^S^-i^^St^ supply of D-Snore absolutely freef don't stop snoring the very first night, just send it back for a full product refund. 30 day money back guarantee!

Fast Service Call Toll Free... 1-888-800-5333 24 hours a day ~ 7 days a week /We accept check comrades

How to use your National Reunion Registry* also include the reunion dates and city, along with a contact name and telephone number. Please also include a size estimate of the group. The National Reunion Registry handles all reunion information Using the Internet is the quickest, most accurate way to access the services for The American Legion Magazine. NRR, a division of Mili- reunion registry. You may check to see if your buddies are planning a tary Information Enterprises, Inc., is a private organization that pro- reunion by visiting NRR's Web site at www.MilitaryUSA.com. To vides information about reunions, helps veterans locate old buddies promote the best accuracy and fastest process when listing your and offers other special benefits to veterans and their families. reunion, complete the Reunion Registration Form available on the NRR maintains contact information on thousands of reunions and Web site. provides this information free of charge to veterans. There are several ways to register reunions or check reunion listings with the National Reunion Registry. Please contact the organiza- Locating a Buddy tion directly by writing to NRR/Reunions, PO Box 17118, Spartan- MilitaryUSA.com offers many services for veterans, including tips burg, SC 29301, by faxing (864) 595-0813 or via e-mail at and techniques for locating current or former military members. How [email protected]. Due to the large number of reunions, To Locate Anyone Who Is or Has Been in the Military: Armed Forces NRR cannot accept phone requests for reunion information. Locator Guide is a practical guide to help people locate service mem- To register a reunion, you should include the complete name of the bers. The publication can be purchased by contacting MIE Publishing, organization and branch of service with your request. The request should P.O. Box 17118, Spartanburg, SC 29301 or by faxing (864) 595-0813.

AIR FORCE 25th MP Co, Minneapolis, 9/6-7, Dennis Sobtzak, (218) Arlington, VA, 7/3-7, Len Rapuano, (203) 407-4888, 493-4529; 29th Radio Mobile Sqdn, Biloxi, MS, 11/11- [email protected]; 15th Spec Basic Class, San Diego, 2nd Radio Sqdn Mobile, Biloxi, MS, 4/7-10, Johnny 12, Bob Rennick, (704) 435-0555, [email protected]; 37th 4/17-21, John Featherstone, (310) 833-2190; Mar Carlson, (907) 229-7612, [email protected]; 3rd Strat Sig Bn, Phoenix, 11/23-25, Robert Fash, (520) 606-5921, Skyhawkers, Pensacola, FL, 4/22-24, Tom Elser, (714) Support Sqdn, Omaha, NE, 9/27-29, Bill Fulmer, (901) [email protected]; 43rd Div Band, Rocky Hill, CT, 774-9345, [email protected]; USMC Recruit Depot, 755-2082, [email protected]; 4th Tact Depot Sqdn, 6/14-16, Mario De Capua, (860) 956-1558, amm55@ Parris Island Pit 10, Ocean City, MD, 9/24-27, Fred Finch, Denver, 7/5-8, James Dutton, (303) 364-3910, webtv.net; 45th Surg Hosp, Rockville, MD, 11/11, Bradley (717) 390-1778, [email protected]; USS [email protected]; 11th Bomb Grp, Honolulu, Burns, (419) 289-4942, [email protected]; 56th Mississippi Mar Det, BB 41/EAG 128, San Antonio, 12/4-12, Allan Davis, (918) 299-5379, addavis® Gen Hosp, Baltimore, 6/28-30, Charles Fahler, (219) 595- 11/9-12, Bill Miller, (830) 672-3645, semperconn® tulsa.quik.com; 13th AF 42nd Bomb Grp, Huntsville, AL, 7355. charlie91 1 @webtv.net; 69th Armd Rgt Assn, . aol.com; VMF 222, Las Vegas, 3/26-28, Tom Thompson, 5/23-25, John Balfour Jr., (410) 922-2840, michar33@ Seattle, July, James Walker, (540) 774-1007, itcjw169@ (903) 344-2496, [email protected] bcpl.net; 13th Ftr Sqdn, Branson, MO, November, Jared aol.com; 71st Army Band, Tampa, FL, 4/4-8, Arvine Potvin, (503) 636-3417, [email protected]; 67th Tact Kindinger, (419) 562-4672, [email protected]; 73rd NAVY Recon Wing, Nashville, TN, 4/25-29, Edward Rice, (615) Tank Bn 73rd Armd, Colorado Springs, CO, 4/25-28, 532-6304, [email protected]; 90th Strat Recon Curtis Banker, (518) 643-2302 AP Transport Assn, Irving, TX, 6/6-9, Chuck Ulrich, (516) Branson, Wing, Branson, MO, 11/7-1 1 , Chuck Hale, (785) 865- 747-7426; CBMU 301, MO, 11/8-11, Shirley 5794, [email protected]; 91st Strat Recon Wing, 88th Army Ground Forces Band, 1/24-27, Orlando, FL, Essary, (417) 866-7819, [email protected]; MCB 22, Allen Moratz, 324-7921 [email protected]; 199th 3/8-10, Alvarez, 992- Colorado Springs, CO, 4/18-21, Ronald R. Day, (303) 795- (863) , Corpus Christi, TX, Gerardo (361) 8252 Light Inf Bde, Arlington, VA, 5/24-27, Peter Joannides, 9394; MCB 133, Hampton, VA, 2/1-3, Dennis Ruocco, (703) 448-0199, [email protected]; 332nd Med Bde, (910) 842-1341, [email protected]; Navy Band

103rd AC&W Sqdn, Groton, CT, 1 1/3, Bill Lewis, (860) Nashville, TN, 5/3-5, Ben Story, (870) 633-6402, bstory@ Alumni, Washington, 8/3-4, Don Stratton, (703) 960- 536-6937, [email protected]; 304th Ftr Sqdn ipa.net; 425th MP Escort Guard Co, Charlotte, NC, 1 1/9- 3733, [email protected]; Navy Hosp Corpsmen 337th Ftr Grp, St. Augustine, FL, 2/20-25, John Hatfield, 10, Louis Henderson, (904) 641-5250, louspeedy@aol. Assn, Pensacola, FL, 11/7-12, George Ligos, (850) 623- com; 459th Sig Bn, Washington, 11/11, Howard Bartholf, 4849, [email protected]; Navy Illustrator (813) 839-0686 ; 307th Bomb Wing/B-47 KC-97 Assn, Heli Ft. Worth, TX, 5/1-5, R. T. Boykin Jr., (817) 595-6507, (804) 740-7652; 501st Avn Bn 71st Assault Co A Draftsmen, San Diego, 5/14-16, Chuck Burnett, (619) [email protected]; 502nd TAC Control Grp, San Co, "Rattlers" and "Firebirds," St. Louis, 5/2-5, Ron 421-7546, [email protected]; Pensacola Preflight Antonio, 5/19-22, Keith Blake, (231) 548-5380; 507th Ftr Seabolt, (972) 524-9033, [email protected]; 527th C1 1950, Pensacola, FL, March, William Eck, (847) 599- Grp Wing 438th Ftr Interceptor Sqdn, Sault Ste. Marie, Pers Serv Co, New Orleans, 11/2-4, Richard Furman, 8418, [email protected]; USS Amphion, AR 13, San Ml, 7/18-20, Joseph Sullivan, (317) 845-9311, (321) 356-4976, [email protected]; 530th FA Bn, Antonio, 5/16-19, Henry Miller, (919) 677-9554, [email protected]; 507th Comm and Cont Grp Tact Branson, M0, 11/1-5, George Robinson, (856) 589-1039, [email protected]; USS Arcadia, AD 23, San Antonio, [email protected] Air Cmd, Gulf Shores, AL, 3/22-23, Mike Glass, (334) 5/16-19, Andrew Malone, (516) 681-0725, arcd23@ 947-5077, [email protected]; 636th AC&W Sqdn, aol.com 602nd Tank Dest Bn, Branson, M0, 8/22-25, Raymond Condon, OR, 8/16-17, Bert Otto, (509) 249-2902, Young, 332-8329, [email protected]; 709th [email protected]; 752nd AC&W Sqdn, Traverse (517) USS Atka, AGB 3, Boston, April, John Green, (617) 524- MP Bn, Myrtle Beach, SC, 11/9-12, Brad Mitton, (508) ity, Ml, 9/22-26, Lowell Woodworth, (904) 620-9635, 3990, [email protected]; USS Audrain, APA 59, [email protected] 880-2521, [email protected]; 928th Eng Avn Grp, Las Dayton, OH, 5/2-4, Forrest Lanham, (217) 748-6845, Vegas, 4/2-4, Larry Tieri, 246-1 71 Army Trans (708) 8; [email protected]; USS Barney, DDG 6, Norfolk, VA, Assn Vietnam, 7/10-14, New Orleans, Rick Phillips, 1095th Spec Reporting Sqdn, Albuquerque, NM, 5/16-19, (770) 6/14-16, John Van Dusen, (972) 242-6475, cakeking® 426-1788, [email protected]; Ret Army Chaplains Jim May, (505) 299-5548, [email protected]; Arclight/ prodigy.net; USS Bigelow, DD 942, Jacksonville Beach, and Chaplain Assistants, 5/14-16, Ft. Jackson, SC, John Youngtiger Crew, San Antonio, 2/21-24, Earl Flora, (402) FL, 4/10-14, Frank Calandrillo, (201) 818-9668, Scott, (863) 424-8013, [email protected]; R0TC Miami 291-1099, [email protected]; EC-47 Assn, 360th-362nd Tact [email protected]; USS Blakely, FF 1072, Charleston, Univ, Miami, FL, 11/2-3, B. Jennewine, 813-681-7844, Electronics Warfare Sqdns and 6994th Sec Sqdn, SC, 7/18-21, Merle Houk, (724) 533-2297, mhouk20@ [email protected]; Scorpion (Green) Observer/Con- hotmail.com; Boston, CA69 CAG1 SSN703, New Dayton, OH, 5/1 4-1 6, James Wheeler, (501 ) 754-3507, USS troller Team National Training Center, Las Vegas, 3/7- [email protected]; Navigator Class 52 09C, Colorado Springs, London, CT, 1/18-20, Arthur Hebert, (603) 672-8772; USS 10, Paul Taylor, (760) 380-4267, [email protected]. CO, 8/28-31, Lowell Strong, (319) 396-3908, Bowditch, AGS 4, Portsmouth, VA, 4/19-21, Paul McCue, mil; USS Platte, AO 24, Platte City, M0, 5/16-19, Aaron [email protected]; OCS Class 59A, San Antonio, (716) 223-7144, [email protected]; USS Cadmus, AR Todd, (918) 227-1295, [email protected] 655- 4/15, Don Weber, (352) 365-0031, [email protected]; 14, San Antonio, 5/16-19, Robert Baschmann, (716) Pilot Class 43D, Dallas, 4/24-27, George Savage, (817) 5415, [email protected]; USS Capodanno, FF 1093, 244-5600, [email protected]; Pilot Class 52F, Winter COAST GUARD Jacksonville, FL, 8/31-9/2, Michael Ryder, (904) 277-3152, Haven, FL, 9/10-14, Gene Rocque, (321) 777-0716, [email protected] USS Rockaway. AVP 29, Orlando, FL, 4/26-28, Chuck [email protected]; Pilot Class 55B, Lakeland, CA, Harris, (602) 274-8980, [email protected] 4/10-14, Claron Jorgensen, (415) 924-1345; Pilot Class USS Cascade, AD 16, Niagara Falls, NY, 8/11-18, Lyle 58B, Las Vegas, 9/2-5, Harold Stein, [email protected]; Burchette, (417) 334-5627; USS Charles H. Roan, DD Pleiku AB, Pittsburgh, 12/9-16, Tom Rushnock, (724) JOINT 853, Norfolk, VA, 4/4-6, Tom Van Petten, (757) 436-3007; USS Charles P. Cecil, DD/DDR 835, Minneapolis, 5/11- 334-9445, [email protected]; TAC Tankers, Hampton, VA, NR0TC Miami Univ of Ohio, Oxford, OH, 4/5-7, nrotc@ 12, Elroy Nelson, (715) 825-3225, [email protected]; 5/1-5, Nate Hill, (740) 653-3835, natehill@ muohio.edu; Operation Dominic 1962, Honolulu, 1 1/25- USS Conyngham, DD 371/DDG 17, Tampa, FL, 5/1-6, tactankers.com; USAF Aggressors, Las Vegas, 7/19-21, 12/7, Stan Alsing, (760) 952-3852, [email protected]; Len Gordon, (732) 432-0588, [email protected]; USS Gregory Wood, (702) 642-6827, gregory.wood® Pearl Harbor Survivors, Honolulu, 12/3-8, Bill Eckel, (903) Crescent City, APA 21, New Orleans, 12/6-10, Bill nellis.af.mil 683-4507; USS Arizona, BB 39, Hawaii, 12/3-10, Joe Vormbrock, 376-5557, [email protected]; USS Campbell, (520) 529-7494, [email protected]; USS (860) Cumberland Sound, AV 17, San Antonio, September, ARMY Cambria, APA 36, Charleston, SC, April, David Stoll, (419) Sadel, [email protected]; 738-3786, [email protected]; Winterfest Veterans Rally, Arthur (501) 884-3583, USS R. Ray, Everett, WA, 2/26-3/2, Steve 1st Armd Div, Milwaukee, 8/22-25, Joseph Theriot, (270) New Glarus, Wl, 1/17-20, Ron Lewis, (800) 498-6411, David DD 971, 737-0901, [email protected]; 3rd Inl Div 15th Inf Rgt B [email protected]; Women Veterans, Branson, MO, Korpal, (626) 962-0962, [email protected]; USS 651-429- Denver, LPD 9, San Diego, 1/18-20, Paul Hoffman, (831) Co, Daytona Beach, FL, 11/4-8, Donald Sonsalla, 9/22-29, Phillis Anesetti, (800) 304-5100, 1634, [email protected]; 4th Armd Div 66th Armd Rgt [email protected] 663-0523, [email protected] 2nd Medium Tank Bn, Dallas, 11/2-3, Rex Searson, (214) 691-9261, [email protected]; 6th Med Depot Korea, MARINES USS Donner, LSD 20, Branson, MO, May, Bill Gibson, 1 1/9-1 244-5698, [email protected]; USS Drew, APA Myrtle Beach, SC, 1 , Mack Mullins, (91 0) 867-4292, (573) 5/31-6/3, Richard Reinstein, [email protected]; 14th Field Hosp, Baltimore, 6/28- 1 st Mar 2nd Bn Echo Co, Orlando, FL, 1 1/1 1 , Steve 162, Columbia, MD, (410) 30, Charles Fahler, (219) 595-7355, charlie911@ Krupa, 81 7-447-9343, [email protected]; 1 st Mar Div 9th 653-1391, [email protected]; USS Earle B. webtv.net; 17th Sig Bn, Williamsburg, VA, 9/18-21, Henri Eng Bn FMF, Las Vegas, 6/13-16, Eric Kenney, 217-728- Hall, APD 107, Baltimore, 4/18-21, Robert Grimm, (414) Vellmure, (954) 698-5981, [email protected]; 7409, [email protected]; 3rd Recon Bn, 421-8436, [email protected]; USSf/ec/ra, AKA4,

2001 66 | November The American Legion Magazine ,

comrades

Portland, ME, 9/11, Wayland Marders, (703) 830-8191; Howard A. Cartway, James W. Ewald, Earnest L. Queer, Richard H. Wellar II Mitchi USS Farragut, DLG 6, Evansville, IN, 6/6-8, Gary Greene, Alvis F. Harrell, Gary L. Hodge, W.R. Horton, Post 87, WA: J. Hecomovich Jennings, [email protected]; USS Frontier, AD Loren W. Jones, James S. Kaufman, John L. Kowalski, Post 17, WV: Richard D. Bentel

1 1/8-1 Joseph Olean, 348-8882, Conrad Maxey, Dwight Stewart, George Ulrich 25, Tucson, AZ, 1 , (401) [email protected]; USS Fulton, AS 11, Sacramento, CA, Post 304, IL: Richard J. Ahlbach, William K. Bires, Robert COMRADES IN DISTRESS September, Ray Wilson, (925) 513-9271, raydol@pack- E. Holt, Clifford Salazar bell.net; USS Harry £ Hubbard, DD 748, Nashville, TN, Post 294, MA: Raymond Cattaneo, Ronald J. Leavitt Readers who can help these veterans are urged to write a 5/15-19, J. Gill, (727) 527-9448, [email protected]; USS Post 382, MA: Frank 0. lantosca, Richard H. MacDougall, witness letter, including the CID number. Send the letters to Haynsworth, DD 700, Portsmouth, NH, 11/1-4, Bill Robert P. Verney CID, The American Legion Magazine, Box 1055, Indianapolis, Morton, (217) 324-4414, [email protected]; USS Post 454, MA: C. Dudley Shaw IN 46206. Notices are published only at the requests of Jason, ARH 1/AR 8, Las Vegas, 5/6-8, Clyde Tracy, (775) Post 32, NC: John W. Fishel, A.E. Tolar Jr. American Legion service officers representing claimants 727-4040, [email protected]; USS Kearny, DD 432, Post 52, NC: James G. Preddy, Ernest L. Pendleton; Post using "search for witness " forms available from Legion 369-6950, Savannah, GA, 11/5-7, Thomas Barrett, (828) 206, NC: Odell Hunt department service officers. [email protected]; USS Kenneth D. Bailey, DD/DDR Post 185, NJ: Douglass Denman, John M. Horrocks 115th FA Bn, Ft. Rucker, Ala. Harry Anthos needs anyone Mobile, AL, April, Robert Levine, 327-3286, 713, (617) Post 419, NY: James P. Amaden, John W. Coyle, Stephen who served with him between January and February [email protected] Dellapolla, Vito Demai, Frank Fedi, Lief Mannes, Samuel 1945 to verify he was exposed to mustard gas prior to A. Meddaugh, Albert W. Phillips, Alice A. Rogers, boarding a ship for transit to ETO at Camp Sibert, Ala. USS Keppler, DD/DDE 765, Milwaukee, 5/30-6/2, Willard Benjamin F. Tyler, Joseph W. Vagan, Lois M. Watts CID 1430 Darrell, (631) 586-4565; USS LST 845, Kansas City, MO, Post 267, PA: Walter Felgar, James Kunkle, James E. June, Larry Patterson, (620) 473-2706, patterson@hum- boldtks.com; USS Luzon, ARG 2, Pensacola, FL, 1 1/8-1 2, Charles Mitchell, (845) 692-5760, usschief@frontiernet. net; USS Malabar, AF 37, Wheeling, WV, 6/21-23, Dean Erectile Dysfunction (ED)? Wise, (304) 845-2783, [email protected]; USS Marias, AO 57, San Antonio, 5/16-19, Ray Bower, (863) 676-4047; USS Marvin H. Mclntyre, APA 129, Laughlin, NV, 1 1/13- DON'T WAIT 14, Kenneth Schneider, (407) 843-2810; USS Mona Island, Virginia Beach, VA, 10/9-11, William Bunte, (908) ANOTHER NIGHT...

647-4641 ; USS Mount Baker, AE 4 AE 34, San Diego, 3/16-19, Dale Bradford, (760) 740-9710, debrad@sd. Change your Kfe(and hers!) quik.com; USS Nantahala, AO 60, San Antonio, 5/16-19, today with a prescription Jack Gibbs, (734) 455-9306, [email protected] for SomaTherapy ED™ USS Pawcatuck, A0 108, Phoenix, 6/19-23, David Willis, (602) 233-0827, [email protected]; USS Purdy, DD 734, Norfolk, VA, 5/2-5, Larry Di Pasquale, (610) 433- Doing nothing hurts. . .you, 4787, [email protected]; USS Rigel, AF 11/58, San Diego, 11/1-4, Paul McKeever, (315) 344-7390, her feelings, and maybe even [email protected]; USS Roanoke, CL 145, your body. ED (erectile Baltimore, 5/2-5, Forrest Ducette, (520) 743-7383, [email protected]; USS Sample, DE/FF 1048, San dysfunction) is a medical Diego, August, Gary Smoyer, 358-4425, glsmoyer@ (518) condition usually a sign localnet.com; USS Scholield, DEF/FFG 3, St. Louis, 5/30- and 6/2, Richard Cohagan, (713) 692-6649, rick cohagan® of a hidden problem—poor juno.com; USS Sheridan, APA 51, Mobile, AL, 11/10-12, Louis Perez, (661) 285-3794, [email protected]; USS circulation perhaps, or even a Sherman Forrest, DD 931, Ocean City, MD, 4/21-24, Kurt side effect from medication. Wagemann, [email protected] It's nothing to be embarrassed

USS Shields, DD 596, Jacksonville, FL, 1 1/1-4, A. about and definitely nothing to Burchfield, (662) 289-4745, [email protected]; USS

Tarawa Assn, CV/CVA/CVS 40/LHA 1 , St. Louis, 4/1 8-21 ignore, especially when there Frank Grosey, (760) 241-7472, [email protected]; USS are safe, physician- Tattnall, DDG 19, Philadelphia, 6/22-23, Ron Staiger, (215) new, 725-0573, [email protected]; USS Turner Joy, DD 951, approved treatments that are Boston, 10/3-6, Richard Asche, (360) 871-9482, reasche® aol.com; USS Van Valkenburg, DD 656, Venice, FL, 11/7- drug-free and proven effective

1 George Barr, ) 485-5001 gbarrl 1 1 1 ©aol.com; 1 , (941 , 98% of the time, regardless of USS Vicksburg, CL 86, Philadelphia, May, George Shaffer, (732) 382-3869; USS Whetstone, LSD 27, Hampton, VA, the underlying cause of the ED. 8/22-25, Marion Goble, (941) 768-1449, mgoble@mind- spring.com; USS William M. Wood, DD 715, Virginia Beach, VA, 5/2-4, Charles Traub, (757) 340-9056, ctraub3@cs. One of these new prescription com; USS Yancey, AKA 93, San Diego, 1 1/1-4, Paul Dunn, is (440) 350-0585 treatments SomaTherapy ED™ a new generation of products USS Yellowstone, AD 27, Atlantic Beach, FL, 1/10-13, Paul Bowen, (352) 854-1387, [email protected]; VB- from the man who invented 14/VPB-102, Boston, September, Robert Kirk, (619) 582- the vacuum therapy industry, 6485, [email protected]; VF/VA/VFA-113 Stingers, Virginia Beach, VA, 4/25-29, Carleton Cooper, (703) 532-0559, Julian W. Osbon. These [email protected]; VPB-25, Tucson, AZ, 4/11-14, products are VA approved and Edgar Josephsen, (360) 387-2727, [email protected] FDA registered. They qualify for LIFE MEMBERSHIP Medicare and private insurance Life Membership notices are published for ...SO TOGETHER, WE FOUND A SOLUTION. reimbursement (depending on Legionnaires who have been awarded Life Memberships by their posts. Life Membership your carrier, deductibles, etc.). notices must be submitted on official forms, which SomaTherapy ED™ may be obtained by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Life Memberships, The from... American Legion Magazine, P.O. Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206.

Post 73, CT: Robert Devaney, Sally St. Pierre Post 178, FL: Joseph E. Fennimore, William P. Kuipers, Visit www.somablue.com Jacques F. Russell, Hugh J. Trimble

Post F. Barrett, today or call 1-800-827-8382 219, FL: Carl A. Baechle, Robert Donald J. SOM^ Clark, Elmer W. Fisher, Joseph C. Hill, Weldon Jones, and see why thousands of Harry B. Nettum, Dale G. Smith, Albert T. Thompson Post 235, FL: Joseph L. Bates, Lawrence G. Benoit, BLUE again. couples are smiling Geraldine D. Bunn, Kellis E. Deaver, CL. McNamar, David F. Silva Post 358, FL: John H. Scott www.somablue.com All day long. Post 378, FL: Leslie R. Archer, David W. Pickard Post 141, IL: Clarence L. Boswell, Ernest R. Brown,

November 2001 1 67 The American Legion Magazine comrades I

Co 859, Little Rock, Ark. George G. Younger needs Po Valley Campaign in Italy in 1 945, contact Henry A,

anyone who went through Navy basic training with him Steiger, 1 21 Johnston's Lane, Mercersburg, PA 1 7236 at San Diego in October 1951 to verify his knee was or call (71 7) 328-3511. injured by a rock thrown by another seaman. CID 1435 Anyone who served with the 8th AF, 384th Bomb Grp, America's First 546th Sqdn on B-17 Aces and Ates, including the crew IN SEARCH OF that parachuted over Munich, Germany, contact Edward McDonald, 7030 Radbourne Road, Upper Darby, PA Commemorative nyone who served with the 84th Eng Const Bn in Korea 19082 or call (610) 626-7186. between 1953 and 1954, contact Craig Fuhrmann, 2301 Anyone who served aboard the USS Yellowstone, AD 27, Proof Coin...$9.95 N. Mason St., Appleton, Wl 54914 or call (920) 739- between March 1955 and January 1959, contact Frank J. Guarino Sr., Hopewell Junction, NY 12533 or e-mail Anyone who served with the 162nd Tank Bn, 4th Armd [email protected]. Grp in the Pacific during WWII, contact Nat Sanders, Anyone who served with Tank Co, 10th Inf Div, 86th Inf 255 A Doremus Drive, Monroe Township, NJ 08831 or Rgt (Gyroscope) in Germany between July 1955 and call (609) 860-5288. November 1956, contact Roland E. Hansen, Box 363, Anyone who served aboard the USS Tolland, AKA 64, Elk Horn. IA 51531, call (712) 764-2052 ore-mail

during World War II, contact Jack Wylie, 621 Dellwood [email protected], or Ben Gallager, 11 Trudi Court, Drive, Smyrna, TN 371 67 or call (61 5) 223-0766. Hanover, PA 17331, call (717) 637-1862 ore-mail Anyone who served with the 634th AAA AW Bn, C Btry [email protected]. between 1943 and 1945, contact John A. Pacella, 8 Anyone who served with BTU Flight 985, 3704th Tng Woodchip Square, North Atteboro, MA 02760 or call Sqdn at Lackland AFB between March and May 1951 or (508) 699-3709. the 35th Motor Vehicle Sqdn at Johnson AFB, Japan,

Anyone- who served as a Navy Teleman with formal between 1950 and 1955, contact Bill Merriam, 1868 training or as a striker, contact Jim Shellhammer, 4341 Baxter Way, Upland, CA 91784 or e-mail 985- In 1982, the U.S. Mint issued the George (909) Edwinstowe Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80907, call 4748. silver half Washington 250th Birthday (719) 598-5615 or e-mail [email protected]. Anyone who went through basic training with Pit 247 at dollar proof for $12 and it's listed for up Anyone who served with the 21 st Evac Hosp in Pusan, San Diego MCRD between July and September 1953, Korea, between 1952 and July 1953, contact Stanley contact Omer Ledbetter, 9816 E. 116th St. S., Bixby, OK to $17. Through this special offer, you McCullough Jr., 27 N. Emily St., Pittsburgh, PA 15205 74008. can acquire yours for just $9.95 each, or call (412) 922-2484. Anyone who served with the 91 st AAA AW Bn (M), HQ 3 for $28.50 or 5 for $47 (Order #13503). Anyone who served with D 6, 1/20th, 1 1th Light Inf Bde, Btry, in Ludwigsburg, Germany, between 1950 and Americal Div at Due Pho, Vietnam, contact Jason Wright 1954, contact Dick Johnson, 102 Irwin Circle, Calamus, Add total of $2 postage. 30-Day No- at (931) 724-9843 or e-mail [email protected]. IA, 52729 or call (563) 246-2206, or Don Ambrose, Risk Home Examination: Money-Back Any Marines who served with Scout Bombers 151 on 1929 George Washington Blvd., Wichita, KS 67218 or Guarantee. To order by credit card call Engebi Island, Eniwetok Atoll, in 1944, contact Jim call (316) 682-9644. Fisher, 2623 Cryer St., Hayward, CA 94545, call (510) Anyone who served with the 681 1 th, 681 2th and 681 3th toll-free. Or send a check or money 782-1 1 09 or e-mail [email protected]. Sig Sec Detachments, ETOUSA, in England between order to: Anyone who served aboard the USS Halfbeak, SS 352, 1943 and 1945, contact R. "Bob" Frederickson, 3810 International Coins & Currency contact Joe Hegyi, 835 Rosslare Place, Crown Point, IN Manor Drive, Greensboro, NC 27403 or call (336) 299- 46307, call (219) 661-0715 ore-mail sailor® 1611. 62 Ridge Street, Dept. 4176 jorsm.com. Anyone who served in IX Corp 21 2th MP in Korea Montpelier, Vermont 05602 Anyone who served with the 47th Eng Camouflage Bn at between 1952 and 1953, contact Abraham Spires, 2301 Kan., November 793- 1-800-451-4463 Ft. Riley, between November 1950 and 51 st St., #1 3, Lubbock, TX 7941 2, call (806) 1952, contact Howard Mattison, 5542 Moor Drive, 0936 or e-mail [email protected]. visit For other offers www.iccoin.com |4176 Lincoln, NE 68516 or e-mail [email protected]. Anyone who served with CASU 76 at Arlington Naval Air Anyone who served with the 617th FA Obsn Bn during the Station or Quillayute Naval Air Station, Washington, during WWII, contact Doane L. Mortenson, 22541 435th Ave., Howard, SD 57349 or call (605) 772-5235. Anyone who served with the 74th Coast Arty (AA) Rgt during WWII or the 74th AAA Gun Bn after WWII, contact Al Greene, 765 Gates Lane, Kodak, TN 37764 or call (865) 932-7719. Anyone who served with G Co, 315th Inf, 79th Inf Rgt or was a POW during the Battle of the Bulge between January and May 1945, contact Louise Nestico, 738 Chestnut St., Kulpmont, PA 17834 or call (570) 717- 3036. Anyone who served with A Co, 1st Bn, 7th Mar, 1st Mar Div (FMF) or E Co, 2nd Bn, 9th Mar, 3rd Mar Div (FMF) in Vietnam between 1964 and 1965, contact Craig Fuhrmann, 2301 N. Mason St., Appleton, Wl 54914 or call (920) 739-1981. Anyone who was a patient of Hospital Ward 1 1 0 at Truax Field, Wis., between May and October 1944, contact Judge Newt Draheim, Box 424, Clarion, IA 50525. Anyone who served as staff or student at the Underwater Swimmers School at Key West, Fla., contact Don Stone, 1440 S.W. 5th Ave., Boca Raton, FL 33432, call (561) 391-6727 or e-mail [email protected]. Anyone who served aboard the USS Hitchiti, ATF 103, between December 1952 and September 1953, contact Raymond L. Black, 107 Wilford Road, Silver Lake, WA 98645 or e-mail [email protected]. Anyone who served aboard the USS President Adams, AP 38/APA 19, between November 1941 and June 1950, contact John H. Ward, 1716 Appleby Lane, Harvey, LA 70058 or e-mail [email protected]. Anyone who served in the U.S. Navy Tug Fleet at Mare Island, Vallejo, Calif., between 1952 and 1954, contact

Gene Glasco, 21 1 72nd St., Virginia Beach, VA 23451 A recent independent clinical study showed or e-mail [email protected]. Anyone who served with the 92nd Eng Searchlight Co in that 84% of TheraSeed® patients had no Korea between 1949 and 1950 or the 44th Tank Bn in September 1949, contact Carl Rife, 3280 Alpena St., recurrence of prostate cancer 9 years after Burton, Ml 48529 or call (81 0) 743-031 9. having this out-patient procedure.' Anyone who served with the 3750th Air Installation Sqdn at Sheppard AFB between September 1948 and June 1950, contact Charles Fiore at (215) 637-1955. Anyone who served with the 77th Inf Div, 307th Rgt Ev-w. jc Grimm PD. Sylvester IF B,vlv7mm KR Hoak D, Cavanagh W Palladium-102 TheraSeed" Brachylherapy loi Proslale Carcinoma. Int J Radial Oncol Biol Phys March 2000, 46(4): 839-850 between 1944 and 1945 and participated on the Maeda Escarpment on Okinawa, contact Desmond T. Doss, mI pri'Sislf- Hi ii irn lnfle shnr w-"u imlalion or Possible side ^ l' t,Mi lyi,rr,i|:v y urinary It's Just A Better Way. 4600 Highway 157, Rising Fawn, GA, 30738, call (706)

T ,J 398-0485 or e-mail [email protected]. TheraSeed* is a registered Irademark ol Theragenics Corporal :vlj!j! h.-r.t:i.-ni, ;.Girpor.ili<>ii' www.theraseed.com Anyone who served with the 3rd Army, 1 5th Corp, 4049th QM Truck Co between 1 943 and 1 945, contact Joe Williams, 15212 12th Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 98155 or

68 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine [comrades W~ Enjoy ^ call (206) 367-2834. Soapstone Warmth Anyone who served in an Army Postal Unit in Korea Get More Heat & Comfort From Less Wood during the 1970s or.at the Armed Forces Courier Station John R. Hughes Sr., Dept. of Delaware. Nat'l Sec. • Soul-Satisfying Rhein Main between 1983 and 1986, contact Charles J. Cncl. Memb. 1974-1976 and 1979-1981, Nat'l Dwyer, 624 Casa Grande Drive, Melbourne, FL 32940 or Soapstone Veterans Preference Cmte. Memb. 1975-1976, call (321) 242-0377. Warmth 1978-1979 and 1981-1982, Nat'l Foreign Relations Anyone who served in the USNAS Disbursing Office at • Comfortably Cncl. Memb. 1976-1978, Nat'l Law and Order Cmte. Hutchinson, Kan., between June 1952 and April 1954, Memb. 1981-1982, Nat'l Americanism Cncl. Memb. Heat 1600 Sq. Ft contact Robert Sheik, R.R. 1 Box 13, Weatherford, OK 1982-1983, Nat'l Counter-Subversive Act. Cmte. • Bums Up To 12 73096 or call (580) 343-2463. Memb. 1983-1984, Dept. Cmdr. 1986-1987, Nat'l Hours Anyone who served with the 1 1th Abn, 89th FA, B Btry at 1986-1987, Distinguished Guests Cmte. Vice Chmn. • Ft. Campbell, Ky., in 1953 or the 82nd Abn, 93rd FA, B Clear Fire-Viewing Nat'l Americanism Cncl. Vice Chmn. 1987-1992 and Btry at Ft. Bragg, N.C., in 1954, contact Eugene C. Window 1994-1998, Nat'l Exec. Cmte. Alt. 1990-1992, Nat'l Batten, 208 Capehart St., Spencer, VW 25276 or (304) Americanism Cmsn. Liaison Cmte. 1992-1994, Nat'l 927-5368. Exec. Cmte. Memb. 1992-1994 and Nat'l Legis. Anyone who served with the 33rd Inf Rgt Cbt Team at Cncl. Memb. 1993-1994. Panama Canal, contact Frank Ryan at (516) 541-3891 IZ21 Bernard Moriarty, Dept. of Utah. Nat'l Memb. & Post or e-mail [email protected]. Activ. Cmte. Memb. 1965-1966 and 1982-1983, Electrical Power Required- Anyone who served with the U.S. Navy Armed Guards No Dept. Cmdr. 1967-1968, Nat'l Sec. Cncl. Memb. during World War II, contact A. Bridger, 62 Strathmore Proteds Against Power Outage 1968-1969 and 1988-1990, Nat'l Americanism Cncl. Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34233, call (941) 377-0954 or e- Vice Chmn. 1970-1971, Nat'l Cemetery Cmte. Fine Furniture Design [email protected]. Consultant 1971-1977, Drug Rehab. Cmte. Chmn. Anyone who served with the 508th MP Bn, contact Clean Burning EPA 1972-1977 and 1978-1985, Alt. Nat'l Exec. Cmte. Richard Jones, P.O. Box 231, Arlington, NE 68002, call Approved/UL Listed Memb. 1973-1975, Nat'l Aerospace Cmte. (402) 478-4785 or e-mail [email protected] or Consultant 1977-1988 and Nat'l Sec. Cncl. Vice Factory Direct Prices I [email protected]. Chmn. 1988-1990. Optional Colors For Your Decor Anyone who served with JASCO 3, 3rd Mar, in Forrest B. Simpson, Dept. of West Virginia. Nat'l Sec. Guadalcanal prior to the Tinian Island invasion, contact Six Month Risk-Free In-Home Trial Cncl. Vice Chmn. 1989-1994, Nat'l Americanism Phil Goldstein at (215) 698-9671 or e-mail Cmsn. Memb. 1994-2001 and Dept. Cmdr. 1996- Heirloom Stoves Handmade For 23 Years [email protected]. 1997. Anyone who served with the 667th, 932nd, 933rd and www.woodstove.com Duane S. Willis, Dept. of Utah. Dept. Cmdr. 1986- 934th AC&W Radar Sqdns in Iceland, contact William 1987, Nat'l Americanism Cncl. Vice Chmn. 1987- FREE CATALOG AND VIDEO Chick at 104 Summit Point Court, Chapin, SC 29036, 1993, Nat'l Veterans Affairs & Rehab. Region 7 Name • call (803) 932-9596 or e-mail [email protected]. Memb. 1993-1999, Nat'l Veterans Affairs and Anyone who served at Navy Radio Station NDO on Green Rehab. Region 7 Vice Chmn. 1999-2000, Nat'l Island between February 1944 and January 1945, CityI State!Zip_ Legis. Cncl. Memb. 1999-2000 and Nat'l Veterans contact Raymond L. Black, 107 Wilford Road, Silver Phone ( Affairs and Rehab. 2000-2001. j_ Lake, WA 98645 or e-mail [email protected]. E-mail Woodstock Soapstone Co., Inc SEND ADVERTISING COPY AND REMITTANCE TO: PERSONALS irpark Ret., Dept. 1178, West Lebnn Joan Rizzo, Classified Advertising, The American MEET NICE SINGLES. Christian values. Free cata- Legion Magazine, c/o Fox Associates, Inc., 347 5th log. Singles, Box 310-ALM, Allardt, TN 38504. 1 -888-664-81 725- TOLL FREE 88 Ave., Suite 1110, New York, NY 10016. (212) www.nicesingles.com. 2106, FAX (212) 779-1928. All classified advertising is payable in advance by check or money order. ASIAN WOMEN! Overseas, marriage-minded. Please make remittance payable to "The American Sunshine international Correspondence, Box Legion Magazine." RATES: $24 per word. Count 5500-HK, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745-5500. (808) 325- street addresses and box numbers as two words; 7707, www.sunshine-girls.com. all city, state and zip codes as three words. CIRCU- OF INTEREST TO ALL LATION: 2,550,000 per month. DEADLINE: Advertis- MILITARY SURPLUS. Clothing, camping, hunting, ing copy must be received 60 days before cover GAMBLERS (888) 592-8014. ~M date of issue desired. All advertisements are accepted at the discretion of the publisher. NEW: Official Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home GENERAL STORE iftf APPAREL Coin, (800) 750-0075, www.welcomehomeday.org. FOUR WARS. POW-MIA Products, http://worldop- * SLOT MACHINES SUSPENDER WEARERS! Frustrated with clips center.net/legion. ¥ POKER CHIPS that constantly slip off your pants? Our sus- 4 penders feature patented "no-slip clip." MILITARY CAPS/INSIGNIAS @ www.flagsoftheworld. VIDEO POKER Brochure/order, (800) 700-4515. com. BOOKS & MAGAZINES INSTALLATIONS AND FUNDRAISERS, WWW.CUt- » PLAYING CARDS * tingedgepromotionalproducts.com, (800) 288-3540. BOOKS & VIDEOS IVY HOUSE PUBLISHING GROUP. Quality publishing NOVELTIES S GIFTS and promotion of your book. Write: 5122 Bur Oak WWW.USIMAGES.COM. 80-PAGE CATALOG! Circle, Dept. AL, Raleigh, NC 27612, (800) 948-2786. CALL FOR AN COLOR SEAWEED'S SHIP HISTORIES. Photos framed or 416th BOMB GROUP HISTORY, (940) 325-1076. unframed. P.O. Box 154, Sistersville, WV 26175, CALL 800-322-2447 366-0329 CASINO SUPPLIES/PLAYING CARDS (800) 732-9333. IN NV: (702) 382-9903 FAX: (702) www.gamblersgeneralstore.com [email protected] WWW.MAGAZINEMONSTER.COM. I | DRINK TOKENS. Catalog, (800) 233-0828. FINANCIAL RETIREMENT/RETIREMENT LIVING LOUISIANA: Tired of cold winters, high crime, city GET OUT OF DEBT FREE! Stop collection calls, life? Visit www.kentwoodla.org. reduce payments up to 50%, lower interest. Nonprofit, licensed, bonded. Call (800) 845-1484 ext. 7001. ANYTHING WARS. (800) 872-5263, USgrc® GIFTS qwest.net. Cold War Victory Medals

WWW.MARTYSGIFTS.COM. Ship directly to recipient. OLD MOTORCYCLES AND MEMORABILIA, (248) The Cold Wor Campaign Medollion I the Cold War 647-3294. HOLIDAY SHOP at www.alittlegift.com. Star were struck from o Russian SS-1 1 ICMB nuclear OLD GUITARS, (800) 451-9728. missile dismantled in Novgorod, Russia. These WOW! Free clock every order 'til Christmas, beautiful handcrafted medals were made to honor www.martysgifts.com. JAPANESE SWORDS, (724) 413-3292. all Cold Wor Veterans for their Cold Wor Victory.

HEALTH/HEALTH-CARE PRODUCTS SWORDS, (800) 798-6167. Customers agree, 'they moke a fantastic display"! HELP DIABETES, ARTHRITIS, FIBROMYALGIA. Dr. CAMERAS, Leica, Alpa, Canon, Hasselblad, Metz, (800) 996-3432. Nikon, Voigtlander, Zeiss, Rolleiflex, Others. Ritz of military history, MISCELLANEOUS Collectibles, (800) 956-9132. send SI 9.95 to: Follout Products, PO BOY SCOUT PATCHES, (940) 455-2519. SIMULATED ENGRAVED BUSINESS CARDS. Box 10603, Truckee, $l7/thousand, delivered. Free samples. (888) WINE/BEER MAKING ca 96162 Supplies limited 263-6811. WINEMAKERS-BEERMAKERS. Free catalog, (800) A Vietnam Veteran Project - Private Issue DISCOUNT CIGARETTES. Cartons start at $12.95. Toll 841-7404. Kraus, Box 7850-LM, Independence, • free, (877) 234-2447, www.senecasmokes.com. MO 64054. 'Jalloutproducts.com Call (530) 550-0392 PST

November 2001 1 69 The American Legion Magazine j RHODES HEARING HAT PINS • MEDALS FREE CATALOG!

by Hoover's Mfg., Co. I

2 SEAT BIKE Drives Like a Car! Easy to Pedal EYEGLASS HEARING AIDS Multi-Speed /*T^. WITH A SIMPLE TUBE Street Legal f #y / 1 , & 4 Seater^, LEAVE THE EAR CANAL OPEN 2 r> Free Literature 1-615-822-2737 Ext. 3386 RIIORDC/ CflR * www.4wc.com/73386 MEN: 1BE TALLER!1 TIRED OF BEING SHORT? TRY OUR HEIGHT INCREASING

Established 1 929 SHOES FOR MEN. UP TO 3" TALLER. RUPTURED n\/PR mnsvrvi pr HIDDEN HEIGHT INCREASER. IN BUSINESS SINCE 1939. MONEYBACK GUARANTEE. CALL OR WRITE CALL OR WRITE: TODAY FOR FREE CATALOG. RHODES HEARING Sykes Hernia Control Service www.elevatorshoes.com n DEPT R11, Phone (651)275-1900 ELEVATORS® y RICHLEE SHOE COMPANY, DEPT. AL1N BROOKPORT, IL 62910 RO. BOX 3566, FREDERICK, MP 21705 1-800-320-3300 EXT R11 FOR YOUR FREE CATALOG! 1-800-343-3810 Solid Wood Flag Case Oak $49. ,s BUY FACTORY DIRECT Cherry or Walnut $59." (plus 7.50 ea. S/H)

Goodstuff A PO Box 583 888-597-8833 Icard, NC 28666 Satisfaction Guaranteed NEW AUTHORS PUBLISH YOUR WORK ALL SUBJECTS CONSIDERED WRITE, OR SEND YOUR MANUSCRIPT TO: IMPOTENCE MINERVA PUBLISHING CO. 1001 BRICKELL BAY DR., #2310, MIAMI, FL 33131 Ideal for shop, boat & vehicle storage IMPCTzaWd)™ 20x30 30x44 47x100 • VACUUM THERAPY SYSTEM • 95% SUCCESS 25 x x x 1 32 40 60 50 20 • FDA AND MEDICARE APPROVED Inventory var Osco Savon £22! Factory Direct Toll Free FOR FREE INFORMATION CALL: 800/715-6482 1^ 1-800- 475-3091 Celebrate July 4th & All Events BIG-BANG® CANNON American Legion Post 20 Pittsburgh NY GIFT IDEA! 95 GREAT $159# Proudly Presents 1878-1921 WW II Europe Tour Come Ashore with US for 12 days! The only SAFE May 24 thru June, 6 2002 for fireworks! Cannons produce a loud bang with a Tour on Historic WW II Vintage Trains realistic flash of light. Patented in 1907. Made of cast iron and sheet $9.— metal. Easy loading and firing. Great for display when not in use. Made in the USA to last a lifetime. Available in 3 sizes: 9" cannon, $69.95 per coin 25" SSS: NcfeaiiHy, Omaha Beach, Caen, Point On Hoc, postpaid; 17" cannon, $129.95 postpaid; cannon (shown here) with rapid firing and automatic loading, $159.95 postpaid. The larger St. Mere Eglise, Basjone & Battle of the Bulge the cannon the louder the bang! Bangsite® ammo, about 100 shots, Memorials, Pattons Grave, Heideleberg Rhine & $8.50; 3-pack $20.00. Spark plugs, 3-pack $2.00. Order via mail, All M.,,,« ( Kiln ( irds Accepted River Cruise, Berehtesgaden, Munich. Dachau, The phone or website. Mastercard, Visa, check or money order accepted. Call T..II Free 1-888-260-8111 Eagles Nest. The Nurenberg Trial Site & More! Money back guarantee. Send for FREE CATALOG! Limited to 1st 111) people. $2999.00 /PP/DBL The Conestoga Co., Inc., DeptAL, PO Box 405, Bethlehem, PA 18016

9 Susan Drive • Wudinj> River, NY 11792 t Aero ( luh lours Now lor brochure ** Call 1-800-987-BANG * Vl.l \> PMI 1 ,m, • li"u. www.bigbangcannons.com Toll Free 1-888-394-7440

70 1 November 2001 The American Legion Magazine ) .

A treasured Display Your* symbol of your Military Awards! MOVING? service 3000 Official Medals, Badges, Patches & Insignia Army • Navy • Marines rP "HtillMBl"Bl • Air Force Call for your FREE Color Catalog northAmerican Offers Choose from over 100 different rings Moving Discount 1 Safe?! -800-486-1 651 Classic Military Rings are in a different I league from typical service rings. They're www.usmedals.com SAVE$$$ over servicemen and | proudly worn by 10,000 On Your Next women, both active duty and veterans. Interstate Move! Call today for a FREE color catalog: North American Van Lines offers J 1 1-503-731 -9256 (24 hr. recorded American Legicn members a minimum 50% ^message). Or write: Classic Military Rings, discount on interstate moves. Let North American, the world's largest professional 435 SE 85th Dept. A-1101, Portland OR 97216. mover, transport your household goods with ^www.ClassicRings.com |CodeA-l101 moving services to meet every need and

budget. In addition to saving 50%, you will receive up to $50,000 coverage on your

household goods at no charge. For more information or a free estimate SINGERS'.^l call: North American Van Lines/ Moving Solutions Unlimited Free Backgrounds I from Original Standard Recordings! f 1-800-524-5533 Thompson Vocal Eliminator™^^ ' VE-4 Free Brochure/Demo |FwB%"W> 24 Hour Demo/Info Une «4 JUt* (770;482-2485- Ext 73 s LT Sound Dept AL1 7980 LT Parkway.Lithor AWARD CASES '25 to 1QO internet www.LTSoLini ALSO RIBBONS MEDALS AND HOUR WITH Better Than Karaoke For Over : 1" PER Solid hardwood gunstock walnut finish . Full , between glass and black, blue, red or white Badge-A-Minit velvety mounting board. 5"x7" -$18.95, Yes, it's really possible by making and selling -$24.95, 11 - 8*x10* -x14 -$29.95. bright, colorful pinback buttons. Buttons 14"x20" - $39.95, 20 "x24" -$59.95. Add less than 404 to make and i $5.00 shipping per case. (No P.O. Boxes) sold for $1.00 or more! Sell your Badge- R. ANDREW FULLER COMPANY A-Minit buttons at fairs, flea markets, Box 2071-L, Pawtucket, Rl 02861 conventions and more. Or promote VISA/MCAccepted (Write for FR EE Catalog your upcoming fundraisers by HEARING AIDS wearing buttons around town! Our Starter Kit is only $29.95 (IL res. add $1.95 tax) UP TO 60% SAVINGS and contains everything £&tf you need to get started. Call to order today or to " you wear! 30-DAY receive your FREE full-color catalog. TRIAL Enjoy an active Badge-A-Minit. Dept. AL1101, Box 800, LaSalle, IL 61301 rewarding lifestyle! Call 800 - 223 • 4103 TRY ] www.badgcaminit.com BEFORE Scooter Lifts & Ramps Available YOU BUY Quality & Savings You Deserve! 1-800-229-1317 GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICES! Scooter Discounters

• ALL MAKES & MODELS • TERMS ARRANGED

• 30 YRS. EXPERIENCE • ALL MAKE REPAIRS

• CUSTOM INSTRUMENT SPECIALISTS FOR FREE INFORMATION CALL:

1-800-323-1212 * Lifetime Warranty We're the oldest, biggest and best * Nationwide Service

LLOYDS, DEPT. AL BOX 1 645, ROCKFORD, IL 61 1 10 The Famous Piece of Eight $$9?eachad Colonial American's used the trusted silver Spanish Milled Dollar - popularly know as a Piece of Eight. This large dollar size coin is the forerunner of our own silver dollar, and legal tender in the original 13 colo- nies. Coins dated between 1772-1789, and from the U.S. MILITARY MEDALS & RIBBONS estate of a prominent Maryland collector. Only 350 www.vetssupplyline.com coins available - Max 3- coins per order. Coins gradf fine or better. Add $4.00 per coin for postage insur 1-800-864-5062 ance and handling. 30-Day Money Back Guarantee SEND $1.00 FOR 48 PAGE CATALOG Offer Expires November 30, 2001 VETS SUPPLY LINE 10650 CO. RD. 81, #131 MAPLE GROVE, MN 55369 jgjgjj L-2(&§35-J>008 Eastern Numismatics Inc. internet CUSTOM BALL CAPS - NAVY SHIP CAPS

November 2001 1 71 The American Legion Magazini I parting shots

"It's worse than we thought. I'd like to call in all "And for only $50 more, you can go in a handbasket!" the king's horses and all the king's men."

Bumper Snickers Actions, Not words Boldly going nowhere. After all is said and done, a lot more is said than done. If you lived in your car, you'd be home by now. - Anonymous Someday we'll all look back on this and plow into a parked car. Hit the Road I'm not crazy. I've just been in a bad mood for 30 A woman called home and told her husband, years. "Start packing. I just won the $5 million lottery!"

I don't have a license to kill. I have a learner's permit. "That's great," he said. "What should I pack?" Quit honking. I'm reloading. "Whatever you want," she replied. "Just be out of

Allow me to introduce my selves. the house when I get there."

Will build thermonuclear devices for food. - Submitted by Donald E. Eay, Vancouver, Wash.

If you can read this, I can hit my brakes and sue you. Don't Be Catty

Everything I need to know I learned in sniper "Cats aren't clean. They're just covered in cat spit." school. - John S. Nichols ACE TELEMARKETING COM PANY

"Hello, Mom? I know it's been a while. Let me tell "Do you believe in life after Thanksgiving?" you about my new job."

72 I November 2001 The American Legion Magazine | Asbestos Cancer Hits Former Sailors

• Many who served aboard ship in the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's

were exposed to asbestos.

• Due to the long latency period of these diseases, some are now coming down with asbestos-related cancers.

IF YOU NOW HAVE MESOTHELIOMA or A k LUNG CANCER, OR A LOVED ONE HAS RECENTLY DIED FROM ONE "1 V OF THESE CANCERS

For Medical Resources :

Visit the Mesothelioma Web: www.mesotheliomaweb.org/n4658 or call toll-free 1-877-367-6376 to receive a free packet or to ask questions. (Packet includes information on mesothelioma treatment, clinical trials, cancer links, how to access legal and financial resources, and frequently asked questions with answers by the law firm below.)

For Information on Compensation from the Asbestos Industry. Law Offices of Jonathan David, P.C.*

10655 Six Pines Drive, #260 The Woodlands, TX 77380 (Greater Houston Area)

Handling cases nationwide with

local counsel in state of filing.

www.asbestos-attorney.com/n4658

Call Toll-free 1-800-998-9729

'Licensed by the Supreme Court of Texas

Not Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization ^ 1 .

New customer offer: C/1& Rl vA/I\L/U l\v/ V/CO

This plush 8 -wale cotton/polyester Corduroy is just right for crispy, cold days/ And it's 100% NO-IRON machine wash & dry easy care too. 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 *Big Men (just $3 more per pair): Plus you get: 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 • Full elastic waist AND Inseams: S(27-28) M(29-30) L(31-32) XL(33-34) belt loops purchase price plus $3.95 °A • Front zipper AND toward postage. — WHAT WHAT HOW d 1© 7TF-05T WAIST? INSEAM? MANY? snap closure BH Forest Green I Check | Visa • NO IRON wash & wear | Sjc Honeycomb • 2 deep front pockets 8W Atlantic Blue • Inside coin pocket taw Golden Brown |07 Charcoal • 2 button-close ' EB333 rear pockets I Card # Exp.: / 5 FAVORITE COLORS: Mr./Mrs./Ms. Choose Atlantic Blue, Address Apt. |f . #

Forest Green, Honeycomb, 1 City & State Golden Brown or Charcoal. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Full Refund of Purchase Price at Any Time! Just be sure to order now! °—caH|.800-S43-48IOo«| Honeycomb ^