THE AMERICAN— MAGAZINE Serve your back lor is no place for second best. Dewar's "White Label" Blended Scotch Whisky, 86.8 Proof; George Dickel Tennessee Sour Mash Whisky, 86.8 Proof; Plymouth Gin, distilled from 100% grain neutral spirits, 94.4 Proof; O.F.C. Canadian Whisky, A Blend, 86.8 Proof; I.W. Harper Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 86 Proof; Schenley Reserve American Whiskey, A Blend, 86 Proof; Schenley Affiliated Brands Corp., New York, N.Y. © 1976 ) . s; THE AMERICAN JULY 1977 JULY 1977 Volume 103, Number I National Commander William J. lingers EGION CHANGE OF ADDRESS Subscribers, please notify Circulation Dept., MAGAZINE P. O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, IN 46206 using Form 3578 which is available at your local post office. Attach old atJdress label and give old and new addresses with ZIP Code number and current membership card num- ber. Also, notify your Poet Adjutant or other Table of Confents officer charged with such responsibilities. The American Legion Magazine GOD AND THE FOURTH OF JULY 2 Editorial & Production Offices The Deity has always been prominent in American attitudes 160ft "K" Street, N. W. Washington, DC 20006 202-393-481 1 Advertising Dept. 202-347-7647 COMMANDER'S MESSAGE: THE KOREAN WITHDRAWAL. 4 direct line) 212-5H6-3460 Cdr. Rogers urges close watch on Communists (New York Office of Publisher THE INCREDIBLE WILEY POST 6 342 Madison Ave. New York. NY 10017 Feiu aviators have approached Post as a record-breaker 212-6H2-H9H2 HOW REDS REWRITE U.S. HISTORY 11 Advertising Sales Communist textbooks depict Declaration of Independence as racist Bassinette/ White Co. 50 E. 42nd St., New York, NY, 10017 Tel. 212-986-6210 Representing : Massachusetts, Rhode Island, THE . 12 WACs ARE 35 Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. A 1942 recruit recalls first muster at Fort Des Moines Fox Associates 200 E. Ontario St., Chicago. 1L FRIEND Tel. 312-619-1650 OF HANDICAPPED TO GET HONOR 15 Representing : North Dakota. South Dakota, Legion will salute Dr. Hoivard Rusk Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri. Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana. Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia. Tennessee, N. Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma. Arkansas, Missis- THE PARALYSIS THAT MADE US FORGET SWINE FLU . 16 sip pi, Alabama. Georgia, S. Carolina, Florida. A victim of Guillain-Barre disease tells of rare malady Robert Redden Assoc., Inc. P.O. Box 999. Teaneck, NJ, 07666 OFF THE HIGHWAY: SAUGUS, 18 Tel. 201-837-5511 MASSACHUSETTS Representing: New York, New Jersey, Connect- Early ironworks made it our first 'Pittsburgh' icut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia. Jules E. Thompson, Inc. A 16TH CENTURY VETERANS HOSPITAL 20 1111 Hearst Bldg., San Francisco, CA, 94103 Early home ivas founded in time of Elizabeth I Tel. 415-362-8517 Representing : Washington, Oregon, California. Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Col- SHOULD CONGRESSIONAL RACES BE PUBLICLY orado, Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, British Columbia. FINANCED? 22 PRO : SEN. DICK CLARK : CON SEN. HOWARD BAKER Publisher, James F. O'Ncil Editor and Associate Publisher, Raymond J. Mcllugh Production Manager. John A. Stanley Coyer Photo Managing Editor, Frank Kuest Senior Editor, Grail S. Hanford Our cover photograph courtesy of Art Editor, Waller II . Boll Eastman Kodak symbolizes the Advertising Citordinators Thomas and Joanna A dam us role of the Star-Spangled Banner Darlene Circulation Manager and Assistant Publisher, in U.S. Military history. Reminis- Dean B. Nelson, Indianapolis, IN cent of the Iwo Jima flag-raising scene, the men are wearing the The American Legion Magazine Commission: uniforms of the Revolutionary Benjamin B. Truskoski, Bristol, CT, (Chairman): Milford A. Forrester, Greenville, SC (Vice Chairman) War, the Civil War, both World James R. Kel ley. Radnor, I*A (National Commander' Wars the and Vietnamese War. Representative ; Billy Anderson, Miami, FL : Lang Armstrong, Spokane, ; Biehel Belleville, Photograph arranged by Steve WA Norman , Horn.* IL; Adolph Bremer, Winona, MN; B. C. Connelly, Huntington, WV ; Andrew J. Cooper, Gulf Shores, AE; Other photo credits include Jerry Mar- John J . Dunn, Sr., Scranton, PA ; Raymond Fields, tineau. Culver Photos, The Bettmann Oklahoma City, OK: Eugene Kel ley, Savannah. GA; Archive, Wide World, U.S. Army Photo- James V. Kissner, Palatine, IE; Russell H. Laird, Des graph, VPI, Raymond Schuessler, Gary Moines, IA; Loyd McDermott, Benton, AR; Morris Thomson, Stanley Simmons. Meyer. Starkville, MS: J. H. Morris, Baton Rouge, LA; Roger A. Munson. Euclid. OH; Robert F. Mur- phy, Chelmsford, MA ; Robert A . Okeson, Diamond Bar, CA; Floyd J. Rogers. Topeka, KS ; Wayne L. Deparfmenfs Talbert, Delphi, IN; Peter M. Damborg. Augusta ME, and Frank C. Love, Syracuse, NY (Consul t ants ) The American Legion Magazine is owned and published NOTES ON OUR DESK 3 LIFE IN THE OUTDOORS 44 monthly by The American Legion. Copyright 1 977 by DATELINE WASHINGTON 10 The American Legion. Second class postage paid at BOOKS THAT MATTER . 44 Indianapolis, IN, 46204 VETERANS and additional mailing offices. NEWSLETTER 19 PERSONAL 46 Price: single copy. 30 cents; yearly subscription, S3. 00. NEWS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION 26 AMERICAN LEGION SHOPPER 47 Direct inquiries regarding circulation to: Circulation PARTING SHOTS 48 Department. P. O. Box 1954, Indianapolis, IN 46206. Send editorial and advertising material to: The Ameri- can Legion Magazine. 1608 "K" Street, N. W., Wash- Manuscripts, artwork, cartoons submitted for consideration will not be returned unless a self-ad- ington. DC 20006. dressed, stamped envelope is included. This magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. NON-MEMBER SUBSCRIPTIONS Microfilm copies of current and back issues of The American Legion Magazine are Send name and address, including available through: University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. ZIP number, with $3.00 check or money order to Circulation Dept., P.O. Box A r If undeliverable, please send Form 3579 to: Pf~WTlVfirvr^ liTX^CJC 11LX\.Tl?R • 1954, Indianapolis, IN 46206. p. 0 Box 1934 ^ i ndianapol is, Ind. 46206. THE AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE • JULY 1977 1 — God and the Fourth of July Americans often get a little ner- vous when public officials or candidates talk about God. Many consider a man's religion his own personal affair. Some skepticism about the reli- gious commitment of politicians is obviously justified and healthy, based on past experience. Some of our most pious-sounding people, in public and private life, have turned out to be hypocrites and crooks. Yet none dared challenge the professed links between God and the United States. The Founding Fathers said so in the Declaration of Independence. Our Presidents, beginning with George Washington, have publicly asked God's help in carrying out their solemn oath of office. In times of peril to the Republic from Valley Forge to Gettysburg, from Pearl Harbor to the Cuban mis- sile crisis—our leaders have asked God's guidance and blessing on our armed forces. And each time our de- fenders have prevailed. "No people can be bound to ac- knowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of "free and independent states" on being debated around the country. men more than those of the United July 4, 1776. "A religious sect may degenerate States," said Washington in his first A good deal is often made of the into a political faction in a part of inaugural address. "Every step by fact that the word "God" does not the confederacy; but the variety of which they have advanced to the appear in the U.S. Constitution sects dispersed over the entire face character of an independent nation signed on Sept. 17, 1787. And the of it must secure the national coun- seems to have been distinguished by First Amendment provides, among cils against any danger from that some token of providential agency." other things, that Congress "shall source," Madison wrote. The Deity is referred to four times make no law respecting an establish- The First Amendment made it cer- in the Declaration of Independence ment of religion, or prohibiting the tain that a "variety of sects" could as "Nature's God," the "Creator," free exercise thereof." flourish by prohibiting Congress the "Supreme Judge of the World" This does not mean that the from passing any law, for or against, and "Divine Providence." leaders of the American Revolution any sect. It established freedom of The signers said that God created had changed their political princi- religion in the new country, not the all men equal, and endowed them ples, or lost their faith in God, in the absence of religion. with certain unalienable rights in- intervening years. Thomas Jefferson, in his first inau- cluding "life, liberty and the pur- In the Constitution, they were try- gural address, March 4, 1801, cited suit of happiness." Whenever any ing to set up a practical form of as one of America's blessings the fact form of government becomes de- government which would secure the that its people were "enlightened by structive of those ends, the people God-given blessings of liberty to a benign religion, professed, indeed, have the right to alter or abolish it, themselves and their posterity in a and practiced in various forms, yet they declared. very imperfect world. One of the all of them inculcating honesty, They cited a long list of tyrannical main problems was how to keep vari- truth, temperance, gratitude, and acts by King George III, and then, ous "factions" from violating the the love of man; acknowledging and "appealing to the Supreme Judge of rights of others, as James Madison adoring an overruling Providence." the World in the Rectitude of our explained in the Federalist essay Some Americans profess no reli- Intentions," proclaimed the colonies No. X, while the Constitution was (Continued on page 45) 2 THE AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE • JULY 1977 A .