Veterans News Bureau

INDIANAPOLIS, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Calling a proposal to award U.S. troops medals for holding fire in a war zone “misguided,” the head of the nation’s largest veterans organization voiced concern that overly restrictive rules of engagement would ultimately cost lives.

“Nobody likes to see innocent civilians killed in a war zone but the blame for these tragedies lies with the terrorists who caused the war in the first place,” American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill said. “The proposal to award medals for holding fire is troubling because it is symptomatic of a growing culture in the military that will punish troops for making split-second decisions while they are expected to defend themselves and their comrades. This proposal is an insult to our men and women in combat who already do an extraordinary job of exercising restraint. Too much restraint will get our own people killed.”

Hill also worried that rewarding those who don’t use force sends the wrong message to those that do. “Vietnam veterans were outrageously slandered as ‘babykillers,’” he said. “This was tragic because the overwhelming majority of those who served there tried to prevent innocent casualties. Now, by awarding those who supposedly practice restraint, we would be implying that our heroes who have to fire their weapons are somehow failing in their mission or coming up short. It’s a bad idea and the Pentagon should kill it.”

With a current membership of 2.5 million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

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The countdown to see if Shelby, N.C., or Bartlesville, Okla., will permanently host The American Legion Baseball World Series is finally over. The National Executive Committee announced today during the Legion’s Spring Meetings that Shelby won the bid.

“We are extremely excited and looking forward to being a partner with The American Legion statewide and locally,” said Eddie Holbrook, co-chairman of Shelby’s Baseball World Series Committee. “We look forward to putting on the best World Series the Legion’s ever had, becoming a complementary partner with them and making the Legion proud that they selected us.”

More than 100 people involved with Shelby’s baseball committee traveled to Indianapolis by bus on May 1 to support their winning presentation, given to the Baseball Subcommittee, and show enthusiasm for the opportunity extended to them. The committee’s presentation illustrated the immense community support, the large volunteer force of 300 people and the extensive plans for future growth.

“The baseball committee from Shelby had a real vision for the future, and I think that’s one of the things that separated them from Oklahoma,” American Legion Baseball Chairman Larry Price said. “They are not only looking at three to four years down the road, they are looking at forever.”

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Duane Jackson has worked as a vendor, selling pocket books, wallets, watches, scarves and golf clubs, for 13 years at the same spot in Times Square in New York City. He knows when someone has parked a car in a spot where it doesn’t belong. So when Jackson saw that situation arise on Saturday, he went to investigate.

Little did Jackson know that his actions might have saved several lives. The SUV Jackson checked on wound up containing three barbecue-sized propane tanks, two five-gallon cans filled with gasoline, M-88 firecrackers, two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components. The area was evacuated before disaster occurred and the bomb squad was called – what could have been a terrorist attack was averted.

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Once again, the level of competition ranked high for the 2010 American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program – “A Constitutional Speech Contest.” The program got underway in Indianapolis this past Saturday with 53 contestants representing each state and ended Sunday with its 73rd champion – Tori Beth Black, a home-schooled high school junior from Iva, S.C.

By finishing in first-place, Black won an $18,000 college scholarship for her award-winning oration titled, “A Rising Sun.” The other two finalists who competed alongside Black were Elizabeth Blessing, a home-schooled student from Auburn, Ala.; and Brooke Conner, from Bridport, Vt. Blessing finished second, earning a $16,000 college scholarship for her oration “Pass It On,” while Conner placed third, earning a $14,000 scholarship for her oration “Putting Together the Constitutional Puzzle.”

All 53 Oratorical competitors took part in the quarterfinals Saturday at the IUPUI University Place Conference Center in Indianapolis, where they were separated in groups of up to six students. Each group was assigned to a room within the conference center to present their rehearsed eight- to 10-minute oration on an aspect of the U.S. Constitution in front of five judges and many family members. Preceding the orations, the competitors gave a three- to five-minute speech on an assigned topic discourse, which is a phase of the Constitution selected from Articles and Sections. The assigned topic was drawn by the contest official and was made known to the audience and each contestant five minutes prior to the time of delivery. Once all 53 contestants delivered the two speeches, the judges’ votes were tallied and nine students advanced to the semifinal rounds, where they once again presented their oration and an assigned topic discourse.

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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A former Madison County bookkeeper has admitted that she stole while on the job and as a volunteer for a local veterans’ group.

Forty-six-year-old Zita Lee pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony theft and official misconduct charges. A sentencing date hasn’t been set.

Lee admitted stealing more than $10,000 from the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, where she was a veteran who volunteered by handling the books. She also admitted taking more than $31,000 in permit fees while she worked for the county’s planning and development office.

She left that job a year ago, before the thefts were discovered.

Lee has filed for bankruptcy protection four times since 1989.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is launching a comprehensive study of women veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service upon their mental and physical health. The study, which begins in November and lasts more than four years, will contact approximately 10,000 women, and information will gathered by a mail survey, a telephone interview and a review of medical records for a selected sample of women.

As women Vietnam veterans approach their mid-60s, it is important to understand the impact of wartime deployment on health and mental outcomes nearly 40 years later. The study will assess the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental and physical health conditions for women Vietnam veterans, and explore the relationship between PTSD and other conditions.

VA will study female Vietnam veterans who may have had direct exposure to traumatic events, and, for the first time, study those who served in facilities near Vietnam and in the United States. These women may have had similar, but less direct, exposures. Both women veterans who receive their health care from VA and those who receive health care from other providers will be contacted to determine the prevalence of a variety of health conditions.

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A Tennessee American Legion Post and Vietnam Veterans of America group are try to recoup their losses after being targeted by a scam artist.

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Among the world’s Twitter-philes — Ashton Kutcher, Lady Gaga — you might not expect to find a retired Navy captain.
Aren’t retirees supposed to be confounded by today’s gadgets?

Not Clarence Hill, the national commander of the American Legion. He’s on Facebook. He tweets on his Blackberry. About his meeting with President Obama – “the Commander-in-Chief sends greetings and thanks,’’ he tells followers. About the ham dinner he ate at a Legion post in Maryland. The flounder in Delaware. The cheeseburger in Alaska.

He doesn’t have as many followers as Kutcher (4.6 million, says Twitterholic.com), and he’s not as prolific a tweeter as Jon Gosselin (190th in the world, the site says).

Still, he tweets daily — what Legion post he visited, what they served him for dinner, what gift they gave him — because
he’s convinced it’s a good way to lure young veterans into the Legion.

The strategy is paying off. The Legion has recruited about 68,000 young veterans recently, and Hill credits the influx to the organization’s presence on the Web. He arrived Tuesday, March 16 at Middletown’s Post 594, greeted by members and fresh U.S. flags staked around the flag pole, with a message to other vets, the post and the state headquarters: Embrace the Internet.

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The people voted and the troops won. PepsiCo has officially announced that The American Legion’s Operation Comfort Warriors will be awarded a $250,000 grant from the soft drink giant after finishing first in voting during February’s Refresh Everything Project.

Internet voters were able to choose which of 729 competing charities would receive grants of $5,000, $25,000, $50,000 or $250,000. The top three finishers in the $250,000 category are receiving the grants.

“There are so many people to thank, I don’t know where to begin,” American Legion National Commander Clarence Hill said. “First, I want to thank Pepsi and its charitable Global Giving Foundation. Then I want to thank The American Legion members, American Legion Auxiliary, Sons of the American Legion members and Legion Riders who supported us by spreading the word and voting. In fact, I want to thank everybody who voted for Operation Comfort Warriors. This was truly a national grassroots effort. Most of all, I want to thank our troops, who go into harm’s way for us every day. It is their sacrifice that makes it possible for us to enjoy the freedoms we all share.”

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INDIANAPOLIS, March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — “A great victory for common sense,” was how The American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill characterized yesterday’s ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is constitutional.

In a separate ruling yesterday, the Court also upheld the use of the national motto “In God We Trust” on coins and currency.

“The American Legion was very critical, in fact outraged, when the same Court ruled in 2002 that the Pledge was unconstitutional because of a phrase that has existed in the Pledge since 1954,” Hill said. “But it is time to give credit where it is due. The Ninth Circuit corrected its earlier mistake and now there is absolutely no reason why schools across the nation should not lead their students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance everyday.”

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