Newsletter

American Legion Post 56 Monthly Bulletin

June 2007

Commander's Message

Welcome June 2007.  As I am writing this Memorial Day events have not taken place but I am sure they will have been great and something to remember for a long time.  Thanks to all that served and thanks for supporting Post 56.

June is full of more events and important dates.  June 6 - D-Day 1944, June 9 - WWII memorial dedication at St. Paul, June 14 - Flag Day (attend the Flag burning ceremony at the Elks), June 17 - Father's Day - Legion Baseball breakfast at the Post, June 22 - Pledge of Allegiance approved 1942 and GI bill signed 1944, and June 25 - Korean War began.  The Post's membership is at 1032 or 96.6% of goal.  Please help us get to 1068.  American Legion Baseball - alive and well but need your  financial help.  They held a breakfast in May and raised $262 and individual donations have reached $550 and a great donation by SAL of $1,000 have us on the way to the $3,500 needed.  Please help by coming to breakfast on Father's Day June 17th from 8 -12:30 and help support baseball.  Take Dad to breakfast then to the band festival.

Thank you to everyone that helped with putting up and taking down the Avenue of the Flags at Graceland.  They help make a great day of remembrance.  Speaking of remembering, let's share the WWII memorial in St. Paul dedication.  All Legion Posts are arranging buses to travel to St. Paul on Sat. June 9th.  Please call the Post if you wish to travel on a bus (coach  type) for $10 each which includes free breakfast for those attending starting at 8:30 am.  Bus will leave at 10 am from parking lot across from Legion and come back after the closing ceremony about 4:30 pm.  We need to know the number by Monday June 4th so please sign up today.

New Officers of Post 56 will be installed on Friday June 15th in the banquet room of Post 56.  Social 5:30 - 6:45, meal and then program.

The letter enclosed addressed to the American Legion family with regards to debt elimination is of great importance to Post 56.  This year Post 56 has been able to have some extra money to pay bills normally not paid by the Post through dues increases and Community Days fundraiser but they will not be available next year so the executive board feels if the debt could be eliminated there would be money to operate for several years.  Please give this some thought and help Post 56 eliminate the debt in the next twelve (12) months.  Thank you for your support.

Finally, as my term is nearing an end I would like to thank all that have helped me have a great year as your Commander.  I know your new Commander and officers will continue to do a good job but they also need your help and support.  Thank you again.

For God and Country
Arnie Mulso, Commander Post 56

Club Update

June is here and with it comes picnics, fun and sun.  I'm so glad summer is finally here and the cold weather is done.  I'd like to say thank you to all, for my first full year here at the club.  Everyone has been very supportive and helpful.

June is full of fun stuff, so on to the business at hand.  June 11th - the board meeting at 7 pm.  June 15th - will be the installation of new officers - social hour 5:30 - 6:30 pm, followed by dinner at 6:45 pm.  June 16th - Kiwanis Fish Fry - 4:40 to 7:30.  June 18th - Post meeting at 7 pm.  We will be discontinuing the pre-meeting supper for the summer.  June 22nd - the Historical Museum Fish Fry serving from 4:30 to 7 pm.  June 23rd - we'd like to invite you to a membership appreciation Hot Turkey Gravy sandwich feed - $5.00 per plate.  June 24th - join us again for the post breakfast serving from 8 am to 12:30 pm.  Don't forget Fridays with Laurie's Karaoke Korner June 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th.  It's always an enjoyable evening.

Again thank you for your continued support.  Have a great June.  Hope to see you all soon.

Heidi Watson
Food and Beverage Manager

F.Y.I.

Here's a letter from Don R. Jacobson who now lives in Hayward, Wis.

"As a 41-year member of the Leo Carey Post, I am sending you a news release I received from the Minneapolis VA Medical Center recently.  I thought you would approve of publicizing favorable information concerning veterans from your Post.  (Incidentally, a few years ago I gave the Post a World War field snare drum, with the name Tom Carey on it).  I moved to Hayward, Wis., a few years ago but hold membership there."

The news release says:  Don R. Jacobson, 41-year member of the Albert Lea American Legion post and 87 year old World War II veteran received notification recently from the Minneapolis VA Medical Center that he had won two  blue ribbons for his piano renditions at the recent Minneapolis VA Veterans Arts competition.  He will compete for national honors in May and a possible invitation to the National Veterans Arts Festival in St. Louis in the fall.  The competition involved thousands of veterans from 104 VA medical facilities throughout the U.S.

We encourage Don to keep us updated on this part of his life.

Ed Shannon

Editor

Auxiliary News

By the time you read this June will be "busting out all over" and we'll look forward to a glorious summer.

Our May meeting included a beautiful memorial service in honor of deceased members of the past year.  Sadly, the list was quite long.  We thank the ladies who performed the very moving ceremony.

May 18-19-20 was District One Convention, held in beautiful Lake City.  It was my first trip there and I enjoyed the layout and the beauty of the town, as well as the warm welcome extended to Legion and Auxiliary members.  Our meetings were held in their very old and historic City Hall, which has been renovated to its early elegance.  At our noon meal, in the high school cafeteria, the Veterans Affairs Director introduced a new VA director, a very charming and articulate young woman.  She urged all veterans to apply for their benefits.  She admitted it can be a fairly lengthy process but they should seek their local VA director and pursue whatever is coming to them.  It was a beautiful day in Lake City and we sat under a shade tree in the park to watch the parade of various units.  People young and old, stood and honored the flags as they went by.

We should feel very proud of our beautiful Veterans Memorial that was dedicated Monday, May 28, Memorial Day, following a parade.  There are still bricks available if you have a relative that should be recognized on this memorial in front of the Government Center.  A veterans memorial will be dedicated at our State Capitol in Saint Paul June 9.  They have events planned for all day and all veterans and families are invited to come.

The 2007 Minnesota American Legion and Auxiliary Convention will be held in Bloomington on July 19-21 at the Bloomington Sheraton Hotel.  All members are invited and registration forms can be found in your May Legionnaire.

Please plan to attend our installation of new officers in June with banquet and ceremonies to follow.

Our next Auxiliary meeting will be Wed. June 6, starting with a potluck supper at 6, to which the men are invited.  Our business meeting will follow.  The Board will meet Monday, June 4 at 5:15.

For God and Country

Joyce Rhody, President

WARREN CHRISTENSON
Born June 4,1922.  Died April 26, 2007.  He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and was a member of the American Legion.

ALICE CURRY
Born June 22, 1921.  Died April 22, 2007.  She served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War II and the Korean War and was a member of the American Legion, Women of the Military and the Elks.

EDWARD FOSSE
Born April 16, 1921.  Died May 15, 2007.  He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was a member of the American Legion and the VFW.

JOHN  TENNEY
Born Feb. 16, 1930.  Died May 16, 2007.  He served in the Army National Guard and U.S. Air Force from 1947 to 1954 and was a member of the American Legion, Elks and Eagles.

Dollar-A-Month (D.A.M.)

Thank you for your contributions to the Dollar-A-Month fund.  All contributions support the Post 56 club facilities, maintenance & continued growth of our organization.

Judi Olson,

D.A.M. Account Manager

To make a donation, click on the link to our D.A.M. Fund Account Page.

The deadline for the July issue will be the Wednesday following the post meeting.  This will be the deadline in the future!

Veterans Memorial Update

As of May 23 a total of 2,184 of the paver bricks and 42 sponsorships have been sold to honor those who served in the nation's armed forces.  There's still room for more paver bricks and more sponsorship!  

Post 447 VFW and Auxiliary meetings are held on the 2^nd Monday of every month at the American Legion Post 56 Clubrooms @ 7:00pm. Come and join VFW Post 447. 

Veterans helping Veterans.

Book Your Upcoming Special Event

with Heidi  373-7993