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Show for God and Country ... rsS$$$il " Legion Corner f9Bf News and Noies XJtS3 FOR AND ABOUT LEGIONNAIRES -jUJSm" ' t, " Milford Beaver uota Members Quota Members i - 50 71 77 65 AMERICAN LEGION HAS "GOOD" NAME BY LLOYD WIGNALL National Field Representative, The American Legion Upon occasion the statement is made that it is necessary ' that we build up the good name of the American Legion. Statements State-ments like that distress me because the American Legion does have a good name throughout America. Happenings at the October Meeting of the Commanders r.nd Adjutants and the National Executive Committee at Indianapolis, In-dianapolis, did more than confirm this statement. A beautiful young lady made her first public appearance with Commander "Dan" Daniel 'before the Commanders and Adjutants during ' their sessions. The fact that this young lady was only 6 years of age and. crippled, did not detract from her beauty nor did it detract from the effectiveness of her mission in Indianapolis. Indiana-polis. You will see her picture in the near future on all of The March of Dimes Cans. She was in Indianapolis to present pre-sent a plaque to The American Legion as the Organization which raised or collected more money than any other organization or-ganization or group of people towards The March of Dimes Campaign. 52 of the total collections could be credited to The American Legion. ' During the same sessions in a closed door address from which the press had been barred, Mr. Delocsch, Assistant to J- Edgar Hoover, F.B.I, director, appeared ap-peared before the Legionnaires. He started his talk by making the statement that it would be pefectly proper for him to praise the American Legion lor their youth activities and for the tremendous contribution that they had made towards lessening lessen-ing juvenile delinquency.- However, How-ever, he said that he did not want to make that particular type of talk. He much preferred to acknowledge that without The American Legion, it would have been literally impossible for the Smith Act to have become be-come law and the F.B.I, would still be'left without an effective tool for the prosecution of Communists Com-munists in this country. He mentioned the great need of the F.B.I- for the American Legion to act in a "Watch-Dog" capac- ity and to assist in the calling attention at-tention to Communistic activi ties wherever they might occur. While the number of card carrying carry-ing Communists has been reduced re-duced to only 21,000 the FBI is aware that in the Communist Under-Ground, there is a replacement re-placement 'for every Official and that if one of these Officials is arrested, the UnderGround Member is ready to step up to carry on the Organization. He also called attention to the fact that for every card-carrying Communist, there are 10 who would serve the Communist needs. 200,000 is more than the number of Communists who served throughout Russia at the time Communists took over. Paul Harvey, Dean of The News analysts of the Mutual Broadcasting Company was the personal speaker at Commander Command-er Daniel's annual dinner. Mr. Harvey began his talk just as he starts his broadcast "Hello America." Then he paused for perhaps 30 seconds and stated, "Never in my life have I meant those words more and if I were one of you sitting in the audi ence as Leaders of your Great Organization, I would be the proudest person in this country." "I know as sure as I am with you tonight that without your Organization, America as we know it today wouldn't be in existence..' And so I say that if the American Amer-ican Legion does not have the proper respect in your community, com-munity, the fault lies there solely. I know that I am proud . to belong to an organization that was formed to serve the basic needs not only of the Veteran Vet-eran but of America, an Organization Organi-zation which after World War I served the Veterans of America Amer-ica by the establishment otf the tremendous rehabilitation program now the law of the land. And when in the early 30s the youth of America began to lose faith in our free enterprise enter-prise system, our Organization stepped in with their tremendous youth programs, such as Junior Baseball, Scouting and the Oratorical Ora-torical Contests, to rebuild the j faith of our youth in the system that has made America great. During World War II, a great need was again filled, when we accomplished putting the GI Bill in the lavs of our land, and after World War II, when com- placency and apathy were making mak-ing inroads on the people in the world and their home life, the challenge was met with our "Back to God" program. Today all of these programs are being carried on as a safeguard to the Veteran and America and her security. Today all over America, American Amer-ican Legion Posts are looking to their home communities to spot needs that must be taken care of. Because whether we like it or not, the World still revolves and every evolution creates new needs. We must keep our bank account balanced and there is no other way to look at freedom. We must deposit de-posit to freedom's account if we would draw on its benefits. , There is only one kind of free- -: dom that is earned freedom. That is the kind of freedom that each generation in America has been called upon to fight and die for. This fight, this earning, this deposit if you will, must continue in times of peace as in times of war. Any other freedom free-dom freedom from responsibilities, responsi-bilities, freedom from making j decisions, cradle to grave security secur-ity carries only one price tag Slavery. The privilege of The American Legion as one of the great depositors to freedom's free-dom's account has not lessened with the years. As long as these ideals are before our Organiza- tion, it is easy to say "I AM PROUD TO BELONG TO THE AMERICAN LEGION." In asking fellow Veterans to join the American Legion, remember re-member that their membership means succor to a disabled veteran, vet-eran, nourishment for little children, strength to America and Glory to God. |