American Legion Post #620 Commander Owen Mangan speaks to News 12 about the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic to the livelihood of the Post. Read more via the link below.
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Pandemic may force Bronx American Legion post to close after more then 60 years
Friday, May 29, 2020
American Legion - Veterans Assistance
From Bronx Community Board #10
Rent Resources for Veterans: Supportive Services for Veteran Families is offering rent assistance to veterans who are in need of relief. For more information for Bronx residents, email ssvfny@helpusa.org or call 646-619-3299.
Friday, May 22, 2020
American Legion - Memorial Day Event Post #1871
Good morning,
As we all know that this year's Memorial Day Ceremony is not
possible based on the social distancing order from the state, we have
decided to just conduct the LAYING OF WREATH in the stead of the
ceremony in honor of our fallen heroes, which invariably will include
all our front liners and essential workers who had passed on in this
period of the coronavirus pandemic. It's just like a 15minute event.
However, immediately after the laying of wreath, we will like to embark
on mobile parade in Co-op City. So, if anyone wants to be part of this
mobile parade, kindly let me know before COB tomorrow.
Thanks
Post Commander, American Legion of Coop City
Vice Commander, Bronx County American Legion
Chairman, Bronx County Oratorical Contest
Chief, Bronx12 CERT Team
President, NYS American College Alumni Asso.
Vice President, NYSAL Press Association
American Legion - Post #1456 Fundraiser Announcement
American Legion Post #1456 located at 1456 Shore Drive, Bronx NY will be holding a Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday 5/25. The ceremony will begin at 11:45 sharp with cake and coffee being served just prior.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
MCL - Arlington National Cemetery Visitation for Memorial Day Holiday Weekend
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Monday, May 18, 2020
American Legion - American Legion Daily News Clips 5.15.20
Good morning folks, you made it another week. Today is Friday, May 15, 2020 and here are the clips for today.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Stripes: Medal of Honor recipient Ronald Shurer dies after lengthy struggle with lung cancer
- Military.com: Proposal Would Create Tent Cities for Homeless Veterans in VA Parking Lots
- Military Times: VA cemeteries will open to the public on Memorial Day, but wreath-laying ceremonies will be closed
- Portland Press Herald: Lawsuits alleging poor medical care at VA's Togus facility in Maine end in settlements
- Military.com: Veteran Duped by Phony Marine Awarded $1.7 Million in Stolen Valor Case
- Military.com: As Major Veteran Groups Cancel National Conventions, DAV Holds Out
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the subject line. If you have received this from someone who forwarded it and would like to be added, email me at
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By
WYATT OLSON | STARS AND STRIPES Published: May 14, 2020
Ronald
Shurer, the Green Beret medic awarded the Medal of Honor for aiding the
wounded during a six-hour firefight in Afghanistan in 2008, died of
lung cancer Thursday. He was
41.
His death was announced by the U.S. Secret Service, for whom Shurer had worked since retiring from the Army in 2009.
“Today,
we lost an American Hero: Husband, Father, Son, Medal of Honor
Recipient — Special Agent Ronald J. Shurer II,” the Secret Service said
in a tweet. “From a grateful Nation
and Agency — your memory and legacy will live on forever.”
Shurer was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2017 and had chronicled his treatment and hospitalization on Instagram.
From
his room at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., Shurer posted
a message Wednesday with a photo of him with an oxygen tube in his
mouth. Beside him was his wife,
Miranda, smiling hopefully.
“Very
upset to write this ... been unconscious for a week,” the message said.
"They are going to try and take it out in a couple hours, they can't
tell me if it will work.”
Shurer
was awarded the Medal of Honor on Oct. 1, 2018, an upgrade from the
Silver Star originally presented for his actions in the fight that would
become known as the Battle
of Shok Valley in Nuristan province.
Shurer
said during the award ceremony that he had not even been aware that the
Silver Star was under consideration for an upgrade at the time he
learned he would receive the
Medal of Honor, the highest honor the military bestows for valor.
On
April 6, 2008, a 12-man Green Beret force from Operational
Detachment-Alpha 3336 were on a mission to kill or capture a leader of
the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin insurgent group.
The
Green Berets and about 100 Afghan commandos were dropped from hovering
helicopters because the icy mountainside was too steep to land on. The
assault force was immediately
faced with scaling a 100-foot cliff to reach the enemy compound.
But within minutes, heavy machine fire and rockets rained down from enemy positions above.
Shurer,
then a senior medical sergeant, was the only medic on the operation,
and his frantic work to save lives began immediately with wounded Afghan
commandos.
Capt. Kyle Walton, the operation’s ground commander, radioed Shurer to advance up the slope as casualties mounted.
Shurer scaled the mountainside under fire.
“When
he showed up, nearly everybody was wounded,” Walton told Stars and
Stripes in 2018. “We were under direct fire. We were pinned down with
nearly nowhere to go except down
that 100-foot cliff.”
While treating the wounded, Shurer was hit twice — once in the arm and once by a stunning round to his helmet.
One of the Green Beret soldiers who was critically wounded in the hip credited Shurer for his survival.
“Without
Ron Shurer at my side, I would have died that day. No question,” Dillon
Behr told Stars and Stripes in 2018. “His presence gave me the
confidence to know I could make
it. There’s a good chance if he would have been critically injured or
killed on the battlefield … we all might have died out there.”
As coalition air strikes began pummeling the enemy positions, Shurer moved the wounded to be evacuated.
“While
moving down the mountain, Staff Sergeant Shurer used his own body to
shield the wounded from enemy fire and debris caused by danger-close air
strikes,” the Medal of Honor
citation said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Corey Dickstein contributed to this report.
olson.wyatt@stripes.com
Twitter: @WyattWOlson
Twitter: @WyattWOlson
Military.com: Proposal Would Create Tent Cities for Homeless Veterans in VA Parking Lots
13 May 2020
Military.com | By
Richard Sisk
Tent cities for
homeless veterans would go up in
Department of Veterans Affairs hospital parking lots under a proposal included in a massive COVID-19 aid bill offered up this week by House Democrats.
The proposal
by Rep. Mike Levin, D-California, would authorize the VA "to set up
temporary encampments on the grounds of [VA Medical Centers] to allow
homeless veterans to stay temporarily in VA parking
lots," according to a release Tuesday from the House Veterans Affairs
Committee.
Although the
tent city plan may seem far-fetched, it has precedent. Last month, the
VA's Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System set up temporary pup tents
for homeless veterans at the West Los Angeles
VAMC at the urging of veterans advocates and local city and county
officials.
The proposal
by Levin, head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee subcommittee on
economic opportunity, was included in legislation offered up by Rep.
Mark Takano, the committee chairman, to aid veterans
during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Takano's
proposals were part of a massive $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill
shaped by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, that is expected to
be voted on as early as Friday.
Pelosi, who
has a track record of never sending a bill to the floor for which she
doesn't have the votes, said Tuesday, "We must think big for the people
now, because if we don't it will cost more in
lives and livelihood later."
She told
reporters in the Capitol, "We're presenting a plan to do what is
necessary to deal with a chronic crisis and make sure we can get the
country back to work and school safely."
The Health
and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES, Act,
includes nearly $1 trillion in assistance to state and local
governments, hazardous pay for VA and other health care workers,
forgiveness of student debt and funding to shore up Medicaid and
Medicare.
The more
than 1,800-page bill also included a second round of $1,200 direct cash
aid to individuals, increased to up to $6,000 per household, and would
create a $175 billion housing assistance fund to
help pay rents and mortgages.
However,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said there is no
urgency in the Senate to move on the House bill. At a livestream event
Tuesday, he said it is time to "hit pause" on new
coronavirus relief proposals.
Takano's
package of proposals would approve VA health care for all veterans who
lost their health insurance due to the pandemic and give prior VA
authorization for any emergency care sought by veterans
at non-VA hospitals.
In addition, veterans would not have any copays or cost-sharing for preventative treatment or services related to COVID-19.
"The HEROES
Act is critical," Takano said in a statement. "By supporting homeless
veterans, suspending debt collection, expanding health coverage, and
caring for our most vulnerable, we can help ensure
that those who have served our country have an opportunity to succeed."
The pup tents at the West Los Angeles VA were the latest attempt by the facility to ease the plight of
homeless veterans in California.
Last May,
the nonprofit Safe Parking L.A. partnered with the VA to offer homeless
veterans living out of their vehicles parking stalls on the West Los
Angeles VA's campus for overnight stays and a place
to wash up.
In an
address last May to the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans, VA
Secretary Robert Wilkie recalled a visit to the West Los Angeles VA and
"the saddest sight I have seen."
"I watched
at dusk cars come into that wonderful, wonderful facility, and veterans
did not get out of the cars," he said. "I was told that they all had
jobs. They were contributing to the tax base and
the prosperity of America's second largest city, but because of
government policy there was no place for them to afford a decent
living."
At a virtual
House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on homeless veterans last
month, Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tennessee, the ranking member of the committee,
framed the problem for homeless veterans during
the stay-at-home restrictions of the pandemic with a question: "How do
you stay at home if you don't have a home?"
In her
testimony at the April 28 hearing, Kathryn Monet, executive director of
the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans, praised the outreach by the
VA and the work to get homeless veterans into rentals
through vouchers from the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans
Affairs Supportive Housing Program, but said the problem has only
worsened during the pandemic.
She called
on Congress to provide more assistance to advocacy groups and community
providers to get more homeless veterans off the streets and into
shelters.
The pandemic "has truly created financial strain for these organizations on the front lines of this fight," Monet said.
"Given the
infection rates at congregate housing across the country, any further
delay is putting homeless service providers in the impossible position
of making life-or-death decisions based on insufficient
resources," she added.
At the
hearing, Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pennsylvania, pointed to the work of the
nonprofit Veterans Leadership Program in the Pittsburgh area in getting
homeless veterans into shelters and rentals.
In a phone
interview, Christine Pietryga, VLP's chief operating officer, said the
organization is working with $1 million in assistance from the VA to get
homeless veterans, and those who have been "couch
surfing" after losing jobs, into shelters and vacant hotel rooms.
One problem
is that some of the veterans worry about the possibility of contracting
COVID-19 from the lack of social distancing at shelters, she said.
"The VA has
done a really good job" at addressing the homeless veterans issue
through HUD-VASH and other programs, said Joy Ilem, deputy national
legislative director at Disabled American Veterans. But
"we're likely to see more veterans become homeless in the months ahead"
as unemployment spikes in the epidemic, she added.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Ilem, a former
Army medic, said the DAV is also concerned with veterans' mental health issues in the coronavirus era.
Last week,
the VA announced an expansion of services through the $17.2 billion in
funding to the Veterans Health Administration under the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
About $300
million from the $17.2 billion will go "to address the challenges faced
by homeless and at-risk veterans," the VA said in a release.
The total
includes $202 million for the Supportive Services for Veteran Families
Program aimed at low-income veteran families "to mitigate the expected
wave of evictions and potential homelessness that
will result from extensive unemployment," the VA said.
Since 2010,
the effort, begun under then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to end veteran
homelessness, has resulted in about a 50% reduction in the number of
homeless veterans, currently estimated at about
40,000, according to the VA and HUD.
As a result,
77 communities and three states nationwide have declared an effective
end to veteran homelessness, HunterKurtz, assistant secretary for public
and Indian housing at HUD, said at an Aug.
22 field hearing in San Diego of the House Veterans Affairs Committee's
subcommittee on economic opportunity.
Military Times:
VA cemeteries will open to the public on Memorial Day, but wreath-laying ceremonies will be closed
1 day ago
Veterans
Affairs officials will continue the tradition of holding wreath-laying ceremonies at
department cemeteries on Memorial Day later this month but will not open those events to the public because of the
ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
However,
visitors will be allowed to visit the cemeteries over the holiday
weekend to place flowers or flags at the grave sites of loved ones,
provided
they avoid any large gatherings or close contact with other families.
The
department is also scrapping plans to hold large-scale commemorative
events to mark the holiday, set aside each year to honor individuals who
died
while serving in the armed forces.
In
a statement, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said the ongoing coronavirus
restrictions will force this year’s observation to be “different” but
pledged
the spirit of the holiday will remain unchanged.
“While
the department can’t hold large public ceremonies, VA will still honor
veterans and service members with the solemn dignity and respect they
have earned through their service and sacrifice,” he said.
Under
guidance released by the department on Wednesday morning, each VA
cemetery will conduct a brief wreath-laying ceremony, including a moment
of
silence and the playing of “Taps.”
Those
events will not be open to the public, in keeping with federal
recommendations limiting large gatherings in an attempt to stunt the
spread of
the coronavirus. More than 80,000 Americans have died from illnesses
connected to the virus in the last two months, including nearly 1,000
patients in VA care.
All
department-run cemeteries will be open from dawn to dusk on Memorial
Day (Monday, May 25), but VA officials are asking for visitors to
“adhere
to health and safety guidelines and maintain physical distancing while
visiting.”
They also recommend traveling to the cemeteries on Friday, Saturday or Sunday of the holiday weekend to avoid larger crowds.
The
department is also opening its Veterans Legacy Memorial online site
starting May 14 to allow families to leave tribute comments on a
veteran’s
memorial page. The site includes a section for every veteran or service
member interred at a VA cemetery.
In
keeping with past tradition, Wilkie will preside over the wreath laying
at Quantico National Cemetery in Virginia on Memorial Day. Acting
Deputy
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Pamela Powers will do the same at
Culpeper National Cemetery in Virginia.
Under
Secretary for Memorial Affairs Randy Reeves will lay a wreath at
Riverside National Cemetery in California on May 22, and another at
Calverton
National Cemetery in New York on Memorial Day. All of the events will
be live streamed.
White
House officials have not announced any schedule for President Donald
Trump or Vice President Mike Pence for the Memorial Day weekend. The
commander
in chief typically visits Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on
the holiday.
Arlington
National Cemetery, operated by the Army, will be releasing guidance on
Memorial Day later this week. Access is currently limited to family
pass holders in groups of 10 or less.
Earlier
this month, officials from AMVETS cancelled plans to host a new
“Rolling Thunder” event over the Memorial Day weekend. In the past, the
event
drew thousands of motorcyclists to the Washington, D.C., area to honor
troops still missing in action, but the tradition was ended last year
because of cost concerns.
Instead,
AMVETS leaders have asked veterans supporters to ride their motorcycle
for 22 miles in their local communities on May 24, in an effort to
call attention to veterans suicides. And estimated 20 veterans and
service members die by suicide each day, according to VA statistics
Portland Press Herald:
Lawsuits
alleging poor medical care at VA's Togus facility in Maine end in settlements
By MEGAN GRAY | Portland Press Herald, Maine | Published: May 14, 2020
PORTLAND, Maine
(Tribune News Service) — The federal government has agreed to pay more
than $1 million total to five veterans who alleged mistreatment of foot
and ankle problems at the Togus
Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta.
The legal battle
began with the first lawsuit in 2014. The complaints came amid national
criticism of the Department of Veterans Affairs over mismanagement and
long wait lists that resulted
in deaths.
The parties
settled the last open case in March and the Portland Press Herald
received copies of the five settlement agreements through a public
records request.
The veterans
claimed poor treatment by a podiatrist at Togus left them with severe
pain that limited their ability to walk. The settlements allowed for all
pending claims to be resolved without
the government admitting liability or fault.
The most drastic
case was that of April Wood, a Maine native who now lives in Missouri.
Court documents show she smashed her ankle when she fell 20 feet from a
ropes course in 2004 during a
U.S. Army training exercise. The podiatrist later performed surgery on
her ankle twice. But she continued to experience chronic pain for years,
and other surgeons ultimately amputated her leg below the knee in 2012.
Wood was the last
plaintiff to reach a settlement agreement and received the largest
payout of $800,000. Four other veterans received smaller settlements
between $50,000 and $80,000.
Dan Lipman was
part of the team of attorneys who represented Wood and Mark Prescott,
who received a $70,000 settlement. Court documents show Prescott served
in the U.S. Navy until 2004 and had
previous surgeries to address a running injury. He underwent two
additional surgeries at Togus, and another doctor later said those
procedures had actually continued or worsened his pain.
Dr. Thomas
Franchini, the podiatrist whose care was the focus of the lawsuits, was
not named as a defendant. He left Togus in 2010, and he did not renew
his license to practice in Maine in 2011.
Lipman criticized
Togus for waiting so long to tell the veterans about problems with
their care, and he said the government should have immediately
compensated those patients rather than fighting
their cases in court for years.
“The right thing
to do would have been to come out at the outset and say these veterans
should not have been hurt this way, and we’re going to make it right,”
Lipman said. “But the government
didn’t do that.”
Kenneth Myrick,
who goes by Jake, served in the Army from 1998 to 2004. Court documents
show his ankle surgery at Togus in 2005 resulted in a “nerve
entrapment,” which caused severe pain and
was not identified for years. He said Tuesday that he still has chronic
pain and limited mobility.
“My life is
forever changed,” he said. “I can’t go run, jump and play with my kids. I
can’t go take a ski trip like I normally would have done. … No amount
of money was going to change that.”
His case resulted
in a $50,000 settlement, but he said he never got the apology or
accountability he wanted from Togus officials.
“That betrayal from the VA is the most hurtful,” Myrick said.
The attorney who represented two additional plaintiffs is no longer at her firm and could not be reached for comment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maine represented the federal government, and a spokesman commented on the case by email.
“As with all of
its settlements in cases in which a federal agency is a defendant, the
United States views the settlements agreed to in the referenced cases to
be appropriate based on the government’s
analysis of its risk at trial and the interests of justice,” Assistant
U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff wrote.
Six veterans
filed lawsuits in federal court in 2014 and 2015. U.S. District Judge
Jon Levy initially dismissed the cases in 2016 because they did not file
their complaints within three years
of the treatment that caused their problems. But Levy allowed the
veterans to pursue an argument that Togus “fraudulently concealed” the
mistreatment from them.
In 2018, he
decided to allow five of the six cases to move forward, saying the
question of fraudulent concealment was “inextricably intertwined” with
the claims in their lawsuits. Beginning
in 2019, the parties began to settle the cases, one by one.
©2020 the Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine)
Visit the Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine) at www.pressherald.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Visit the Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine) at www.pressherald.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
14 May 2020
Military.com | By
Patricia Kime
Montana's highest court has upheld a
judgment against a Lynchburg, Virginia, man who solicited at least one
investor in his business dealings by claiming to have been a U.S.
Marine.
The Montana Supreme Court last month
upheld a lower court's decision ordering Laron Shannon, formerly of
Kalispell, Montana, to pay $1.7 million in damages to Donald
Kaltschmidt, of Whitefish. Kaltschmidt, according to the court,
gave Shannon $250,000 to invest in a company Shannon said would hire
veterans to clean oil rigs in eastern Montana and North Dakota.
But Shannon, who often wore Marine
apparel such as caps and knit shirts with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor
and portrayed himself as a former Marine officer, never served on active
duty as a commissioned Marine, according to court
documents. When asked early during the court proceedings to produce a
DD-214 record of service document, he did not immediately produce it.
Following multiple trial delays by
Shannon for medical emergencies, as well as a bankruptcy declaration
that temporarily halted proceedings, Shannon offered up roughly 300
documents a week before the trial was to start, including
a DD-214 that showed he was discharged in 1982 as a midshipman -- a
term that applies to both students at the
U.S. Naval Academy and students in
Navy and
Marine Corps ROTC programs at other schools.
The 11th District Judicial Court ruled
that the documents were not admissible to the court because they had not
been produced in a timely manner. And Kaltschmidt's attorneys charged
that the documents were forged.
"The District Court was provided with
proof that Mr. Shannon had fabricated many of the newly produced 'Top
Secret' redacted documents in his 'VA file' ... and was presented with
proof that Mr. Shannon had forged what he claimed
was his DD214," an appellee brief to the Montana Supreme Court states.
Shannon appealed the lower court’s
decision based on the decision regarding the documentation as well as
the trial proceedings, which continued after Shannon elected to leave
the courtroom the first day when, while cross-examining
Kaltschmidt, he claimed a medical emergency.
In his absence, the jury found Shannon
liable for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, constructive fraud and
breach of fiduciary duty, awarding $224,000 in compensatory damages, and
later, an additional $1.5 million in punitive
damages.
The Montana Supreme Court upheld the
ruling, concluding that the lower court had the right to exclude
Shannon’s documents and it had "exercised considerable patience with"
him before allowing the trial to proceed.
It did not weigh in on the validity of Shannon's documents.
Shannon graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1982, according to the college’s yearbook, and he
showed what he said was his DD-214 and honorable discharge to a Virginia television station last year.
Shannon said he was a member of the
Marine Reserve as an enlisted person during college and attended Officer
Candidates School at
Quantico, Virginia, from July 13, 1982, through Aug. 21, 1982.
"I was discharged honorably with a rank of officer candidate," Shannon told the court and the television station.
But he never produced any evidence of
having received a commission. And according to Kaltschmidt, he
represented himself as a former Marine officer at various events and in
business dealings.
“He was always vague about the details of his service,” Kaltschmidt said.
According to Kaltschmidt, Shannon
portrayed himself as a former officer at charitable events in Montana
and elsewhere, including Toys for Tots drives, veterans functions and
the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference in Lynchburg,
Virginia.
During Shannon's time in Montana, he
"infiltrated our veterans groups and took advantage of a lot of people,"
Kaltschmidt said, adding that he pursued the case solely for that
reason.
"He shows up for veteran events and takes
credit for something he had nothing to do with,” Kaltschmidt told
Military.com. “We wanted to make sure he would never do it again.”
According to court documents, the company
Shannon intended to establish, Oilfield Warriors, never conducted any
business operations. Shannon allegedly embezzled the company's funds and
established two other companies, JD Services
and Hire America's Finest, around the same time he created Oilfield
Warriors, the business in which Kaltschmidt invested.
A call to Shannon's home in Lynchburg
went unanswered. He represented himself in court proceedings after three
separate attorneys withdrew from his case.
Kaltschmidt, who served in the Marine
Corps in the amphibious assault vehicle community from 1975 to 1978 and
has a son who served in the Marine Corps, said Shannon knew enough about
the service to "talk a good game," which made
other veterans -- and the public -- vulnerable to his solicitations for
charity and investments.
"It's egregious and disheartening to the
people who actually serve," Kaltschmidt said. "These types of things
should not be tolerated."
Kaltschmidt said he plans to pursue recoupment of the funds awarded him by the court.
"Bankruptcy doesn't shield a person in cases of fraud," he said.
Kaltschmidt's attorney, Corey Laird,
described Shannon as a "very smart man who knows more about the history
of the Marine Corps than anyone."
But, Laird added, Shannon never completed OCS after an injury even though he was given the option to return.
"He's masquerading as a Marine,
soliciting funds and using money for his own profit. It's the worst kind
of theft there is," Laird said.
-- Patricia Kime can be reached at
Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.
Military.com: As Major Veteran Groups Cancel National Conventions, DAV Holds Out
14 May 2020
Military.com | By
Richard Sisk
Disabled
American Veterans is facing a difficult decision on whether to go ahead
with its centennial national convention in Texas this August, or
join other veterans service organizations that have canceled
conventions due to the novel coronavirus threat.
"We're
very hopeful" that the 100th anniversary of the group's founding can
still be marked at the national convention, but "we're mindful of the
safety of the veterans participating in the event," said Dan Clare, the
DAV's communications director.
The
group's website notes that the 1.3 million-member organization is
monitoring data on the progress of the virus and guidance from the
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention before making a final decision on
whether to go ahead with the planned convention in Dallas, scheduled for
Aug. 1-4.
"At this time, we are proceeding with our plans to host our most important annual gathering as scheduled," it states.
On
Monday, AMVETS canceled its 76th annual convention, which had been
scheduled for mid-August in Springfield, Illinois, citing "ongoing
restrictions
and uncertainties related to the global COVID-19 pandemic."
"We
do not know what August will look like in terms of restrictions and
infection rates," AMVETS National Commander Jan Brown said in a
statement.
"With that uncertainty still present, we reached a point that made
impossible continuing the business end of planning."
The
two largest veterans service organizations -- the American Legion and
the Veterans of Foreign Wars -- have already canceled their annual
conventions.
"The
safety of our members and compliance with state and federal
public-health restrictions and guidelines made this decision not only
prudent but
necessary," American Legion National Commander James W. "Bill" Oxford
said in announcing the cancellation of the Legion's planned 102nd
national convention in Louisville, Kentucky, which had been scheduled to
start at the end of August.
The VFW had planned to hold its convention in Reno, Nevada, in July.
"But
the fact is, the health and well-being of our members, partners and
supporters remains our priority, and we will not put them at risk," said
William "Doc" Schmitz, VFW national commander.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at
Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
Friday, May 15, 2020
MCL - Funeral Service for Past Department Commandant William McGowan | and more
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