The American Legion Department of Louisiana

Sons of The American Legion attend National Convention in Reno, NV
The Louisiana Delegation,along with 43 other Detachments from across the United States attended this year's 36th Annual Convention for the Sons of the American Legion in Reno, NV.  There were some 810 registered delegates along with alternates and guests.

This year was the Sons of The American Legion's 75th anniversary, that has been celebrated from the Squadrons all the way to the National level.  This year there was a luncheon held on Saturday and all Detachments were invited to attend. Each Detachment Commander was presented a dress cover with their title of Detachment Commander and 75th Anniversary.  Each person attending the luncheon was presented a clear coffee mug with the 75th emblem on it.  The Detachment of Minnesota presented each Detachment Commander and National Executive Committeeman with a 75th Anniversary medallion.

Each state is assigned a specific hotel in which their whole American Legion Family is housed.  Louisiana was assigned the Circus-Circus Hotel, along with Colorado, New York, and North Carolina.  The Sons open up the Convention each year on Friday and continue until close on Sunday, followed by a parade by each state and their delegates on Sunday afternoon.  The American Legion and The American Legion Auxiliary begin their Convention on Monday.  The Legion Family is composed of Legionnaires, Auxiliary, Juniors, and Sons.  Together we are here to serve for God and Country.

Delegates from Louisiana were as follows: Bryon Robichaux - Raceland 349 - Past National & Detachment Commander; Royce Doucet - Galliano 315 - Past National & Detachment Commander; Camille LeJeune, Jr. - New Roads 248 - Detachment Commander; Jimmie Knight - Morgan City 96 - Detachment Vice Commander; Enos Bellanger - Harvey Marrero 222 - National Executive Committeeman; Larry Vincent - Sulphur 179 - Alternate National Executive Committeeman; Forrest Travirca III - Lockport 83 - Past Department & Squadron Commander; and Ernest Hoitt - Crescent City 125 - Squadron Commander.

National Community Service Scrapbook awards are presented to the best overall scrapbook at the Detachment and Squadron level.  This year, the Detachment of Louisiana was the winner of this award and presented a plaque for this achievement.  The Squadron award was also presented to Hunter-Fabre New Roads 248 in Louisiana and they received a plaque for their achievement.  History Books were judged with 5 Squadrons and 3 Detachments presented.  Hunter-Fabre Squadron 248 always presents this book for competition but has not obtained the winning book yet.  Each year the cumulative scores go up, yet not enough to win the competition.  While this book contains all the history of the Squadron, it is maintained so that future generations can see what has happened in the past.  The winner of the History Book was Squadron 251 from Chattahoochee, Georgia.

Each year each Squadron can turn in a Consolidated Report Form that covers the American Legion programs such as Children & Youth, Americanism, and Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation.  These reports are graded on the Squadron level for each Detachment and awards are given at each Detachment's Convention for the best report.  These reports are also judged at the National level and awards are presented.  This year, there were 1071 reports and of that amount, 1065 were Children & Youth.  The Detachment with the largest contribution to Children & Youth was the Detachment of Maryland. 

Total contributions and volunteer hours for Children & Youth, Special Olympics, Children's Miracle Network, Joshua Dogs,and Spinoza's Bears totaled $1,238,154.41 with 92,872 volunteer hours.  Grants distributed from the Children & Youth were 5 last year totaling $149,500.00.  Child Welfare Foundation donations last year were $321,227,92.  The Sons have donated over $3,500.00 since inception and all family members have donated over $8,700,000 to this program since 1954.  The Americanism Consolidated Report was presented to the Detachment of New York with over 323,00 volunteer hours.
Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation had donations from the report of over $912,000.00.  National Award for the largest donation at the Squadron level was given to Squadron 16 in Nebraska.  The National Award for the largest donation at District level was given to the Detachment of Maryland.  The National Award for the largest donation at the Detachment level was given to the Detachment of Georgia.

The Charles Rigsby Award - Volunteer of the Year - was presented to Douglas Murphy from Squadron 1 in Georgia. The Hartline Membership Award was presented to the largest Detachment in the United States.  The Detachment of Pennsylvania received this award with 43,365 members.

The Convention ended Sunday with the Installation of the newly elected Officers for 2007-2008.  They were as follows:  National Commander, Raymond P. Giehll, Jr., from Indianapolis, Indiana; National Vice Commanders, Thomas Marsden from Brick New Jersey (Eastern); John Jones from Chattanooga, Tennessee (Southern); John Kailunas from Newaygo, Minnesota (Central); Michael Moss from Arvada, Colorado (Mid-West); Robert Jones from Layton, Utah (Western); National Chaplain, Jack Donnelly from Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  The NEC met right after the Installation of Officers, with the newly elected Commander appointing his Commission and Committee Chairman along with volunteer from each region to assist the chairman.

The next NEC meeting will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana on October 13, 14.  This year there will be a Commander's and Adjutant's Training Session, long with the regular NEC Meeting.  Louisiana should have at least 4 represented for this meeting - the newly elected Detachment Commander Camille LeJeune, Jr.; his appointed Adjutant Roy Daigle,Jr., elected NEC Enos Bellanger; and elected Alternate NEC David Parker.