Everett G. Shepard III was appointed National Sergeant-at-Arms of The American Legion on Aug. 29, 2024, at the 105th National Convention in New Orleans.
Shepard, a resident of Woodstock, Conn., was born in Putnam but raised and educated in many locations due to his father’s career as a Navy pilot. He graduated from high school in Springfield, Va., and served in the U.S. Army from June 1967 to October 1970 as a military intelligence coordinator assigned to the staff of the Army Intelligence School. In 1974, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Nichols College in Dudley, Mass.
He is an honorary life member of Benson-Flugel Post 111 in Woodstock, which he first joined in 1976. He served four terms as post commander and as 4th District commander from 1982 to 1983. He has held many positions in the department, including department (state) commander from 1999-2000, and department adjutant from 2006-2016.
His first interest in The American Legion was the Connecticut Boys State program where he has served as a counselor since 1977. He still serves his post as adjutant and treasurer of the Tri-Town American Legion Baseball program, which is sponsored by three posts (13, 67 and 111). He continues to serve the district as judge advocate and the department as chairman of the Convention & Conferences Committee. He is also the president of the Connecticut American Legion Foundation, Inc.
At the national level, Shepard served on the former Magazine Commission from 1989 to 2006 and has been a member of the Media & Communications Commission since 2017.
Shepard worked as a computer programmer for 28 years before being hired as the Connecticut department adjutant in 2006, and now enjoys retirement. From 1983 to 2005, he served in part-time elective offices in the town of Woodstock and has been a justice of the peace since 2001. He and his wife, Patricia, have been married since February 1970 and have one son and a granddaughter. When weather and his busy schedule permit, he enjoys playing nine holes of golf at least two times a week, preferably three or four.
