Legion Family called upon to document, upload local memorials

The American Legion's Veterans Memorial Identification Project is now open to submissions.

Set in motion by Resolution No. 10 at the Fall National Executive Committee Meetings in October, the project encourages American Legion Family members to locate, document, photograph and upload onto a national database information about veterans memorials and monuments in their local areas. "The American Legion is uniquely positioned to collect and document memorial information through its vast grassroots organization," the resolution states.

The database, which will be maintained at National Headquarters, has been designed to identify locations, document histories and share photographs of U.S. military and veterans monuments and memorials. Once information has been gathered and a photo taken, go to www.legion.org/memorials and click "Add a memorial." The page will ask for information about its installation and condition, as precise an address as possible, who maintains it, a photo (or multiple photos) to upload, and contact information for the submitter. Entries will be made public soon after review.

The page is designed to be easy to upload memorial photos and information via smartphones, even while on site of the memorial itself. This makes it easier to do multiple submissions at one time as Legion Family units and associated community groups comb an area for sites. The database can be used to buttress the Legion's historical relationship with the Alliance Defense Fund and the First Liberty Institute, which provide legal assistance to communities dealing with challenges to memorials that have religious language or symbolism.