The 64 American Legion Baseball regional teams are playing to be in the field of eight headed to the World Series, listen to help end veteran suicide, Legion Riders bring cheer to a terminally ill boy, and more.
1. Steps to Be the One
The American Legion’s Be the One suicide prevention initiative is aimed at destigmatizing the need for veterans to ask for help. It’s also about changing the narrative – instead of talking about the number of veteran suicides, act to save lives. If you could save the life of a veteran by doing one thing, what would it be?
“Listening. People want to be heard and validated,” said Jim Talaska, Department of Illinois membership director, to attendees of the National Membership Workshop in Indianapolis Friday, July 28. “That veteran that is attempting or thinking about suicide wants to be heard. You’ve got to show them that you care about them.”
Talaska provided steps on how to Be the One that involve listening, finding, reaching and asking. Read the story here.
Tune in Sunday: Alex Palou will be racing in this weekend’s downtown Nashville Big Machine Music City Grand Prix street race in the No. 10 American Legion Honda featuring the Legion’s Be the One message. The race starts at noon on Sunday, Aug. 6, and will be aired on NBC and Peacock.
2. The road to Shelby
The 2023 American Legion Baseball regionals are underway, where 64 teams will be narrowed down to eight for the 96th American Legion World Series. The Legion Baseball regionals are being held at eight sites and run until Sunday, Aug. 6.
Follow along here to see who the eight regional champions will be to advance to the ALWS at Keeter Stadium in Shelby N.C., Aug. 10-15.
Follow the action: You can watch the 96th American Legion World Series games on ESPN3 and online. See a game schedule here.
3. Legion Riders deliver an early Christmas
On July 21, more than 70 motorcyclists joined more than 200 other area residents to bring Christmas to Gabriel Bostwick and his parents at their home in Navarre, Fla. Bostwick, a 12-year-old who is in home hospice care while battling terminal cancer, wanted a chance to see Santa Claus and feel the holiday spirit one more time. Legion Family members from American Legion Post 382 in Navarre and Post 378 in Gulf Breeze were among the contingent, which sang Christmas carols, delivered presents, and provided a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, as well as some other North Pole inhabitants.
A ride for children: The 2023 American Legion Legacy Run kicks off Aug. 20 in Kokomo, Ind., and ends in Charlotte, N.C., for the 104th National Convention. This is the last year for the ride to raise funds for The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund, which provides college scholarships for children of U.S. military personnel killed while on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, as well as for children of post-9/11 veterans with a combined disability rating of 50 percent or greater by the Department of Veterans Affairs. But the ride will continue to support children in need.
4. Cracks in military transition
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the U.S. military, the U.S. Department of Labor staged a series of virtual and in-person panel discussions that focused on Black veteran employment outcomes, barriers and interventions. The first discussion was July 25 and focused on the significance of the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces, its impact on civil rights movements, progress made toward equality in the military and Black veterans’ access to good jobs. Included in the first panel was Joseph Sharpe, director of The American Legion’s Veterans Employment and Education Division. Sharpe, a U.S. Army retiree, spoke about the Legion’s efforts in the transition process from the military to civilian world, but also shared how there are cracks in the system on the military side that can leave veterans in the lurch.
Read what Sharpe had to say here.
There’s more: A recording of the Black Veterans and Good Jobs July 25 event can be watched here, which also features the other two events on Black veteran employment barriers.
5. A long commitment to American POW/MIAs
On Sept. 21, 1966, Cmdr. James B. Mills was listed as MIA. The Navy F4B on which Mills served on disappeared over North Vietnam. He was on his second tour, assigned to Fighter Squadron 21, USS Coral Sea. Ten years later, Ann Mills-Griffiths joined the National League of POW/MIA Families to help ensure a full accounting and identification for all American POW/MIAs of the Vietnam War, including her brother. Her commitment to POW/MIA families has now spanned over 45 years where she has had direct contacts with United States and foreign leaders.
“When you talk about honoring and remembering people, the ultimate honor and ability to remember is to do our best and honor our commitment to those who served our country and do our best to bring them home if they’re captured or missing,” said Mills-Griffiths, a member of American Legion Auxiliary Unit 364 in Virginia.
In 2018, her brother’s remains were recovered and brought home. Listen to the podcast to hear how his accounting for is “really a miracle story.”
There’s more: Tango Alpha Lima podcast co-hosts Jeff Daly and Ashley Gutermuth also discuss: a North Carolina woman who has helped 1,000 homeless veterans by using her outfitted Jeep to provide mobile showers, laundry services and meals; VA facing a growing number of claims as a PACT Act deadline approaches; and eight simple habits that could add decades onto your life.
- News