South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260

Just after South Hadley High School 2023 graduation the South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260 once again presented its “Thank You For Your Service” Award, a cash award given to those graduating students who have the distinction of having joined the United States Armed Forces. This year American Legion service challenge coins were also presented. On behalf of a grateful nation, THANK YOU FOR DECISION TO SERVE! - The Legionnaires of Post 260. This fb post was WAY overdue BTW. 🇺🇸

South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260 “Doing The Most Good” for The Salvation Army. A holiday tradition now for our post members.

South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260 Commander participated in the Wreaths Across America at St Rose de Lima Cemetery alongside students from St. Joan of Arc School.

Team South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260 supporting the local fight against food insecurity by once again participating in Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Inc. annual South Hadley Food Pantry Holiday Fun Run!

“December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy”. NEVER FORGOTTEN

🇺🇸 Please join us on December 11th at 2:30PM for the 12th Annual “Gold Star Families Tree Dedication”~

A local airman has been identified as one of the crew members who died when the aircraft they were training in crashed near the coast of Japan.

U.S. Air Force SSgt. Jacob “Jake” Galliher was originally from Pittsfield, MA. His family now lives in Lanesborough.

Galliher was one of eight crew members flying in an Osprey V-22 that crashed in the ocean off the coast of Japan on Wednesday.

He leaves behind his wife Ivy and two young sons, ages two years and seven weeks old.

We honor his courage, his selfless service and we extend our deepest sympathy to his family and friends as we hold them firmly in our hearts and prayers during this difficult time🇺🇸

Today is the birthday of the Civil Air Patrol! Also known as the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol’s was founded during the earliest days of World War II, to mobilize the nation's civilian aviation resources for national defense service. As the auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, Civil Air Patrol is there to search for and find the lost, provide comfort in times of disaster and work to keep the homeland safe. Its more than 64,000 members selflessly devote their time, energy, and expertise toward the well-being of their communities while also promoting aviation and related fields through aerospace/STEM education and helping shape future leaders through CAP’s cadet program.

Learn more at https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/.

Today we want to send our thoughts to the Fox family as NOV 20 marks the day Rev. Isadore H. Fox passed away in 1982.

Did you know that after the passing of her husband, CH (1LT) George Fox when the U.S.A.T. Dorchester sank on February 3, 1943 she began a career as a pastor?

ALA Past National Chaplain the Rev. Isadore Fox was the wife of Lt. George Fox. She served as the American Legion Auxiliary national chaplain in 1970-1971. Isadore also served the Department of Vermont as a chaplain for many years and as department president in 1960-1961. She wrote a book, The Immortal Chaplain, about her husband’s life. Isadore was an ALA member for more than 30 years and continued to serve until her passing in 1982.

The Four Chaplains Day program can be found in the American Legion Auxiliary Chaplains’ Prayer book in the MyAuxiliary section of www.ALAforVeterans.org.

A lifeline for Veterans: Michael Richards and his service dog Felix.

Help for Canadian armed forces veterans takes various forms, and for Michael Richards his labradoodle Felix is more than just a pet. He’s a lifeline.
After 21 years of service across the globe, Richards was diagnosed with PTSD. However, his journey toward healing took a new trajectory with the companionship of his service dog.

Link to the full article in the comments.

Photo credit: Global News

Our South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260 Commander and the American Legion efforts in honoring veterans was highlighted by the Gazette over this past Veterans Day. We are proud of all our member’s efforts and their families to support and honor all veterans. 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸🫡

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM SOUTH HADLEY VETERANS SERVICES -
South Hadley Veteran Services, The Council on Aging and Iona's Kitchen here in South Hadley are coming together to provide a free hot thanksgiving meal that will be delivered Thanksgiving Day by the amazing Scouting organizations of South Hadley. This meal is available for Senior and Veterans of South Hadley and Granby. If you are interested in signing up, you must email South Hadley Veterans Services at: [email protected] by noon time on Monday November 20th. Please include name address and number of meals you need.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second Lieutenant Rick Rescorla served as a Platoon Leader of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in La Drang Valley Vietnam 16 November 1965

Born in England, he first served in the British Army and then joined the US Army where he served in Vietnam. He retired from the US Army with the rank of Colonel.

He became the head of security for the banking firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. On 11 September 2001 Rick Rescorla was credited with saving 2,700 people by making sure they left the World Trade Center’s South Tower before it collapsed. He was killed when he went back in to rescue more people.

On November 12, 1944, Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team stood in formation to receive citations for bravery. Through the war, the 442nd received 4,000 Bronze Stars, 4,000 Purple Hearts, and 21 Medals of Honor.

Healey-Driscoll Administration Unveils Historic Legislative Package for Veterans in Massachusetts A lock icon ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the official website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

ATTENTION VETERANS !!

VETERANS DAY CEREMONY - Saturday, November 11th at 10:45am - SOUTH HADLEY TOWN HALL (116 Main Street)
Please join us as we honor all who have served and defended our Nations freedom in both war & peace. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend as an expression of appreciation and support for our veterans. The event will start at 10:45am with the Invocation, Presentation of Colors, Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the reading of the Veterans Day proclamation, recognition of Veterans in attendance. As we have since 2018, the Bells of Peace will ring at 11am coinciding with the Nationwide 11am Bells of Peace, followed by a wreath laying, rifle salute and the sounding of Taps. This is a family friendly ceremony and your presence WILL be appreciated by our Veterans. Thank you, hope to see you there

(Updated announcement!) Armistice Day for Paris Post 1 in France! Join us! - https://mailchi.mp/parispost1/armistice-day-2023-parispost1-9407710

Ahead of Veterans Day, Remembrance Day in the UK and Canada, the South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260 & South Hadley Sons of the American Legion honor those U.S. & Allied Forces who fought during WWII’s Operation Market Garden, 79 years ago this past September in Holland. One of those British Paratroopers who fought there later came to live here and raised a family in South Hadley, Hugh Adamson is gone now, at final rest here in his adopted home of South Hadley. Remember all who severed our Nation and that of our WWII Allies especially this Veterans Day / Remembrance Day. Allies forever. 🇺🇸 🇬🇧

Speech given by the Colonel Commandant of the Parachute Regiment, Lieutenant General Andrew Harrison DSO, MBE. Arnhem, September 2023.

‘Dear Mum,

This letter is different. Tomorrow, we go into action. As yet, we don’t know exactly what our job will be, but no doubt it’ll be a dangerous one, in which many lives will be lost, and mine may be one of those.

Mum, I’m not afraid to die. I like this life, yes – for the past two years I’ve planned and dreamed and mapped out a perfect future for myself. I would have liked that future to materialise, but it’s not what I will, but what God wills, and if by sacrificing all this, I leave the world slightly better than I found it, I’m perfectly willing to make that sacrifice.

I cannot fancy myself in the role of a gallant crusader fighting for the liberation Europe. It would be a nice thought, but I’d be kidding myself.

No, Mum, my little world is centred around you and includes Dad, everyone at home, and my friends at Wolverhampton. That is worth fighting for, and if by doing so it strengthens your security, and improves your lot in any way, then it’s worth dying for.

Now this is where I come to the point of this letter. As I stated, I’m not afraid to die and perfectly willing to do so, if, by my doing so, you benefit in any way whatsoever. If you don’t, then my sacrifice is all in vain.

I want no flowers, no epitaph, no tears. All I want is for you to remember me and feel proud of me. Then I shall rest in peace knowing that I have done a good job.’

Ivor had left his home on Curzon Street, from that mid-English town of Wolverhampton, to join the 1st Airborne Division.

This morning he does rest in peace, eternally 22 years old, now under the warm, early autumn sun, in the 16th row of Oosterbeek cemetery.

In the next row lies a 23-year-old Flight Seargeant called Gabriel. Not much is known about Gabriel. But we can guess that his parents Elizabeth and Ernie were devastated when they learned that his Mosquito aircraft had been blown out of the sky by German flak on 17th September. Today is the anniversary of his death.

For 9 days in September 1944, thousands of young men flew through the same skies that we have just been staring into. They must have been transfixed by the mesmerizing theatre of death that surrounded them. Loadmasters struggling to despatch paratroopers and desperately needed stores from grotesquely torching aircraft. Flaming aircraft arcing into the oblivion of Holland’s unforgiving heathland.

Selfless pilots, brave to the very end, consigned their own families to a lifetime of grief, as they made conscious decision to fight to keep their fatally compromised aircraft in the air, just for a few more seconds. They died, so others in their plane could live.

Theirs is the glory.

Lest we forget, it was not only those in uniform who such a brutal price. When RAF bombers tragically missed the German Barracks in Ede, just a kilometre from here, 69 locals perished in an instant. Again, that was also 79 years ago, today.

And later that month thousands of starving families would be cruelly expelled from their homes, cast into the icy winter of 1944.

The fact that so many of you are here today to thank our incredible veterans, that Bellerophon still rides proud astride Pegasus above thousands of your houses, and the fact that you remember, is a humbling tribute to all those brave souls who sacrificed all.

And now so few remain. We are honoured to be in the company of the final sentinels, guardians of the memories of their fallen brothers in arms.

There is the glory.

Thank you, my heroes, our veterans, for being here.

So, was the Arnhem armada of September 1944 worth it? And why do we commemorate with such passion what history has cruelly consigned into the bracket of defeat.

If I tell you that to this day, my beloved soldiers still cry “Remember Arnhem”, when they charge into the peril of bullet or bomb, you may start to understand.

Arnhem and the men who fought here, dared to dream. The were prepared to sacrifice everything in a selfless, bold, risk-laden mission to bring the war to an early conclusion.

They rose through the dancing clouds and floated under silken canopies, glided in fragile canvas, to trade the serenity of home for the chaos and carnage of combat.

There is the glory.

President Roosevelt best summed up the spirit of that incredible generation:

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

So, to Ivor and Gabriel, and the thousands like you who that dared to dream, and who “spent themselves in a worthy cause”, thank you. You may have ended your days at “a bridge too far”, but you will always be loved in this peaceful, beautiful, idyllic land.

Rest easy my Airborne brothers, you did your duty, and in so doing, you forged a legend.

Yours is the glory.

Today the South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260, South Hadley Sons of the American Legion, and a few volunteers from our patriotic community placed American flags on over 1400 Veteran graves - IN THE SNOW, at Notre Dame Cemetery. Thank you to all who came out to honor our Veterans ahead of this upcoming Veterans Day. 🇺🇸

On Oct. 31, 1950, U.S. Army Sgt. Arthur M. Jones died near Manpo, North Korea while a prisoner of war on the Tiger Death March during the Korean War. His remains were not accounted for or identified. A memorial marker in Section MH remembers his sacrifice. We honor his service.

2023 Veterans Day Free Meals and Restaurant Deals and Discounts Restaurants are saluting Veterans Day with free meals and discounts for veterans, service members and their families.

A special thanks our great guest speakers for this past weeks and first ever South Hadley Missing In Action Remembrance Ceremony. Keynote speaker, Vietnam Veteran, Purple Heart recipient, Vic Musanti, State Senator Jake Oliveira, State Representative Dan Carey, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Massachusetts Past State Commander and VFW National Council Member Eric Segundo.

On Oct. 28, 1952, U.S. Army Capt. John D. Porterfield, Jr. was killed while fighting the enemy in North Korea while serving with the 65th Infantry Regiment. His decorations include the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He is laid to rest in Section 3. We honor his service.

The first ever South Hadley POW/MIA ceremony and first ever commemoration of the “National Day the Deployed” was conducted last night by the South Hadley Falls American Legion Post 260 at the South Hadley Public Library. Great turnout and awesome guest speakers! Our American Legion / Sons of the American Legion Honor Guard was on point and everyone played a roll in the events success. Great job SAL Chaplain Donald Lindsay honoring our fallen with special prayers. Thank you Senator Jake Oliveira, State Representative Dan Carey, BOTH always there for our veterans events. Thank you Veterans of Foreign Wars Massachusetts Past State Commander and VFW National Council Member Eric Segundo for supporting our efforts in South Hadley and delivering excellent remarks. Keynote speaker Vic Musanti, Military Order of the Purple Heart, USA was extremely moving as he spoke of four friends, fellow Army aviators who remain Missing In Action in Vietnam. It was a special honor for us to be able to highlight 8 South Hadley hometown heroes who remain missing since WWII. NEVER FORGOTTEN.