THE AMERICAN LEGION – Lynn Canal Post 12, Haines, Alaska

American Legion Membership Renewal

Members can visit the following site to renew their membership at National.

https://www.members.legion.org/CGI-BIN/lansaweb?webapp=MYLRENEW+webrtn=wr_memberdata+ml=LANSA:XHTML+part=TAL+lang=ENG#legion-org-header

Select Renew Online

You will need your Legion ID# & Last Name to begin the process

 

Visit Alaska Department Legionnaire Website @ www.alaskalegion.org

The following are your Post 12 officers for 2022:

Commander                   Chuck Mittman
1st Vice Commander    Brandon Wilks

Adjutant                         Ralph Strong
Chaplain                        Bill Rostad
Service Officer            Terry Pardee
Sgt-at-Arms                   Ryan Ackerman

Historian  

Executive Committee Members:

Bill Stacy, Dave Kammerer, Mark Patterson and all past Commanders 

Past Commanders:

Bob Lix  – Bill McRoberts – Mike Case – Others

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CURRENT EVENTS:

American Legion Lynn Canal Post 12
P.O. Box 452
190 Second Ave. North
Haines, Alaska 99827
907-766-2530

Local Legion Officers are:

Chuck Mittman, Commander, Lynn Canal Post 12

Andrea Ferrin, President, Post 12 Auxiliary

Zack Ferrin, Commander, Post 12 Sons of American Legion

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Check out new changes to our website

    Calendar of events – 2015 Haines Veterans Photo – VA Healthcare – A Forum for discussion of Veteran Issues

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Our Commander brought back to following certificates for our Post 12 members:

Legion Continuous Member Certificates:

        40 Years
Terry Pardee

        45 Years
James Schnable
Jeff Klanott
Wayne Sheets

46 Years
William Albecker
Gene Martin

        48 Years
Leo Smith

54 Years
Josh Welden

        60 Years
John Schnable

        63 Years
Thomas Quinlan

The American Legion – “POST EVERLASTING” additions of all Legion members that passed away

during the past year were read and a resolution for transfer was issued. 

    Those added for Post 12 were as follows:

John J. Schnable
Layton A. Bennett
John J. Proetto
Stanley A. Beadle

Read the Certificate of Participation to Unit 12 recipient “Jackie” Martin

Unit 12 Continuous Membership to be given out by Jackie Martin

Post 12 received two citations

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Copy from Chilkat Valley News article by Tom Morphet , April 7, 2016

World War II vet awarded ‘honor flight’ to nation’s capital

Leo Smith, a 50-year Haines resident and one of the area’s few surviving World War II veterans, will make an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., as part of “The Last Frontier Honor Flight,” a program honoring aging veterans. Smith, 89, enlisted in the Army at age 17, serving as a paratrooper from 1945-46.

Pausing to talk to a reporter this week while replacing a pipe on a hot water heater at his trailer home in Fort Seward, Smith said he’s not really sure why he enlisted. “I don’t have a clue. Just for the adventure, I guess. The paratroopers paid $50 or $100 more than the regular Army. That’s where the money was, so that’s where I had to go, or so I thought in those days,” he said.

Smith leaves April 26 on a flight with other Alaska veterans. The five-day trip includes receptions in Anchorage, Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C, meetings with dignitaries, and tours of military monuments and other attractions. “I’m looking forward to getting to travel and not having to pay for it,” Smith said. “And I’m wondering if I might run into somebody I was in the service with. You never know in a case like this.”

Smith grew up in Prineville, Ore. and worked about 65 years as a logger. He still cuts and sells firewood and takes down “danger trees” for friends. He splits about eight cords of wood to heat his home and his domestic water annually and maintains a neat shop full of saws and other tools.

As a paratrooper, Smith jumped out of planes 21 times on non-combat flights. His overseas service included being stationed in Sendai, Japan, a city that was fire-bombed by U.S. forces about a month before the Japanese surrender in August, 1945. It also had been the site of a forced labor camp for Allied prisoners of war. “I didn’t make any combat jumps, but that didn’t hurt my feelings… I didn’t see anything too terrible, but I wouldn’t want to do it again. There are better things to do, I’m sure,” Smith said. Some of the jumps Smith made were required “pay jumps” he made clandestinely for other soldiers who had lost their nerve. “Every two months you had to make a pay jump. I made a lot of extra money at it.”

According to the national World War II museum, there were 1,110 World War II vets in Alaska at the start of 2016 and 698,000 in the nation. Approximately 430 World War II vets die each day. The Honor Flight Network was launched in 2005 to help veterans see the recently completed World War II Memorial. In 2013, Ron Travis of Wasilla started the Honor Flight hub in Alaska, which has since expanded to veterans of the Korean War.

“Right now World War II guys are a real priority. Anytime anyone steps up, he goes to the head of the list,” Travis said. The program is funded by various Alaska veterans groups, including the American Legion, as well as Alaska Airlines and other businesses in the state. Travis said the trip is usually meaningful for veterans who make it. “It’s not so much seeing all the granite. What happens when you get those guys together, who are all the same age and the same experiences, they start talking and by the time they get back, they’re fast friends.”

The trip includes a “mail call” on the return home, featuring letters written to veterans. “We try to make this as big a deal as possible and give them a manila envelope full of letters. Some of these guys never got a letter the whole time they were in the service.” Haines American Legion commander John Newton nominated Smith for the trip.

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PAST EVENTS:

Haines 4th of July Parade is coming quickly 

4th of July – Parade – All Veterans encouraged to march in parade 11 am

Post 12 unit to be comprised of Veterans, Sons of Veterans and Auxiliary

Are you ready to join us and march as a proud veteran?

Call or Visit Legion for details – 766-2530

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Veterans Day Dinner 2022

Our 2022 annual Veterans Dinner was a huge success and largely as a result of generous support from our local business community and especially Lutak Lumber who provided a free dinner to all veterans and widows of veterans. Veterans also participated in ticket drawings for prizes provided by local businesses and residents. We sincerely appreciated local resident supporters who demonstrated their recognition of the dedication of those who served our country honorably or were directly impacted by veteran’s service to our country.

Our final tally of those served?

10 -Widows of Veterans

17 -Post 12 members

1- Son of Vet

19 – Local Veterans (not members of Post 12)

6 – Visiting Veterans

Total Veteran related guests served = 53

90 additional supporters and family members also participated in our dinner!

Our local Haines Hot Shots were on hand to service our guests and were sincerely appreciated by all!

THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!

 

SPECIAL FOR VETERANS

Last Commander’s Report
Thank you for giving me the privilege of being the Commander of Post 12 for the next year.  We have an outstanding staff of officers and others have indicated their willingness to help on various projects as they come up.
All American Legion posts have bylaws that govern the management of post operations.  Ours have not been reviewed and revised for a few years so we will be doing that in the near future.  A copy of the existing bylaws will be available for review at the post and on our website.  Your comments for revision would be welcome.  Suggested changes will be presented at the February meeting and proposed for adoption at the April meeting.
Commander
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Website Updates or Changes

We have implemented several changes to our Legion website (www.lynncanalpost12.org) and it now contains a Calendar feature so you can track events happening for our local veterans.

We will also be adding a new feature known as a Forum. This forum will enable our local veterans to share their experiences and provide helpful links and/or contact information with fellow veterans. Please keep your comments civil and help other veterans obtain valuable information as they seek help, ideas, support or other guidance we may be able to share for our personal experiences.