SOUTH BRUNSWICK – With President Donald Trump’s signature on the LEGION Act (Let Everyone Get Involved in Opportunities for National Service), the ongoing declared period of war was extended back to Dec. 7, 1941, making all honorably discharged veterans eligible for membership in the American Legion.
Eligibility now spans from Dec. 7, 1941, until a time when the United States is no longer at war, as determined by Congress.
Veterans wanting to join American Legion Post 401 in South Brunswick, or any other post, may request an application by emailing alpost401@hotmail.com or by stopping by the post at 148 Major Road, Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick, any day after 4 p.m.
The importance of the roles the American Legion and VFW play in the lives of military service members was a main theme of South Brunswick’s Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11.
“Today we recognize those who have protected and who continue to protect our way of life,” said Bob Kelly, commander of VFW Post 9111. “We honor our veterans today because we know without them there would be no land of the free. … They have protected our freedom. We must honor them every day in every way.”
Mayor Charles Carley said he spent Nov. 10 at the wedding of his nephew, who served in Iraq and now is an administrator with the veterans administration in Philadelphia. He said although the VA has a reputation for needing improvement, strides have been made and “We the People” speaks truth.
He said the Legion and VFW now have footing in Washington, D.C., “and the best thing to do for veterans is to support the Legion and VFW,” he said.
Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman said that parts of the world do not enjoy the same freedoms as America, and we must take more than just one day each calendar year to pay respect.
“The longer I live the more I appreciate the freedoms of our country,” he said.
Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, a South Brunswick native, echoed Bateman’s statements, mentioning how each Thanksgiving he would have dinner with his father, uncle and wife’s uncle who all served during World War II.
“Every Thanksgiving those three gentlemen would talk with a quiet sense of pride,” he said of holidays past.
With 30,000 World War II veterans in New Jersey, and 400,000 veterans in the state in total, Zwicker said, “It is critically important … that while we come together to give honor and thanks, every single day is Veterans Day and everything we do as a community is to acknowledge and honor.”
Gary Cooper, commander of Post 401 and the Middlesex County American Legion, asked how many stories we truly know.
“In each other, we find community,” he said, noting how thousands of people attended the funeral of a service member who had no living relatives and who died alone; and of an Air Force staff sergeant whose remains were recovered 75 years after he went missing.
“Find someone and ask them to tell you their story. Every single woman and man who raised their right hand [to take an oath] … did so for a reason. Ask them why,” Cooper said.
He encouraged veterans to join the Legion and VFW and for the community at large to support them.
“We know that service doesn’t stop when the uniform comes off,” he said.
The ceremony included prayers by the retired Rev. John Malty and Rabbi Mendy Carlebach; musical selections by the South Brunswick High School Viking Band with directors Donna Cardaneo and Virginia Kraft; and South Brunswick Police Officer William Merkler on the bagpipes.
