First and foremost, Happy New Year to all! I am truly excited that we will be transitioning from a truly difficult and challenging year to a year where we will start to actually “see” smiles on everyone’s faces. I know (guess) most of the year we will still be masked out of necessary precaution, but the end is now in sight (pun intended). At the Legion, we have some catching up to do. We missed having our annual Recognition Dinner and honoring those who have done so much for the community and for the Legion. But, we will be back on track in the fall for this event. I am not sure what will be allowed for Memorial Day, but we will at least hold similar ceremonies at each memorial this year as we did last. Hopefully we will be allowed to have the parade. Unfortunately, the Auxiliary won’t be having their winter breakfasts as was hoped, but, of course, we will be restarting our breakfasts in April. We learned a lot last year from our breakfasts and many of the things we put in place because of the COVID restrictions we will keep because it was appreciated by our guests; things like being served and outside eating.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, Feb. 3. On Feb. 3, 1943, the U.S. Army Troopship Dorchester was torpedoes in the North Atlantic with 902 on board, including four chaplains. Only 230 survived. The chaplains sought to calm the men and organize an orderly evacuation of the ship. As life jackets were passed out to the men, the supply ran out before each man had one. The chaplains removed their own life jackets and gave them to others. They helped as many men as they could into lifeboats, and then linked arms and, saying prayers and singing hymns, went down with the ship. On Feb. 3, we will conduct our 4 Chaplain Ceremony to honor them as we did last year. This is a very moving ceremony and will be open to the community. More information will be forthcoming.

Last Friday, New Year’s Eve, the Sara Fahnley presented the Poppy Quilt to Anne Burt, the winner of the raffle. $1,060 was raised from this raffle and those proceeds were presented to Ed Harmon, president of VETS, Inc. to support his veteran emergency temporary shelter trailer project. Thank you to all who participated in this great fund-raising effort. And thank you to Sara Fahnley for generously donating the beautiful poppy quilt.

Today, Thursday for most readers, is the VA healthcare system Town Hall meeting on Jan. 7 from 3 to 4 p.m. The link is http://va-eerc-ees.adobeconnect.com/rsle33crqquu/%20%20%20 or call in to 1-800-767-1750 (Code: 11234#). The Hall will be “streaming” this event.

The next Post meeting will be Zoom only on Jan. 11.