Officers for 2009 - 2010
COMMANDER: Bruce Ruthven
1st VICE COMMANDER: Jonathan Ruthven
2nd VICE COMMANDER: Tim Kesel
3rd VICE COMMANDER: Bob Phenes
ADJUTANT: Brian Walters
CHAPLAIN: Tom Linden
HISTORIAN: Tom Bankert Jr
TREASURER: Raymond Lawson
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: Fred Merscher
ADVISOR: Ernie Bishop
Committee Chairman:
Membership: -----------------Jonathan Ruthven
Americanism:----------------- Ross Polson
Activities:---------------------- Tim Kesel
Veterans Rehabilitation:--- Tom Linden
Children & Youth:----------- Ed Kemp
Chartities:--------------------- All Officers
Color Guard Captain:------ Ray Lawson
What Have We Done
Americanism Report for 2008 - 2009 Donations: $7,954.00
Volunteer Hours: 2905
Detachment of New York -
Veterans Rehabilitation Report for 2008 - 2009
Donations: $583.00
Volunteer Hours: 123
Detachment of New York -
1st Place
Children & Youth Report for 2008 - 2009
Donations: $1,127.00
Volunteer Hours: 1151
Detachment of New York -
3rd Place
Donations : June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009 $8,382.00
Squadron Color Guard
Seventh District -
1st Place
Department of NY - 1st Place
Sons of The American Legion
Veterans Day 2009
Address to the Phelps Community
Ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things! Simply put, that’s who our veterans are.
Young and old - rich and poor - black and white - and nearly every category in between, they are men and women who served or still serve America.
Some have endured great hardships, separation from family and drastically altered lifestyles. Some have experienced the horrors of war. All sacrificed something so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today.
Often their service did not end when they took off the uniform.
They are still helping us.
It is America, not America’s military, that al Qaeda and other terrorists have declared war on.
But it is our Armed Forces that carry the great burden and responsibility of defending us. Fortunately, our military is made up of ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things.
Fewer than 10 percent of Americans can claim the title “military veteran.” And what a list of accomplishments can those 10 percent claim!
From defeating Communism, Fascism and Imperialism, to keeping the peace during the Cold War and battling terrorism today, America owes a debt to her veterans that can never be repaid.
When remembering the millions of people who have been liberated by American forces around the globe from history’s most evil oppressors, Winston Churchill’s words about the Battle of Britain come to mind, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Today is important because we choose to honor the living veterans from the Greatest Generation to the Latest Generation. But we must honor them with deeds, not just words.
We must heed the words of our first Commander-in-Chief, General George Washington who said, “The willingness with which our young people will fight in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.”
Born of their extraordinary accomplishments comes our extraordinary debt.
And part of that debt is owed to the military families who have sacrificed so much for their country.
We must honor all of these families and not just with Blue and Gold Star Banners, but with compassionate hearts. PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury and life-altering war wounds not only affect the veteran, but can also take an enormous toll on the family as well.
While veterans are often ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things, it is often an extraordinary family that supports the ordinary veteran. And it is the veterans that have given us this extraordinary country.
God bless you all for being here, God bless our veterans and God bless America.
J Bruce Ruthven, Commander