The American Legion Department of Minnesota

INDIANAPOLIS — The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization has called on health care administrators to study the findings of a recent VA inspector general’s report to ensure that circumstances that contributed to a veteran’s 2018 suicide do not re-occur. “One veteran suicide is one too many,” said American Legion National Commander James W. […]

NEW PRAGUE — The third annual MusicFest fundraiser for the New Prague Area Veterans Memorial will be Saturday, Feb 22, at the New Prague American Legion Park Ballroom. The first band will start at 1 p.m. and the last band starts around 9 p.m. There will be eight bands playing a variety of music. Cost […]

ST. PAUL — Arcade-Phalen Post 577 American Legion Riders will be sponsoring at Veterans and Families Ice Fishing Event at the Veterans Campground on Big Marine Lake on Saturday, Feb. 1. Bring your own fishing gear. There will be prizes for the three largest fish in both the adult and 16-and-under classes. Pre-registration fees of […]

MINNEAPOLIS — Imagine taking college classes at the site of your next employer. That’s pretty much what is happening at the Minneapolis Veterans Home. The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs has a new partnership with Inver Hills Community College that allows nursing students to take their classes at the home, where they have access to […]

MINNEAPOLIS — New Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Larry Herke “probably thought I was stalking him,” said Peggy Moon at the opening of the steel truss bridge outside the Minneapolis Veterans Home on Jan. 9. She said she bothered him so much about getting the bridge opened that Herke began approaching her first. The bridge was […]

Despite surgery and recovery, the hardest part is two soldiers who saved his life in a Tal Afar battle never made it back home This is the first in a two-part series. The first part profiles Jeremy Wolfsteller’s combat experience in the Iraq War, and the second part details what he does for The American […]

By Tommy Johnson I attended an appeal at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Tuesday, Dec. 3, on behalf of the child of a combat veteran and his fiancé. The first signs that the hearing was not going to go well were when the hearing officer instructed us to turn off our cellphones and further instructed […]

By Tim Engstrom Tom Mullon recalls working at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Manhattan early in his career and coordinating a meeting of 100 or so Vietnam veterans with hospital leaders. One by one, the veterans told stories reflecting “the need for the VA to have counseling proper.” The answer they got from the director, […]

Greetings, Minnesota American Legion Family. The ceremony for the 100th convention plaque dedication was held in Minneapolis at Peavey Plaza on Nicollet Mall Saturday, Dec. 7. The first American Legion National Convention was held in Minneapolis in 1919 and the 100th convention was held in Minneapolis in August 2018. The 100th plaque was placed next […]

Dr. Meghan Press will be formally honored in March in D.C. MINNEAPOLIS — American Legion officials in Minnesota recognized a general psychiatrist at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center as the Physician of the Year, not only for the Minnesota but for the entire VA Health Care System. Megan Press, a general psychiatrist, will be recognized […]

Bud Redepenning The funeral for American Legion Department of Minnesota Past Commander Bud Redepenning will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 3, at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 700 Western St. in Anoka.  There will be a visitation one hour before the service and lunch to follow. From 2 to 5 p.m. there will be a […]

MAHNOMEN — Assistant Attorney General Sarah Gillaspey of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office was on hand at the Fall Conference in October, and she shared the leading ways for nonprofit corporations to get investigated: • Misuse of nonprofit assets.• Related-party transactions.• An absent or detached board of directors.• “Founder’s syndrome.”• Manipulation of the financial information […]

It is with sadness to inform the American Legion Family that Past Department Commander Bud Redepenning has joined the post everlasting. Please keep Bud’s family in your prayers over this holiday season. We will announce the final arrangements when we are notified.

The American Legion’s 2019 Physician of the Year is a Minnesota doctor. In early November, the headquarters of The American Legion notified the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Health Administration, the VA Midwest Health Care Network and the Minneapolis VA Health Care System that Dr. Megan Press, a general psychiatrist at the Minneapolis […]

Legionnaires got to see a side of Al Zdon that they don’t often see. Zdon played the banjo and sang. By Tim Engstrom ANOKA — Past National Commander Dan Ludwig’s first impression of Al Zdon came at the 1996 Fall Conference. Zdon, the former editor for the Hibbing Daily Tribune, wore khaki pants and looked […]

MINNEAPOLIS — The American Legion and the city of Minneapolis have a relationship going back for 100 years. That connection is now explained on a plaque at Peavey Plaza, near the corner of Nicollet Avenue and South 11th Street. On Pearl Harbor Day, about 25 members of The American Legion Family primarily from the 4th […]

INDIANAPOLIS — In the wake of the apparent terrorist attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola, the leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization called for greater scrutiny of all foreign nationals visiting or training at U.S. military installations. “Our hearts break for the victims and families of this horrific attack,” said American Legion National Commander […]

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Christopher Kneen, forward-deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, and Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa, sends a holiday shoutout to friends and family back home in Hastings, Minn. Camp Lemonnier is an operational installation that enables the U.S., allied, and partner nation forces to be where and when they are needed to ensure security […]

ROSEVILLE — The American Legion Riders this year will host the Pearl Harbor Family Gathering, formerly called the Pearl Harbor Membership Rally, and it will take place Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Rosetown American Legion, 700 W. County Road C, in Roseville. The social hour begins at noon, with a 1 p.m. lunch and a […]

Anoka Post 102 hosted celebration for 23 years of storytelling

Hutchinson Post 96, Silver Lake Post 141 and other veterans organizations in the community come together for an organization called Saluting Community Heroes; Kyle was speaker at its banquet on Wednesday, Nov. 13 Be sure to read what Taya Kyle said in the next issue of The Minnesota Legionnaire. Reminder: One of the benefits of […]

‘It’s hard to find that in daily life’   By Tim Engstrom, The Minnesota Legionnaire INVER GROVE HEIGHTS — With Todd Kemery of the Paralyzed Veterans of America as master of ceremonies and the 34th Infantry Division Band providing music, the State of Minnesota Veterans Day Event gave veterans, their families and their supporters a […]