June 6, 1944: American Legion founding leader Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., 56, lands on Utah Beach in the first wave of the Allied D-Day invasion of World War II. His Higgins boat misses the landing area by approximately a quarter-mile, and Roosevelt, Jr., is famously quoted as telling his men, “That’s OK. We’ll start the war from here!”
June 6, 2018: President Trump signs into law the sweeping VA MISSION Act – officially the John McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Outside Networks Act – which includes a number of American Legion resolutions to improve VA health-care services. The measure expands benefits and services for caregivers of disabled veterans from the pre-9/11 era, strengthens VA’s ability to recruit and hire qualified providers, improves the process of using non-VA providers where services are distant or difficult to provide due to high demand and strategizes infrastructure changes to bring facilities into compliance with the needs of 21st century veterans.
June 6, 2022: The American Legion and Operation Democracy at Amis des Veterans Americains (Friends of American Veterans) jointly dedicate a statue in Ste. Mere-Eglise, Normandy, France, of Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who at 56 was the oldest American and highest-ranking officer to storm the beaches on D-Day, 1944. Hundreds, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, attend and participate in the ceremony, which includes remarks from American Legion National Commander Paul E. Dillard.
