Latest French Foreign Legion Stories

Congress awards state veterans home privileges to all parents of fallen warriors WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After a decades-long campaign waged by The American Legion and sympathetic advocates, the U.S. Senate last night cleared legislation that will grant state veterans home care privileges to all Gold Star mothers and fathers; parents who have lost sons or daughters during military service. Heretofore, since the post-Civil War era, only parents who had sacrificed all...

INDIANAPOLIS, July 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the wake of the publication of more than 90,000 secret military documents by a Web site, the leader of The American Legion called upon Justice Department officials to vigorously prosecute any American who knowingly leaks classified information. "As the old saying goes 'loose lips sink ships,' but today's sad reality is that the Worldwide Web can lead to worldwide mayhem if certain Web sites do not practice better discretion," said The...

The 'American Heroes' Vignettes Premiere During Military Channel's Live Coverage of the National Memorial Day Parade on May 31st INDIANAPOLIS and SILVER SPRING, Md., May 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Legion and Military Channel have teamed up to honor troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, including three soldiers who never made it back home. A series of ten, one-minute vignettes, "American Heroes" premieres Memorial Day on the Military Channel, which co-sponsored the...

INDIANAPOLIS, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner, the head of the nation's largest wartime veterans organization stated his group's opposition to repealing the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' (DADT) policy. "We feel strongly that the current policy has served the U.S. military well for 17 years and it would not be wise to make a major cultural change in the middle of two wars," The American Legion National Commander...

WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Practicing what they preach - helping to make a real difference in veterans' lives - members of The American Legion spent nearly one million hours volunteering at VA medical facilities in fiscal 2009. The nation's largest veterans group is also one of America's largest volunteer organizations, its ranks populated by what VA Secretary Eric Shinseki recently described as "people who are regularly, habitually and deliberately kind." Shinseki...

INDIANAPOLIS, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Calling a proposal to award U.S. troops medals for holding fire in a war zone "misguided," the head of the nation's largest veterans organization voiced concern that overly restrictive rules of engagement would ultimately cost lives. "Nobody likes to see innocent civilians killed in a war zone but the blame for these tragedies lies with the terrorists who caused the war in the first place," American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill...

INDIANAPOLIS, May 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Legion vowed to continue its fight to preserve a veterans' war memorial in the Mojave desert, even after vandals have apparently removed the cross in the middle of the night. "This was never about one cross," said The American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill. "It's about the right to honor our nation's veterans in a manner in which the overwhelming majority supports. The American Legion strongly believes the public has...

INDIANAPOLIS, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Bar Association Journal has been selected to receive The American Legion's Fourth Estate Award for publishing, "The Cemetery Sea," in its May, 2009 edition. The Fourth Estate Award is presented annually by The American Legion for outstanding achievement in the field of journalism. "The journal chronicled the sinking of the Alaska Ranger, a 203-foot mackerel boat 120 miles off the Alaskan coast during a severe storm from a...

WASHINGTON, March 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The people voted and the troops won. PepsiCo has officially announced that The American Legion's Operation Comfort Warriors will be awarded a $250,000 grant from the soft drink giant after finishing first in voting during February's Refresh Everything Project. Internet voters were able to choose which of 729 competing charities would receive grants of $5,000, $25,000, $50,000 or $250,000. The top three finishers in the $250,000 category are...

WASHINGTON, March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dick Eldridge was a hospital corpsman with the Seabees in World War II, while Karl Koles served as a yeoman in the Marshall and Gilbert islands. Both men were guests of President Obama at the White House on March 11 to watch an advance screening of the HBO series, "The Pacific," which chronicles the bloody, island-hopping combat that American troops endured from Guadalcanal to Okinawa in World War II. "Being invited to the White House - that...