by Matt Griffis
The American Legion 100th Centennial is this year and across the United States the American Legion is preparing for all sorts of events to celebrate the centennial. Tucson American Legion posts are planning several large public events to include a centennial party set for May 18th at Reid Park Bandshell starting at 11:00 AM. This will be a family event full of entertainment, food vendors and family fun. The Tucson Veterans Day Parade will be Nov 11th, 2019 and is currently in the planning stages for the 100th Centennial Celebration. You don’t want to miss this year’s parade, plan to go early and bring a lawn chair.
American Legion Post 109 located at 15929 S. Houghton Road in Vail is also working on a celebration event that will be open to the public, so watch for the announcement. As always, we encourage our Vail community to stop by and visit us. You can view more on our website at www.POST109.org We have dinner specials every Friday evening, open to the public from 5 to 7 PM and bingo every Thursday evening at 7 PM open to the public. Check the events calendar on our website for details. Ask how you can become a member of the world’s largest veteran support organization either as a veteran, Sons of The American Legion, or an auxiliary unit member.
American Legion National Commander Brett Reistad wore a smile while waving to the crowd for the entire 5.5 mile (two-hour) ride, on the legion family’s Tournament of Roses Parade float. And after almost an hour had passed since Reistad stepped off the float, the same smile remained. “It was a rush. It was a big rush,” Reistad said. “It was exciting. You couldn’t have had a better, more supportive crowd out there. It was like a parade that had no ending. It was just a phenomenal experience. I don’t think that there’s anything that I’ve ever done that compares to this level of excitement.”
The parade had an estimated 700,000 people watching in person, while another 4 million were expected to tune in on either ABC, NBC, Hallmark Channel, Univision, RFD-TV or KTLA. “I really think it gave us some fantastic exposure,” Reistad said. “People were very supportive as we passed. A lot of ‘God bless the U.S.A.’ and ‘thank you for your service.’ And they never stopped. The crowds just went on and on and on. “And there were legion family members along the way that were very supporting, yelling out their post numbers. It was really great.” The American Legion float carried the message of “Still Serving America,” highlighting every section of the legion family and its various youth programs. All those components tied into the float’s celebrating of The American Legion’s centennial being celebrated this year. “I don’t think there was a better time to do this,” Reistad said. “(Having) the goodwill of being out there, and people refreshing their knowledge and understanding of what The American Legion is, knowing we’re out there still doing our good work.”
