Our American Legion passed these alarming statistics and we want to share with everyone. As you read the numbers ask yourself…

“What am I doing to help change these numbers?”

Facts:

• Only 15% of IAVA’s annual survey respondents believe the American people really understand the contributions of military women.
• 40% have thought about taking their own life since joining the military, up from 31% in 2014;
• 80% do not think that troops are getting the care they need for mental health injuries.
• 50% have used the Post-9/11 GI Bill for themselves or their dependents.
• 63% think Congress is doing a poor job improving the lives of veterans.

If you want to help change these numbers or change the life of a Veteran..please fill out the form below to learn ALL the ways

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!

AMAZING!!! 

He famously flew his plane beneath the Eiffel Tower in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944, lifting the spirits of French troops on the ground.
In 2009, he was presented France’s Legion of Honor.

The fighter pilot who flew through the Eiffel Tower in 1944 has died.

In the spring of 1944 Bill and his P-51C, the ‘Berlin Express’

were near Paris when the scene that is immortalized in the

artwork by Len Krenzler of Action Art that leads this article

took place. Bill had followed a German Bf109 from the

bombers he was escorting when most of the German

fighters left.

The two planes had been in a running dogfight.
The German pilot flew over Paris hoping that the heavy
German anti-aircraft artillery would solve his problem and
eliminate Overstreet and the ‘Berlin Express’, though Bill
managed to get some hits in at about 1500 feet.

The German’s engine was hit, and Bill stayed on his tail

braving the intense enemy flak. His desperation undoubtedly

growing, the German pilot aimed his plane at the Eiffel Tower

and in a surprising maneuver, flew beneath it.

Undeterred, Bill followed right behind him, scoring several

more hits in the process. The German plane crashed and

Bill escaped the heavy flak around Paris by flying low and

full throttle over the river until he had cleared the city’s

heavy anti-aircraft batteries.

Hero: World War II
Aviator Bill Overstreet Jr., best known for flying beneath the
Eiffel Tower in pursuit of a German plane, is pictured in his
military days. 

Remembered:
Overstreet was presented with France’s Legion of Honour in 2009.

Before the ceremony, Overstreet had previously said that, if he lived long enough

to receive the Legion of Honor, he would be accepting it in memory of his fallen

brothers.  In particular, he wanted to pay tribute to a friend, Eddy Simpson, who

died fighting the Nazis on the ground so his comrades, including Overstreet,

could escape.

After the award was pinned to his lapel, Overstreet said:

‘If I said, “Thank you,” it wouldn’t be enough,’ before adding:

‘What more than “thank you” do you need?’

He was born in Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1921 and after Pearl Harbor, he
enlisted in the Air Corps as a fighter pilot.

By February 1942, he was a private and sent to California for flight
training; there, his instructors prepared him for the unexpected
mid-flight by cutting the engine as he landed.

Loss: Bill Overstreet is pictured at an event, Warbirds Over the Beach,

in 2013. ‘He was always humble. Whenever the press interviewed him, he said,

“I didn’t do anything. We were a team”.’

RIP Bill Overstreet.

“May Papa God Bless all those who served in the Greatest Generation 

And Bless those have served and are serving now!”

Lest we forget:

On this day in 1944, now known as D-Day, future President Dwight D. Eisenhower, then supreme commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War II gives the go-ahead for a massive invasion of Europe called Operation Overlord. Back in America, President Franklin Roosevelt waited for word of the invasion’s success.

By the first week of June 1944, Nazi Germany controlled most of Western Europe. Allied forces, numbering 156,000, were poised to travel by ship or plane over the English Channel to attack the German army dug in at Normandy, France, on June 5. Eisenhower had a window of only four days of decent weather in which an invasion would be possible. When bad weather hit the channel on June 4, Eisenhower wrestled with the idea of postponing Operation Overlord. Weather conditions were predicted to worsen over the next two weeks and he had thousands of personnel and thousands of tons of supplies that were in his words, hanging on the end of a limb. After a promising but cautious report from his meteorologist at 9:45 p.m. on June 5, Eisenhower told his staff let’s go.

That night, from Allied headquarters in England, Ike, as he was later affectionately called, composed a solemn and inspirational statement that was delivered the next day as a letter into the hands of every soldier, sailor and airman set to embark on Operation Overlord. In a radio delivery of the message, Eisenhower displayed the confidence and leadership skills that in 1952 would clinch his election to the presidency. Reminding the men that the eyes of the world are upon you and that their opponents would fight savagely, Ike exhorted them to be brave, show their devotion to duty and accept nothing less than victory! In closing, he wished his troops good luck and sought the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. At the time, no one knew that, along with that statement, Eisenhower had also scribbled a note in which he accepted all blame in case the mission failed. The note remained crumpled up in his pocket.

Meanwhile, back at the White House on the afternoon of June 5, President Roosevelt waited for word of Operation Overlord’s commencement. According the Doris Kearns Goodwin in No Ordinary Time, Roosevelt had hoped to be in England with Churchill and Eisenhower for the monumental event, but his declining health made travel impossible. Instead, Roosevelt sat in his office tinkering with the speech he planned to deliver once the invasion began. At his daughter and son’s suggestion, Roosevelt turned the speech into a prayer entitled Let Our Hearts be Stout. First lady Eleanor tried to go about her daily business, but felt suspended in space. At 3 a.m. Eastern time on June 6, Roosevelt received the call that the invasion had commenced. He notified the nation by radio that night, saying at this poignant hour I ask you to join with me in a prayer.

On June 8, 1944, after years of planning, preparation and placating egos among his military peers, Eisenhower was able to report that the Allies had made a harrowing and deadly, but ultimately successful, landing on the beaches of Normandy.

Hello everyone!! Election year 2016 has not only taken over the TV it is effecting families. A line in the sand has been drawn and Americans are picking sides. Sound familiar?

I found this article by Carolyn GregoireSenior Writer, The Huffington Post and I find it to be very interesting and a must post. read on my friends!

It’s nearly impossible to turn on the TV, open up a web browser, or scroll through Twitter without being assaulted with notifications of a new world disaster (or two, or three…). Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle, alerts of shootings, plane crashes, ISIS beheadings, crime, war and human rights violations are constant — and this incessant news of violence and destruction may be messing with our heads.

The world isn’t falling apart, but it can sure feel like it. The news can be violent, depressing and emotionally-charged.

According to some psychologists, exposure to negative and violent media may have serious and long-lasting psychological effects beyond simple feelings of pessimism or disapproval.