Latest News

• Wednesday, December 29, 2021

  2020 Legionnaire of Year Inducted into Veterans Hall of Fame

  
  2020 Department of New York Legionnaire of the Year Wayne Baumgartner was inducted into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame in November by State Senator Sean Ryan;
   
  Baumgartner is a past commander of the Milton J. Brounshidle Post 205. The Town of Tonawanda resident is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He has been a member of the Legion for 52 years, holding a number of positions in his Post.

  When honored as Legionnaire of the Year, Baumgartner was described as representing “the service and commitment of what The American Legion is all about” by 8th District Commander William Miskell.

  

  Wayne Baumgartner with Sen. Sean Rya and Erie County Commaner Gary Wald

  “I am grateful to Mr. Baumgartner, not only for his service to our country as a veteran of the Air Force, but also for his dedication to the Tonawanda community in the decades that followed,” Senator Ryan noted.

  Bumgartner “volunteers countless hours to coordinate and plan events for the post, supporting the pillars of the American Legion: veterans affairs and rehabilitation, national security, Americanism, and children and youth,” Brounshidle Post Commander Ted Balbierz told the Ken-Ton Bee.
   
  Baumgartner joined the Air Force after graduating high school in July 1961. He reenlisted in 1965 and was deployed as an administrative specialist to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam in 1966. During his eight years of service, Baumgartner received several honors, including the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Medal.

• Friday, December 03, 2021

  Past Dept. Vice Commander Gawlik Passes

  

  LYONS – Past Department Vice Commander John Gawlik, 93, of Lyons went to Post Everlasting on Nov. 26. A proud member of The American Legion, he served as Lyons Post commander, as 7th District commander and, according to his obituary, he “traveled to 48 states for Legion national conventions, making numerous friends around the country.”

  He was born in Poland, and at age sixteen, he was taken from his home by the Nazis on Christmas Day. “He managed to survive,” his obit said, “because a Nazi soldier needed help on his family farm and the soldier’s son picked John to be that helper. An American soldier helped bring him to the United States after the fall of the Nazis. John served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and one of his duties was to guard General Eisenhower’s home, where he was able to get to know Mamie Eisenhower well.”