American Legion Post 432

Ken Hart is a WWII Army Air Force veteran who just turned 100 years old and lives in Cambria. On his birthday weekend we gave him two drive-by salutes from the Post and from Welcome Home Military Heroes. It was a little wet but we had a great time and Ken, who is in good health, really appreciated us. He is a Paid up for Life member of Post 432. Enjoy the pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/6fWKckgPoT7cbKpR7

Well it is almost time for Santa to come. As we reflect on the year gone by I hope you will look for the silver linings. Remember the reason for the season and be thankful for all we have. This year we have been fighting an enemy called COVID. We now have vaccines that seem to be very effective. Many of us will get this vaccine and hopefully this disease will under control. We pray for an end to this and a return to what is normal. Today we have many local men and women ser...ving our country who will not be home for Christmas but thanks to all of you and especially to David Pierson and Larry Willits ( Our TS2 leaders), they will all get something from us to remind them we did not forget about them this Christmas. This video says it all https://www.youtube.com/watch We wish each of you a Merry Christmas and to our Jewish friends, we hope you had a Happy Hanukkah. May God's blessings be many to you and your loved ones. May the peace of God keep your hearts and minds. If you pray, remember our troops who continue to guard our country 24/7. See more

Today volunteers from the American Legion and DAR placed Christmas Wreaths on over 400 graves of veterans buried in the two Cambria cemeteries. Here are the pictures of the event chaired by Commander Phil Kispersky. Across America and at well known places like Arlington National Cemetery and thousands of other cemeteries, these Wreaths Across America were laid on veterans graves. https://photos.app.goo.gl/B8fhFhRbWxDfurgE9

This is what we did for 90 year old Korean War veteran Alan Doctor who is retired Army Cavalry first Sgt. Alan and Judy are moving to Fresno for an easier life for both. We will miss him greatly. Thanks for Mike Ens for the photo and for Kyle Plummer organizing this with the help of Welcome Home American Heroes. Mr. Plummer has also filmed the event as he has done with many other veteran events in our community. https://photos.app.goo.gl/TWNfSygLDSS6m4wT8

Please Participate We are working our way through the Virus from China called COVID 19 but we will not cancel Christmas and our post is definitely involved in Toys For ToTs. Past Commander Dave Ehlers and his wife Jenn are doing the program and they need everyone to participate and help. First and foremost we are not Season of Hope that you see on KSBY every night. That is a good program and everything they collect is distributed to all of SLO county. Sometimes they have ...a Marine in Dress Blues standing there but it is not associated with Toys for Tots in any way. One of our local banks is supporting Season of Hope and they were asked but will not support Toys For Tots also. No judgement, just facts. Toys For Tots is only for the children and families of Cambria and San Simeon. End of story. There are a couple of ways to make it work for our communities. You can donate toys. They have to be new and worth about $20 and here are the locations where we have the Toys for Tots boxes. The Toy Boxes can be found at: Mechanics Bank Gym One Cambria Community Presbyterian Church Cambria Vineyard Church St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cavalier Oceanfront Resort-San Simeon Oceanpoint Ranch El Colibri Pelican Inn Fog Catcher Inn Cambria Landing Inn Santa Rosa Catholic Church First Baptist Church- Cambria Small Wonders Preschool Fireside Inn Froggies The Chamber of Commerce Cambria Pharmacy Cambria Pines Lodge The Fire Station (outside) on Burton Pets & More Cambria Business Center Cambria Community Fitness Center Donations Canisters are located at Soto's The Cambria Nursery The Coffee Den The Shell Station The General Store The Cookie Crock Among Friends Gerber's Auto Corky's Barbershop True Value Hardware Mechanics Bank PolyPro The easiest way is to go to this website and make a donation through this website: Cambria-ca.toysfortots.org That is my choice and it was easy as pie. You can even use my favorite PAYPAL. I know we are all spending less since we are not doing much traveling and probably not eating out as much so let's be generous and make the kids of our communities happy with a great Christmas full of gifts for kids from tiny ones to tennagers. They are our future so let them know we love them. See more

We have not been able to have a regular or executive board meeting at our Veterans Memorial Building since March of 2020. Unfortunately California is at the top of the list of states suffering with the Corona Virus Pandemic. The good news is that thanks to technology we have been able to have virtual meetings of both the regular business meeting and our executive board meetings. Currently we are using WebEx for that and it seems to work pretty well. We have not had a lot ...of participation by our membership at the regular business meetings. We know some of our are still around. We have already had 101 members renew their membership. We know there are plenty of veterans in Cambria and surrounding communities that are eligible but don't belong to the Legion. If you served one day on active duty since Dec 7, 1942 you are eligible and there are applications on our website. We would love to have you belong to this post and the American Legion which has done so much for veterans. Our next meeting will be on Sept 2 at 7 PM and it will be about an hour. Our Adjutant John Ehlers is moving soon and he has agreed to give a presentation at that meeting about his Air Force experience as a crew member on B-47 Stratojet during the Korean War. I am sure it will be interesting. If I have your e-mail you will get a notice with a link to the meeting. If you don't get one, let me know and we will add or correct your e-mail address. We feel compelled to obey the state regulations regarding the virus . The Preamble that we recite at our meetings is one of the important reasons we comply. Most of us are also in one of the very vulnerable groups and we don't want any of our members getting or spreading the virus. Some of us are waiting for an effective vaccine. Pay your dues, Join the Legion, Come to our Virtual Meetings See more

We had a pretty nice 4th of July. Weather here was sunny and about 75 degrees. About a dozen of us got together at our Veterans Memorial in the middle of town. We had our masks and we did social distance. We raised our flag, said our Pledge of Allegiance and I led everyone to sing the Star Spangled Banner. I am not a good singer but it was something that had to be done so I did it. I read the beginning to the Declaration of Independence, Dave Ehlers read the preamble to the C...onstitution and Phil Kispersky gave a little July 4th history. Flag raising was done by Karina Tiwana and Curtis Rohne. Chuck McMillan gave the blessing. He is a wWII veteran and 92 years old. He runs the only hardware store in Cambria and has been in the Legion for about 70 years.Jay Burbank had his 1931 Army Air Corps Staff Car on display. Sons of the American Legion posted American Flags on the Main Street of our town. Here are some pictures of this small event. https://photos.app.goo.gl/k4P7JpyXsLpAzfaU8 See more

I wanted to thank the Sons of the American Legion in Cambria. They quietly put up flags all over Cambria and Main Street looked very patriotic. Many thanks to Smokey and his squadron of workers.