Published: February 19, 2008 12:07 pm         

LOCKPORT: William Burnett keeps Legion's mission alive

LOCKPORT — William Burnett figures he’ll spend about 270 days on the road this year.

His mission: Touching base with Legionnaires in every New York county to let them know they’re doing a good job — and that there’s still more to be done.

Burnett, of Lockport, is commander of the New York State Department of American Legion. He is the first state commander from Lockport and the second from Niagara County in the Legion’s lengthy history.

Burnett and his traveling companions, state Legion Auxiliary President Carol Johnson of Uniondale and state Sons of American Legion Detachment Commander Gerald M. Ketchum of Honeoye, all were honored Friday by local Legionnaires at B. Leo Dolan Post 410’s hall. Mayor Michael Tucker and Town of Lockport Deputy Supervisor Debbie Gaskill presented proclamations to each from the city and town thanking them for their service to community and country.

Burnett, a decorated Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War, is about halfway through his one-year term as state commander. He has visited 48 of New York’s 62 counties already, with Johnson and Ketchum, and says they’re eager to hit the rest.

“It’s great to get out and meet other American Legion members,” Burnett said. “All the post (halls) are pretty much identical, so when we visit one, it’s like going home every time.”

The trio’s visits have a dual purpose: to recognize each county Legion’s community service programs and provide updates on the priorities of the national Legion.

This year, Burnett’s message to Legionnaires is that funding of the U.S. Veterans Administration budget must be made mandatory. Congress OK’d a 2007-08 department budget last July, but the bill was loaded down with extraneous pork, and President Bush vetoed it, Burnett said. The department finally got $3.7 billion for all programs last month but the showdown hurt VA agencies, including veterans hospitals trying to plan their budgets.

Burnett said he, Johnson and Ketchum are planning a visit to the Capitol to press the matter.

The state commander also is asking Legionnaires to spread the word about benefits and programs available to active service personnel. To any returning service person, he says, “Please go see a veteran service officer. Almost every county has one. It’s important because the military is not telling them everything they can get.”

Legion posts also can provide information and, typically, direct assistance to returning service people, Ketchum said. The veterans have to seek out the help themselves, however, because the Legion doesn’t automatically know who they are. Federal privacy law prevents Legion from obtaining their names.

American Legion’s mission is to care for veterans, their families and youths, according to Burnett. Member veterans, their sons and auxiliarians work behind the scenes year-round to help keep the community fabric stitched. Their service ranges from fundraising for scholarships and veterans well care to running youth baseball teams, good-government programs and VA hospital outreach.

“There’s still a sense out there that Legionnaires are just a bunch of old men who sit around and drink beer,” Burnett said. “Well, we do drink beer, but we don’t just sit around. We do a lot of good that I think most people don’t know about.”

According to Johnson, the state Legion auxiliary currently is raising $50,000 for Snoezelen Concept Therapy rooms in each of New York’s five VA hospitals. The special therapy employs sights, sounds and colors to soothe dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. At the national level, the Auxiliary is aiming to raise $2.1 million to establish a fund to care permanently for the children of active-duty soldiers who suffer severe injury or die on duty.

Sons of American Legion raises money for the Child Welfare Foundation, a grant-giver that helps other child-centered charities get up and running. The foundation gave the Special Olympics one of its first grants, according to Ketchum, and more recently aided the National Autism Society with a grant to produce and distribute multi-media educational materials to schools.

Last year, Lockport’s Legion post got involved in Operation Landstuhl, a national effort to raise $50,000 to purchase comfort items for wounded soldiers being treated at a military hospital in Germany. Fund-raising ultimately exceeded $320,000, Burnett said.

“That’s the value of our membership. It’s what we can do. We’re proud of it,” he said.