American Legion Acadia Post 15 honors long-time members

March 15 marked the 97th birthday of the American Legion, and Acadia Post 15 celebrated with a birthday party and meal on Wednesday, March 16.
At the event, several Acadia Post 15 members were honored for being members of the American Legion for 50 years or more.
They were:
•.Thomas L. Gardiner - 60 years;
•.J.D. Hains Jr. - 70 years;
•.Arthur LeBlanc - 70 years;
•.Noah Monceaux - 61 years; and
•.Emery L. Thibodeaux - 60 years.
Thomas L. Gardiner was a member of the United States Air Force and was at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, for the first part of 1951 and Lowrey Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado, for the latter half of the year.
Gardiner was stationed at Memphis Air Base in Memphis,.Tennessee, in 1952, and in January 1953, he was sent to Fifth Air Force in Taegu, Korea. He served his last year, 1954, with the 790th Aircraft Control and Warning Station in Kirksville, Missouri.
J.D. Hains Jr. enlisted in the United States Army Air Corp on June 26, 1941, and was sent to Jackson, Mississippi, for basic training. From there he was sent to San Francisco by train before boarding a ship to areas in the Pacific Theater.
Hains was involved in a Jeep accident while returning from a supply trip on New Caledonia, where he served as an interpreter. With a pelvic fracture and broken arm, he was returned to the United States and recuperated at a hospital in McKinney, Texas. He was discharged in 1944.
Arthur LeBlanc enlisted in the United States Navy in early 1945 when he was 17 years old.
When he was called for duty, he traveled to New Orleans to board a train for San Diego, California. The youngest of about 200 men from all over the country, LeBlanc was put in charge of the group on the train because he was the only one who had attended a semester of college.
After six weeks in San Diego, LeBlanc was assigned to an aircraft carrier that ran into a typhoon on the way to Pearl Harbor. The war had just ended, and from Pearl Harbor LeBlanc was sent on the same carrier to the Marshall Islands, where he ran a landing barge back and forth between Eniwetok Island and the ship.
From there he was sent to Long Beach, California, and then on to New Orleans for discharge.
Noah Monceaux was drafted into the United States Army in 1943 at the age of 18. The day after he turned 19, he boarded the Queen Mary bound for Paris, France.
Monceaux was in charge of carrying and firing bazookas in the Battle of the Bulge, during which he was wounded. He was sent back to the United States on the Queen Mary, which had been converted into a hospital ship. Among the medals Monceaux received were the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
Emery L. Thibodeaux of Morse enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1952 and received his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base before attending service school at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Thibodeaux was assigned to the 4001st Air Base Squadron on Gray Air Force Base in Killen, Texas, where he completed four years in food service. He was discharged as corporal first class on April 1, 1956, and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and Good Conduct Medal.
The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization. It is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization, committed to mentoring youth, sponsoring wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security and continuing devotion to fellow service members and veterans.
Hundreds of local American Legion programs and activities strengthen the nation one community at a time. American Legion Baseball is one of the nation’s most successful amateur athletic programs, educating young people about the importance of sportsmanship, citizenship and fitness.
The Operation Comfort Warriors program supports recovering wounded warriors and their families, providing them with “comfort items” and the kind of support that makes a hospital feel a little bit more like home. The Legion also raises millions of dollars in donations at the local, state and national levels to help veterans and their families during times of need and to provide college scholarship opportunities.
The American Legion is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization with great political influence perpetuated by its grass-roots involvement in the legislation process from local districts to Capitol Hill. Legionnaires’ sense of obligation to community, state and nation drives an honest advocacy for veterans in Washington. The Legion stands behind the issues most important to the nation’s veterans community, backed by resolutions passed by volunteer leadership.
The American Legion’s success depends entirely on active membership, participation and volunteerism. The organization belongs to the people it serves and the communities in which it thrives.