NYS American Legion honors Ovid man – FingerLakes1.com Archive

New York State American Legion Commander Kenneth Governor brought a message of “Service First” to the Legion Family in Seneca County Thursday (Feb. 20), and honored an Ovid area Legionnaire.During dinner at Manning-Lilla American Legion Post 463 in Ovid, Governor presented the Department Commander’s Award of Excellence to Robert Laprade, past commander and long-time adjutant of the Ovid Post. He cited his “dedication to our men and women in uniform, our veterans, their families and your community.” He praised his service as commander, vice commander, adjutant and membership chair. Governor also hailed Laprade’s”passionate involvement” in honoring veterans, including serving as chairman of the committee to host the Vietnam Veterans Moving Wall and a steak dinner for all Seneca County veterans.”Service First” is about reinvigorating the core mission to serve men and women in uniform, veterans and families, community and nation, Governor told members of the Legion, Auxiliary and Sons of the American Legion.A sign that the Department of New York is on the right track in putting “service first,” Governor noted, is the Americanism trophy that New York walked away with at the Legion’s national convention last summer. “We were honored for having the best Children and Youth, and Family Assistance Programs in the entire American Legion.”Governor also said New York leads the nation in donations to the Legion’s National Emergency Fund, which aids Legion Family members in disaster-struck areas.The commander’s visit was a joint visitation with New York Auxiliary President Barbara Corker and New York Sons of the American Legion (SAL) Detachment Commander John Chang. The trio visited Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Willard and toured the area before speaking at the dinner in their honor in Ovid.Chang noted that, like the department commander, his personal project this year is to collect donations for the National Emergency Fund, especially since the fund helped so many New York families in the devastating wake of Hurricane Sandy.Corker said her project is to support the American Legion’s Operation Comfort Warriors, and for two reasons. First, unlike other charities, 100 percent of donations go directly to helping wounded warriors. Second, it’s important to “show our warriors our love.”