Commander's Message, March 2026

Fellow Legionnaires,

On 10 February, we convened our 2026 District 15 Convention in conjunction with our Monthly Post 3 meeting. Rich Lemmerman and John Ottoson were elected our new District 15 Commander and Vice Commander. They will be installed in those positions at the close of this Years’ Department Convention on 28 June in Columbus. Steve Bartos and Fred Craige were elected our nominees for Delegate and Alternate to this years’ National American Legion Convention in Louisville Ky.  

Our Department Commander, Judy Walters, presented a Certificate to Gerry Wolf recognizing his outstanding support to the American Legion with his exemplary Monthly Post 3 Newsletter. Additionally, we confirmed dates for District events in 2026 and our next District Convention in 2027.  

During the Post 3 meeting Ed Schnable was presented with a memento recognizing his outstanding service in his recently relinquished positions as Post 3 Adjutant and Finance Officer. Ed will also be recognized at the Department Convention with the District 15 American Citizenship Award. Post 3 also received a Special Americanism Citation from Department for 2024-2025. Congratulations to all!

As of 1 March, Post 3 has one male and one female applicant for the 2026 American Legion Law Cadet Program. This is an outstanding program for High School Juniors providing them slots in the summer at the State Patrol Training Academy in Grand Island. At the Academy they will explore and experience various aspects of law enforcement such as firearms training and emergency vehicle operation. Additional areas of instruction are on drones, aviation support, gangs and SWAT. Our two applicants will interview with a District 15 board to be conducted on 2 April.  

If selected the Post will pay $100 for each applicant which covers insurance, food, T-shirt, cap, classroom materials and administrative expenses. The Nebraska State Patrol provides training, counselors, facilities and equipment as a public service. Our Law Cadet candidates appear very well qualified to represent Post 3 well.

Our Post 3 Scholarship program is another great opportunity for young people that we have budgeted for this year. We are offering three $500 scholarships to students who are related to Post 3 members for continuing education.  Applications are available here:

 https://lincolnpost3.org/scholarships  

Applications must be submitted to the Post not later than May 31st, so if you have students who may qualify, please submit applications on time.  Post 3 will convene a board to select the most outstanding candidates for these scholarships.

Finally, if you have not renewed your membership in the American Legion please do that expeditiously. As you will see from this newsletter, we are doing very good so far in getting over 90% of our membership renewed. That last 10% is a challenge for us to achieve. Additionally at every opportunity please encourage any veteran you know that is not a Legion member to join us. 

For God and Country,

Ron Hindmand

Post 3 Commander