INDIANAPOLIS – At the 95st American Legion, Department of Indiana Convention, July 11 to 14 at the Marriott East Hotel in Indianapolis, the Post 253 Legion was presented four Department awards. During the opening general session on Friday, Commander Jon Sroufe accepted for Post 253 the Gordon N. Sheline Post of Distinction Award for commitment to Legion programs, social events, Americanism and community service. At the same session, the Post received the Top Ten Award in membership for having the third largest Legion post in Indiana and the SAL American Legion Post Award for the Legion post sponsoring the largest SAL squadron in the Department of Indiana. In membership, Post 253 has more Legion members than the town of North Webster has residents, has the largest Sons of the Legion squadron in Indiana, and has one of the larger Auxiliary memberships in the state. When this year’s memberships of the Legion, Auxiliary and SAL are added together, Post 253 has the largest post in Indiana in total Legion Family membership. At the second general session, held Saturday afternoon, Past Commander Ken Wilson and Adjutant Bob Harding accepted a fourth award when Post 253 was presented the Wayne Talbert Award for the Outstanding Post Newsletter Publication in the 500 and over Legion membership category. At the same session, Post member Scott Wyler received an award for recruiting 57 members for Indiana Boys State At the Sons of the American Legion Detachment Convention, held concurrently with the American Legion Department Convention, Post SAL Squadron 253 received two awards for membership during the 2013 Membership Year. At the Saturday general session, SAL Commander Rick Hagan was presented the award for the largest SAL squadron in Indiana. This is the 15th year that the Post 253 SAL squadron has received the award as the largest SAL squadron in the state. At the same session, Squadron 253 also received the award for having the largest number of membership cards over its yearly goal for squadrons in category 5 that were submitted to the Detachment. Also at the convention, SAL member Galen Close received an SAL cap for his years serving as Detachment Sergeant-at-Arms.
