Jimmie Foster, national commander of the American Legion, and Pete Wasco, department commander, were guests of the Lehighton American Legion Post 314, on Monday night. Lehighton was one of the 344 places where Foster has made public appearances on behalf of the nation's veterans.

Foster, of Anchorage, Alaska, was elected national commander of the American Legion on Sept. 2, during the 92nd National Convention in Milwaukee. He is in the second half of his one-year term of office.Foster joined the Marines and was stationed at Camp Pendleton and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. Upon his discharge from the Marines, he returned to school for a short time. Then, wanting to get back into action, he enlisted in the Army, ultimately retiring on Aug. 1, 1994, while stationed at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., as chief legal NCO. He returned to Alaska on the day of his retirement.Foster, who recently returned from overseas visits to South Korea, Taiwan, Guam and Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Afghanistan and Chile said that the main topic he wanted to share with the Lehighton community was the importance of the Legion's Four Pillars and to personally encourage and express thanks to the men and women of the U.S. military in each region for their patriotic service to the nation on behalf of the American Legion.Foster said that the American Legion was founded on these four pillars: Americanism, Children and Youth, National Security, and Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation.He said that our country needs to have a strong national defense to protect our country."We need to get our service members home in one piece as quickly as possible," he said. "I'm here today to make the Lehighton community aware of what the Legion means and what we stand for."He said that the second pillar was to provide for veterans and for their rehabilitation.He noted that the country currently has military members in 133 different countries."We need to make sure our service members can go to the VA for services after they are separated from the military and that they are taken care of without complications when they need to file paperwork," he said.He noted that the third pillar was to encourage residents to embrace Americanism in their community."We want the community to vote, to fly the flag, to retire the flag and to celebrate Memorial Day and Veterans Day in the way the holiday should be celebrated," he said.He also said that he is strongly encouraging the veterans to tell their story of what they did, which he said will help everyone to understand why veterans need the community's support.Foster said that the Legion's fourth pillar is to enhance the lives of the children of our country so they have better lives than we did."The Legion supports Boy and Girl Scouts," he said. "We send boys to Boys State and we have oratorical contests, teach shooting and we have Sons of the American Legion. We encourage mentoring our Junior Auxiliary members so that these young women are groomed to know the mission of the American Legion when they grow up."Foster said that the monetary costs to help recovering veterans is going to be substantial because there are greater injuries in this war than in any other and that today's veterans will need more care than any other veterans.Foster said that the American Legion plays a huge role in the community in many areas by serving as a polling place for voting."We're here for all veterans everywhere," said Foster. "This area has a lot of veterans."