SAL Squadron 105 Makes Belleville Proud At NJ American Legion Event

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 105. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

For the second year in a row, the Sons of the American Legion (SAL) Squadron 105 attended the American Legion Detachment of New Jersey Convention in Wildwood, representing Belleville and the county of Essex at this 60th state-wide meeting of the organization. With seventeen members in attendance at this four-day event, Belleville’s Sons were recognized with a number of awards based on their activity within the community and state. The highlight of the week ended with Squadron 105 proudly marching Belleville’s name down Atlantic Avenue in the Department Parade held the last day.

Each year during the second week in June, New Jersey’s American Legion Family, comprising of the American Legion, the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA), the Sons of the American Legion (SAL), and the Legion Riders, gathers in Wildwood, NJ for their week-long state-wide convention. The convention sessions themselves are only two days, but events precede and follow those days of votes on the floor with receptions, parades, and ‘get togethers’. In addition to the organization’s business that needs to be discussed and voted on throughout the week, the convention is also an amazing opportunity for posts, units, and squadrons from around the state to get together and celebrate our common goal of working towards our veterans.

Each post that attends gets a certain amount of delegates based on the size of its membership. SAL 105 had, between both days of convention sessions, ten delegates present. The convention itself culminated in the election of this year’s Detachment Commander, Mark Natale of Middlesex county, who will serve until next June as the commander of all of the Sons in New Jersey – all 9,000 of them in over 160 squadrons.

Squadron 105 also proudly nominated its own Steve Sangemino for reelection to the office of Detachment Vice Commander, leading to his third term. “It is an honor representing my Squadron at the state level as a vice commander” noted Sangemino. “What a great team we have – can’t wait until next year!”

“Last year three of us came down to Wildwood”, stated Adjutant Rusty Myers. “We had so much fun, and talked it up so much back home, this year we had seventeen people go down. Next year it will be even bigger, and we’re renting out almost the entire Skylark Hotel where we were at.” Commander Sangemino echoed that sentiment by saying “… thank you to our 105 Family for your support and for showing Wildwood what the 105 is all about.”

Throughout the week, rousing shouts of ‘105 in the house!” could be heard around Wildwood.

The convention also gives the state an opportunity to tally up the accomplishments of those 163 squadrons. This tabulation, aside from giving the SAL National Headquarters a precise idea of what the contributions from the Detachment of NJ are, also gives the state leadership an opportunity to recognize those squadron which have excelled in running some of their own programs. SAL 105 received awards for its Americanism programs, plus their contributions back to the American Legion - classified as Internal Affairs projects. 105 Adjutant Myers, who also serves as the representative for Essex County, received an award as well for Meritorious Service for being a runner-up for the prestigious “Son of the Year” award, which on of Belleville’s Sons received last year.

SAL National Commander Michael Fox’s program throughout 2021-22 has been “Flying Flags for Heroes”, which has since been adopted as a national program in perpetuity that the Sons participate in. The program encourages anyone to put flags at the gravestones of veterans, not just on Memorial Day but throughout the year, and take and submit pictures of it to the program’s website. The goal this year was 1 million flags getting placed – a goal which has been far exceeded by an ultimate total of 1.4 million flags. During the convention, after one of the sessions, the Detachment of NJ organized a bus trip to a local cemetery in Cape May County, where SAL 105 helped place around 150 flags. The ceremony concluded with a very emotional rendition of TAPS as a salute to our deceased veterans.

Perhaps the greatest event 105 participated in was, by everyone’s account, the Department of NJ’s parade on Saturday the 11th. Squadron 105 marched beaming with pride, wearing their white stars and stripes uniforms, behind a sky blue and yellow banner sporting our name and hometown. A number of times before the parade, back here at home in Belleville, the Squadron had color guard practice in the parking lot in advance of Wildwood. The practice paid off, because SAL 105 won fifth place in the color guard completion, among probably 30 or 40 color guard units that marched. The parade was about two hours long, marching thousands of members of the Legion family the 1.3 miles down Atlantic Avenue. Two of our Sons also had the honor of marching in the front of the county, carrying the American Legion Essex County Committee’s colors. Members of Post 105’s American Legion Auxiliary interest group, which hopes to receive its charter in the near future, marched with the Squadron as well. ”To say the Statewide American Legion Parade was awesome is an understatement,” wrote ALA member Jackie Elsmore of Nutley on Facebook. “We were honored and very touched to be a part of this experience.”

Squadron 105 truly enjoyed their second convention, and looks forward to participating next year. Though the Sons do not run any of their programs for awards, it is a good metric for the community to understand where their support of American Legion 105 is going. At all of our fundraising events – poppies over Memorial Day weekend, at our annual picnic each year (this years in September 17th), at our flag fundraiser over Veterans Day weekend at the ShopRite – Belleville always rallies and shows their support and generosity towards their local veterans and to projects which directly impact our community. The 105 is always in awe over how giving our neighbors are – and our participation in the convention is a reflection on who we are back here at home and of Belleville itself.

The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization, committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to our fellow service members and veterans. Founded in 1932, Sons of The American Legion exists to honor the service and sacrifice of Legionnaires, and is open to all male sons and grandsons of eligible veterans.

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