Past Commander Ken Wilson, left, and present Commander Jon Sroufe display awards presented to North Webster American Legion Post 253 at the recent state convention. (Photo provided)

At the 95st American Legion, Department of Indiana Convention, held Thursday through Sunday, July 11-14, at the Marriott East Hotel in Indianapolis, the North Webster American Legion Post 253 was presented four department awards.

During the opening general session on Friday, NW Legion 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 the State of Indiana and the SAL American Legion Post Award for the Legion post sponsoring the largest SAL squadron in the Department of Indiana.

Sons of American Legion Commander Rick Hagan and awards presented to North Webster American Legion Squadron 253 at the Detachment convention for the state organization. (Photo provided)

In membership, Post 253 has more Legion members than the town of North Webster has residents, it has the largest Sons of the Legion squadron in the state of 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 on 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
SAL Awards

At the Sons of the American Legion Detachment Convention, held concurrently with the American Legion Department Convention, North Webster American Legion 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 the State of Indiana. This is the fifteenth 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.