Did you know the U.S. military helped create the Juneteenth holiday? One of the federal government’s first attacks on slavery during the war was an “Act to Secure Freedom to All Persons Within the Territories of the United States,” passed on June 19, 1862. Exactly three years later, Gen. Gordon Granger would sail into Galveston, Texas, to read the Emancipation Proclamation to the people of Texas. The day would become known as “Juneteenth” and would be celebrated as a holiday — a second independence day — for former slaves. On June 19, 1865, Granger read the words written by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Texas was the last state in the defeated Confederacy to hear them. On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It’s the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983. Learn more at https://www.military.com/off-duty/how-us-military-helped-create-juneteenth-holiday.html
Artwork: https://mutopejjohnson.blogspot.com/
June 14 marks the 247th birthday of the United States Army and 245 years of Old Glory flying high. The U.S. Army is two years older than the U.S. flag. A resolution of the Continental Congress authorized 10 companies of riflemen on June 14, 1775, to establish the U.S. Army. Two years later, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act and adopted the stars-and-stripes design as our nation’s flag. In 1949, President Harry Truman signed an act of Congress designating June 14 as National Flag Day. Learn more about the U.S. Army’s 247th Birthday Celebration at https://www.army.mil/1775/index.html#hpways
MN DAV Chapter 39 & Auxiliary Unit 39 meetings will be held on Thurs., June 9, 2022, 6:30 PM at the VFW, 1919 Coon Rapids Blvd., Coon Rapids, MN 55433. Chapter agenda includes Membership Drive (lifetime membership for Chapter 39 now $50) and an update on the upcoming 6th Annual Leo Luskey DAV Golf Tournament.
