American Legion Post 49

05/29/2026

Join us as we welcome Southern Trail Band this Saturday!

05/25/2026

05/25/2026

We don't just remember on certain weekends. We remember everyday.

Ronald Reagan, Arlington National Cemetery, May 31, 1982: "The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way—be willing to give of ourselves."

05/25/2026

Remember. Honor. Teach the next generation.

05/24/2026

A day of remembrance.

05/23/2026

June is looking good!

05/23/2026

We would like to have a May meeting for all SAL members for Squadron 49, this Tuesday May 26th, at American Legion Post 49, at 7pm.

Purpose of this meeting is to start getting membership current for Post 49 SAL program, and to start election process for new Executive board members for SAL program for Squadron 49.

Please try and attend this meeting on May 26th, 2026 at 7pm.

05/22/2026

For eight years, Rick Rescorla was the man everyone rolled their eyes at.
As head of security for Morgan Stanley in the World Trade Center, he did something that made executives groan and employees grumble — every three months, without warning, he would shut everything down and march all 2,700 people down the emergency stairs. No exceptions. No shortcuts.
"This is ridiculous."
"It'll never happen."
"You're wasting our time, Rick."
He'd heard it all. He didn't care.
Rick had been a decorated combat veteran — a man who had looked war in the face and understood one truth that most people spend their lives avoiding: disasters don't warn you. You either prepare, or you suffer.
Back in 1990, he submitted a detailed warning to management: terrorists could park a bomb in the World Trade Center's underground garage and bring the towers down. His bosses filed it away and moved on.
Three years later, in February 1993, a truck bomb exploded in exactly that garage.
Rick stood and watched hundreds of people flood out in blind panic — confused, slow, dangerous to each other. He didn't say I told you so.
He pulled out a stopwatch and started timing.
If something bigger ever came, his people would not panic. They would move.
He redesigned the drills. He found the bottlenecks and fixed them. He studied exactly which stairwells were fastest. And as people filed down floor after floor in practice runs, Rick walked among them — singing. Old Welsh military hymns, in a booming voice that bounced off concrete walls.
"Men of Harlech, march to glory…"
People laughed at that too. But somehow, they always kept moving.

September 11, 2001. 8:46 AM.
The North Tower was struck. Smoke filled the New York sky. And over the intercom in the South Tower, an announcement echoed through every floor:
"The building is secure. Please return to your offices."
Rick Rescorla picked up his bullhorn.
He had not spent eight years preparing to follow that announcement. He ordered every Morgan Stanley employee to evacuate. Immediately. Now.
And because they had walked those stairs dozens of times, because their feet knew every landing and their minds knew every exit — they moved. Calm. Focused. Fast.
Rick stood in the stairwells as they passed, his voice steady and strong:
"Men of Harlech, march to glory…"
At 9:03 AM, the second plane hit the South Tower.
Colleagues who passed Rick begged him to come with them. He shook his head each time, the same quiet answer on his lips:
"As soon as everyone's out."
He kept going back up.
Of the 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees in that building, the overwhelming majority made it out alive. It stands as one of the most remarkable survivals of that entire day — an outcome that did not happen by luck, or accident, or fate.
It happened because one man spent eight years being laughed at, and never once stopped preparing.
Rick Rescorla's body was never found.
But the 2,700 people who walked out of those towers because of him? They found their way home.
History didn't laugh.

05/20/2026

It's time to celebrate Mama Jean!

05/16/2026

Thank you to those wearing the uniform today! We salute you!

05/13/2026

Join the VA2K Walk & Roll on the New Mexico VA Parade Grounds
Wednesday, May 20th 2026 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

See below for more details!