The Daily Alaska empire., 1942-09-11
LEGION GIVEN
 PRAISE BY GOV.
 ON WAR WORK
Organization Is Backbone of Present Territor-
 iaI Guards

When the American Legion and Auxiliary delegates gathered in Sitka for the annual encampment they listened on the opening day to a message from Gov. Ernest Gruen- ing. The latter was unable to at tend and the message was read by E. L. Bartlett, Secretary of Alaska as follows:
 Members of the American Le- gion The fundamental, the over shadowing, fact which confronts the 23rd Annual Convention of the Am erican Legion, Department of AL aska, meeting here at Sitka today I is that the Nation is at war.
 "The American Legion was born out of the first World War ard in the twenty-four years which have elapsed since the Armistice, the Legion has as a body taken vigor- ous positions on matters relating to the national safety. The value of the Legion's stand in behalf of strong defense is more apparent today than ever before. The Legion l has stood for the fullest type of preparedness. The Legion has stood for democratic policy of complete conscription of both the human tion And today as our Nation is battling on the seven seas and on all the continents, it is increasingly clear that only by such total mobil ization can we achieve the knock out victory which is essential to the survival of all the principles which we Americans hold dear.
 Principles of Legion
 "As a body, the Legion has been enlisted for these principles ever since it's inception. Having fought in the first World War, its member ship fully understood and under stands the horrors and the suffer ings that war brings about But they also understood that if there is one thing worse than getting into a war it is getting into such war and fighting it successfully; they understand, in other words that there is one disaster worse than fighting a war, and that is to lose a war. That, we all know, isl the supreme calamity and one which we Americans are determined tol prevent at all costs.
 Finally, the members of the throughout our history we have found it repeatedly necessary to fight and die for our rights and for our freedom Our Nation was born of war. Our rights were main- tained by fighting in the War of 1872. Our union was maintained by fighting in the Civil War Oppres- sion from the old world persisting in the free western world was in part liquidated by our war with Spain in 1898. The principles for which we now again fight were at stake in the first Word War.
 War Beats History
 This war, however, goes beyond all previous wars in cur history To- day our enemies are more formid- able, more ruthless than ever be- fore Consider that already in the | of has lost more men than it has in all our previous wars combined. This is a war of survival. Either they and their tyrannies perish or we and our free institutions perish. We are fighting not merely for principles worth fighting and dy- ling for-but we are fighting for our lives.
 For Alaska this war also brings new aspects. For the first time in our history Alaska is vital combat zone. Discovered less than three years ago by our military strategists, Alaska looms up increasingly every day as the key to the strategy of ] the Pacific, as the bulwark for our hemisphere against attack from the west and, we hope, soon that it will loom as the great spear-head of our attack against Japan More over here in Alaska the enemy has for the first time occupied Ameri- can soil If we let him he will att tempt to advance further toward the mainland of Alaska To prevent this and to drive him from the foothold he has secured, our armed forces both of Army and Navy will do their part. And we can have t confidence that the actions of our 9 armed forces will be well timed and
 when taken, effective But here in
 Alaska that is not all q Q Mobilizing Civilians
 l we are mobiliZing the civilian 9 population so that it too may take
 it's part in repelling any invasion