Maynard Sorensen reports:
Two items for the December News.
1. American Legion Post 711 is in the process of merging with
Post 90. Former Commander Maynard Sorensen is third Vice Commander of Post 90
and will continue to serve the Ivins area with assistance of Post 90 membership
with American Legion projects. Some of the former members of Post 711 are now
serving in the Post 90 Honor Guard.
2. For some time, former Commander of American Legion Post
711, now in Post 90, Maynard Sorensen has been working on re-naming the
Central Utah Veterans Home in Payson for one of five Medal of Honor winners
in Utah. Recently, Gary Harter, head of the Department of Veterans Affairs for
Utah, announced that the name change had been approved, and that it would
happen on Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7th, 2016 at the Veterans Home in Payson,
Utah at 2 p.m., which facility was built as the same time as the Southern Utah
Veterans Home in Ivins. Maynard Sorensen will be a speaker on the program
and will assist in an unveiling of a new monument and special photo at the
conclusion. The public is welcome to attend.
The Payson facility will be re-named The Mervyn
Sharp Bennion Veterans Home. Captain Bennion was killed while in command of
the USS West Virginia defending his ship and crew during the attack on Pearl
Harbor, Dec. 7th, 1941. This year is the seventy-fifth anniversary. Captain
Bennion grew up just fifty miles to the West of Payson on a sheep and cattle
ranch near Vernon, Utah. He, and his Brother Howard, both graduated with honors
for the military academies and had very successful careers in the
military.
