Joseph Weinberg
Weinberg Receives Legion Award
Statewide honors were bestowed on a longtime member of Lowell American Legion Post 101 this month during the final session of the 74th American Legion Dept. of Indiana convention held in Indianapolis.Joseph Weinberg of Lowell was presented with the Distinguished Service Award on July 12 in recognition of his many years of service on the American Legion's state level. "In recognition of an appreciation for his outstanding service to the American Legion as Northern Vice Commander in 1967-68 and his service on many state committees and commissions" read the plaque presented to Weinberg at the July 9-12 convention's closing session.
Weinberg, a modest man who would rather give credit to Post 101, was invited to the convention by outgoing Dept. (State) Commander Terry L. Smith. Escorted into the closing session with other VIP's, Weinberg received the applause of his fellow Legionnaires as he accepted the highest service award bestowed by the American Legion.
A past commander of Post 101 and the First District of the Indiana American Legion, Weinberg also served as Northern Vice Commander, leading the northern half of the state, and held numerous other local and state posts during his 47 years as a Legionnaire.
Weinberg was commander of Post 101 when the highly popular White Sox Day was established in 1959. On the heels of the Chicago baseball team's last pennant winner, Weinberg and Post 101 invited White Sox players to accompany Legionnaires on annual spring visits to Hines Veterans Hospital in Illinois, where the ballplayers visited with the patients and distributed trademark pairs of white cotton socks.
Among the celebrities who made the trip were Pete Ward, Tommy Agee and Bill Nicholson, recalled Weinberg.
Although the baseball team ended its affiliation with White Sox Day about two decades ago, Weinberg continued collecting socks and rounding up Legionnaires to visit the hospital well into the 1980's.
From 1968-83, Weinberg served as American Legion State Hospital Chair, and presented a resolution to the Indiana Executive Committee to include regular visitations to veterans in nursing homes as well as hospitals. The resolution was adopted and made part of the Legion's Hospital Program.
Also a member of the National Rehabilitation Commission of the American Legion, Weinberg was born in Illinois but raised in Crown Point, where he graduated from high school in 1935. A star basketball player, he earned a scholarship to Butler University and attended school there before joining the U.S. Army, where he served with the infantry.
In 1942 Weinberg married Ruth Dahl and the couple moved nearer her family in Lowell. He worked for U.S. Steel Co. for about 35 years before retiring, and devoted much of his leisure time to American Legion activities, including the annual Labor Day Homecoming Parade.
Adjutant Adam Kretz of neighboring Post 261 in Cedar Lake wrote to congratulate Weinberg: "We are so proud and happy for you, to have received the Distinguished Service Award. It is an honor you have earned and rightly deserve. . ."
Weinberg said he was proud and humbled by the presentation of the award.
Also at the July 12 session, it was announced that Indiana American Legion membership has reached an all-time high of 140,000. To close the convention, delegates from the 11 districts elected state officers, including Dept. Commander Thomas G. Goad of Post 22 in the Seventh District.
The following Jan. 19, 1994, article appeared in the Lowell Tribune:
Legion Celebrates 'Joe Weinberg Day'
The American Legion's motto -- "Veterans Helping Veterans" -- has never been better exemplified than in the visitation program of Hines Veterans Hospital in Chicago, Ill., as well as other veterans' hospitals.American Legion Post 101 in Lowell is very proud of the special recognition day given to Legionnaire Joe Weinberg.
This special day, Sun., Jan. 23, was granted to Weinberg because of his long and distinguished service to the Hines Hospital visitation program. He has been involved for over 30 years with Hines Hospital, as well as being the state chair for over 15 years.
Weinberg has held many offices in the American Legion: Post Commander, 1st District Commander, Northern Vice Commander. His most rewarding memories, however, are of his many visits to veterans' hospitals, said Weinberg, who was also active in the Lowell Labor Day Homecoming Parade for many years.
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