Local hero and Commander of the Hilton Stone American Legion Post279, Woodbury, Tennessee, Bobby E. Ferrell, United States Marines, has been
selected as the American Legion State of Tennessee, “Legionnaire of the
Year”. This prestigious award is a very special and coveted award.
Tennessee has 54 American Legion Posts consisting of over 30,000 members.
American Legion Post 279 is a newly chartered Post. In fact, it is the
first new American Legion Post in Tennessee in the past twenty years.
Post 279 has been Chartered just a little over two years. Under Commander
Ferrell’s leadership Post 279 has established several major operational
goals: 1. To support the youth programs in our community. 2. To support the
Veterans of Cannon County and their families. 3. That there would be no
smoking, no dancing, and no drinking alcoholic beverages at Post 279
meetings. 4. The meetings would be family oriented, fun and exciting. The
ladies of the Auxillary would prepare our meals for our monthly meetings.
Under his leadership he has led the Post in the direction of being a model
Post for all other American Legion Posts in Tennessee to emulate. Commander
Ferrell puts a great deal of emphasis on youth programs such as Boys State,
Girls State, Oritorical Contest, American Legion Baseball (which will be
headed up by Ronny Timmons), and the Sons of the American Legion(eligible to
sons and grandsons of war time Veterans). He also strongly emphasizes
support to all community activities such as, Good Ole Days, Armed Forces Day
and Parade, Memorial Day, The annual Veterans Day Program at Cannon County
and Veterans Day Parade to honor the Veterans of Cannon County, the Fishing
Rodeo held at Dillon Park with TWRA Mark Vance(we had 86 kids and 134 adults
attend – fun, hot dogs and drinks for all—and lots of fish were caught).
Commander Ferrell insures visitors visit Veterans in the nursing home. He
insures maximum support to the Christmas Food Gift Boxes sponsored by our
Woodbury Police Department. Commander Ferrell and Post Officers and Members
support the Carnival Day at the Alvin C. York Medical Center in
Murfreesboro.
Commander Ferrell has served as the United States Marine Grand Marshal
for the Annual Veterans Day Parade. He was selected as the “Legionnaire of
the Year for American Legion Post 279 for 2012. He also has the distinct
honor of being elected as the Commander of Post 279 for his second term (A
great honor from his peers). Ferrell has received the National Headquarters
Certificate of Meritorious Service.
He also received the Tennessee Commander’s Excellence Award. He completed
the American Legion Extension Institute – Corrrespondence Course, 24 April
2012. Ferrell is one of the 21 original Charter members of Post 279.
Commander Ferrell with a personal drive, unequal enthusiam, and a
sincere sense of service to our Veterans and his community, stepped forward
when our original Commander resigned, and our initial 1st Vice Commander
took over as commander and resigned in a couple of months, all during the
first year as a newly chartered American Legion Post. Through his
inspiring, tough and demanding leadership, he assumed command of Post 279.
He organized his staff, established an extensive Executive Board which
includes all of the elected officers of the Post. This board meets monthly
in addition to our regular monthly meeting. This way all of the business is
completed during the Executive Board Meeting and our regular meeting can
focus on the ceremonial and informational issues. He has established a
positive can-do attitude among the staff officers and members. He
personally headed up a campaign to sell memorial bricks for the Department
of Tennessee Hedquarters for a special project for Veterans known as the
“Yellow Brick Road”, where memorial bricks in honor of a veteran is
purchased and placed in his or her memory. He volunteered Post 279 to host
the Fifth District Convention. He organized and conducted a “Post
Everlasting” ceremony to honor our Post
279 members who pasted away during the year. He established a Liaison
Officer position to work with the Auxillary to keep our ladies well informed
on all issues. The ladies of our Auxillary prepare our dinner for our
monthly meetings.
Commander Ferrell has established a close working relationship with our
City and County Officials. He is truly an outstanding Ambassador for the
American Legion.
Commander Ferrell is a man of vision. His goal is to have an annual
major fund raising event for Post 279 and our County. Through his
leadership, we are in our second year of establishing an Annual Licensed and
Sanctioned Kansas City Bar-B-Que Cook-Off event similar to the one held
annually in Lynchburg, TN. He sets the example for all to follow. He is a
man of exceptional leadership abilities, who “Sets the Pace” for American
Legion Post 279. His dedication and leadership to Post 279 has truly been
above and beyond the call of duty.
It is a great honor and priviledge to serve under the command of Bobby
E. Ferrell. Based on my 35 years of military service, I worked with many
high level officers. I met only a few of these high level officers who had
the exceptional and demonstrated leadership abilities of Commander Ferrell.
He is truly outstanding by any measurement.
