4701 North 19th Avenue, Suite #200, Phoenix, Arizona 85015, United States
602-264-7706 Ext - 105
SONS of The American Legion Detachment of Arizona Leadership
Detachment Commander Gary Manwell
Area A Vice-Commander Lance Bymers
Area B Vice-Commander Charlie Sullivan
Area C Vice-Commander Donald Whalen
Detachment Adjutant Steve Vandez
National Leadership
NATIONAL COMMANDER AMERICAN LEGION DAN K. WILEY
NATIONAL COMMANDER SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION BILL CLANCY III
NATIONAL PRESIDENT AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY PAM RAY
An Air Force veteran, Wiley is a retired state district court judge who raises cattle in Leavenworth, Kan. Following his Air Force service, Wiley obtained a bachelor’s degree in business at the College of Great Falls in Montana. He returned to his hometown of Lawrence, Kan., and earned a law degree at the University of Kansas.
Wiley has
An Air Force veteran, Wiley is a retired state district court judge who raises cattle in Leavenworth, Kan. Following his Air Force service, Wiley obtained a bachelor’s degree in business at the College of Great Falls in Montana. He returned to his hometown of Lawrence, Kan., and earned a law degree at the University of Kansas.
Wiley has held many leadership positions at The American Legion post, department (state) and national levels. He is a paid-up-for-life member of Byron H. Mehl American Legion Post 23 in Leavenworth and is a past department commander of Kansas. He also represented the state as a member of The American Legion’s National Executive Committee.
Appointed by the Kansas governor as a district court judge in 2008, Wiley helped establish and preside over the Leavenworth County Veterans Treatment Court. He has been active in his community and is a past president of the Leavenworth / Lansing Chamber of Commerce, a past chairman of the Leavenworth County Veterans Day Parade Committee and a former member of the Unified School District 453 School Board.
As national commander, Wiley is a strong advocate for The American Legion’s Be the One mission to prevent veteran suicide. He emphasizes inclusivity in the American Legion Family through the theme, Better Together!
Wiley and his wife, Sonia, have two children, Austin and Christy, and one grandson.
NATIONAL PRESIDENT AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY PAM RAY
NATIONAL COMMANDER SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION BILL CLANCY III
NATIONAL PRESIDENT AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY PAM RAY
Pam is a 69-year PUFL member of the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Illinois. When she was a pre-teen, her parents transferred her to Urbana Unit 71 so she could be an active Junior member. Pam never looked back. She has served in all Junior offices in her department, including Honorary Department Junior President in 1972. She
Pam is a 69-year PUFL member of the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Illinois. When she was a pre-teen, her parents transferred her to Urbana Unit 71 so she could be an active Junior member. Pam never looked back. She has served in all Junior offices in her department, including Honorary Department Junior President in 1972. She continued her service in the ALA as an adult serving several offices in her unit, including president, historian, and sergeant-at-arms. She served as district president 2002-2003. On the department level, she also served several offices, including department president in 2010-2011. She was proud to serve with then-National President Carlene Ashworth as a Power of One girl!
Pam wanted to be a nurse from the young age of 3. She achieved that dream in 1977 and had a wonderful 47-year career. She loves caring for people who need her help. She has worked in the Burn Center, Pediatrics, Neurosurgery, and spent much of her career caring for head and neck cancer patients and their families. She has had family members suffer from this terrible illness and is able to assist families in understanding what is happening to their loved ones.
Pam is married to Harl “Butch” Ray. They have been married for 46 years. Butch is retired from the Secretary of State’s office in Illinois serving as director of Physical Services. Butch and Pam have two daughters. The oldest daughter is Dr. Sara Helmus, an associate Dean of Students at Morton College and loves teaching so much that she still teaches a chemistry lecture class. Sara is married to Jonathan and they have a beautiful husky, Siko. Pam and Butch’s youngest daughter, Ami, is a master’s degree licensed counselor. She also works at a law firm as their office manager and paralegal. Ami has two wonderful children. Chloe is 14 and Ben is 11. They are definitely Butch and Pam’s pride and joy.
“I am so proud of my family. My parents are no longer on this earth, but I know they are cheering me on from up above as I take this step to serve the organization that they raised me in,” said Pam. “What an incredible honor this will be for me and my family.”
Pam’s passion has always been helping people. She has found that the ALA’s mission is a way to continue doing that. Her family is her other passion. What better way to bring the two together than with a theme of Mission Driven, Family Focused.
NATIONAL COMMANDER SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION BILL CLANCY III
NATIONAL COMMANDER SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION BILL CLANCY III
NATIONAL COMMANDER SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION BILL CLANCY III
A member of the Detachment of New York has been elected as 2025-2026 Sons of The American Legion national commander. William “Bill” Clancy III was elected by delegates to the organization’s national convention in Tampa, Fla.
During his remarks to convention delegates, he set out his goals for an organization that this year surpassed 400,
A member of the Detachment of New York has been elected as 2025-2026 Sons of The American Legion national commander. William “Bill” Clancy III was elected by delegates to the organization’s national convention in Tampa, Fla.
During his remarks to convention delegates, he set out his goals for an organization that this year surpassed 400,000 members to set an all-time membership record. And he stressed achieving them would be a team effort.
“All of my thoughts always bring me back to one word. It’s the word we,” Clancy said. “’We’ is infinitely more powerful than ‘I’. We is the word that our founding fathers chose when they wrote one of the best documents ever written, when they opened it with, ‘We, the people’.
“I think about we, the Sons of The American Legion … as a part of the American Legion Family. Four-hundred thousand strong and growing somewhat fast. We, the Sons of The American Legion, as a prominent social force for good, promoting every and all principles laid out in The American Legion Preamble.”
Clancy also spoke of the Sons’ role in promoting the Legion’s veteran suicide prevention mission. “We, the Sons of The American Legion, to carry forward the message of being the one,” he said. “Being the one to stop veteran suicide by conveying the training and to make the public aware of this tremendous horror facing our country – that veterans are taking their own lives.
“We’re going to continue to spread the message, but we’re going to do more than spread the message. We are going to endeavor to bring every veteran in the United States, all 15-plus million of them … into this American Legion Family, where they know they will be loved and cared for all the time.”
Clancy said he remembers as a child how exciting it was to celebrate the nation’s 200th birthday and pledged that the Sons would make the 250th birthday next July just as exciting.
“The American Legion, under Commander LaCoursiere, has launched (the USA 250 Challenge),” he said. “It’s a challenge not just to Legion Family members, but to all Americans to get involved in one of three things: physical fitness, service and/or mental health. We’re going to challenge everybody to create some activity centering around the idea of 250.”
Clancy said he and his family have signed up for the challenge and plan to complete multiple components. “The first component for us and for me, we’re going to do 250 workouts as I travel around the country,” he said. “The second component … is community service. I aim to plant 250 trees this year around our country and have them named after veterans in the local communities where we plant them.”
Clancy is a founding member of SAL Squadron 156 in City Island, where he has served multiple terms as squadron commander. He also has served as New York detachment commander and in national leadership positions, and also is a graduate of New York Boys State.
He is eligible for Sons membership through the military service of both his grandfather and father. “I grew up in an American Legion Family where there was never any talk of red or blue. It was only red, white and blue,” Clancy said. “I grew up in an American Legion Family where there were a lot of strong personalities. But if ever there was a task at hand, the devotion to mutual helpfulness prevailed. And I grew up in an American Legion Family where ‘for the good’ was not just a part of a meeting, but it was a weekly discussion at our post and at our family dinner table.
“Growing up with all the values laid out in the preamble of The American Legion and the Sons of The American Legion was a phenomenal way to grow. And my hope is that in the year ahead, I project those values to all Americans.”