Legion officer remembered
John Cyprian, director of Butler County Veterans Services, worked with Glenn Birch for decades.
“I’ve probably known Glenn for over 20 years, since first coming on the job,” Cyprian said Tuesday. “There’ll be a lot of things that pop up that Glenn had a hand in.”
Birch, who died Thursday at Butler Memorial Hospital, was commander of American Legion Post 117 in Butler since 2004. The post has between 1,500 and 1,700 members overall, said Jean Stano, office clerk.
From his courthouse office, Cyprian recalled how he and Birch worked together on the development of the World War II Memorial in Diamond Park, which is still on the department’s website. Birch raised funds for the memorial and the post accepted donations for it, Cyprian said. The post continues to do so today.
Birch also partnered with Cyprian and other officials on the Butler flag project.
“He was a very nice man, a great veteran,” said Jill Kraus, chairman of the city’s Shade Tree Commission.
“I worked with him on the flag project,” Kraus said. “We had a mutual interest in the appearance of Main Street.”
The post is responsible for getting and maintaining the flags, flagpoles and accessories needed to fly the flag on holidays, she said. The post expanded the project to include the General Richard Butler Bridge.
As the post’s finance officer, Birch also was instrumental in the funding and construction of the Post 117 home from 1995 to 2000, which had an estimated cost of $1 million.
During his 25 years as a Post 117 member, Birch held many offices and accepted many awards for his leadership. In 2011, he was named Pennsylvania American Legion Commander of the Year. In 2003, he was named Butler County Veteran of the Year.
As Shawn Beranty wrote on Facebook, “He was a great, upstanding, caring leader, who we followed and looked up to. He set the standard for a lot of us, on how to conduct ourselves at all times. (He) very much will be missed.”
The post’s new commander is Lou Halin, former first vice commander.
