Sons of The American Legion

Henry F Hasselhan
As my Dad would say :”Semper Fidelis" ("Always Faithful") .

Newly elected Commander for the Detachment of New Jersey2021-2022

Henry gained his eligibility for the Sons of the American Legion through his father, Sgt. Henry M Hasselhan USMC, who served in Korea, with the First Marine Division during the Korean War.

Henry has been a member of Waterford Township, Squadron 311, for 17 years.
At the Squadron level Henry was persuaded to reactivate Squadron 311 and has served as Commander, Adjutant, Finance Officer, and Membership Chairman.

At the county level, he served as Sergeant at Arms, Americanism Chairman, Vice Commander, and as Commander 2017-2019, for Camden County. He is currently serving as Camden County Finance Officer.

His first position for the Detachment of New Jersey was Assistant Sgt at Arms, then 4 years as Vice Commander. He is was serving as commission chairman for the Employment, Homeless, and Education Commission, and the SAL Liaison to the American Legion Dept of NJ Employment Homeless and Education Committee. He also sits on the planning committee for the Atlantic City Stand Down. Henry has completed SAL College Basic and Advanced, National Management Institute 1, and the American Legion Extension Institute.

Henry earned a Bachelors degree in Marine Sciences from Stockton State College, now Stockton University, and an Associates degree in Fire Science Technology from Camden County College. He is also a certified wild land fire instructor.












Henry is a retired Assistant Division Fire Warden from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. In this position he was responsible for training, operations, and fire prevention for the counties of Camden, Atlantic, Gloucester, Cumberland, Salem, and Cape May. He also supervised the 12 Fire Wardens assigned to these counties. He continues to fight wildfires in NJ and usually assists in coordinating the incident. He works on a National Type 1 Incident Management Team responding to major wild fires and all hazard incidents thru out the United States. There he works in logistics and assists in managing the incident. He was deployed for hurricane relief from hurricanes Sandy and Irene, and with the New Jersey State Police in Puerto Rico for hurricane Maria.

At the community level he is a life member in the Waterford Twp Fire Department. Serving 20 years total achieving the rank of Assistant Chief, and 1 year as Township Fire Chief. He is also currently the President of the Atco Cemetery Association.

Henry has been married to Jean for 45 years. He has 2 children, Henry P Hasselhan, and Stephanie Bowker and 5 grandchildren.

June 3, 2021

Great news!

Our Detachment Convention times have been changed and are as follows:
Thursday, June 10, 2021--9am to 12pm (If not sooner)
Friday, June 11, 2021--9:30 to 12pm (If not sooner)

The Convention will be held in Ballroom C at the Wildwood Convention Center.

This year's Convention schedule has been streamlined and those modifications are reflected throughout our agenda. The goal is to conduct our business in a quick, efficient manner, with most of our business being conducted on Thursday.

I have had a blast being your Commander and I hope to see you at the Convention!

For God and Country,

Matthew C. Thalasinos
Commander
Sons of The American Legion
Detachment of New Jersey
2019--2021