Post 105 is Alive!

 The American Legion was built on a promise from men and women who swore with their lives to defend and protect the United States through military service. The promise begins at enlistment, grows through training and discipline in the U.S. Armed Forces and continues after discharge, as veterans in service to community, state and nation. 

Christopher J. Lapka, Post 105 is dedicated to its efforts in helping our veterans, family members, and the community! We have a dedicated Service Officer who helps veterans and their families with Veteran Affairs (VA) and other claims, and a Chaplain who assists members with their spiritual needs. Elected Officers from the Legion, Sons, Riders, and Auxilary who serve our veterans proudly.

Money raised is used for youth programs such as Scouts, Boy State, American Legion Law Enforcement Career Academy (ALLECA), Oratorical, American Legion Baseball, Junior Shooting Sports, Children and Youth Programs, and local grade/high school programs

. “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.” – Aristotle. 

We also support and raise money for homeless veterans and their families, domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking, and suicide prevention such as the "Be The One!"

Join our Post as a Booster or Sponsor; Money raised is given back to the community. Please help us continue sponsoring scholarships for our children; provide help in keeping homeless veterans off the streets; and providing needed funds to local, state and national suicide prevention programs.

Christopher J. Lapka was born in July of 1982 at Phoenix Good Samaritan Hospital. He was the first of two children born to Christina and Kenneth Lapka. C.J., as Christopher was called, attended Apache Elementary School and later the recently opened Sunrise Mountain High School. He was a serious student from the start, missing only two days of school during his K-12 school days. He scored a 97 on the ASVAB military aptitude test and was constantly sought after by military recruiters. Both of Christopher's grandfathers had served in the military and fought in WWII. His uncles Donald and William served in the Marine Corps and fought in Vietnam. During his junior year in high school, Christopher was sponsored by Peoria American Legion Post 62 to attend Boys' State. He was so impressed with the program that he volunteered as a junior counselor the following year and a senior counselor afterward. It was during this time C.J. met and befriended Roland Matteson and his son Michael from Post 105. While in high school C.J. also participated in school sports. He played two years of varsity football at Sunrise Mountain but was limited in his success due to his small stature. He turned his efforts to wrestling where he excelled for four years, one year freshmen and three years varsity. C.J. was the 4A regional champion his junior year and wrestled at the Division 4A Arizona State Championships his senior year. C.J. graduated from SMHS in 2000 in the top 2% of his class earning an academic tuition waver scholarship to Arizona State University. He had just begun his sophomore year in the fall of 2001. He was enrolled in School of Engineering with aspirations of becoming a civil engineer like his uncle William. C.J. had been named to the Dean's List both of his freshman semesters and would also earn that honor for his sophomore semester. He was well on his way when our country was viciously attacked by Muslim terrorists on September 11th, 2001. Christopher was consumed by the audacity of these attacks. In fact he was so outraged that he sought out a Marine recruiter within days of the attacks. He entered the Marine Corps in January 2002. He completed basic training at MCRD San Diego, and then it was on to the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, California. Although he was offered numerous options because of his scholastic achievements C.J. elected MOS 0311, Infantry. He was transferred to K Bay, MCB Hawaii. Due to to his Recon training he was chosen to attend Scout Swimmer training and was named Chief Scout Swimmer as a Lance Corporal ahead of a sergeant. He was later accepted to and completed Marine Combat Instructor of Water Survival training (MCIWS).

Christopher always positively demonstrated his worth to the Maine Corps and was rewarded for it in January 2003, when he was named Marine of the Quarter at MCBH. He was soon promoted to the rank of Corporal. 

C.J. was first deployed to the Middle East in July of 2003, but did not make it into Iraq or Afghanistan. He returned to MCBH upon completion of his deployment. Although he enjoyed his time in the Corps he started to become disenchanted. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were going on without him. After all, he had given up his college scholarship to fight for his country, not to spend his time relaxing on the beaches of Hawaii. That would change in the fall of 2004. Christopher's unit was deployed to Iraq, arriving in mid-October.

On October 30th, a convoy was formed to rescue a group of Marines who had become stranded in the desert near Fallujah and were under enemy attack. Christopher was on his off time but asked to be included in the detail. C.J. was accepted and joined the convoy as the A driver of a troop transport truck. After retrieving the Marines and while returning to base, the convoy got disoriented near the town of Zaiden. During the confusion the convoy was targeted for attack by a group of insurgents. An insurgent initiated the attack on the convoy by crashing his truck laden with explosives into Christopher's truck. It exploded shortly after impact, killing C.J. and seven other Marines. A firefight followed during which the Marines suffered other casualties but no other fatalities. The remnants of the convoy were able to return to their base without further incident. This attack was a prelude to the assault to retake Fallujah from enemy occupation.

Christopher was returned home to us on November 10th, the Marine Corps birthday. He was laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, Phoenix, on November 15th, 2004.