Exclusive: American Legion In Turmoil As Top Exec Resigns Over Background Questions

The American Legion executive tapped to assume the organization’s top administrative position resigned abruptly on Wednesday amid allegations that she exaggerated her professional and academic credentials, Task & Purpose has learned.

Verna L. Jones, 53, tendered her resignation just as she was about to take over for Daniel S. Wheeler, a Vietnam War veteran who has served as the Legion’s National Adjutant since 2008. Sources tell Task and Purpose that a cursory background check, required for her promotion, could not verify that Jones had a law degree or was ever licensed to practice law.

Jones’ colleagues seem to have been completely blindsided by her sudden departure — and also by the discovery that one of the Legion’s most cherished members, a woman highly regarded in policy circles for her strength of character and unyielding commitment to veterans advocacy, wasn’t entirely the person she has long advertised herself to be.

A Gulf War-era Army veteran, Jones started working for the Legion at the grassroots level in her native North Carolina and ascended quickly through the ranks, building a network of powerful allies that spanned Washington. She leveraged her gift for public speaking to help keep veterans issues at the forefront as it became clear that the Department of Veterans Affairs was ill-equipped for the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


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