THE AMERICAN LEGION

The American Legion, one of the nation's largest and most respected organizations of wartime veterans, is made up of men and women who continue to serve America by serving their communities. The preamble to the Constitution of The American Legion clearly states its aim.  It says its members associate together to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, to maintain law and order, to foster Americanism, to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to community, state, and nation, to combat autocracy, to make right the master of might, to promote peace and good will, to safeguard and transmit justice, freedom, and democracy, to consecrate comradeship, and to preserve the memories and incidents of the great wars. 

The Legion found its roots in early European history when both Greek and Roman veterans of war remained active in civic affairs.  In the 13^th century two powerful veteran organizations formed of returning Crusaders were among those who pressed King John of England to compose the Magna Carta, the first written by-laws of a free nation.  In America both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars birthed veteran groups and then in 1919 at the close of World War I the largest society of veterans ever formed in any age in any country was established.  That society would become known as The American Legion.

Twenty officers of the American Expeditionary Force, formed during World War I, met in February 1919 to consider how to improve conditions among returning veterans who had survived the trench warfare of the War to end all war.  Under Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.'s, enthusiastic leadership, the idea of an association of American veterans of the Great War met with approval of those gathered.  The new organization was to be based on three concepts: it would include all who served in American uniforms overseas or at home; it would be a civilian organization, devoid of rank; and it would operate in a democratic fashion.  After many meetings and lengthy discussions wherein the Legion was built from the ground up, the United States Congress passed an act incorporating the American Legion on September 16, 1919.

From its incorporation on, the Legion focused on caring for disabled veterans and veteran's widows and orphans, encouraging the government to provide hospitalization, rehabilitation, and employment programs, as well as paying disability payments to those injured in the war.  Having seen so many Americans unfit for service in World War I, the Legion also promoted physical education and child welfare.

The stock market collapse in 1929 saw the Legion rally to prevent financial devastation among veterans and non-veterans alike.  While the Economic Act of 1933 slashed more than four hundred million dollars worth of veterans' benefits from the national budget, by 1943 that position was reversed.  President Roosevelt announced an assurance to the men and women in the Armed Forces that the American people would not let them down when the war was over. 

World War II saw the Legion energetically maintain their programs, even though about one hundred and fifty thousand Legionaries were back in uniform.  More than seventy percent of draft-board members were from the Legion, four hundred thousand served as air-raid wardens, three hundred thousand as volunteer policemen, and fifty thousand as volunteer firemen.  Hundreds of Legionnaires served in the Civil Air Patrol, and hundreds of posts recruited men and women for the Armed Forces.

The Legion was also instrumental in one of the most important veteran programs ever conceived, the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly called the G.I. Bill of Rights.  It was the Legion's greatest   single legislative achievement and will stand for all time as an example of Legion statesmanship.  The G.I. Bill authorized the government to pay for tuition, books, and fees for all eligible veterans seeking an education.  It also provided a subsistence allowance for those veterans who returned to school or vocational training.  Under the G.I. Bill, seven million eight hundred thousand veterans, nearly half of all who served, received an education at colleges and universities, trade and tech schools.  Some increased their job skills through on-the-job training, or combined classroom studies and on-farm training.  Because of its lifetime-eligibility feature, the loan program in the G.I. Bill enabled returning veterans to acquire homes as time went by. 

As early as 1942 Congress amended the Legion's charter, making World War II veterans eligible for membership after honorable discharge or termination of hostilities.  A new membership drive began after September 2, 1945.  In 1946 membership doubled reaching an all-time high of three million, three hundred thousand, five hundred and fifty-six in more than fifteen thousand posts across the nation.

Their programs continue to reflect the interests of American Legion veterans.  Over the past fifty to sixty years World War II veterans joined their comrades from previous wars to help needy children, award scholarships to deserving high school students, assist local charity campaigns, and provide emergency aid to veterans.  Legionnaires also gave of their time, volunteering about two million hours each year helping veterans who are patients in Veteran Administration (VA) medical facilities.  The Legion also sponsors American Legion Baseball, Boys and Girls State and Nation, High School oratorical competitions, and Boy and Girl Scout scholarships. Whitman County residents who enjoy seeing flags fly on their streets and in cemeteries on special holidays, can appreciate that since 1919 the Legion has been our country's leader in the observance of patriotic holidays, providing flags and assuring proper posting in public places.  These are but a few of American Legion's programs sponsored nationally.

The American Legion's motto is "Still Serving America."  That is what Whitman County men and women did in World War II, and what they still do six decades later.