What is the American Legion

The American Legion is the largest group of veterans in the United States. It was organized after World War I in Paris, France, by a small group of Americans who had fought in the war. In the next few years, more than a million other Americans joined the organization. The American Legion became very strong. It has groups called posts in cities and towns all over the United States. Each post is led by a commander, with other officers under him. There are state commanders and a national commander.

After World War II, several million more veterans joined the American Legion. The American Legion has become one of the strongest and most important organizations in the country. Naturally, it is interested in anything that has to do with veterans. The Legion was largely responsible for the creation of the United States Veterans Administration. One of the Legion's greatest interests has been to keep the United States strong. It wants the country to have a large army, navy and air force, and strong defenses. It also has a "Back to God" movement to keep the country spiritually strong. This movement encourages church attendance, prayer, and religious education. A member of the Legion is called a Legionnaire. He wears a military-looking uniform.

On his cap is embroidered the name of his post. If a Legionnaire is or has been an officer of the post, his rank is also embroidered on his cap. Legionnaires attend post meetings to discuss the business of the post and to pass laws for the post. At the meetings they sometimes pass resolutions that approve or disapprove of what other people are doing. Legionnaires also meet for social purposes. They have dances and entertainments. They organize bands and have military drills. In most towns, the American Legion sponsors a boys' baseball club. These clubs play games all over the country, and at the end of each season a tournament is held to pick the winning team. The American Legion holds an annual convention. Delegates from all the posts meet in a different city each year. Prominent Americans make speeches to the delegates. Usually, the President of the United States speaks to the organization. The main business of each convention is the election of officers for the coming year.

The new national commander and his staff are chosen by a vote of all the delegates. The final business of the convention is to choose a city where the next year's convention will be held. If you live in a city where an American Legion convention has been held, you will know that the members do something besides attend to their Legion business. They usually bring their wives and enjoy all the amusements the convention city offers. Two parades are held at each convention. One is a formal military parade, with all the Legionnaires in uniform. The bands play stirring music, and the Legionnaires march with their buddies down the main street of the convention city. The other parade is held by a Legion group called the Forty and Eight. The Forty and Eight is named after French boxcars that many of the soldiers rode in during World War I.

These boxcars were made to carry forty men and eight horses. The members wear funny and colorful costumes. Some of them ride in decorated floats, and others drive tipsy automobiles. The parade is a very noisy affair; bands play, guns boom, bells clang and whistles blow. Automobiles that have been fixed up to look like locomotives chug along in the parade. Usually they pull boxcars that are models of the French boxcars that the soldiers rode in.