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HISTORY | |
One hundred acres were purchased in 1959. Fifty acres of the land were sold to J. E. Norton and Darden Archer. The land was developed as “Plantation Acres”. The American Legion Post was built on the other fifty acres. The Post sold property to D.O.T. for right of way. They also sold property to Rockdale County High School to build a bus barn and for parking. Prior to 1959, the Post was on North Street in Conyers. There was a swimming pool next to it. Rockdale County High School football field and bus garage were on other side. The Legion held a County Fair every year in Sept./Oct. to raise funds for the Legion. The Post held the fair until the early 1970’s. In late 40’s and early 50’s, the Legion Post was at the corner of Flat Shoals and Parker Road in Conyers with a lake behind the building. In the late 20’s and 30’s, the members met at the home of Mr. Summers on Irwin Bridge Road. Mr. Summer’s was supposedly a retired WWI Army Major. John R. White was Past Post Commander in 1928. The Charter was suspended in the early 30’s, and a new Charter was issued in 1934. Back in the 60’s, a Saturday night dance, open to the public, was held. On New Year’s Eve, the dance was held all night. The Post on Legion Road burned in late 1984 or early 1985. It was rebuilt and dedicated on March, 1985. The present Honor Guard/Color Guard was activated during Commander Jack Maloy’s term in 1995. I was serving as Sr. Vice Commander and a part of the Honor/Color Guard. Bobby Davis |
The
American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic,
mutual-help, war-time veterans organization. A community-service
organization which now numbers nearly 3 million members -- men and women --
in nearly 15,000 American Legion Posts worldwide. These Posts are organized
into 55 Departments -- one each for the 50 states, the District of Columbia,
Puerto Rico, France, Mexico, and the Philippines.
The
American Legion's National Headquarters is in Indianapolis, Indiana, with
additional offices in Washington, DC. In addition to thousands of
volunteers serving in leadership and program implementation capacities in
local communities to the Legion's standing national commissions and
committees, the national organization has a regular full-time staff of
about 300 employees.
THE AMERICAN LEGION PREAMBLE - EXPLAINED
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When the veterans of World War I came marching home, they found the nation utterly unprepared to care for the
combat casualties of the war. The wounded, the shell-shocked and the sick were lodged in poor houses, jails,
asylums or what-have-you.
Veterans of World War I were much more closely knit than those of World War II. They trained in the same camps,
fought on the one great front. Those who came home unscarred were appalled by the plight of their less fortunate
comrades. They felt a concern for them and their dependents which was a new and dramatic action aspect to what
the country had known as friendship. This concern formed the bond among the charter members of The American
Legion and gave them a great and noble cause to fight for-the adequate care and protection of their disabled
comrades and dependents, the war widows and orphans.
They faced a monumental task. Laws had to be drafted and enacted by the Congress to provide compensation for
the war-handicapped, to build hospitals and to get protection for the widows and orphans upon whom the war had
laid its heaviest and cruelest hand.
The American Legion wrote such laws, had them introduced in the Congress, went out over the land to arouse the
conscience of the people of America and mobilize support for its legislative aims. It did both with a sacrificial fervor
that overcame all obstacles.
The Congress enacted the laws, it provided the administrative machinery, it appropriated the funds, it built
hospitals. Then to bring about a single responsibility for the carrying out of all veteran laws and to achieve a
unification of these government services, The American Legion put through Congress the legislation to create the
Veterans Bureau which has become the Veterans Administration of today. Over the years, a great network of
government hospitals was built and a great structure of veteran legislation enacted which made the American
veterans the best cared for on earth. The rehabilitation program of The American Legion for the World War I
veteran brought about in its successful development a great awakening of social responsibility in America.
When the New Deal Program was being developed, the government planners took a look at what The American
Legion, through its vast rehabilitation program, had done for the veteran of World War I and they decided to do the
same thing for all American people.
So out of the rehabilitation brain child of The American Legion, there came the Social Security System with its
retirement benefits and old age assistance programs for all the people. The planners took a look at The American
Legion program of temporary emergency aid to needy children of veterans and there was born-with the support of
Legionnaires-the state and federal program of aid to dependent children-all children.
This is how we can hail The American Legion today as an unparalleled force in these United States for social
betterment. American Legion concepts and its ideal of devotion to mutual helpfulness warmed up the whole social
climate of America. Today, America is extending its helpful hands all over the world through our assistance
programs of foreign aid.
It all came about because the veterans of World War I came home enriched with wonderful ties of friendship and
gave those ties a meaning by consecrating them to the ideal of mutual helpfulness.
The American Legion Preamble has been the beacon light of The American Legion for more than 90 years. It has
been amended only once in all that time. That amendment consisted of adding the letter "5" to the word "war." It
makes the Preamble read today "Great Wars," so as to embrace all wars.
American Legion Post 77 1928 John White |
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HISTORY | |