The American Legion – Department of Oregon
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Department of Oregon History of 1921 The Department of Oregon The American Legion History of 1921 The 100th Anniversary of The American Legion 1919-2019 The Department of Oregon PO Box 1730 Wilsonville, OR. 97070-1730 503.685.5006 www.orlegion.org This document was produced on behalf of the Department’s 17,000 members, the wartime veterans of the 20th and 21st centuries, who can be found in 117 posts in communities across our great state. Compiled and edited by Eugene G. Hellickson Department Commander 2017 – 2018 Version 1921.1.1 2 THE RED POPPY FOR MEMORIAL DAY “Poppies in the wheat fields and the pleasant hills of France Reddening in the summer breeze that bid them not and dance.” So sang the soldier poet of the A.E.F.F. that blazing summer of 1918 when an unleashed American army was writing the Oureq and Vesle into our history. He sang of the poppies because it was through machinegun raked fields of them that the doughboys were charging; he sang of them because the doughboys were wearing them in their helmets as they roared ahead. Not all of us were along the Oureq and the Vesle that summer, taking German strong points with poppies in our helments, but every American can wear his poppy this Memorial Day, when the poppy, as the offical memorial flower of the American Legion, will blossom in hundreds of thousands of loyal lapels. The American who wears the poppy on Memorial Day is showing that he has not forgotten; for he wears it to remember – “Poppies in the wheat fields; how still beside them lie Scattered forms that stir not when the star shells burst on high; Bently bending o’er them beneath the moon’s soft glance “Poppies in the Wheat fields; how still ransomed hills of France.” The Red Poppy is the Offical Memorial Flower. i 3 PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN LEGION For God and Country "For God and Country, we associate ourselves together for the following purposes: To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a 100-percent Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the great wars; to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation; to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and good will on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness." 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Department ............................................................................................................................................. 7 POSTS .................................................................................................................................................... 67 BIOGRAPHIES ........................................................................................................................................ 166 PHOTO GALLERY ................................................................................................................................... 174 ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................................... 181 GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................................. 182 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... 185 5 INTRODUCTION The Pacific Legion A 100 per cent American Journal for Ex-Service Men Formerly the Pacific Soldier and Sailor 1921 The American Legion Weekly & Newspapers oF 1921 Published content may have been edited for length and clarity. Although there are articles in this edition that deal directly with the national level of The American Legion, I felt it enlightening to include them. They help illustrate the many things The American Legion has done for our veterans and our communities. During the assembly of this history, you will find abbreviations, punctuation, and words that may look incorrect. However, I took much care in trying to the information as it was written. Not necessarily as we would normally see it today. Articles that do not have headings were largely from various newspapers, which did not use headlines for minor articles. I put the footnotes after the heading of the article, if there was one. Articles, or news items that did not have a title have the footnote at the end of the article. 6 Department JANUARY State Commander – William S. Gilbert.....Astoria Vice-Commanders – G. Lane Goodell.......Portland Adjutant – Edward J. Eivers......................Portland Treasurer – Prescott W. Cookingham…...Portland Chaplain – George H. Parkinson………. Corvallis Historian – Walter B. Gleason................. Portland OREGON LEGION IN BONUS FIGHT1 SPIRITED campaigning for a bonus for world war veterans of the state of Oregon was initiated by The American Legion during the past month and at the time of this writing is well under way, gathering momentum with every day. A bill embracing a twofold plan, giving the ex-service man the alternative of cash compensation or a farm or home loan, will be presented to the state legislature this month. If favorably passed on there it will be referred to the electorate. As with the Washington bonus bill, which recently passed by a three to one vote of the people of that state, the cash bonus recommended is $15 per month of service between the dates of April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1919. Unlike the Washington measure, the proposed Oregon law would offer ex-service men a farm or home loan in lieu of a cash bonus, the amount and easy terms being expected to make it more attractive in the majority of cases than the cash alternative. The loan privilege suggested is $400 for every three months of service, with a limit of $2000, the money to be applied on the purchase of a home or farm and to cost 5 per cent a year, of which 2 ½ per cent would apply on the principal, the remainder on the interest. Though more than a dozen American Legion posts had written to department headquarters urging early action in favor of a cash bonus for ex-service men of the state, it was not until the meeting of the state executive committee, on December 17, that the loan feature was taken up. It was broached first by Howard Gildea of McMinnville, committeeman, enthusiastically seized upon by Ben S. Morrow of Portland, committeeman, in a motion adopted, and strongly urged by Lane Goodell of Portland, vice commander, before finally decided on. There was virtually no opposition expressed to the loan alternative, though the executive committee appeared determined that the veterans of the state should have cash compensation, if desired. The farm and home loan feature is expected to strike a popular chord, as its adoption would assure the state of Oregon the acquisition of a flock of land-owners and home-owners of the very highest type citizens who have shown by their service in the greatest of wars that they are not afraid to defend their principles and their country. Present at the executive committee meeting, at which the action was taken for which all of Oregon's Legion posts were waiting, were Commander William S. Gilbert of Astoria; Vice Commander Lane Goodell of Portland; Adjutant Edward J. Eivers of Portland, and Committeemen E. F. Fortmiller of Albany, Morrow of Portland, and Gildea of McMinnville. The state executive committee and officers, together with those 1 The Pacific Legion January 1921, pg. 3 7 members of The American Legion in the state legislature, comprise the legislative committee of the organization, to which the bonus bill's preparation was left. Those eligible for the cash bonus or loan would be veterans of the world war who were residents of the state of Oregon at the time of enlistment or induction into service. Under present provisions it would not include Oregonians who served with allied forces. Investigation of Oregon's war record shows that the average length of service of soldiers, sailors and marines of that state was 15 months. Acceptance of one of the dual provisions of the proposed bonus law would prohibit participation in the other, of course. It is difficult to say just where bonus agitation first began in Oregon. It was spontaneous and cropped up in widely separated sections of the state at virtually the same time. There were two things led to this "combustion." In the first place, Washington veterans had just been voted their cash bonus and the ex- service men across the Columbia looked with somewhat envious eyes at their fortunate buddies of the northern state. Second, practically all hope that Congress would do anything for the ex-service man in the way of bonus legislation, at least during the present session, had flickered out. It began to look as though Congress was endeavoring to play the old army game of passing the buck and had slipped the well-known buck to individual states in the matter of bonus legislation. With the state legislature of Oregon meeting in January, it was necessary for something to be done, and at once. All that prevented Oregon veterans from flinging their chapeaus into the ring at the November election was the faint hope that a