pwtpp, mVa. *• t rnfr 85^3^ fit**'******1wf. Twin drum majorettes led the parade of the Legion's marching A three-day caucus in Paris in March, 1919, led to the formation of the American Legion.*” units on Market street in San Francisco at the 1946 Convention. ¦:¦. f BPWP jipMUf . ijf v^i^^9L2ft6fl^^BHjjjHUHjj|j^H^pUi The Birth of the Legion By Brian Bell, Jr. is especially appropriate caucus from which the Legion ITthat Washington will be came. host for the American Legion Roosevelt had grown up in convention which officially Washington. Only 14 when his opens /isßa •**^jCR|jI|ISBMBBB||SMwKBBB||IHBMMBiJBffIPiil || ijfc» tomorrow. Four of the father became President, he small group who conceived spent his teens here when he the idea of the world’s larg- wasn’t at Groton or Harvard. est veterans’ organization in After the war, he returned to ¦*'*¦ jsKmq[ VHB&R!Hi!HKih gtt March, 1919, already were or Washington as Assistant Sec- later became prominent, in retary of the Navy under JlmM Hp^]^B|H2|HHHflMfll|A^B[^B^SHL|R our city. President Harding. At a three-day caucus in Bennett Champ Clark spent i|g| QA I BBPlM|| HMH ¦. Paris which eventually led most of his life in the Dis- to the formation of the Le- trict. As the son of the Speak- gion were Lt. Col. Theodore er of the House, he got to Roosevelt, jr., Col. Bennett know Washington at an early HF WttUStt HI Champ Clark, Lt. Col. Lemuel age. Later, he returned as Bolles and Lt. Col. Franklin a Senator from Missouri and %w& *mm D’Olier. finished his career here as a fO H ¦ cP^t Col. Roosevelt, son of Pres- judge on the United States ident Theodore Roosevelt, Court of Appeals. He died proposed the formation of last month. American veterans of the Itwas many years after the World War after a dinner he formation of the Legion that had given at an officers’ club Col. Bolles was a semiperma- in Paris. Cols. Clark, Bolles nent resident of Washington. The Legion went to Paris for its ninth convention in September, 1927. A highlight was the parade down and D’Olier were enthusiastic He became one of the best- historic Champs Elysees. The advance unit has just passed through the famous Arc de Triomphe. and helped to arrange the known men in the Capital '^^hh^hhhi ''. - j, -._ mi':. I &K H .:-.;mL '..; .33% •'¦;¦&. I iV.‘ •- bHuhi *.¦ bpk " m r r ‘" ' J • J B' .*‘ ¦****¦ frm Rk St ®j| EPM THEODORE ROOSEVELT, JR BENNETT CHAMP CLARK LEMUEL L. BOLLES FRANKLIN D'OLIER PAGE 18-TH£ WASHINGTON STAR PICTORIAL MAGAZINE, AUGUST 29, 1954.