Where Does Our Charter Sit In The Timeline Of The American Legion?
(I was curious when researching the history of Post 312, just how many Posts, still in existence, and active, had a Charter dated as early as ours. The following is from American Legion National Office. Although, we members here at Post 312 are justifiably proud of our 87 years of longevity, and feel that it is some mark of accomplishment, and rightly so, it may come as somewhat of a surprise when you learn that there are 3,209 American Legion Posts, still active, that have a charter dating to Apr. 1, 1921 or earlier.)
Larry Reighard
Past Post Historian
Current posts with charters before April 1, 1921
When The American Legion was in the early years, various groups of veterans were encouraged to apply for a charter from the National Headquarters. Applications came in and temporary charters went out, all at about the same time. The George Washington Post No. 1 in Washington, DC claims to have the oldest charter (May 19, 1919). However, there may be other posts with similar dates, so we here at National Headquarters can only state that the May 19th charter is only the earliest that we know of.
Now how many between May 1919 to April 1921 are still active? Many. According to our computer folks, there are 3,209 posts that have a charter dated April 1, 1921 or earlier.
Joe Hovish
Librarian & Curator
The American Legion