THE AMERICAN LEGION
Every veteran wanted to belong to the American Legion. It was an active organization consisting of men who had fought in the war. Of course I only knew of one war, the first World War. They had regular meetings, conducted some business and then played cards or just visited. The women had an auxiliary and even the children had an organization. Everyone marched in parades and was proud of the fact they or their husbands or fathers had participated in such a war.
The Legion had a regular meeting night and we were all aware of it. Dinner was early and then my father would read the paper before going to meet the other men. He always sat in "his" chair, reading "his" paper and at the very last minute would tear out of the house so as not to be late. We loved his bald head and gave it rubs as we passed his chairs, kissed him on the top of his head and generally pestered him. Always on Legion night, after I grew older, I would sit on the arm of his chair, read over his shoulder and give him a kiss on the top of his bald head just before it was time for him to chase off for the meeting. It took many meetings with the men teasing him about his "dates" before he realized that when my sisters and I kissed him, we usually applied lipstick first.
He remained very proud of his membership.
This is 1975 Membership card.
He died in 1974.
