Monterey Peninsula Post No. 41, The American Legion, Department of California
Spirit of '76
Archibald MacNeal Willard
In the summer of 1775, a Nation For the People and By the People was far from a guarantee. To secure the birth of our Nation, the Second Continental Congress established a standing Army and made provisions for the Battles against the British. The Congress also made a pledge to those who served in their nation's military to care for those who fight , are injured, or mortally wounded in service of their country.
Congress's first Act to establish veterans benefits occurred in 1776. Congress passed the Disabled Veteran Support Act. In 1778, Congress established pension funds for America's officers. In 1780, Congress established survivor benefits. Although much has changed since 1775, America's focus on veterans benefits has always prioritized the disabled, retirees, and survivors. https://va-handbook.com/veterans-law-history/revolution/
Tracing OUR LEGACY BACK to 1775
THE CIVIL WAR YEARS
The American Civil War raged from 1860 until 1865. In Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, he proclaimed the now famous promise which is inscribed on the Department of Veterans Affairs Building in Washington DC: "care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan."
The Nation then faced the daunting task of caring for the war injured on both sides of the conflict. President Lincoln, in one of his final acts, signed a bill to build Disabled Veterans Homes. Disabled Veterans Homes sprang up across the Nation as settlers established new places to call home. The First was built in 1866 in Maine. In 1907, California opened the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Sawtelle, now part of the City of Los Angeles, near the U.C.L.A. campus.
PRIOR TO WORLD WAR I
After the volume of Civil War veterans waned, Congress's attention also waned. Although the United States has held a standing military since 1790, Congress has not cared for America's peacetime veterans in the same manner it has cared for wartime veterans. Just prior to World War I, the veteran community was facing the neglect of Congress, even as the United States saw sustained conflict in the Philippines and aboard. In order to advocate for themselves, veterans began forming organizations to lobby Congress.
The Naval Mutual Aid Association formed in 1879. The precursor to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) , American Veterans of Foreign Service formed in 1899 comprised of Spanish-American War veterans. The United Spanish War Veterans formed in 1904. These veterans sought to form organizations to advocate on behalf of their brothers and sisters in arms.
MUSTERING AMERICA'S VETERANS
November 11, 1918, America's veterans celebrated a hard-fought victory, the end of the "Great War." These veterans did not rest on their laurels, however. By the Spring of 1919, America's veterans were organizing to create organizations to advocate for their interests back home. In March 1919, the Expeditionary Forces in Europe gathered in Paris, France to initiate the formation of The American Legion. The First American Legion National Convention occurred in Minneapolis later in 1919. From these humble beginnings, shocks waves resonated throughout America.
https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/origins-american-legion-minnesota-1919-1922
FORTY-FIRST IN CALIFORNIA
The National non-profit organization of The American Legion began in 1919. In the same year, each state would form a "department" level non-profit to oversee advocacy in each state. Like the American Legion today, the success of the National organization was not as impressive as what would happen in towns across America: the formation of local non-profit organizations, or "Posts".
In 1919, veterans across the United States gathered to form American Legion Posts. These organizations existed without buildings in most cases. Every local Legion Post was assigned a number based on the sequence its application for charter was approved. For example, Post No. 1 in San Francisco was the first American Legion Post approved in California
Monterey Peninsula Post No. 41, The American Legion, Department of California was awarded its charter in 1919. Post 41 holds the distinction of being the third oldest American Legion Post in Monterey County, behind Post No. 31 in Salinas and Post No. 32 in Soledad.
MONTEREY JACK AND 41
In 1852, the crocked swindler David Jack (sometimes referred to as Jacks) came to be the County of Monterey's Treasurer. Jack used his office to acquire land holdings and ultimately came to work for the City of Monterey to conduct land acquisitions. The City was unable to pay Jack's fees, so he suggested the City sell some of its properties. Jack conducted a clandestine auction in Santa Cruz where only he and his business associate bid on the lands which would eventually consist of Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, and other parts of the peninsula. The City pled to overturn the secret auction but the United States Supreme Court sided with Jack. That swindler would later bring international casein fame to Monterey after naming a white cheese variety after himself.
Fast-forward to 1926, some 70 years later, Jack's child, Romie Jacks, deeded the County of Monterey open space for the Veterans Memorial Park and an American Legion Hall. Between 1926 and 1932, Monterey World War I veterans built the Monterey Post by hand.
MONTEREY PENINSULA POST NO. 41 • THE AMERICAN LEGION • ESTABLISHED 1919 • DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA • SERVING VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES • HALL RENTAL AND COMMUNITY DINING • FOR GOD AND COUNTRY WE ASSOCIATE OURSELVES TOGETHER • TO UPHOLD AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA • TO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER • TO FOSTER AND PERPETUATE A ONE HUNDRED PERCENT AMERICANISM