New Britain herald., 1929-03-16
PAIGE \. STATION DrnarTmrnt ( commander

PAIGE \. STATION
 Department Commander
 The tenth birthday of the Amer iean Legion. March Is and IS, 1929, recalls d decade ago, on those dates, 1919, the Legion was born al a meeting of veterans in the Cirque de Paris. in the French capital. The Legion was conceived out Of a common desire of World war vet erans to carry into peace time the same type of service they gave dur ing the national emergency and to perpetuate the friendships formed during those trying war times,
 The thought of such an organiza lion Of World war veterans occurred to many. II remained for a group or twenty soldiers or the A. l.. F. 10 deal with the idea in q concrete way. They laid the foundation for the organization that became the Legion. A meeting was called by General Headquarters of the 4. l.. I. Of those twenty National Guard and Reserve Officers of field rank in order to obtain from them an ex- presson as to the wants, inclina- tions and needs Of the ron- profess sional soldiers who constituted such a vast majority of the American Army, These officers were asked to submit recommendations designed 70 improve the morale of the troops. h., [ IAr,-EEirly restless.
 Lieut., Col. Theodore Roosevelt. Jr., was one Of the twenty reserve officers. He conceived that the time was ripe 10 make a tentative and initial stand for crystalizing the wide spread feeling Of the American army that some sort Of organization Of veterans. dedicated in peace to the same high ideals that had ami mated them in war. must grow ou. of their cOmraieship arms. Col. Roosevelt gave q dinner 10 the tw"n- " delegates at the Club Interallies, February 16, 1919. They there in formally discussed the steps that must be taken to launch this dream Of a veterans organization.
 These men fully realized the mag nltude of the ask. Several similar attempts 70 launch an organization had failed because the iultIators had some personal ambition or were in sufficiently representative of all classes and unlts of the armed forces. The twenty officers consti- tuted themselves a temporary com mittee 10 take the necessary steps for gathering together from the whole A. l.. r. a body Of several hundred officers and men who would be of character to command confidence and support of all units and all states. IL was assumed that this contemplated caucus would name delegates to attend joint caucus in the United States of dele gates from all parts of the country, from the troops which had not been sent to Europe and from the Navy and Marine Corps.
 All \. F.. F. Hears of fl
 These twenty officers used heroic means to spread the story of the conten plated veterans organization through all ranks and sections Of the A. E. F. AS a result, the tAris caucus was convenet t-tn 1000 representative officers and enlisted nlen of the 4. E. r. in attendance. The caucus vas held in the Cirque de Paris, March ] , and 16, 1919. Eben Putnam, National Historian of the Legion, has written about the organization of the Legion in part as follows:
 This caucus. which will live in memory as The Paris Caucus was called to order by Eric Fisher Wood, in the absence of Roosevelt, who had acted as chairman Of the tenn porary committee. Roosevelt had returned 10 the United States on a mission to promote interest in the new organization among the troops al home. Nearly 1000 delegates ranging In rank from private to brigadier genera. were present, and the spirit Of democracy that has since been so characteristic Of Le- zion meetings was established by q resolution. offered by Lemuei BoIles, tpast National Adjutant Of the Le- gion) eliminating all consideration of rank or precedence in the delib- arations Of the CAUCUS
 Legion Name Adopted
 Bennett C. Clark was elected tenn porary chairman. The caucus out lined tentative aims and purposes, adopted a temporary constitution and the name The American Le- zion" Definite commitment 10 permanent policies was postponed until, on the return Of the A. F. r. great caucus could be held at some point in the United States which would be truly representa- of every branch of the service and Of every state.
 An executive committee of 100 vas elected 10 complete the organ ization in the 4. E. F. and arrange for the meeting in the United States. Milton J. Foreman was cleo ted chairman of the committee and George A. White, secretary. Every