- published: 02 Jun 2016
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The American Legion is a social and mutual-aid veterans' organization including members of the United States armed forces. The organization was founded in 1919 by veterans returning from Europe after World War I, and was later chartered as an official American patriotic society under Title 36 of the United States Code. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, and also has offices in Washington, DC. The group has nearly 3 million members in over 14,000 Posts worldwide.
In addition to organizing commemorative events and volunteer veteran support activities, the American Legion is active in issue oriented U.S. politics. Its primary political activity is lobbying on behalf of the interests of veterans and service members, including support for veterans benefits such as pensions and the Veterans Affairs hospital system. The Legion has also been involved as a conservative voice in more general political and cultural issues.
The aftermath of two American wars in the second half of the 19th Century had seen the formation of several ex-soldiers' organizations. Following the American Civil War of 1861-65 former Union soldiers had established an organization called the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), while their Southern brethren had joined together as the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) In the aftermath of hostilities. Both of these organizations had emerged as powerful political entities, with the GAR serving as a mainstay of the Republican Party, which controlled the Presidency from the Civil War through the Theodore Roosevelt administration for all but the two terms of office of Grover Cleveland. In Southern politics the UCV maintained an even more dominant position as a bulwark of the conservative Democratic Party which ruled there.
In the streetlight your hair is the blackest sky
Through the snow the cars silently pass us by
When you smile there's no reason to say goodbye
Don't say goodbye
I still have the last letter you left for me
All your t-shirts, your red and green pedigree
All the rest is sealed up behind memory
Fading away
On the steps of the American Legion Hall
You wait there alone, nobody left to call
No one's there again spring, summer, winter, fall
Terrible day
If I'd been there I'd surely have stayed with you
If I'd been there I'd surely have prayed for you
If I'd been there I'd surely have prayed for you