Old Missoula

Legion Sponsors Many Programs in Missoula

The American Legion in Missoula was chartered Nov. 11, 1919. The first officers were Frank Tilley, commander; Harold Jones, vice commander; D. D. Richards, adjutant; Henry Clemens, finance officer, and the Rev. Jessie Wacklan, chaplain.

Hellgate Post 27 organized the junior baseball league in Missoula, sponsored the first and subsequent sessions of Boys State at Western Montana College of Education since the ‘40s, and after 1930 awarded a scholarship each quarter to the outstanding student in the military science department at the University.

Boys State is a 10-day session designed to give high school boys practical experience in the fundamentals of local and state government operations.

One of the most outstanding contributions in recent years is the legion’s “cross marking.” This idea of marking the site of highway fatalities with white crosses was the brainchild of Floyd Eaheart, member of Hellgate Post 27, after six persons were killed in traffic accidents in the Missoula area during the 1952 Labor Day holidays. It started as a county and district project for the Missoula post, but the idea was soon adopted as a project of the state American Legion. Eaheart served as the first state chairman.

The legion also sponsors an oratorical contest for high school students each year. Harold Hanger is 1960 commander of the Legion.

Within the legion is the 40 et 8, organized in 1933 and composed of members of the American Legion who have performed useful work for the legion. Its members present a scholarship each year to a student entering the St. Patrick’s School of Nursing.