The centennial year for TAL started at the national convention in 2018.. Post 5 started their year at the end of July 2018 and wrapped it up on Aug. 11, 2019. In that time Post 5 hosted eight events that were tied to the United States going to the Great War and the founding of The American Legion.
The 1st event was July 30, 2018, joining forces with the USPS to unveiling the “Turning The Tide” stamp which marked the entry of the U.S. forces into the fight over there. At this event we also displayed the anniversary flag we were raising money to frame.
2nd: on Nov. 10 we unveiled the Post 5 Anniversary Flag at 4 pm; with the time zones around the world it was midnight Nov 11 in France, where our anniversary flag was flown in battle. The flag had been used by C Btty of 148 FA, formed in Colorado Springs before World War 1.
3rd: Nov 11, we honored two people who received the Medal Of Honor at the same time as people were honoring them in Italy. Lt. Maurice Britt and PFC Floyd K Lindstrom, both of 3rd Inf Div. In 1943 their actions led them to receive the highest military honor the U.S. awards.
4th: Mar 15, 2019, we hosted a centennial of TAL. We joined again with the USPS, this time to have a special cancellation to mark the event. Helping put a local tie into the celebration was showing that Maj. Victor Hungerford was at the Paris Caucus and was on the convention committee..
5th: every year we place small grave flags on the plots of deceased members of Post 5 who have been laid to rest in an area of Evergreen Cemetery just for Post 5. We also place flags on other veterans graves in the cemetery.
6th: to honor our first commander. A few volunteers went to clean up and plant flowers on the grave of John Carruthers, who had ties to many upper areas of Colorado Springs, so he helped get Post 5 on the local map.
7th: a flag retirement at Post 5 on June 14. We joined with a local company to round up unserviceable flags to do a retirement ceremony in the back of Post 5.
8th: we as a post went all-out. While our charter was dated Aug 7, 1919, we held our centennial event on Aug 11. We were able to receive proclamations from the City of Colorado Springs, the El Paso County board of commissioners and the governor of Colorado. The Green Bay Packers sent a letter to mark the event. We printed up a small brief history book and pasted them out to the people who attended. Post 5 was renamed for PFC Floyd K Lindstrom.