On Monday, July 25, 2016, Gordon Folsom, historian for Post 1, Tulsa, Okla., was notified that a lady who planned on playing bingo at the post had historical information that she wished to present to the post. Upon introduction to Sharon Davis, he found that she wished to present American Legion documents that pertained to Post 77 of Bentonville, Ark. These documents included the charter of the post issued on Dec. 17, 1929, as well as the charter of the Sons of the American Legion, and other awards and documents. Davis informed him that her mother Betty Huffman had recently died. Davis was going through her possessions and found these documents. Her mother collected documents as a hobby, her reason for having them. He took her address and phone number and received the documents for Post 1. These were subsequently entered in the Historical Inventory Records.
On August 1. he informed Post 1 Secretary Linda Deutser of the charters and awards, and asked her if she could see if Post 77 was still active in Bentonville. Using the post locator on the National website, Linda confirmed that Post 77, Riddle-Hutchinson, still meets in Bentonville at the Bentonville Masonic Temple, 805 NW 8th St. She contacted their post commander and left Post 1’s number.
The Post 1 historian was contacted later by Roy Burst, Benton County Commander, and informed that we had come into possession of the documents and was he interested.
He was very interested and informed him that he would come to Post 1 later that same day and pick up the documents and charters. Upon approval of Post 1 Commander Gary Wall, Folsom transferred the charters and documents to Burst.
Burst presented the charter to current Post 77 commander Rodney Robinson at their next meeting. Needless, to say Post 77 is very happy to have these very important historical documents home in Bentonville.