It’s time we reclaim the Olympics! They will be held in France this year, and Paris Post 1 is on the front lines as usual. But I am curious what additional claims we can make. In addition to being in France, one of our founding fathers was an Olympian: Jim Duncan. He participated in the 1912 Olympics with famous Americans like Jim Thorpe and George Patton (yes, that Patton).
Comrade Duncan lived in an orphanage from the ages of 4 to 14. He was on a meteoric rise in athletics before World War I. Aside from competing in the Olympics, he held several world records in discus well into the 1920s and '30s. When America joined the Allies, Duncan went with them as an engineer.
Before the troops came home, he competed in the Inter-Allied Games with the teams of the Allied forces. Almost immediately after his release from service, he was hired to train the French national Olympic team for the 1920 games in track and field. He then became the first superintendent of Suresnes American Cemetery, outside Paris, until 1932.
As the American Expeditionary Forces made their way home, the Paris Post 1/London Post baseball rivalry started to take shape, and Comrade Duncan was often mentioned as a key figure in Paris Post 1’s diamond dominance. These are just the highlights to an incredible legacy. I will leave the details to his grandson, also James Duncan, who is writing his grandfather’s autobiography now. Regrettably, we don’t have a title or release window yet.
Did your post compete in the Olympics? Who were your founding fathers? Keep our comrades' legacies alive! Use these stories to revitalize your post’s pitch to the public. We are the sum of these histories, and I am doing my part to ensure Jim Duncan of Paris Post 1 is never forgotten. Understanding our past allows us to fight for our future.
