Artifact of the Month: May 2017

American Legion Honors Ketchikan Veterans

When the United States declared war on Germany in 1917 and issued a call for volunteers to join our military forces, the response from Alaska was prompt and generous. With no local recruiting office, men from Ketchikan headed south to Seattle to enlist. The First World War took the lives of hundreds of thousands of men, and crippled and maimed the young men of a coming generation. Congress chartered the American Legion in 1919 to provide services to veterans, military members, and their communities. Ketchikan veterans began returning home in 1919, and a group of them banded together under the name "The Sons of Democracy." In October of that year, the group disbanded in favor of the newly formed American Legion.

In 1920, Ketchikan Post No. 3 was chartered. The first elected officers included: Jack A. Talbot, Commander, Eldon J. Daly, Vice-Commander, Robert B. Spaeth, Treasurer, C. J. Collins, Secretary and Norman R. (Doc) Walker, Employment Officer. Ketchikan's unit, now known as the Joseph T. Craig American Legion Post No. 3, has supported diverse community projects over the past 97 years, including relocating totem poles from Tongass Island to Ketchikan, supporting construction projects, helping veteran's find employment, and properly disposing of decommissioned American flags. This month's featured photograph is the American Legion Ketchikan Post No. 3, circa 1920 showing 50 of the original 72 charter members.

First Row (seated left to right): Thomas C. Eastman; A. J. Nelson; G. A. Richards; Fred A. Stocking Sr.; A. L. Hendrickson; Gorege S. Talbot; Edgar Anderson; Solomon Allen; C. J. Collins; Lawrence Erickson; Otto L. Anderson; H. Gillis; D. W. Sanford (Civil War Veteran); Alva Radenbaugh; E. L. Dorn; M. Vera; J. Bolduc; Gee Say Yun; Walter J. Hitchcock;

Second Row (seated left to right): R. A. Bartholomew; R. R. Spaeth; I. Thatcher; E. O. Swanson; Gordon Williams; Frank Nicklas; G. Beck; E. R. Johnson; P. Cannon; B. E. Van Horn; Robert A. Zeller; Henry Hucke; J. F. Robinson; V. J. Groves;

Standing (left to right): A. H. Zeigler; H. P. Crowther; W. J. Rogers; Robert McKIem; J. A. Talbot; Will H. Winston; N. E. Walker; G. Dorvall; D. F. Brooks; Van H. Fisk; James H. Foster; F. Casey; V. Manville; H. V. Kauffman; John Clecak; H. S. Hall; Arthur J. Ela.

Ketchikan Museums: American Legion Collection, RC 2010.0.4.1