History of Ohio Post 165

The first meeting was held Saturday evening, September 28, 1919, in Jr. O.U.A.M. Hall for the purpose of organizing. Twenty men attended this meeting, at which the following temporary officers were appointed: W.R. Hughes, Chairman; H.W. Laspe, Secretary, who was instructed to make application for a Charter.

The temporary organization held a meeting on October 7th to start a publicity campaign.

The next meeting was held October 14th, at which time permanent officers were elected to serve until December 31, 1920. They are:

Wm. R. Hughes - Post Commander
Lawson Troxell - Vice Post Commander
Harold Laspe - Post Adjutant
Walter S. Britton - Post Finance Officer

Executive Committee - Lawrence Dissinger, George Kirk, Wm. Shuler

By Laws were adopted and the name "Miamisburg Post" was decided upon because of the excellent manner in which the citizens treated the ex-service men.

At the present time we have 177 members enrolled, which includes twenty from West Carrollton. Miamisburg Post is the largest and best in Montgomery County.

The Legion Memorial Stone in the Park
by
Russell Goonan
Commander, Post 165
1927-28

The following article was written to Dick Ennis by Russ Goonan, Past Commander of Post 165.

Very few Legionnaires and a small percentage of the public know how the Legion Memorial Stone came to be in the Park. The inscription on the stone says it was installed by American Legion Post 165 in 1926, which is true. I was commander of the Legion at the time and the need for some kind of memorial to our World War I buddies who passed on in the line of duty was obvious. The main drawback was the lack of money, so whatever we did would have to cost very little. We would have to have something which would be lasting and durable to be installed outside at a public location where it would be unlikely to get in the way of progress. We appointed a committee to work on this and they came up with the idea of going out to the country and picking up one of the many large boulders which were laying about, bringing it to the Burg and installing it at a suitable location.

They had noted one especially on the West Carrollton - Farmersville Road about four or five miles this side of Farmersville, so it was decided to use this stone for our memorial. We were told these large rocks were carried here by glaciers in the Ice Age and were very hard and durable. In the meantime, I got together with Mayor Harry E. (Flick) Beachler about a location for our stone and we decided on the present location. The Mayor also agreed to get the stone with city workmen, with no cost to the Legion. This was not difficult to work out since I was on the City Council and the Mayor and I worked together very closely; such as the many times I chaired street carnivals and turkey raffles which was about the only way we had to get any money.

Next was the hauling of the stone, which was no small job. One of our good friends and a public-spirited citizen was William (Bill) Mobley, who owned a farm on Cedar Hill where the Monsanto Plant is now located. In addition to farming, Bill owned two large flat bed trucks which he used commercially to haul leaf tobacco between warehouses. Some of the committee boys who knew him well approached him for the use of a truck to haul the rock. He not only agreed to loan us a truck but also a driver, skids, block and tackle, etc. to load the rock. This job had to be done on Saturday afternoon since most of our committee worked in the shops and all shops worked on Saturday morning. It's too bad I cannot remember the names of the committee (about a half dozen good Legionnaires) but I am sure most of them have long passed on to their reward.

Since the stone was delivered to the park at no cost, the next move was to get the plaque and have it installed. Meantime, I designed the plaque and wrote the inscription. Dr. Charles T. Hunt researched and furnished the names of Miami Township soldiers who were lost in line of duty. At that time, we had good relations and connections with the Lebanon Post of the Legion and there was a Legionnaire by the name of Schwartz who owned and operated a monument business in that city. I took my problem to him, together with my drawing, and he agreed to furnish the bronze plaque and install it on the stone for fifty dollars. He assured me he was doing it at cost and after all these years I believe him. Somehow we scraped up the money to pay him.

For the benefit of those who have never read the inscription on the stone I quote from the plaque:

"Lest We Forget."

Dedicated to those who served and
to perpetuate the memory of those
who made the Supreme Sacrifice in
the Great World War 1914 to 1918

MIAMI TOWNSHIP GOLD STAR ROLL
Alonzo Ballinger
Emmet Boldman
John N. Catrow
Thomas A. Eagle
Edwin E. Folk
Dean F Fry Everet Galaspe
Albert Henry
Henry Hughes
Orvil Johnson
Clarence Jones
Benjamin C. Karpur
Malcom Kline

Erected by
Miamisburg Post 165
American Legion
1926