Celebrating 100

The American Legion celebrated its 100th birthday in 2019.

Portland’s Post 211 had planned to celebrate its century of existence a year later.

Then, COVID-19 hit.

Post commander Butch Micheau announced in late July that the post’s 100th anniversary celebration that was scheduled for Aug. 22 would be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Last year in August was our 100th,” said Micheau, thinking back to that cancellation. “But I told them, ‘By God, one way or another, we’re doing it before it’s 101 years.’”

That goal will become a reality Saturday.

Robert Guy Ayers American Legion Post 211 will celebrate its 100th anniversary with an all-day celebration.

The festivities will begin about 7:25 a.m. Saturday with an invocation from Pastor Darrell Borders, followed by raising the American flag and Erika Frazee singing the national anthem. Then, it’ll be time to eat.

The Legion will provide free breakfast to all veterans, their spouses and dependent children living at home from 7:30 to 10 a.m. (Anyone else will be able to buy breakfast for $3.)

The second phase of the celebration will feature a cookout from 2 to 4 p.m. with burgers, hot dogs, chips and cookies free to everyone. Portland Mayor John Boggs and various American Legion dignitaries are scheduled to attend.

A flag retirement ceremony with a 21-gun salute is slated for 5 p.m., and the Mountain Dewe Boys will perform from 6 to 10 p.m.

Museum of the Soldier will also have a display about the history of the American Legion in addition to several military vehicles. There will also be a 50/50 raffle.

The entire endeavor is being coordinated by the Legion’s volunteers.

“We have enough people finally volunteering,” said Micheau, who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1962 to ’65 with most of that time spent in Greece. “We’d always like to have more volunteers. But my staff, we’ve got nine people. …

“We’ve got a good core. It’s just trying to build around it.”

There’s been a lot of celebrating to go around in the last few years.

The American Legion commemorated its 100th anniversary in 2019. That year, local American Legion members from the Portland post and others in Jay County served as grand marshals for the 4th of July parade.

Congress chartered the American Legion in 1919 as an organization for patriotic veterans. It now has more than 2 million members participating at 13,000 posts.

Robert Guy Ayers Post 211 — Ayers, a Portland resident, was killed during World War I — became one of those just a year after Congress chartered the organization.

Ethan A. Fulton, a World War I veteran, was its first commander.

The Portland post’s charter hangs on a wall in its headquarters at 211 W. Walnut St.:

“Now therefore, pursuant to the powers conferred by the Constitution of The American Legion, this Charter is granted and those applying together with such others as may unite with them are hereby authorized to establish and maintain a Post of The American Legion at Portland, to be known as Robert Guy Ayers Post No. 211, Department of Indiana, and this instrument, unless revoked or suspended, shall be conclusive evidence of the lawful existence thereof.”

Not all that long ago, the continued existence of the post was in doubt.

It was May 4, 2015, when the post’s officers met in hopes of reaching a consensus for the future.

“We’re still in limbo,” newly installed post commander Fred Bailey said the next day. He referred to the post as “financially strapped.”

“We would like to salvage this somehow,” he added.

Legion members, auxiliary members and members of the Sons of the American Legion met again May 6, 2015, to weigh options and chose to try to save Post 211.

That effort has been successful.

“Financially we’re solvent,” said Micheau, who credited Bailey with spurring the comeback. “We’re good — a lot better than we were.”

He reports that after the post was tens of thousands of dollars in debt six years ago, it now has more than $90,000 in its coffers.

How does it feel to see Post 211 back in strong financial standing?

“I can’t explain it,” Micheau said. “I really can’t. Fred did a hell of a job. He had everything in place.

“To watch it come from where it has, I’m happy.”

Thanks to the work to keep the local American Legion post alive, it continues to fulfill its mission in a variety of ways.

Those include the post’s honor guard, which serves at veterans’ funerals, the annual Memorial Day event at Green Park Cemetery and other events. The American Legion also presented scholarships to local students during Monday’s Jay County High School Honors Night.

The local chapter of the American Legion Riders has come back in recent years. It held a ride last month for Skylar Esparza, an 11-year-old Portland boy who was diagnosed with leukemia, and has another coming up for Shea Briar, who was murdered in January 2020. (Brian was a member of Post 211.)

The post also donates to a variety of charitable causes in Portland and Jay County.

“It’s a good organization,” said Micheau. “We — we, Portland’s Legion — is good for the community. They do things that nobody knows about. It makes me feel good to see stuff work.”

Robert Guy Ayers American Legion Post 211’s members — there are 224 currently signed — hope to continue that work for another century and beyond.

Their mission is clear, inscribed as part of the charter:

“… said Post pledges itself through its members, to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the principles of true Americanism, for the common welfare of the living and in solemn commemoration of those who died that liberty might not perish from the Earth.”