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An Introduction to The
American Legion Riders
The Beginning of the
American Legion Riders
In the fall of 1993 Chuck (Tramp) Dare shared a dream with then Post Commander
(Polka) Bill Kaledas at the American Legion Post 396 in Garden City,
Michigan. The idea came about to start a motorcycle association that
would operate within the American Legion. The idea was to provide an
atmosphere whereas Post, Auxiliary and S.A.L. members, who shared an enthusiasm
for motorcycles, could come together. It was meant to be a family
oriented group.
Not knowing how to start this group up, and stay within the scope of the
American Legion, a letter was written to then Department Adjutant Hubert
Hess. In his November 19th, 1993 reply he stated that it
"Sounds like a great idea". In this letter, and follow-up phone
conversations, he gave us instructions on how to manage this program at our
Post. He also provided us information on how to get approval for the use
of the American Legion Emblem. We then sought to get this program
recognized through our Post Membership. The idea was brought up at our
Post meeting to have our Post sponsor the group to be known as the "American
Legion Riders". It was passed by our members and thus became the birth of
the first American Legion Riders group.
We started with just a small group. Within a few months we grew to
nineteen members. We worked on developing a set of by-laws to help us to
provide structure to our group. We designed an emblem for the American
Legion Riders. This emblem, contained within its design, the emblem of
the American Legion. Working closely with our Department Adjutant we were
able to gain approval, by the national headquarters of the American Legion, to
have our emblem manufactured for our group. This emblem is worn today by
Legion Rider groups throughout the country and can be purchased directly
through the American Legion National Emblem Sales. Examples of the patch
can be viewed on our website: http://www.americanlegionriders.net
Another important decision we made, with concurrence of our Department
Adjutant, was to not require members that wanted to become Legion Riders to
transfer to our Post. Our Post sponsored the American Legion Rider group,
but not all of our members belong to our Post. We felt that if we
required members to transfer to our Post that this would cause a lot of hard
feelings in other Post near our own community. What we soon found out was
that our membership grew, not from current Legion members, but many joined the
American Legion to become members of the American Legion Riders. A very
conservative estimate would say that over half of our current membership joined
the American Legion to enable them to join the Riders.
Right after starting we proceeded to get down to "business". Our
objective was to support the aims and purposes of the American Legion, through
service to our Community, State and Nation. We did such things as putting
on a "Bingo" at the VA Hospital, putting on fundraisers for local charities,
participating in motorcycle "runs" to raise money for charity and participation
in ceremonies and parades. We did have some Post members who thought, in
the beginning, that we would be just a bunch of "Bikers". After seeing
the kinds of things we did, we gained a lot of respect in both the American
Legion community as well as our own community.
In 1996 we had an article published about the American Legion Riders in the
American Legion National publication of the "Dispatch". An article in the
American Legion Magazine soon followed up this article and again in May
2002. In about 1996 "Tramp" moved to
Texas
, where he did a great job of promoting the Legion Rider program
there. Today, there are groups of American Legion Riders throughout the
country.
Where we are today
As the membership of the American Legion Riders is a very diverse group, so are
the programs that they are involved in. By allowing each American Legion
Rider Chapter to give their members the ability to manage their program at the
Post level, the program has been allowed to grow. Today there exist Legion
Rider programs in several states, and many more starting. The types of
things that these groups are doing are far too many to mention in this article,
but here are a few examples:
(1)
Participation in the annual POW/MIA Rally held each Memorial weekend in
Washington
D.C.
known as "Rolling Thunder".
(2)
Sponsoring or participating in local Charity events and providing
Community Service.
(3)
Raising money for such organizations as local VA Hospitals, Battered
Women and Children's Center, Varied Children and Youth programs, a School for
Blind Children, Veterans Relief, Needy families and many, many others.
(4)
Sponsoring or participating in motorcycle "Runs" to benefit
numerous charities, including charities for underprivileged children and
medical research, just to name a few.
(5)
Participation in memorial ceremonies and community parades.
(6)
One group is spearheading an effort to erect a "
Veterans
Memorial Park
" in the center of their Downtown area.
The
recognition by local communities has marked the program as a true
success. The American Legion Riders Group in
Michigan
was even honored by the Local City Council and Michigan House of
Representatives when they drafted a resolution declaring the American Legion
Riders as a valuable asset to the community. Motorcyclist can be a very
dedicated group of people. When you combine this with the fact that they
are Legionnaires, you create a win/win
situation.
Who benefits from
forming an American Legion Riders Group?
We all do!!!! Many of the groups, in existence today, have all had
stories where some of their Post members were a little reluctant to let a group
of "Bikers" in to their Post. After seeing what these groups were doing
for the American Legion their opinion soon changed. Not only did the Post
welcome them, but also in most cases did what they could to help support their
efforts, by participating in some of the groups fundraising events. There
are also many stories where the American Legion Riders group worked in
conjunction with the Post to sponsor a program. The Post was glad to have
their help and the Riders were honored to be asked. We were able to break
down some barriers. Just because one person wears a leather motorcycle
jacket and another wears a golf shirt and slacks, we now know that we can work
together to promote the aims and purposes of the American Legion. We have
done it, and everyone involved was able to see the benefit. The American
Legion Riders was never intended to be a "Motorcycle Club". As stated, it
is to be able to work with the Local Post to assist in promoting the American
Legion.
Membership, Membership, Membership!! Literally every Post program
of the American Legion Riders has brought in members that may not have joined
the American Legion were it not for the Riders program. The Riders
program has been able to spark a new interest to join the American
Legion. Some of these members, who joined for the Legion Rider program,
have gone on to serve as Officers within their Post. Conversely, we have
also had Post members go out and purchase motorcycles just to join the
Riders. There was one story from a Post that recently started an American
Legion Riders group. It advertised for the first meeting of the
group. They originally intended for only about six or seven members to
show up to the first meeting. When the meeting started they had seventeen
people wanting to join, nine of these people were joining the American Legion
that night so that they could become members of the Legion Riders. Have
you had a program that has brought in that many new members in one night
lately?
Pure enjoyment!! The program was designed to have people work together
and enjoy themselves. It may be a group of Riders working on a fundraiser
for a local charity, it may be just a warm summer evening ride together or
maybe just sitting at the Post sharing stories. It's all about members
working together and playing together - it is there for them to enjoy.
What are the
requirements to become an American Legion Rider?
(1)
Be a current member of the American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary or
Sons of the American Legion.
(2)
Own a motorcycle (at least 250cc) or be the spouse of an owner who is an
American Legion Rider member.
Note: Must meet requirements of both 1 & 2
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