ALR Post #2
History
In April 2005, Paul Griffin suggested that
the motorcycle riders at Post 2 form an American Legion
Riders chapter at the post. He also suggested that we attend
two State ALR meetings, One in Chino Valley and another In
West Phoenix. Six of the motorcyclist at Post 2, Charlie
Prest, Eddie Roduez, Pam and Dave McBride, Sonny Carrasco
and George Field attended these two meetings to obtain
information about the ALR Organization and to gather
information to assist in forming our own ALR chapter at Post
2. On May 4th, 2005, the formation of the Post 2 ”American
Legion Riders” motorcycle association was approved by the
Post Governing Council.
ALR members participate in parades and other ceremonies
which are in keeping with the Aims and Purposes of the
American Legion. To promote motorcycle safety programs and
to provide a social atmosphere for American Legion members
who share the same interest. To use our Association to
promote and support programs of the American Legion. Our
riders visit other posts to provide Post 2 a greater
visibility in the larger community of the American Legion.
Some of our motorcycle trips have been to military hospitals
to provide needed supplies to wounded servicemen. Other
rides have been to welcome wounded servicemen returning from
Iraq. We also rode in the Veterans Day Parade in down town
Tempe. On Memorial Day 2006, we rode to the local cemeteries
to place flags on the graves of war veterans. We are also
helping other Post 2 groups with donations to support their
functions. We are a fast growing group at Post 2, starting
with six members, we have grown to thirty in one year and we
plan to keep growing and providing even more support to Post
2 and the Legion. We hope you enjoy the photos that
accompany this article.
George Field
Post Historian
A History
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 is available to it's
members through and State chapters.
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. 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:
- Participation in the annual
POW/MIA Rally held each Memorial
weekend in Washington D.C. known
as "Rolling Thunder".
- Sponsoring or participating
in local Charity events.
- 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.
- Sponsoring or participating
in motorcycle "Runs" to benefit
numerous charities, including
charities for underprivileged
children and medical research,
just to name a few.
- Participation in memorial
ceremonies and community
parades.
- 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, 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 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.
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