Genealogy Trails
Pottawattamie County, Iowa

The story in The Nonpareil about the death of Raymond A. Smith states he was one of the founders of the American Legion. Indeed, he was, and he might have gone on to become one of the national officers had he so chosen. The Bluffs post of World War veterans was the second organized in the United States. It was formed the day after the first "post" that in Washington D.C. came into being. Raymond was named "national delegate" by the Bluffs post an attended the two major sessions at which the national organization was initiated. He helped organize Southwest Iowa posts, was elected state historian at one of the first state conventions, and was active in promoting the candidacy of Hanford MacNider, who was elected the second national commander of the Legion.

Raymond also was adviser to and cooperated with Col. (later Gen.) Mat Tinley of Council Bluffs, Iowa's first state commander. The Bluffs post was formed at Mid-March 1919. The Associated Press carried on its forenoon wires a story that in Washington D.C. an organization of veterans was being set up. Consequently, a group of Bluffs servicemen, back in the city after the war (which ended Nov. 11, 1918) met at the Nonpareil office that evening and formed a "World War Veterans" unit. A full set of officers were elected: commander, national delegate, two vice commanders, adjutant, treasurer and board of trustees. Raymond A. Smith was named the national delegate.

During the following months "Posts" were formed in various states, many of them writing to Council Bluffs officials for suggestions. Late in the spring, a national conference was held in St. Louis. Raymond attended that, at which the name "American Legion" was selected. A smaller meeting, of selected delegates, was held in Washington a short time later to complete the constitution and do other organizing work. Raymond attended that.

How the Bluffs post came to be named "No. 2" is an ironical story. The St. Louis convention provided that individual posts in the state should be numbered in the order in which applications were received at the state headquarters after a certain date, in Iowa, this meant at Des Moines. The officers of the Bluffs post, seeking to be named No. 1, as they were in the state in fact, met at the Nonpareil office at midnight. They signed the application and rushed with it to the Rock Island Railroad Depot to send it by mail to Des Moines. However, a northwestern Iowa group (Spencer) had likewise met at midnight, but it sent its application by automobile; and despite Iowa's bad roads at that time, that application reached the Des Moines office ahead of that from Council Bluffs, and the Bluffs became No. 2. So, in fact, it was No. 2 in the national and technically No. 2 in the state.

The Bluffs post was named "Rainbow" for the famous Rainbow Division of which Company L of the Bluffs was a part. There was something of a hassle about the name. Council Bluffs had two other meritorious service organizations -- Dodge Engineers and Unit K, later name Mobile Hospital No. 1 (the first of its kind in the war), and there was belief that the name should reflect all three organizations.

The Bluffs had a notable record in the first World War. Not only did it furnish the three companies named above -- the only city of its size to do so-- but during the first part of the war when "credit" on draft quotas was given for volunteer enlistments, Council Bluffs had no draft. In fact, the record of Council Bluffs in World War I was but a continuation of its record in other wars. In the Mexican War, the Bluffs furnished the Morman brigade; in the Civil War, many volunteers and several leading officers, including Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, who was Gen. Grant's railroad builder and "secret service head"; in the Spanish American War, it sent into service such men as Col. Mat Tinley and Col. Donald Macrae and an outfit that went to the Philippines.

Nonpareil Editor Called First Meet

John M. Henry was managing editor of the Nonpareil from 1921 to 1929. He now resides in Des Moines and is helping with the Ding Darling cartoon exhibition, which has been at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. It was Henry who called the first meeting of "World War Veterans" and was named commander of that group. The first commander of the American Legion post here was Walter Nead, an instructor at the Council Bluffs High School, who was second in command of Co L.

Two National Auxiliary Heads

Council Bluffs is the only city its size in the United States to furnish two national presidents of the American Legion Auxiliary. They were: Mrs. Donald Macrae, wife of the commander of Mobile Hospital Unit No. 1 (Unit K) for fiscal year 1929-30, and Mrs. Percy Lainson, wife of the commander of Co L for fiscal 1954-55.

[Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Published May 10, 1977, submitted by Ann]