Post 1 celebrating 95 years of American Legion presence in Laconia

LACONIA — Wilkins-Smith American Legion Post 1, located at 849 North Main St. in Laconia, will celebrate 95 years of service to the community and its veterans and its youth with a dinner and awards night on Saturday, March 8.

Post Adjutant Earlon Beale, one of only three commanders at the post to ever serve as state American Legion commander (2006-07), has held the adjutant's position for 18 years and says that he was inspired to become involved in American Legion leadership by the late two-time post commander Charlie Tracy, who was state commander in 1971-72. The other state commander from Laconia was Cy Malone, who served as state commander in 1966-67.

''Charlie asked me to drive him to Boston but it turned out that he didn't really need me to drive. He talked to me all the way down and back about how important it was for the Legion to continue its traditions and provide leadership in the community and support for veterans,'' recalls Beale, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and retired from the Army Reserves after 34 years in the military.

Beale moved to Laconia from Augusta, Maine in 1986 and worked as a telephone lineman for years, once winning an award for heroism from New England Telephone for helping rescue an elderly couple from a burning home on Lower Bay Road in Sanbornton.

He served as Post 1 commander in 1992-93 and took over the adjutant's position, long occupied by the late Raymond Lahaie, a few years later with the understanding that it would only be for a short period of time.

''Eighteen years later I'm still here,'' says Beale, who says that the post, which five years ago had 625 members, has now shrunk to 480 and that it has become increasingly difficult to recruit younger veterans who will be needed to keep the post the vital force in the community that it once was.

''There's a lot of history on these walls,'' says Beale, as he looked at photographs of past commanders, noting that many were prominent lawyers, like Thomas P. Cheney, the post's first commander, and that at least two, Gerard L. Morin and Don Tabor, were mayors of Laconia.

He said that the post was the first one formed in New Hampshire in the immediate aftermath of World War I and was chartered by Congress in March of 1919. It was originally named for Frank W. Wilkins, the first Laconia boy killed in World War I.

Although Wilkins was over the age to be drafted he left New England Telephone Company and joined the U.S. Army as a master signal electrician in Co. D 401st Telegraph Battalion. He died in France of injuries received when he crashed his motorcycle while trying to avoid hitting a little girl. Wilkins suffered a broken leg in the accident, in which the gas tank of the motorcycle ruptured and his wounds were contaminated by the gasoline soaked ground, leading to complications which claimed his life.

The name was changed in 1946 to include that of Lt. Cmdr. James Stuart Smith, U.S. Navy, who was the first service man from Laconia to be killed during WWII.

From 1930 to 1953 the post home was located at 329 Union Avenue. The post sold the prime piece of property to the First National Corp, which later became the home of Mr. Grocer. The property is currently the home of Auto Zone.

The current post home was built on North Main Street next to Opechee Park in 1953 and was purchased when Gerard L. Morin was commander. Morin, the owner of Lake City Beverage, was elected mayor in 1953 and was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 1954, losing to Norris Cotton, and was later chairman of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission in the mid-1960s and a candidate for an Executive Council seat in 1976.

In celebration of its 95th anniversary the post will host a complete prime rib dinner to members and their guests. Also certificates of continuous membership will be awarded to those with 50-55-60 years of membership. The event gets underway with a social hour at 5 p.m. and dinner will follow at 6 p.m. Ticket information is available by calling the Post #1 canteen after 12 p.m. at 524-9728.

CAPTION:

Wilkins-Smith Post #1 American Legion Adjutant Earlon Beale stands beneath the sign which was on the the post's first home, which was located near Laconia High School at 329 Union Avenue from 1930 until 1953, and photos of Frank W. Wilkins and Lt. Cmdr. James Stuart Smith, for whom the post is named. (Roger Amsden/for The Laconia Daily Sun).