National Historian Charemon Dunham of South Dakota announces The American Legion's history contest winners during 2013 Fall Meetings.

Departments, posts win history contest

Past and present department and national American Legion historians met during Fall Meetings, Oct. 14-17, in Indianapolis, for an orientation and to judge entries for the National Post History and National Department History contests. These meetings are vital, as each fall normally brings an office turnover of a little less than half of all departments.

Also included during the judging period was a meeting of the NADHAL (National Association of Department Historians of The American Legion) organization. Judging standards were discussed, and an update on the feasibility study of electronic contest submissions was given. New National Historian Charemon Dunham of South Dakota – a past department historian, contest participant who took one of the first three awards every year for 10 years, and former NADHAL president – addressed the group and commented, "I hope to have a lot of good books coming."

The post entries had taken the first award at their department conventions earlier this year; department entries had been sent directly to Indianapolis. There were 37 total entries among four categories, down from 47 last year. Dunham announced the winners on Oct. 17 during her report to the National Executive Committee, which are:

One-Year Department Narrative

First Award, Department of Pennsylvania

One-Year Department Yearbook

First Award, Department of North Carolina

Second Award, Department of Florida

Third Award, Department of Ohio

One-Year Post Narrative

First Award, Pony Express Post 359, St. Joseph, Mo.

Second Award, Frank B. Bartlett Post 7, Buckhannon, W.Va.

Third Award, Frank E. Booma Post 6, Portsmouth, N.H.

One-Year Post Yearbook

First Award, Bella Vista Post 341, Bella Vista, Ark.

Second Award, Charles S. Hatch Post 79, Berwick, Maine

Third Award, Julius L. Shryer Post 430, Durant, Iowa

Honorable Mention, Veterans Memorial Post 347, Lady Lake, Fla.

Honorable Mention, Montpelier Post 3, Montpelier, Vt.

Honorable Mention, Colonial Heights Post 284, Colonial Heights, Va.

Post and department historians should start now on entries for next year’s contests. Contact your department historian for more information; a directory of Legion departments can be found here. Find out more about NADHAL at www.nadhal.org.