American Legion
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN LEGION LT. B. R. KIMLAU POST 1291
The
American Legion, Lt. B.R. Kimlau Post 1291, had its beginning during the later
part of 1944. It was organized by a group of World War II veterans who, after
much hardship and runaround, were finally successful in obtaining a charter
from The National American Legion Headquarters in 1945.
There were 96 original charter members for the new
Post, all but one were of Chinese descent. The approved charter name for this
Post was ‘The American Legion, Lt. B.R Kimlau Chinese Memorial Post 1291”.
Lt. Kimlau was an American of Chinese descent. He served as an Air Force
bomber pilot in World War LI. While assigned to the Southwest Pacific theater,
he was killed in action during air battles over the New Guinea Islands.
When
first organized, the Post had its temporary headquarters at 185 Worth Street,
but office space there was very limited. With a growing membership and a need for
more operational room, the Post later leased and moved to the second floor of
196 Canal Street in 1945. After much renovation and organization, the Post was
in full operation - both to
serve the needs of the members and to prepare for its official opening.
On
April 28, 1946, the Lt. Kimlau Post was officially established with a formal
opening ceremony in Columbus Park, Chinatown, and was followed by a huge
parade and celebration. At that time, membership already exceeded 600, and the
first Post Commander was George Mar Lee.
With
the active involvement in various community affairs, the Lt. Kimlau Post was
quick to become an influential organization in the Chinese community shortly
after its official opening. Our Post became a strong ally of
the Chinese Benevolent Association, offering advice and assistance in
resolving important local community issues.
We
were instrumental in the two successful appeals to the US Congress for the
fair and equal treatment of immigration laws pertaining to Chinese, and the
increase of Chinese refugee quotas. Also during that period due to numerous
traffic accidents and mishaps that occurred on a regular basis in Chinatown,
the Post took the initiative to petition the New York City Department of
Transportation for traffic lights. The request was granted with the immediate
installation of traffic lights for the streets of Chinatown to protect the
pedestrians.
In
order to provide an everlasting memorial for those Chinese-Americans who had
answered the call of our nation and provided the supreme sacrifice, the Lt.
Kimlau Post petitioned the City of New York in 1958 for a site at Chatham
Square to build a memorial. After many delays and rejections, the Post finally
obtained permission in early 1961 to change the name of “Chatham Square”
to “Kimlau Square” and erected a memorial to honor all Chinese-Americans
who died while serving our nation. On April28, 1962,an unveiling ceremony for
the memorial was conducted with a parade and a big celebration afterward.
In
recognition of the need to establish a permanent Post Headquarters, the Lt.
Kimlau Post acquired a 6-story building at 191-193 Canal Street in 1961 for
that purpose. It took two years to complete the renovation of this new
headquarters. On April 28,1963, the Lt. Kimlau Post celebrated its 19th
anniversary, the installation of newly elected officers, and the relocation to
its new building. There were over 1000 participants in the celebration,
including members, their families, and VIPs. These included the American
Legion Commander; US Senator Hiram Fong of Hawaii, Republic of China
Ambassador to the UN Ambassador Liu Kia, Republic of China’s Chief Military
Delegate to the UN General S.M. Wang, and numerous state and city officials,
and community leaders.
In September 1946, then President of the Republic of China’s Executive Yuan Mr.
Chiang Ching-kuo, visited New York as part of his state tour of the U.S. He
was well received by the Chinese community, and was also honored by the Lt.
Kimlau Post. Other prominent people received distinguished recognition from
our Post included: Air Force Lt. Gen. Chennault, US Army Gen. J.A. Van Fleet,
US Senator Fong of Hawaii, Mayor R. Wagner of NYC, Ambassador Tang of the
R.O.C., and NYPD Inspector Beatty.
The
decades of the fifties and sixties were considered by many as our Post’s
most prominent period. We exceeded 1000 in membership, and many members were
also active and in leadership positions in other community organizations. The
Post created an extensive service program to aid various causes, e.g., flood
relief earthquake relief, refugee relief, educational grants, etc.. The Post
donated funds to the True Light School Drum and Fife Band for the purchase of
lockers to store uniforms. We also gave donations to the Chinese Community
School Band for instruments and uniforms, and contributed $1,000 as capital
fund to implement a recreation center for Chinatown youth at the Chinese
Community Center.
Our
Post once ran a Scholarship Program during 1965 through 1968 to encourage and
provide opportunity for the children of Legionnaires to study Chinese language
and culture, and to give financial aid to needy students with excellence in
academic achievement to continue or complete their higher education. More than
one hundred sons and daughters of our members were recipients and benefited
from this program.
For
fellow Legionnaires, the Post instituted services that included applications
for various benefits, applications for immigration of family members,
employment referral, rehabilitation care, weekly visitation of sick and
disabled members, and care of dependents. The Post also provided a variety of
programs to meet the needs of many age groups, such as the annual installation
dinner party, parades (Columbus’s Day, Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, Double
Ten, and others) weekend movies, teen parties, picnics, and annual Thanksgiving
and Christmas parties. At onetime, nearly a thousand children received toys
and candies from Santa Claus at the Post’s Annual Christmas Party.
Our Post, in order to keep our membership informed of the progress of its activities, published newspapers such as ” The Bugle Journal” in 1957, and “The Kimlau Post Journal” from September 1963 through March 1968 - nearly five years for a total of 14 issues. The format was available both Chinese and English. The paper was self-supported by advertisements. It was the first bilingual newspaper ever published by an American Legion post. Our editors won recognition from the American Legion National Press Association and were invited to join them..
In
1965, the post formed a “Tai-chi Chuan” exercise class. Many members were
very enthusiastic toward this program because our teacher was the
internationally famous Taichi Master William C.C. Chen. Nowadays members
still practice on Sunday afternoon, led by Master Lee Kuoying. Many of the
above-mentioned activities and services are still being performed by
the Post, especially in the areas of membership benefits and privileges.
In
1970s, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was in a stalemate The political
situation at home was in turmoil. Inflation was rampaging. The impact on the
lives of citizens was brutal. Our post was in great financial difficulty
during that time. We almost needed to borrow to sustain our organizational
operating expenses. Our Post Commanders then started a restructuring program.
Unnecessary activities were either curtailed or suspended in order to make
ends meet. During the hard times, our Post Commanders were kept busy trying to
seek ways and means to bring in more income for our post. It was then decided
to convert the 4th, 5th and 6th floors into separate offices. It was the
wisest move made by our able past commanders. The innovation helped to
maintain the post’s existence. Nevertheless, the Kimlau Post did not neglect
its commitment to the community. We saw the dire need of new immigrants, and
undertook a program to teach them basic English in order for them to become
citizens of the United States. Many were benefited by this worthy program.
The
1 980s brought an influx of new immigrants from the third world, especially
from Taiwan and Hong Kong as 1997 draws near. The fiber of the local community
was greatly changed. Real property values went skyrocketing, businesses of all
kind were flourishing. Our post finances improved a great deal by these
changes. However, the long suspended programs of the past could not be revived
as our members aged. Our members’ interests also changed direction. Our post
started to adapt to the great changes and planned new programs for our members
focusing on benefits and services. To inform our members of on-going
activities, the Post periodically mailed out a newsletter.
At
the present time, our Post provides a variety of newspapers and magazines for
members to read, Mahjong, playing cards, and Chinese chess games to play,
and other recreation, and a weekly Tai-chi exercise class to keep them fit.
Afternoon tea and buns are also served. Our members enjoy these programs very
much, and started to bring in more new members, veterans who had not joined us
before. We are especially pleased that the younger generations of veterans are
also starting to sign up, as we badly need an infusion of new blood to carry
on our post activities. In summary, the success and achievements of the Lt.
Kimlau Post for the past fifty years were due primarily to the great vision
and the extraordinary efforts put forth by our Post founding members and to
the leadership of able Past Commanders. They had given us a solid organization
fully committed to the principles of the American Legion. They provided us
with an organization which not only commands respect, but is also an active
member of the community.
The Lt. Kimlau Post has a fine tradition of caring and giving; our members are dedicated to upholding the goals and ideals of Justice, Freedom, Democracy and Loyalty. Looking toward the future, the Kimlau Post will certainly continue to serve our members, community, state and country, as per our national preamble.