Windham’s American Legion Post celebrating 85th anniversary

By David Tanguay
For The Windham Eagle

Windham’s American Legion Field-Allen Post 148 has celebrated 85 years of service and has no plans on slowing down.

Back in 1990, the Town’s “Historian,” a newspaper editor, staff writer and a dear friend, Kay Soldier, authored an article for the Courier Free Press, titled “The Legacy of Field and Allen.” In the article, she follows the path of two sisters who are married in the summer and fall of 1882. One sister, Lucinda Lamb, marries Frank Atherton who has a daughter, Flora Belle, who later marries Windham’s Lawrence Allen. They had seven children: James, Robert, Wayne, Phyllis, Anne, Alice, and Jeannette. The other sister, Emily Lamb, marries William W. Field. They have a son, Charles W.W. Field, who became a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I and perished in France.

On March 6, 1945, USMC Sgt. James Allen, Son of Lawrence, and Flora Belle Allen, is Killed in Action on a far-away Island (Iwo Jima) in the Pacific becoming the first Windham resident to die in World War II.

The legacy of those weddings in 1882 produced the circumstances resulting in the name of a Windham School (Field-Allen Junior High School) and the name of the American Legion Field-Allen Post 148 -Windham. The son of one Lamb and the grandson of another are bound together forever by more than family, Field-Allen Post 148-Windham, Maine.

Twenty years after the town’s loss of Lt. Field, some twenty-six World War I veterans and leading citizens of the Town of Windham including the manager of the IGA and Fire Chief; a blacksmith; a school superintendent; a truck driver; and others formed the Legion Post in Windham in 1938 as the Lt. Charlies W. Field Post 148 in honor of Lt Charles Field. Roland Ward was the first Commander. The infant post met at various locations around town including the Windham Town Hall and the Old High School (now the Town Offices). Little in the form of records remains from this early post formation and subsequent activity other than a “Marble Leger” dating from the 1940s to the 1970s with the minutes of the meetings enshrined.

It is known that in 1949, the post wanted to honor United State Marine Corps’ Sgt. Allen and renamed the post as Field-Allen Post 148.

From 1938 to 1990s, the Field-Allen Post provided support and service to Windham veterans, the community, and its youth. For many years the post had an average membership of about 24 with spikes in membership after both World War II and the end of the Korean Conflict in the 1940s, and then declined again.

Throughout the life of the post, its members have made it a point to decorate veterans’ graves in the town cemeteries and support Windham’s annual Memorial Day parade and ceremony.

Post membership continued to waver and by 1999, members were considering turning in their charter. But the American Legion Department of Maine intervened and held a revitalization that brought in about 30 new members and new leadership to the post.

The rest of the story, as they say, is history. Post membership this year stands at 233 with a wide range of programs to support the community and our veterans. In addition to the traditional Memorial Day events which the post now coordinates for the Town of Windham, members place almost 1,000 flags on the graves of veterans as well as placing wreaths on the veterans’ graves each December. Post youth programs have expanded to include scholarships, and student leadership award recognitions, a youth air rifle program, providing support for the Windham Little League, and support for Boy Scout troops.

Field-Allen Post 148 also supports multiple Red Cross blood drives as well as food drive support for the Windham Food Pantry and assistance for veterans experiencing food insecurity and heating insecurity.

These and many other programs and events do not happen in a vacuum. The post relies on support from the community as well with attendance at Community Bean Suppers, and its annual Saint Patrick’s Day and Thanksgiving dinners. One significant fundraiser for the post scholarship program is the Past Commander Don Rogers’ bean supper held in July every year. This event and others allow the post to assist our local high school graduates with some financial support. The post also supports the highly successful Dirigo State Program that provides free support from the Legion family for those attending.

As the Field-Allen Post is celebrating 85 years of service this year (1938 to 2023), its members are asking the community to join them in the celebration. With Memorial Day coming up in just a few weeks, the post is providing an open invitation to the community to attend and participate in the parade and then join the post for an open house and picnic at the Windham Veterans Center at noon. For the parade, the post is looking for support from community groups, businesses, and citizens to join the parade and recognize your local veterans and the Field-Allen Post with vehicles, floats, marching or walking units. We are looking for convertibles to provide rides to veterans, Jeeps (old and new), military vehicles, and antique vehicles.

The Parade will start promptly at the Windham Town Hall on School Street at 8 a.m. Monday, May 29, followed by the Town Memorial Day Ceremony at 10 a.m. at the Windham High School flagpole and Veterans Memorial. If you would like to join the parade, please call 207-892-1306 or send an email to dtanguay46@aol.com. <