– Tom Powell Post #77 is the oldest African-American Post in the United States, and the American Legion.

– The post is named for an Army messenger killed in France during World War I. Posthumously,  Powell was awarded the distinguished Service Cross.

– Powell was a Georgia native whose efforts to enlist in 1917 was rejected by the Army in the South. He rode a railroad freight car to Chicago, where he joined the Army and was sent to France.

– The group is unusual within the American Legion for having veterans from the eras of four conflicts: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

– Tom Powell Post #77 is the oldest African-American Post in the United States, and the American Legion.