Then kind Fate in the shape of G.H.Q. came to the rescue with what proved to be the solution.
G.H.Q. didn't mean to find the solution. There had been a deal of dissatisfaction with the way certain things were going in the A.E.F. and on February 15, 1919, twenty National Guard and Reserve officers serving in the A.E.F., representing the S.O.S., ten infantry divisions, and several other organizations, were ordered to report in Paris. The purpose of this gathering was to have these officers confer with certain others of the Regular Army, including the heads of train supply and Intelligence Sections of the General Staff of G.H.Q., in regard to the betterment of conditions and development of contentment in the army in France.
Included in this number were Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., of the First Division, Lieutenant Colonel Franklin D'Olier of the S.O.S., and Lieutenant Colonel Eric Fisher Wood of the 88th Division. All of these officers have since told me that when they left their divisions they were distinctively permeated with the desire to form a veterans' organization of some comprehensive kind. When they got to Paris they immediately went into conference with the other officers on the questions involved in their official trip, details of which do not concern this story.
What is important is the fact that Colonel Roosevelt, Colonel D'Olier, and Colonel Wood each discovered that all of the officers in this representative gathering shared with the thousands of other soldiers of the American forces the hope and desire that the officers and men who were about to return to civilian life, after serving in the great war, whether at home or with the combat units or in the S.O.S., might sooner or later be united into one permanent national organization, similar in certain respects to the Grand Army of the Republic or the United Confederate Veterans and composed of all parties, all creeds, and all ranks, who wished to perpetuate American ideals and the relationship formed while in the military and national service.
When these officers realized what each was thinking they promptly set about with the "let's go" spirit of the A.E.F. to avail themselves of a God-given opportunity. A dinner was spread in the Allied Officers' Club, Rue Faubourg St. Honoré, on the night of February 16th and covers were laid for the following:
| Lt. Col. Francis R. Appleton, Jr., | 2d Army. |
| Lt. Col. G. Edward Buxton, | 82d Div. |
| Lt. Col. Bennett C. Clark, ex 35th Div., | now with 88th Div. |
| Lt. Col. Ralph D. Cole, | 37th Div. |
| Lt. Col. D.J. Davis, ex 28th Div., | now att. G.H.Q. |
| Lt. Col. Franklin D'Olier, | Q.M., S.O.S. |
| Col. W.J. Donovan, | Rainbow Div. |
| Lt. Col. David M. Goodrich, | G.H.Q. |
| Maj. T.E. Gowenlock, ex 1st Div., | now with 1st A.C. |
| Col. Thorndike Howe, | A.P.O. Dept. |
| Lt. Col. John Price Jackson, | Peace Commission |
| Maj. DeLancey Kountze, | G.H.Q. |
| Lt. Col. R.W. Llewellen, | 28th Div. |
| Capt. Ogden Mills, ex 6th Div., | now att. G.-2, S.O.S. |
| Lt. Col. Benjamin Moore, | 82d Div. |
| Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., | 1st Div. |
| Lt. Col. R.C. Stebbins, | 3d A.C. |
| Maj. R.C. Stewart, | 1st Div. |
| Lt. Col. George A. White, ex 41st Div., | now att. G.H.Q. |
| Lt. Col. Eric Fisher Wood, ex 83d Div., | now with 88th Div. |
At that dinner the American Legion was born.
Why not let this gathering—the most representative in the history of the A.E.F.—consider itself as a temporary committee to launch the movement? Why not? everyone asked himself and his neighbor over the coffee. All felt that their presence in Paris presented an unusual opportunity to initiate the first steps of such a movement, an opportunity unlikely to be repeated and one they ought not to let slip. Another meeting was suggested to consider the matter. It was held. The result was that there were several more conferences and every such gathering was more enthusiastic than its predecessor. At each of these informal conferences, some one was careful to emphasize that these self-appointed committeemen were by no means representative enough of the army or navy, nor sufficiently numerous to warrant their actually effecting an organization of any character whatsoever. Yet it was believed that, nevertheless, the gathering was representative enough to act as a temporary committee so functioning as to get together from the whole army and navy two caucuses—one to represent the troops in France, and the other those who had remained in America and who, through no fault of their own, had been denied the privilege of making history on a European battlefield. The temporary committee realized that due care must be exercised in getting these caucuses started. Every unit in the A.E.F. should be represented, if possible, at the Paris caucus, while to the one in the States, preferably to be held at St. Louis because of its central location, delegates must come from every Congressional District in the Union.
Thereby would be avoided, it was urged, the mistake of giving the impression that it was a small gathering of men, unrepresentative or serving some special and selfish end.
This was unanimously agreed upon and the temporary committee elected Lt. Col. Roosevelt, temporary chairman, Lt. Col. Bennett C. Clark, temporary vice-chairman, Lt. Col. Wood, temporary secretary.