AMERICAN LEGION POST 230, HAWTHORNE, FLA
AFTER THE END OF WORLD WAR II, THE AMERICAN LEGION WAS LOOKING TO EXPAND AND BEGAN APPROACHING VETERANS ABOUT STARTING LEGION CHAPTERS IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES. JESS DAVIS AND SID MARTIN, IN 1946, OBTAINED A CHARTER FOR POST #230 IN HAWTHORNE, FLORIDA. THEY PERSUADED THE ALACHUA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD TO SELL THE POST THE PROPERTY WHERE THE OLD HAWTHORNE SCHOOL HAD BEEN LOCATED FOR THE SUM OF $10.00. THE PRESENT BUILDING WAS AN OLD HOSPITAL WARD AT CAMP BLANDING AND WAS DONATED TO THE POST BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. IT WAS MOVED TO HAWTHORNE, A FIREPLACE WAS ADDED, AND IT BECAME THE SOCIAL GATHERING PLACE FOR THE COMMUNITY. DANCES AND CARNIVALS WERE HELD AND THE TRADITION OF SERVING COVERED DISH LUNCHES AT THE LEGION MEETINGS WAS BEGUN, A TRADITION THAT CONTINUES 'TIL TODAY. THE LADIES AUXILIARY MET IN THE KITCHEN WITH BABIES ON THEIR LAPS WHILE THE OLDER CHILDREN PLAYED OUTSIDE. LATER AN ADDITION WAS ADDED FOR THE AUXILIARY.
ONLY TWO CHARTER MEMBERS ARE STILL ACTIVE AND ALIVE. BILLY CARLTON SERVED IN THE U.S. NAVY AND WAS PRESENT ON OKINAWA WHEN THE ATOMIC BOMB LEFT FOR JAPAN. DAN DUGGER WAS A GUNNER ON U.S. AIR FORCE BOMBERS, WAS SHOT DOWN OVER GERMANY, AND REMAINED A POW UNTIL THE WAR ENDED.
