In 1920, Henry Meldrun Post #114 was chartered for the community of Sikeston. Meldrum was a native of Sikeston who was killed in active duty in Europe during World War I. For the past 89 years, our legion post has been very active in the Sikeston community and we play an important role each and every year in Sikeston. During these years, we have made countless donations to many charities in the Sikeston community along with the Veteran’s Home in Cape Girardeau and the State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield. Each year, we ensure that boys from Sikeston Senior High School are enabled to attend American Legion Boys State in Warrensburg – “A Week to Shape a Lifetime”. We also provide funding each year for American Legion baseball that allows teenage boys from our community to compete on the baseball diamond each summer in Southeast Missouri. Towards the end of World War II, Veterans returning home from the war desired some type of homecoming and our post started the Annual Cotton Carnival and Parade which is held each fall in Sikeston. This has evolved as part of the culture of our community and the climax of this week-long event is the annual parade held on Saturday. 2009 will be our 64th parade which is one of the largest parades in the state of Missouri with over 200 entries. Money raised from this even is donated back to the community charities. Recently, this money has been used to help with a $25,000 pledge our post made to erect the new YMCA in Sikeston. Each year our post is active in participating in the annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day service to remind the citizens of Sikeston the service and sacrifice it takes to keep our community, state and nation strong and free. We also have taken an active role in helping with the creation and maintenance of the Veteran’s Park located on East Malone Avenue. This park proudly displays a M-60 battle tank, an F-4 phantom jet, a naval anchor, 105 Howitzer and a Korean War vintage helicopter.