American Legion Post #6 was granted a temporary charter in 1919 and received their charter in 1920. The 1st Commander was Mr. Thomas E. Moore. Other charter members were: P.R. (Phil) Sweetman, Frank Jackson and Claude Burnett.
In addition to holding reqular bi-monthly meetings American Legion Post #6 would host Sub- District meetings. At the time, they were known as Sub-district 9 which consisted of Posts from Fowler, Ordway, Rocky Ford, Manzanola, La Junta, Las Animas and Fort Lyon. The department Commander, Auxiliary President and other department officers would come down to tour Fort Lyon, which was a Naval sanitarium for the treatment of tuberculoris at the time.
American Legion Post #6 Auxiliary received their charter in April of 1922. The first President was Mrs. Thomas E. Moore. Other charter members were: Mrs Vey Tillman-who was voted Department President in 1923, Mrs. Emma Harvey, Mrs Edna Husted, and Mrs. P.R. Sweetman - who was the first volunteer at Fort Lyon.
The Legion and Auxiliary would do whatever they could for the community and the veterans. The women would hold bake sales, rummage sales, and serve dinners to raise money, which in turn was used to provide school lunches to children who otherwise would not have a meal and to purchase clothing and holiday baskets for the needy, to name a few. The Legion would assist the Auxiliary with generous monetary donations. Every year at the Fort Lyon summer carnival, the Legion and Auxiliary would run a booth.
In 1935, a poppy project was started by Mrs. Della Jackson [The American Legion Auxiliary adopted the poppy as a memorial flower to veterans of World War I. The flowers have been made in the V.A. Hospitals since 1922] The patients at Fort Lyon made the poppies for the auxiliary for their poppy project. They received 1 cent for each poppy. Not only did the patients earn money but they also received therapy. That year (1935), 86,115 poppies were made at Fort Lyon, which were shipped to other units. The auxiliary used the profits from their poppy project for their child welfare and rehabilitation projects.
In Feburary of 1942 a sub-district rally was held in Las Animas at the High school hosted by Post #6 and the auxiliary. G. Carl Dawson was the Commander. The Department Commander was Benjamin Hilliard Jr. The Department Adjutant was M.L. Lyckhold, who was formerly a TB patient at Fort Lyon and was still an active member of their post. A special invitation was issued to the parents of all Bent County men in the armed forces. After the rally, the Legion Officers were honored by the Post and auxiliary with a banquet at the Palace Hotel. The tickets for the banquet were 60 cents. The Department President of the Auxiliary was Mrs. Agnes Anerson from Boulder. Her husband was an old Shipmate of H.R. Logsdon, a past commander of Post #6. Both men were in the hospital together in France, Brooklyn and Ft. Lyon.
During the 50's and 60's, Post #6 auxiliary was always honored for their meritorious sevices such as: community services, Civil Defense, child welfare, rehabilitation, and for their membership. They also received special commendations from Ft. Lyon for all of their volunteer work.
The Post and auxiliary were heavily involved in Boys and Girls state, which is a government type workshop. [The purpose of Boys and Girls State is to educate the students on duties, privileges, rights and responsibilities of American Citizenship. In order to qualify the students must submit a letter stating why they want to attend Boys and Girls state. The contents of the letter and their extra cirricular activities determine the selection.] In 1949, June Gregg had the honor of being the first delegate. The students and their parents were invited to their meetings where the students eagerly talked about their experieces.
In 1982, American Legion Post #6 voted to change their name to Judd Limbach American Legion Post #6. Mr. Limbach was a past commander and was serving as treasurer at the time of his death in 1981. He organized and headed the flag program which places flags in front of local business on special days during the year. Mr. Limbach was there to hold the post together when things got tough. He had a great interest for veteran activities and for their problems. You could always count on him to serve his fellow man. He was a member of Post 6 for about 20 years. Mr. Limbach was a Navy Corpsman during World War II. At the meeting, the post presented Mrs. Limbach with a special certificate.
During Desert Storm in 1991, the Judd Limbach Post #6, along with the Girl Scout Troup 228, made sure that flags were available - At no extra charge - for businesses to put on display out front during the week in honor of our servicemen and women in Saudi Arabia. The Local National Guard in Las Animas and Lamar- Unit 947th Medical CO(clr)- was deployed. Many employee's from Fort Lyon was in this unit. Las Animas gave them a parade to send them off to Fort Carson to process oversea's.
Still today Post #6 is active in the community and serving their fellow veteran. They are currently in charge of the Honor Guard and Color Guard at the Fort Lyon National Cemetary and the Las Animas Cemetary. They are also called to go help other surrounding counties with their burials. Post 6 went to Ft. Lyon and welcomed the Homeless Veterans Coalition. They supported and provided leadership so they could charter their own post at Ft. Lyon- Post 9319.
Post #6 visits the local elementary school and have flag folding ceremonies. They hand out small flags and rulers with the presidents pictures on it to the students. The post marches in parades around the valley and presents the colors. They provide toys and holiday baskets to the needy. They donate money to cancer survivors and also help with membership when needed.
For the last 3 years, Judd Limbach Post #6 has achieved 100% membership and in 2014, Post Commander and District Commander Johnny Camacho and his wife JoAnne Camacho won an all expense paid trip to the 96th National Convention in Charlotte North Carolina where they were honored to listen to President Barack Obama give a speech and to shake his hand.
There are so many who answered the roll call to serve the Lord and their country and with equal devotion returned to serve their community.
