On May 21, 1919 Tulsa members of The American Legion gathered to organize a post. These quotes from the Tulsa World article published on the morning of Wednesday, May 22, 1919 tell the story:
"Many service men attended the rousing meeting of the American Legion held at the courthouse at 8 o'clock Tuesday night. Inspired by the national convention recently held in St. Louis, Lee Daniel, acting chairman of the post, opened the meeting with a short talk in which he gave a clear idea of the principles of the legion, showing that its ideas were non-political and non-sectarian, but stood for ideal Americanism."
"Following the short talk a report was given of the national convention in St. Louis, after which the following officers were elected:"
"Horace Hagan, president; John Rogers, vice president; Ralph Berry, secretary; Virgil Jones, treasurer, Wm. R. Meyer, historian; and C.L. Murray, chaplain."
"In order to obtain a national charter, a request from each local post must be sent to the state headquarters which upon approval is forwarded to the national headquarters. To obtain this charter it was necessary for the local post to select a name and it was proposed to name the post after the first local man who gave his life on the battlefield. In the report of the committee Joe Carson, who died of wounds on September 26, 1918, was submitted and adopted by the assembly."
