SUMTER POST 15 HISTORY

2-Sep-1919	Sumter Post 15 of the American Legion was chartered with 12 members and has continued to grow and is one the largest posts in the Department of South Carolina.
1920	Sumter Post 15 began sponsoring the Sumter County Fair.
25-Jan-1922	American Legion Auxiliary Unit 15 Chartered
1924	Raised $600.00 dollars and sent to Department and on to National to help towards building a home for the children of deceased veterans, in Indianapolis.
3 &4 Jul-1924	Hosted the Sixth Department Convention.  National Commander John R. Quinn addressed the convention.  Local citizens joined the legion in staging a large parade down Main Street.
1928	Sumter Post 15 began sponsoring Boy Scout Troup 339.
1929	Sumter Post 15 started sponsoring Legion Baseball.
1937	Bought the old wooden National Guard Building on Artillery Drive and remodeled it to become the Post’s first Legion Home
1938	Since the Department authorized the oratorical contests Post 15 has participated each year and awards a Government Bond to the Post winner.
1939	Sumter Post 15 was very active in organizing Palmetto Boys State and has sponsored the program each year.  It was not held for several years due to World War II.   However, it was reactivated in 1997.
1941-1945	Post 15 became very active in Civil Defense and other war projects.  Legionaries made up the heads of the Air Raid Wardens, most of the Draft Board, Re-employment Committees and the War bond sale Committees.
1945	Regional oratorical contest held in Sumter.
1950	A new legion home is built and the wooden building was moved back several feet to become the Boy Scout Hut.
6-Feb-1967	Local Legion To Hear Department Commander .: Daniel I. Ross jr Department commander guest speaker.
28-Jun-1969	Mickey Mantel and Tony Kubek attended Mantel day at Riley Park.  The Sumter P-15's played the 1952 State Champion the Sumter American Legion team.
15-Oct-1969	Sumter American Legion Post Observing Its 50th Year Here .: Celebrating one-half century of maintaining Americanism and standing community service
28-Jan-1976	Contract For New Health Center And Lease With Legion Approved .
5-May-1979	Sumter Awarded 1981 Legion Series .
1981	The American Legion Baseball World Series was held in Sumter, SC
3-Sep-1981	Traditional Ceremony Kicks Off Legion World Series .
30-Oct-1985	War Veterans To Be Honored With Parade On Main Street .
3-Jan-1986	American Legion Post 15 Formally Opposes Landfill:  The local American Legion post now joins the South Carolina Medical Association and Sumter County Council in opposing the site
5-Oct-1986	Record Crowd At Fair Saturday .
1989	Sumter County Fair not held due to Hurricane Hugo.
5-Dec-1989	Sumter American Legion celebrates 70th anniversary . :Sumter Post 15 of the American Legion celebrated its 70th anniversary of service to the community.
1994	The P-15 baseball team advanced to regional's for the 4th year in a row.  This matched the number of times with Puerto Rico for the most consecutive regional tournament appearances.

Several Post 15 members have served as Department officers. One member, George D. Levy, served as Department Judge Advocate and Commander, and also served twenty-five years on the National Publications Commission, was the first to be honored as "Member Emeritus" of that committee. Finally, He served on the National Executive Committee.

Each year post 15 makes an award to the Police, Fire, EMS and corrections officers of the year.