40&8
La Societe des Quarante Hommes at Huit Chevaux is an independent fraternal organization of U. S. veterans, more commonly known as the Forty & Eight.
The Forty & Eight was formed in 1920 by American Legionnaires as an honor society and from its earliest days it has been committed to charitable aims. Membership is by invitation for members of the American Legion who have shown exemplary service. All Forty & Eight members are thus veterans of congressionally recognized wartime periods via their Legion membership.
The Forty & Eight’s titles and symbols reflect its First World War origins. American servicemen in France were transported to the battle front on narrow gauge French railroads (Chemin de Fer) inside boxcars (Voitures) that were half the size of American boxcars. Each French boxcar was stenciled with a “40/8”, denoting its capacity to hold either forty men or eight horses. This ignominious and uncomfortable mode of transportation was familiar to all who traveled from the coast to the trenches; a common small misery among American soldiers who thereafter found “40/8” a lighthearted symbol of the deeper service, sacrifice and unspoken horrors of war that truly bind those who have borne the battle.
Voiture 158- 40&8 Officers:
Chef de Gare Dale Mitchell 444-5401
Chef de Train
Correspondant Dave Victor 846-5640
Commissaire Intendant Edgar Cormier
Conductor Will Cowie 636-6085
Aumonier Lee Hawksley
Garde de la Porte Bob Andrews
The Voiture meets every other month either at the Whitefield AL Post 41
or the Groveton AL Post 17 at 7:00 pm. Contact the Correspondant
above for the next meeting date and place.
Want more info?....Go to www.nhlegion.org and click on the 40&8 emblem
or call the Chef de Gare or Correspondant above. Ask Dave about how
you can qualify for our new nurses scholarships.
WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
