Post History
Peter A Westhoff Post 347 was chartered on January 1, 1920. Peter A Westhoff from O'Fallon died a few days before the Armistice was signed ending WW1. He Is buried at the Assumption Cemetery in O'Fallon. Post 347 remained active until the depression and in May of 1935, the charter was returned to National Headquarters.
Following the end of WWII, some of the original members of Post 347 applied for a reinstatement of their Post 347. By this time National Headquarters has assigned Post 347 to another Post. A new post number was assigned to O'Fallon. On January 1, 1946, American Legion Post 388 was charted. The post struggled for a few years until Bob Kelly became Adjutant and Commander of the post. When Mr. Kelly became too ill to lead the post, Cornell Pieper called a meeting of the members and an election was held to confirm a new Commander Howard Margraff. He was Commander 1996, 1997, 1998, Bert White,1999, AL Poppie, 2000, Sam Hastings, 2001, Al Poppie, 2002, 2003, Jay Crawford, 2004, 2005, Joe Meister, 2006, Hershel Williams, 2007, Ralph Pieper, 2008,2009, Jim Griesenauer, 2010,2011, Bernard Groharing, 2012,2013, Kelly Lacombe 2014,2015. John Brumley 2016,2017 and Jeannie (Deloris) Reek 2018. Brett Bemis is our present Commander.
When Commander AL Poppie was in command, the ceremonial rifles were acquired from the federal government. In 2004 Commander Jay Crawford assigned Jim Griesenauer to train the members for certification to provide ceremonies at the gravesites for our deceased Veterans. The Post members have provided military funeral honors to 2824 veterans in a three-county area which includes Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as of May 17th. 2021. Since December 2004, the men and women of Post 388 have donated over 33,813 hours of their time to this great cause. That total equals more than twenty-four hours every day for the past three years.
In 2009, Commander Ralph Pieper formed a committee to search for a Post home. In 2013 Commander Bernard Groharing and post officers signed purchase documents to buy the property at 607 Westridge Drive in O'Fallon. A group of dedicated veterans took on the task of transforming the building to better serve the American Legion. A flag pole was donated to the Post by the Don Neihaus family in remembrance of his father who was a WWII veteran. The renovation was finally completed in August of 2017. We proudly display the home and flag pole on our website. "www.alpost388mo.org".
Post 388 is active with both Funeral Honor Guard and Color Guard ceremonies throughout the year. We have a Veteran Service Officer, with an office at O'Fallon City Hall to assist all veterans. We participate in many City of O'Fallon, Ft. Zumwalt, Assumption, and other school events celebrating our veterans. Poppy Days is an extremely important event that raises funds for veterans in need. Each year Post 388 provides money to several veterans' organizations and veterans in need.
The Post also supports our O'Fallon American Legion Baseball, Boys State/Girls State, Patrol Cadet Academy as well as other youth activities.
Post 388 now has a charter for "Sons of the American Legion" "SAL" program and anyone interested is encouraged to contact the post by e-mail for more information. See more information at this site on their page.
Post 388 is open to all veterans in accordance with the American Legion charter.
"FOR GOD AND COUNTRY"
Affiliated Organizations
A Women's Auxiliary of American Legion Post 388 was chartered on October 27th., 1997. Betty Pieper was nominated to be the first President. The Legion has every reason to be proud of its Auxiliary. Auxiliary members are always anxious and willing to co-operate in every Legion activity.
Patriotic Days
MEMORIAL DAY has always been an outstanding occasion in this community. In addition to memorial events throughout the O'Fallon community, the goal of every Veteran to its last man is to keep MEMORIAL DAY sacred to the memory of our war dead of all of the wars of the country; and all graves are decorated on this National Holiday.
ARMISTICE DAY, now called VETERANS' DAY, originally marked the end of fighting in World War I. It is an important holiday on the calendar of Legionnaires everywhere and in the hearts of all Veterans. An important tradition was established when the Post led in the memorial exercises at 11 o'clock on the morning of November 11, marking the exact hour of the cessation of hostility on the war fronts.
Check the "EVENTS CALENDAR" for the events that have been scheduled for 2020.
Scholarships and Community Projects
American LegionPost 388 sponsors various scholarships for the further education of our children. We also sponsor and financially assist many worthy community projects and programs initiated by the National American Legion.
Join Us and Keep this History Alive