Some of the following was taken from an article in the La Mesa Patch and some of which had already existed on the website of Post 282. It is thus combined here along with some editorial changes so that some military history of La Mesa and that of Post 282 can be in one place and to provide some references for further research:
Historians generally recognize U.S. Memorial Day’s formal origins to commanding Union General John A. Logan’s 1868 proclamation honoring all Civil War dead. This was then often referred to as “Decoration Day” in remembrance of the fallen. Through the early 1900s, this special day of remembrance expanded from its northern roots to a nationally accepted holiday, now called Memorial Day via Act of Congress.
The La Mesa Scout of 2 June 1916 reported the typical details of how locals Rev. Charles Hill, Rev. H.L. Glover, Rev. E. E. Marshall, Dr. Henry Porter and San Diego Cuyamaca & Eastern Railroad President Captain W.A. Waterman provided inspirational readings and talks, interspersed with a full choir, local band and color guard. These musical groups accompanied the crowd through their solemn ceremonies to honor “the comrades and comrades’ wives who have heard reveille and for whom taps have been sounded for the last time.”
(In 1899, due to the war conditions, benefits, etc., and treatment of the veterans needing medical care (non-existant), the Veterans of Foreign Wars was founded. In 1985, La Mesa’s Veterans of Foreign Wars O. K. Ingram Ship Post #1774 moved from San Diego to La Mesa and became its sole VFW Post. See www.vfwlamesa.org.)
After World War I, the focus on Memorial Day grew anew. In 1919, The American Legion was chartered by Congress as a patriotic and mutual aid organization focusing on service to veterans (regardless of serving in a combat zone), and has since evolved into one of the most influential and largest Veterans nonprofit organizations in the United States. (Originally designated a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Congress mandated that all Veterans Organizations be changed to non-profit 501(c)(19), a designation that continues to allow us to provide a tax-donation letter for income tax purposes.) In December 1919, San Diego Post 1 was organized and later became San Diego Post 6. Veteran service members from La Mesa and the surrounding area joined the San Diego Post because it was the only American Legion Post in the county. In 1921, El Cajon formed its own [Sequon] Post 303 (now El Cajon Post 303) and most of the Legion members from the La Mesa area transferred their membership to El Cajon Post 303.
The influx of ex-service personnel to this part of the county soon made it apparent that to best serve the needs of the veterans in this area, that a new Legion Post in La Mesa should be formed. So, in March 1923, LA MESA POST NO. 282 was organized and was chartered on 28 June 1923. It was led by its first elected Commander Dr. Joseph A. Parks who had relocated to La Mesa in 1905 and who had served as an Army doctor during the then called Great War (World War I). Dr. Parks was later elected the first Commander of the San Diego County Council of the American Legion. His leadership was instrumental in the growth of this Post and to veterans' continued presence in La Mesa and later in San Diego county.
Memorial Day services in 1924 were jointly held by the El Cajon and La Mesa American Legion Posts for which the highlight was the screening of the WW I motion picture Flashes of Action at the then new La Mesa Theater (now the Gypsy Treasures store). At that time, it was co-sponsored by the San Diego Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.
La Mesa’s Memorial Day event in 1925 included the traditional services plus a parade of “Legionnaires (WW I vets) along with veterans of the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and of the Grand Army of the Republic (that included one La Mesa resident, 88-year-old Emory Hodgkins). The parade marched down Lookout Avenue to the La Mesa Grammar School auditorium. Local Red Cross members, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and grammar school children joined in the parade.
In the first years of its existence the Post had no home of its own. Meetings were held in store rooms, offices, churches, schools, and private homes. The membership realized a permanent home was necessary if the Post was to survive and serve the community’s needs. The first step toward a permanent home was in 1925 with the purchase of the lot on which the La Mesa Baptist Church now stands. The Post’s membership and Auxiliary worked to raise the funds for construction of its first Legion Hall. After a two-year fundraising project, in March 1927, the American Legion broke ground on its first “Legion Memorial Building” on the southwest corner of Orange and Acacia avenues. The 30 x 54-foot building was less than half the size originally envisioned but still included an auditorium with dance floor, kitchen and office. It was formally dedicated on May 6, 1927. This small building would be the home of La Mesa’s American Legion for nearly 20 years. During the years 1936-1937, this first La Mesa Post 282 Legion Hall was enlarged by the donated labor of its members.
The years 1926 and 1927 became some of the Post’s most active formulative years. In 1926, the corner lot next to the first lot was purchased. In the spring of 1926, the La Mesa Post 282 Auxiliary was organized under the leadership of Mrs. Rose Miller Parks (wife of Commander Dr. Joseph A. Parks) as its first President. This enlarged membership base thus provided an enhanced focus of the American Legion efforts to the community and its veterans, for both the veteran males and the wives of the veterans.
During the period following World War I there were many examples of the Post taking care of veterans while at the same time trying for their permanent home. During 1928 and 1929, the Post members built a home for a disabled veteran. This veteran was not a member of The American Legion but the membership, under the advice of the Service Officer and the Post’s officers, realized a fellow veteran was in need and they came to his aid. The merchants of La Mesa, hearing of this, came to the Legion’s assistance with finances for materials and a better home was built for the family of the veteran. The Legion also continued to be an important service institution by sponsoring beauty pageants, youth baseball, picnics, and Memorial Day events that included yearly parades up through the year 1937.
On February 7, 1933, Past Commander Parks died. In 1934 the Post “unanimously” voted to name the future war memorial building as “Joseph A. Parks Memorial Hall.” Dr. Parks’ death and the Great Depression did not quench the resolve of the membership in its quest for a permanent home to be entirely owned by the membership. However, World War II delayed it. During years of 1941-1945, La Mesa Post 282 joined with all other American Legion Posts and other patriotic organizations in assisting the United States in its efforts in the war. Volunteers from the Legion helped the draft board’s registrations for the draft and in any other way they could. Civilian defense was largely set up through the Legion’s efforts. Practically all other activities were discontinued for the duration of the war, so that all energy could be given in the war effort.
World War II and the Proposed Civic Auditorium and War Memorial Building
La Mesa’s home-front involvement in World War II resulted in wartime recognition of our military heroes as well as plans for a more permanent memorial. Starting in 1943, the City of La Mesa erected a billboard at the northwest corner of Spring Street and La Mesa Boulevard that listed La Mesa residents who were in military service (the billboard was taken down in 1946). During the same time, it was clear to city officials that La Mesa and the region’s exponential population growth would require a similar expansion of civic government and facilities.
In early 1943, Mayor Ben Polak brought together a group of civic and business leaders, along with planning consultants, to create the “Greater La Mesa Committee.” After a year of planning, the committee identified the city’s No. 1 postwar priority as a new War Memorial Auditorium; location to be determined.
In August 1944, local architects Alberto Treganza and Sam Hamill produced a series of drawings depicting a new War Memorial Auditorium as part of a major civic center for La Mesa (filling the property of today’s Civic Center). However, the beautiful but grandiose plan - and its $250,000 price tag (most houses could be built for under $5,000 in 1944) - seemed out of reach. Shortly after the end of the war, the fewer than 10,000 La Mesa’ns and their civic leaders scaled back their vision.
By the summer of 1947, city leaders refocused on the smaller goal of a badly needed Youth Center and recreational facilities for Memorial Park (later renamed MacArthur Park, but still entered through Memorial Drive). In October 1947, the city revamped its Civic Committee and began to rethink its Civic Center plans. In doing so, the vision of a large war memorial auditorium would slip from the eventual development plans of the Civic Center in the 1950s.
American Legion Moves Forward With Its Own Plans
At the end of World War II, the American Legion took up the Legion program as it was before the war. With the change in the American Legion Constitution in regards to the acceptance of service men and women of World War II as eligible members of the American Legion, in early 1946, the La Mesa American Legion Post along with the civically active Post's Women’s Auxiliary led by Mrs. Rose Miller Parks (Dr. Parks’ widow and the long-standing City treasurer) recognized that the Post membership of 325 members was about to swell with returning veterans. Thus, a committee was appointed to select a site for a new and larger building.
In February 1946, the Post agreed to purchase a parcel of municipal property north of University Avenue between Baltimore Drive and Date Avenue for $2,525 and to swap some land then owned by the Baptist church to build a new, and much larger, Legion Hall (this new American Legion building would have been directly across from the then proposed City War Memorial Auditorium). The Legion then began its estimated $50,000 fundraising campaign to ensure that an appropriate facility was in place to honor La Mesa’s veterans and the Post members. Somehow, the land that the Post presently sits was obtained; the theory is that the City swapped the land to allow construction at its present location.
Construction of the new Legion building started in May 1947 but was still an estimated $9,000 short of funds to complete in September. In order to save money, the project leaders, including decorated World War I veteran Rube Levy, recruited volunteer labor, volunteers from the Post, and local contractor George Riha. The volunteers worked every spare minute they had to complete this, their first home. Some nights, workers were still sawing and hammering away at two o’clock in the morning. The thing that cheered the tired workers along was the Auxiliary serving midnight meals to all workers. The Auxiliary, as well as the La Mesa Post 282 members, worked this way for months. The building was completed in time for a 1947 New Year’s Eve dance event to christen the Hall.
On 21 Feb 1948, Post Commander Ira Durham led the formal dedication of the new Joseph A. Parks Memorial Building. Former Post commanders and Mrs. Parks herself were among the luminaries who spoke of the importance of the new Legion Hall to all those who had served their country in the military and to the sacrifices of their families back home.
In 2011, the Veterans Memorial Parkway was dedicated as official, and additional, City of La Mesa recognition for La Mesa’s military members and their families. The City of La Mesa rededicated Fletcher Parkway as La Mesa’s official Veterans Memorial Parkway. In tribute to La Mesa veterans organizations, the City selected the Captain of O.K. Ingram Ship Post #1774, Jack Porath (who later also became the Commander of Post 282 on 1 July 2014), to lead the event. It was well attended by the public and members of all of the organizations resident in the Post's facility as well as other veterans and the San Diego Vietnam Veterans Association.
La Mesa Post 282 has cvontinued in La Mesa since the official Charter date of 28 June 1923. The Post has positioned itself for growth and shall so remain for many more years. Since its founding, there have been fluctuations in membership as the veteran population and their interests change. But, the La Mesa Post is thriving, searching for new members (membership criteria changed in July 2019 to allow anyone who served our country for one day since 7 Dec 1941 to the present), and is helping both the community of La Mesa and the membership. On 20 Jan 2011, the Veterans of Foreign Wars O.K. Ingram Ship Post #1774 and American Veterans Post 1775 joined us in our facility due to permanent storm damage to their then leased building on University Avenue. Some of our programs are now shared with these other veterans organizations resident in our facility, thus benefitting us all. Meal offerings are rotated among the organizations, allowing for increased participation.
La Mesa Post 282 will continue to take part in wide array of community betterment efforts and civic programs. There have been school awards to students of Grossmont High School and La Mesa Grammar Schools. Boys and Girls have been sent to Boys/Girls State in Sacramento, with all expenses paid. Numerous other youth programs have evolved over the years such as boy scouts, Junior ROTC, and American Legion Baseball (started in 2018 and steadily expanding). There are many other programs as well that benefit veterans and their families, both living and deceased.
For the facility, we have done much to update it so as to prepare it for future veterans, as those before us have done. But, much remains. Come join us, support us, and help us grow! We need volunteers, as volunteers are what makes us great. Not one officer receives any sort of compensation for the work that is done.
On 29 July 2019, eligibility to join the American Legion has been greatly expanded and which now allows nearly everyone who served from 7 Dec 1941 to the present to join. See the Membership Tab.