POST 190 ANNUAL EVENTS
JAN----- ORATORICAL PROGRAM CONTEST
LAW & ORDER DAY PROGRAM
FEB----BLACK HISTORY PROGRAM
POST EVERLASTING, FOUR CHAPLAIN
MAR---JR LAW CADET, SHRINER'S CIRCUS
APR---KIDS EASTER EGG HUNT ACTIVITIES,
Benjanin William Jr., Memorial Scholarship
MAY---- POST ELECTION OF OFFICERS,
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE
POST COOK-OUT
CHURCH SERVICE FELLOWSHIP
POST ANNIVERSARY
JUN---BOY STATE, JUNE 15-21 @ RADFORD UNIVERSITY
ROTC AWARDS (4) SCHOOLS
JUL--- CAVALIER MANOR FOOTBALL CLINIC,
Department Convention
AUG-- - Leadership College, START SCHOOL SUPPLIES
SEPT--DONATE SCHOOL SUPPLIES TO 3 SCHOOLS, 2nd DISTRICT CONFERENCE
OCT-SAFE HALLOWEEN PARTY FOR KIDS, SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS, POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY
NOV-- VETERAN DAY PARADE, VETERANS DAY BRUNCH, HOMELESS VETS
DEC---LUNCHEON FOR VETERANS FROM VA HOSPITAL HAMPTON
DONATE FOOD BASKET TO THE COMMUNITY
GIVE OUT GIFT TO THE YANKS AT VA HOSPITAL HAMPTON
POST XMAS PARTY, ANGEL TREE, JOY FUN/ SICKLE CELL
PRAYER REQUEST
A BRIEF POST HISTORY
On May 5, 1945, the Post was granted a temporary Charter. On March 11, 1946, the National Commander of the American Legion issued the Post its permanent charter.
Charter members were: Jeremiah H. Green, Clarence Lee Bolden, Fred Bowser, Thomas Elliot, Landon Cecil Green, Thomas S. Spruill, George Tutt, Walter Edward Cartwright, James E. Jones, Rufus Flood, Miles L. Baker, Benjamin F. Branch, Thurman Twiddy, Earl Roots, James M. Watson, George W. Knight, Robert Saunders, Thurman Sparkman, and Joseph Lee Davis.
The first Commander of the Post 190 was Jeremiah H. Green who served two terms. It was during his term of office that Auxiliary Unit 190 was organized. The first President of Unit 190 was Josephine H. Green.
The Post named in honor of SSG. William Henry Harrison, a Portsmouth native and machine gun sergeant, killed in action while serving with the 36th Infantry Regiment in Italy during World War II. He was cut down by German gunfire in a fierce battle while his regiment was serving as an attached unit of the 92nd Buffalo Infantry Division at Leghorn in the vicinity of the Serco River Valley. It was December 28, 1944 that Sgt Harrison met his death in the service of his country.
The Post began holding its meeting in Drews Hall, which was located on the corner of Chestnut and South Streets. Shortly after the Carver Homes Project, later Fredrick Military Academy and now the site of the Pines Residential Treatment Center, was built on Gosport Road, now Portsmouth Blvd, to relieve the World War II housing for Negroes. The Post then began holding its meeting in the public clubroom of the Carver Homes Project. In May of 1956, the Post acquired an old residence type structure at 2711 Peach Street, which were enlarged and refurbished, remaining there until August 31, 1973. Regular meeting were held on the 2nd and 3rd Monday of the Month.
On Monday evening, July 13, 1971, Cephas C. Wright, the incoming Commander, in his inaugural remarks emphasized the new administration chief goal is to BUILD! BUILD! BUILD! To spark the action to realize a new Post home in the too distant future, his act was to appoint a building committee with Finance Officer William E. Copeland as chairman.
On August 31, 1973, the Post moved into its new home. The Commander at that time was the late Earl Gardner. The building was dedicated September 2, 1973. The impressive structure, adjacent to the site where the old home formerly stood, is considered one of the most beautiful and practical American Legion Post in the State.
From its beginning and continuing down to the present, Post 190 remains aware of and is conscientiously dedicated to the American Legion?s inculcation of a sense of individual obligation to the Community, State and Nation.