DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Hudgeons Post 230 has the story, and I'm just the one fixin' to tell it to you. After World War I ended, the veterans who came home to Hallettsville didn't just hang up their hats and go quiet. In 1920, they stood together and created the Hudgeons Post 230 of the American Legion, bound and determined to keep serving — their fellow veterans, and the community that had sent them off.
Now, the name they chose for that post carries a weight all its own. Mr. and Mrs. Eli Hudgeons lived in Hallettsville, and both of them died during the First World War.
That's the kind of sentence you have to sit with for a moment. Both of them. Thomas Eli Hudgeons registered for the draft in 1917, nineteen years old.
Two weeks — just two weeks — before he shipped out for France, he married a woman named Margaret Singleton. Two weeks. Then he was gone.
Thomas died on February 5, 1918, when the transport ship Tuscania was torpedoed by a German submarine. He never made it to shore. Margaret Hudgeons survived him by less than a year.
She was working as a Red Cross nurse in San Antonio when she died on January 24, 1919, of pneumonia. Two people. One war.
Neither one came back. And so the veterans of Hallettsville made sure that name — Hudgeons — would be spoken for as long as their post stood. The post opened its membership to all who had served between 1917 and 1918 in the U.S.
Army, Navy, or Marine Corps. Dues were fifty cents a year. They rented three rooms in the J.H.
Appelt Building, right above the post office in Hallettsville, and they got to work. Years passed. In 1958, the city leased the Recreation Hall to the post — that hall had been built by the National Youth Administration during the Great Depression.
Five years later, in 1963, the post purchased it outright. Theirs at last. And then, in 1965, it burned down.
The hall went up in flames, and with it, the Post records — every document, every name, every piece of paper that held their history. Gone. But here's the thing about people who've already survived a war.
They didn't stop. That same year, 1965, they built the current American Legion Hall. Right back up from the ashes, and then some.
Today, the Hudgeons Post 230 continues to serve Lavaca County. Scholarships for young people. Finances to improve public spaces around the city.
They hold to the four pillars of the American Legion — veterans, defense, Americanism, and youth — and they carry forward a motto that Thomas and Margaret Hudgeons embodied before there was ever a post to bear their name. In peace as in war — we serve.
What the marker says
Following World War I, local veterans of Hallettsville created the Hudgeons Post 230 in 1920. They wanted to serve fellow veterans and the community through an American Legion Post. The branch was named Hudgeons Post in honor of Mr. And Mrs. Eli Hudgeons who lived in Hallettsville and both died during WWI. Thomas Eli Hudgeons registered for the draft in 1917 at age 19 and married Margaret Singleton just two weeks before his departure for France. Thomas died on February 5, 1918 when the transport ship, Tuscania, was torpedoed by a German submarine. Margaret Hudgeons died January 24, 1919, of pneumonia while she was a Red Cross nurse in San Antonio. The Hudgeons Post 230 was open for membership to all who served between 1917 and 1918 in the U.S. Army, navy, or marine corps. The dues were 50 cents per year. The post rented three rooms in the J.H. Appelt Building above the post office in Hallettsville. In 1958, the city leased the Recreation Hall, built by the National Youth Administration during the Great Depression, to the post and, in 1963, the Post purchased the Recreation Hall. In 1965, the hall burned down, along with the Post records. The current American Legion Hall was built in 1965 following the fire. The Hudgeons Post continues to improve conditions for veterans and citizens of Lavaca County. They follow the four pillars of the American Legion: veterans, defense, Americanism and youth. The post has been very active in the community, providing scholarships and supplying finances to improve public spaces around the city. The post continues to thrive under their motto: in peace as in war - we serve.