BOUNTIFUL—The American Legion was founded in 1919 by the American Expeditionary Forces stationed in Europe waiting to come home from World War I. Their experiences in the “war to end all wars,” created the tradition that is now the nation’s largest organization of veterans that advocates for veterans, service members and military families while fighting to end veteran suicide, according to americanlegion.org.

That tradition remains strong for American Legion Post 79. The 75 veteran member group was established in 1922 and includes the five cities in south Davis County, Centerville, North Salt Lake, Bountiful, West Bountiful and Woods Cross.

Members of American Legion Post 79 with Texas Roadhouse employee Drew Thompson (second from left) in front of the military wall at the restaurant. Thompson created the wall and is a veteran himself. Photo by Becky Ginos

 The local Post has been busy in the community this past year supporting the Bountiful Veterans Park and assisting in military funerals. They were honored for their service recently with a plaque featuring the veterans park on the military wall at the Bountiful Texas Roadhouse.

Drew Thompson, who works at the restaurant, initiated the space there. “I served in the United States Army from '89 to ‘94,” he said. “About four weeks into school we got called out by the school commander and they put us on special training to learn the HEMTT trucks, trailers and launching systems. We took care of the Patriot missile batteries over in Saudi during Desert Storm.”

Frank (restaurant manager) is the one to thank for this (wall), said Thompson. “He gives me permission and I just run with it.” 

Thompson also hands out military coins to patrons who are veterans, slipping them into a hand shake. Military coins are personalized metal medallions symbolizing honor, identity, and unity.

“Several of us are on the board of the Bountiful Veterans Park,” said Vice Commander of AL Post 79, Eric Hattabaugh. “The Legion kind of takes care of the park. Most of the guys that do that work on trimming trees, weeding, taking care of lighting and replacing flags when they're worn out.”

The Post also does several military funeral honors, he said. “We have someone who plays Taps and there’s usually anywhere from three to seven guys who do the rifle volley. We do every veteran in the Centerville, Bountiful and Lakeview cemeteries. We average about one a week.”

Hattabaugh said they’re also involved in community events like the Veterans Memorial Day programs at the park, city parades and the Rotary and North Salt Lake car shows.

The Legion does more than that, he said. “We try to help veterans understand what their benefits are, to try and prepare them a little bit for things in life because every veteran should have an estate trust.”

There are a couple of reasons for that, said Hattabaugh. “One is there are military benefits for end of life care. This is what most don’t know and that’s why we try to get the word out that there are veteran benefits that the government will pay but they need an estate plan.”

Unless they’re part of the Legion they usually don’t find out about it, he said. “We’ve saved many of our veterans just thousands of dollars.”

There are several members who are on the council for Boys State, Hattabaugh said. “Some of us are counselors and some work in the executive office so we’re fully engaged in it each year.”

It’s at Weber State University,  he said. “It’s where boys and girls will go from all over the state and learn about the U.S. government. There’s some patriotic themes to it as well as they get three political science credits.” 

Just the association with others who served in the military and kind of understanding what’s going on is what makes being part of the Legion special, said Hattabaugh. “Even after many, many years some veterans still suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome. A lot of times we will wear our baseball caps with ‘veteran’ on it and guys will come up to us in Lowe’s or Home Depot or wherever we may be and some of them will break down and cry because they’re still carrying stuff from being in the military.”

For more information about getting a name on the wall at the Bountiful Veterans Park or to donate go to bountifulveteranspark.org.