Unnamed Members of the American Legion

The American Legion was created in 1919 as an organization for veterans of World War I. Historically it has worked to secure veterans' rights. In The Mansion it is seen both positively and critically. Gavin is thinking of it when he talks about how "the Veterans' clubs and legions" provide "refuge" for the men who fought in the First World War only to find themselves feeling alienated, "betrayed and dispossessed" when they returned to the U.S. (201). But the World War II veterans in Goodyhay's congregation who are trying to build their own place of refuge think "the American Legion" may be behind their being driven off the building site (303). The novel also mentions the "V.F.W." (213): the Veterans of Foreign Wars was founded in 1899, in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War.