Questions on American Legion Pins

[siege1863]

Are the stars found on the AL caps representative of each year of membership?

 

There has been some discussion here about the "Aerial Round-Up" pin. I have seen "Air Mail Round-Up" pins for later years. Does anyone know more about this award?

 

For the upcoming year of 1949, there was a massive push to increase membership in the AL. For members who recruited 40(?) new members, they were recognized with the "49er" award. Everyhing I have read says this was merely in the form of a gold-lettered card. I am aware of an AL pin in the shape of a shovel, symbolic of the Gold Rush "49ers." Has anyone else seen one of these?

 

Thanks.

[llafoe]

Are the stars found on the AL caps representative of each year of membership?

 

There has been some discussion here about the "Aerial Round-Up" pin. I have seen "Air Mail Round-Up" pins for later years. Does anyone know more about this award?

 

For the upcoming year of 1949, there was a massive push to increase membership in the AL. For members who recruited 40(?) new members, they were recognized with the "49er" award. Everyhing I have read says this was merely in the form of a gold-lettered card. I am aware of an AL pin in the shape of a shovel, symbolic of the Gold Rush "49ers." Has anyone else seen one of these?

 

Thanks.

 

Are these the shovels: http://cgi.ebay.com/American-Legion-Campai...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

eBay item # 160154823764

[buzzard517]

Are the stars found on the AL caps representative of each year of membership?

 

There has been some discussion here about the "Aerial Round-Up" pin. I have seen "Air Mail Round-Up" pins for later years. Does anyone know more about this award?

 

For the upcoming year of 1949, there was a massive push to increase membership in the AL. For members who recruited 40(?) new members, they were recognized with the "49er" award. Everyhing I have read says this was merely in the form of a gold-lettered card. I am aware of an AL pin in the shape of a shovel, symbolic of the Gold Rush "49ers." Has anyone else seen one of these?

 

Thanks.

The star patches on the AL uniform caps ARE representative of years in good standing. They run in 5 year increments. I have been a member for 9 years and have a 5 star on my cap. next year I will change it to 10.

[Bluehawk]

The star

[Bluehawk]

Aerial Roundup article link:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499...pg=2284,1256785

 

1930 Wisconsin Aerial Roundup award

[S.ChrisKelly]

The star in post #4 is the current American Legion Emblem Sales official metal membership star.  One gold star for each five years of continuous (not aggregate) membership.  This is an alternative to the membership patch mentioned in post #3.  The stars were the initiative of a New England post some decades ago, and were approved for wear by the American Legion via National Convention.

 

There are also membership pins, which have changed over the years.  Today they're standardized, as shown in the final image.

 

[KevinBeyer]

The American Legion sure had a wide variety of membership pins.  Collecting them may as well be a career in and of itself.