Here you are Dan.

If you read through the bottom part you can see a similar situation that is similar to what has happened to IMAA. The parent organization usurped most of what made them unique and now they are trying to gain new members but they are not relevent to the times.


La Societe des Quarante Hommes at Huit Chevaux is an independent fraternal organization of U. S. veterans, more commonly known as the Forty & Eight.

The Forty & Eight was formed in 1920 by American Legionnaires as an honor society and from its earliest days it has been committed to charitable aims. Membership is by invitation for members of the American Legion who have shown exemplary service. All Forty & Eight members are thus veterans of congressionally recognized wartime periods via their Legion membership.

The Forty & Eight’s titles and symbols reflect its First World War origins. American servicemen in France were transported to the battle front on narrow gauge French railroads (Chemin de Fer) inside boxcars (Voitures) that were half the size of American boxcars. Each French boxcar was stenciled with a “40/8”, denoting its capacity to hold either forty men or eight horses. This ignominious and uncomfortable mode of transportation was familiar to all who traveled from the coast to the trenches; a common small misery among American soldiers who thereafter found “40/8” a lighthearted symbol of the deeper service, sacrifice and unspoken horrors of war that truly bind those who have borne the battle.



Resolution

To change Membership Criteria

WHEREAS, The membership of La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux has continued to decline over the past several years and

WHEREAS, The reduction in membership is hindering our ability to maintain our programs as well as our ability to support the American Legion and

WHEREAS, La Societe became a fully independent veterans group in 1959, and

WHEREAS, Broadening La Societe’s membership criteria harms no group or person, and

WHEREAS, This measure does not diminish the ritual, charity, selectivity, or honor at the heart of La Societe, now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Article IV Section 1 WHO MAY BECOME MEMBERS be changed to:

Membership is open to all American Legion Members and all Honorably Discharged Veterans and all Military Personnel currently serving our country, and be it further

RESOLVED, that the Avocat National make all changes necessary to bring the balance of the constitution in agreement with the changes made to Article IV, Section 1.