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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. |