Forty and Eight veterans organization

The Forty and Eight is an organization of veterans of the United States armed forces. Its official name is "La Société des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux," which is French, and literally translates as "The Society of Forty Men and Eight Horses."

History

The organization (also known as "La Société") can trace its roots back to 1920, when Joseph W. Breen and 15 other members of the American Legion, who were veterans of World War I, came together and founded it as an honor society for certain Legion members. [http://fortyandeight.org/history_of_40&8.htm]

The title "40&8" comes from the box cars that were used to transport troops to the front in France. Each car had the emblem 40/8 stenciled on the sides, which meant that it could carry 40 men or 8 horses. These cars were known as forty-and-eights. They were seen by the troops as a miserable way to travel, and the new organization was thus called the 40&8 in an attempt to make some light of the common misery they had all shared.

Eligibility

Membership is open to all American Legion Members and all Honorably Discharged Veterans and all Military Personnel currently serving our country, per a recent change to Article IV of la Societe's constitution.

From the beginning, La Société only allowed male members into its ranks, even though many women were veterans in their own right and thus, could have been eligible. But that changed at the 2006 National Convention, when the majority of delegates present voted to allow women into the ranks for the first time.

Activities

The Forty and Eight is involved in several charitable aims.

Nurses' Training

La Société provides scholarships to people desiring to become nurses under the Nurses' Training program. A prospective nurse need not be a military veteran to receive aid under this program.

Youth Sports

La Société also helps to finance sports programs for children who are disadvantaged in some way, such as through mental or physical challenges or lack of money. People who receive this aid need not be military veterans.

Organization

The local unit of the 40&8 is the Voiture (boxcar). It often covers a specific city, county, or American Legion post. Above that is the Grande (state) level. Each state has its own Grande, as well as the District of Columbia, and there are grandes for Mexico, France, Latin America and several other locations where US military veterans make their homes abroad. 40&8 National Headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. 40&8 members refer to each other as "Voyageurs" (voyagers), in that all members have shared the demands and hardship of military service and have taken the same journey.

The 40&8 is down significantly from its membership numbers of years back. But it is still very much in existence.

Although the 40&8 is not a classical secret society, much of the ritual is a secret to non-members. Most if not all veterans' organizations are like this. A member can disclose that he or she belongs to said organization, but not all of what goes on at its meetings. An official meeting of the 40&8 is known as a Promenade. It has its own set ritual.

The ceremony to initiate a new member, known as a Voyageur, into the 40&8 is known as a wreck. Anyone wishing to enter the 40&8 must be wrecked.

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