Frank Flores
Commander
Post 83
Sherry Miller
President
Unit 83
Dwight Hamilton
SAL Commander
| 1st Vice Commander Jim Palladino |
2nd Vice Commander William Schmidt |
Adjutant Jack Brassil |
| Finance Officer Luke Forrester |
Chaplain Ricard Knapp |
Sgt-at-Arms Rene Minot |
| Ron Wheeker | Charles Hawkins | W.L.Walls |
| Fred Harvey | Candy Molina | Holt Harvey |
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To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; To maintain law and order; To foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism; To preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars; To inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation; To combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; To make right the master of might; To promote peace and goodwill on earth; To safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; To consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness. |
Knebel Post 83 of the
The American Legion in the Tenth District of the Third Division of the
Department of Texas
has been located since 1979 at 4401 E Saint Elmo Rd at Todd Lane, Austin, Texas 78744.
The telephone number is (512) 442-2896.
For driving directions go to the Yahoo Map Directory.
The Post is on the Travis Heights #14 Route of Capital Metro and is about a mile east of the the intersection of Fredrich Lane at St Elmo and the #27 Dove Springs route and the #328 Ben White route.
Post 83 Map Page
The Post offers rental space to groups with a maximum capacity of 250. There is a full bar and Bingo nights are held regularly. Mondays are dollar beer days.
Post 83 is committed to providing venues for its members to "kick up their heels and have a good time".We ARE in Texas after all!
The kitchen is open and serves some GREAT burgers, nachos, and other refreshments during evening bingo. If you want to taste the best breakfast taco in town, head on down to Wed morning bingo and try one of Don's. Great prizes, great food, great fun!
From time to time the members organize an impromptu BBQ at our big BBQ pits near the patio.
Sometimes we get together a fish fry using the new fryer in our kitchen.
We have had some great pancake suppers as well.
Here is a quick glimpse of part of the kitchen while they were making schnitzels, browned sliced potatos and red cabbage for the Forty and Eight Spring Cheminot. It was very good. A schitznel looks sort of like a chicken-fried steak and has spices and herbs mixed in with it. Very tasty!
Last year members went to the Tolbert Chili Cook-Off in Lockhart, the Annual Chili Showmanship Cook-Off at post 177 in Luling, the Terlingua Tolbert Chili Qualifier at the Stumble inn in Bastrop, a cookoff at Lannys Roadhosue in Lockhart and the State Chili and BBQ Championships at the Blanco County Fairgrounds put on by the Texas Mens State BBQ Association. The SALs had their Chili Cook-Off last May with a big raffle.
Some members went to the VFW Post 3377 for Breakfast on December 1st. A number of Legionaires are also members of the VFW.
New Years Eve we had a live band.
Last February we served pasta shells and sausage at the dinner organized by Locale 175 of the Forty and Eight. This is actually part of their Spring Cheminot and Merci Boxcar which has been held every year since 1949. The famous Texas Merci Boxcar is located at Post 76 on Town Lake and was open for viewing Sunday morning around 9 am and had all of the colorful plaques displayed on it for the occasion.
Last Labor Day we got together and enjoyed free hot dogs and dollar domestic beer.
Web Page Editors Comment
There always seems to be some sort of activity going on but the web page editor is not always able to find out about them. The Legionaires, SALs and Auxillary of Post 83 are more interested in doing things rather than writing about them. Post 83 has a long and varied history but there aren't many written records. However, I have heard a lot of interesting stories about past events at the Post and the Forty and Eight.
Current info about Post activities can be found on the bulletin board next to the bar.
We not all fun and games. It's YOUR Post so make your voice heard. Come out and tell us how to make YOUR Post better.
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General Membership meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month. |
We also sponsor delegates to theAmerican Legion Boys State and
the American Legion Oratorical Contest.
For many years the Post has sponsored several teams of
American Legion Baseball
Auxillary Unit 83 sponsors delegates to the Texas Bluebonnet Girls State.
Texas has supplied personnel to the armed forces in all major wars and conflicts in which the United States of America has been involved. Texas was represented at the birth of the American Legion in Paris in March of 1919 by ten servicemen - including Charles Nimon from Austin. Two Austinites were present at the St. Louis Caucus in May of 1919, Alfred Carrel and John W. Young.
On April 21, 1919, a caucus was held in San Antonio to organize a branch of the American Legion in Texas. There were 572 Texas veterans in attendance. The group elected Claude Birkhead of San Antonio as Chairman of this temporary organization, a position he held until the first Department Convention. The St. Louis Caucus of the American legion recognized this group as the official state organization of the American legion in Texas at their meeting in May. The first Department Convention for the American Legion, State of Texas, was held in October of 1919 in Dallas.
Knebel Post 83, The American Legion, was first housed in a wood building at the corner of San Jacinto and 12th Streets. The post was moved to a location on South Lamar, and then to the old Austin Engineers Club building at 602 W. 7th Street. Knebel Post moved to its present location on East St. Elmo in 1979
Knebel Post 83 was named for Paul Knebel, a World War I Army (Infantry) veteran, and brother of Ed Knebel. Ed was a great supporter of American Legion baseball in Austin. Paul Knebel's picture, donated by family members, hangs in the post. Burwell Knebel, a nephew of Paul Knebel, is still a member of Post 83.
Perhaps the most famous member of Post 83 was the entertainer, Martha Raye. While performing in Austin in the 1970's, Lt. Col. Raye visited Post 83 and was presented with a Life Membership. Martha Raye was a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army Nurses Corps, and served during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Lt. Col. Raye was made an honorary member of the Special Forces by President Johnson because of her support for the Special Forces.
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The reason that the Armed Services have some difficulty communicating from time to time is they don't use the same jargon. For example:
If you tell the Navy to secure a building,
If you tell the Army to secure a building,
If you tell the Marines to secure a building,
If you tell the Air Force to secure a building,
If you tell the Coast Guard to secure a building, |
Plaques on the French Merci Boxcar
Department of Veterans Affairs
Travis County Veterans Services and Military Service Coalition
Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 1919
Military Order of the World Wars
Onion Creek Post 326, Manchcaca, Texas
Petition for Flag Protection Amendment
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