THE BEGINNING:
The Post was formed in 1919, one year after the "great war" and was chartered by the American Legion on 20 April, 1920.  It was the first and only American Legion Post in China at that time and our original name was General Fredrick Townsend Ward Post No. 1, China.

THE POST DURING THE WAR YEARS:
The Post thrived in the 1920's and 1930's holding meetings and socials. But China was changing and the war was about to begin.  On 7 July 1937, the Japanese Army invaded China. To protect the Post records, Adjutant Frank Mortimer had them bound into volumes and hid them camouflaged area in the attic of his company warehouse (godown).  After Pearl Harbor, Adjutant Mortimer was placed in the Pootung Internment Camp where he would remain until the end of the war.  During this period, the Japanese quartered troops in his warehouse and had they discovered the Post records, Frank would have been executed.

WHERE MEMBERS MET:

The Post's original meeting place and home while in China was at the American Club, Shanghai at 209 Foochow Road. An article in 1935 edition of the Shanghai Evening Post & Mercury described the club saying, "No institution in Shanghai plays a greater or more important role in the social life of Americans than does the American Club... It is more than just a club; it is a meeting place for American businessmen and their friends; it is a social rendezvous; it is equipped with a fine library, a comfortable bar, residential rooms, a large dining room and small private dining rooms; it boasts excellent American-style cuisine, and it is in every respect an institution of which the officers and members have a reason to be proud."

The Post membership in response to a request "for consideration to reactivate the Post in Taipie voted in favor of non-reactivation unless in Shanghai."  The Post pledge would be:

We pledge that with the help of Almighty God,
at such time and place as designated by the American
Legion, the Government of the United States, and
the Government of Free China, we within our abil-
ities and resources, will proceed to the City of
Shanghai, Province of Kiangsu, China, there to re-
establish and reinstate the Frederick Townsend
Ward Post No. 1, China of the American Legion, in
its home, and promulgate the principles of the
American Legion and help restore the traditional
friendship of the American and Chinese people...
We shall return!

 And we shall return even if it is only one member at a time. Here is Sandy Sandquist, keeping the promise on a March '07 visit to Shanghai.