American Legion Post 818
Beeville, Bee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
CHARLES H. LYTLE, U.S. NAVY, WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN SERVICEMAN FROM BEEVILLE KILLED IN WWII. HE DIED ON JANUARY 4, 1945, WHEN THE USS OMMANEY BAY SANK NEAR THE PHILIPPINES AFTER BEING BOMBED. LYTLE (LISTED AS “MAJOR CHARLES LYTLE” IN THE OFFICIAL CASUALTY LIST) RECEIVED A POSTHUMOUS PURPLE HEART MEDAL. IN 1946, THE AMERICAN LEGION GRANTED A TEMPORARY CHARTER TO CHARLES MAJOR LYTLE POST 274-A, UNDER SPONSORSHIP OF THE LOCAL AMERICAN LEGION POST 274, WHICH WAS RUN BY ANGLO VETERANS. SIXTEEN CHARTER MEMBERS OF POST 274A MET IN THE MASONIC HALL AND THE NEGRO USO CLUB UNTIL COMPLETION OF THEIR OWN BUILDING IN 1953 ON LOTS DONATED BY PHILANTHROPIST JUDGE JAMES R. DOUGHERTY. HIS SON, DUDLEY T. DOUGHERTY, MADE FURTHER CONTRIBUTIONS AND OFFERED SUPPORT AT MEETINGS. THE FACILITY HOSTED THE NEGRO AMERICAN LEGION CONVENTION IN 1953, WITH POST COMMANDER LYMAS LANGLEY, JR. PRESIDING. IN 1955, THE POST OFFICIALLY INCORPORATED AS CHARLES MAJOR LYTLE AMERICAN LEGION POST 818. IN THE ERA OF SEGREGATION, THE POST SERVED AS A COMMUNITY MEETING PLACE. FOR INSTANCE, FROM 1956 TO 1963, AFRICAN AMERICAN GRADUATES OF A.C. JONES HIGH SCHOOL, BARRED FROM ATTENDING THE SCHOOL’S PROM, HELD THEIR OWN PROM AT THE POST. GRADUATES OF THE SEGREGATED LOTT-CANADA SCHOOL USED THE POST FOR PROMS UNTIL 1963. IN ADDITION TO LANGLEY, OTHER POST LEADERS WERE JOHN MAYBERRY, BEN LOTT, GEORGE MCCARTY, AND EUGENE LANGLEY. IN 1997, DUE TO DECLINING MEMBERSHIP, THE POST DONATED ITS BUILDING TO THE JONES CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH AND BETHLEHEM MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, JOINTLY. JONES CHAPEL TURNED ITS SHARE OVER TO BETHLEHEM. AFTER SERIOUS CONSIDERATION BETHLEHEM GAVE SOLE OWNERSHIP TO THE LOTT-CANADA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION FOR ITS REUNIONS AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This American Legion post honors Charles H. Lytle, Beeville's first African American serviceman killed in World War II, who died when the USS Ommaney Bay went down near the Philippines in 1945. Chartered in 1946 for Black veterans in the Jim Crow era, the post became a vital community hub — hosting the segregated proms that African American graduates were barred from attending at the local white high school.
Why it matters
The post shows how African American veterans, denied equal footing even after serving their country, built their own institutions that anchored community life through segregation and into the civil rights era.
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Related people
- · Charles H. Lytle
- · Lymas Langley Jr.
- · James R. Dougherty
Themes & tags
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