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American Legion Trujillo-Sheets Post No. 28, named after World War I veterans Jose Enrique Trujillo and Wiley Sheets, celebrates its centennial this year.

The Durango natives signed up days apart to serve in the U.S. Army during WWI – Trujillo in Durango and Sheets in Arizona, where he worked as a lumberjack.

They died a couple of months apart in France, part of the American contingent of 4.7 million men who served in WWI and two of the more than 116,000 killed in “the war to end all wars.”

Pvt. Trujillo with the 341st Field Artillery was killed Sept. 18, 1918, nine days after his 27th birthday, fighting in Siege of Metz-St. Mihiel Salient. Pvt. Sheets with the 355th Machine Gun Co. was killed Nov. 1, 1918, in the Battle of the Argonne Forest, just 10 days before the signing of the armistice.

Robert McDaniel, former historian at the Animas Museum, noted in a paper about the men that Post No. 28 was originally named for Sheets, and on Oct. 8, 1930, Legion members voted to add Trujillo’s name to recognize the “great many Spanish and Mexican boys” who served in WWI.

Trujillo’s family moved to Durango from Taos, New Mexico. His father worked in a smelter, and the family soon turned to farming and sheep ranching south of Durango.

Sheets, McDaniel wrote, was “a blue-blooded Durango native, the son of a prominent pioneer La Plata County family.” According to McDaniel, Sheets grew up in a log cabin overlooking the Animas River, where north City Market now stands.

In the past century, a lot has changed, but the mission of Post No. 28, which received its charter during President Woodrow Wilson’s administration on Aug. 25, 1919, remains pretty much the same, said Donna Jones, president of Auxiliary Unit No. 28.

“We’re here to improve the lives and assist with the needs of our veterans and their families,” she said. “All the vets and their families. The ones who come home and the ones who didn’t.”

Post No. 28, 878 East Second Ave., is also a gathering place for veterans and their families, Jones said.

Nationwide, she noted, local American Legion posts have provided college scholarships to veterans’ children and support the Boys and Girls State summer programs to teach students about the legislative process. The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation has provided $7 million nationwide to meet the needs of children of deceased and disabled veterans.

Jones said her great-grandson, Ethan Cooper, 4, is a direct beneficiary of the Child Welfare Foundation. The boy was born at risk for sudden infant death syndrome, and the foundation paid for a $1,500 monitor that helped save his life when he stopped breathing as an infant.

“My granddaughter called and said, ‘It worked. The alert worked, grandma.’ He had stopped breathing, and she gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He’s alive today – happy and healthy as can be.”

The American Legion’s main mission is to help vets in myriad ways, Jones said.

If a vet faces a major home repair job or if someone in the family is sick and the family needs help with medical bills, Jones said the American Legion is there for them.

“If there’s a need, help is there. It’s just a matter of letting people know and figuring out what we can do. And we can tap into the American Legion nationwide, too,” she said.

More benefits also come with being a member of the American Legion, such as discounts for hotels and rental cars.

The American Legion supports lobbyists in Washington to help veterans with their needs and to lobby Congress to improve programs serving veterans.

In 2013, two bartenders at Post No. 28 were accused of assaulting a 22-year-old woman. One man later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and attempted sexual assault. The second pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence.

The long-term consequence of the incident, Jones said, was that Post No. 28 had to regain the trust of the community.

The bar supports itself financially, and additional proceeds go toward maintenance and American Legion programs, Jones said.

Some people, she said, avoid the bar, thinking it’s a “bunch of old guys sitting around sharing war stories.” But, she said, most veterans rarely speak about what they’ve been through, and the bar is a place where they can find camaraderie.

Many vets from Afghanistan and Iraq, Jones said, are leery of the American Legion, but she encourages anyone from the community to drop by to find out what the American Legion offers.

“We’re a private club, so the door will be locked, but ring the buzzer and we’ll tell you about what we are and what we do, and we’ll buy you a beer,” she said.

parmijo@durangoherald.com