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La Societe des Quarante Hommes at Huit Chevaux is an independent, by invitation, honor organization of male and female
U. S. veterans, more commonly known as the Forty & Eight.
The Forty & Eight is committed to charitable and patriotic aims.
Our purpose is to uphold and defend the United States Constitution, to promote the well being of veterans and their widows
and orphans, and to actively participate in selected charitable endeavors, which include programs that
promote child welfare and nurse's training.
The titles and symbols of the Forty & Eight reflect its First World
War origins. Americans were transported to the battle front on French trains within boxcars stenciled
with a “40/8”, denoting its capacity to hold either forty men or eight horses. This uncomfortable mode of
transportation was familiar to all who fought in the trenches; a common small misery among American soldiers who thereafter
found “40/8” a lighthearted symbol of the deeper service, sacrifice and unspoken horrors of war that bind
all who have borne the battle.
The Forty & Eight was founded in 1920 by American veterans returning
from France. Originally an arm of The American Legion, the Forty & Eight became an independent and separately
incorporated veteran's organization in 1960. Membership is by invitation of honorably discharged veterans and honorably
serving members of the United States Armed Forces