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In addition to honoring wives, mothers and grandmothers at their annual Femme Party, Voiture 830 of the La Crosse County 40 & 8 recently presented awards to J.C. Penney and members of the staff at the Valley View Mall store.

As part of the Children and Youth Program, Voiture 830 has helped fire victims for many years. The most recent endeavor was to assist the families who lost everything in the large apartment fire earlier this spring in La Crescent, Minn.

With the help of the staff at J.C. Penney, 26 were able to shop for new clothes. Four hundred and three items with a retail value of $6,900 were purchased. Although this fire affected more children than ever before, Voiture 830 has stepped in to help whenever fire disaster has struck locally.

“Seeing the children’s happy faces and parents’ smiles is well worth the time and money the Voiture puts into this program,” said Al Johnson, Voiture 830 Chef de Gare. “But we could not do what we do without the help of J.C. Penney.”

La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaus (which means the Society of 40 Men and Eight horses) is an independent, by invitation, honor organization of male and female U.S. veterans, more commonly known as the 40 & 8.

The 40 & 8, which brings its trademark “train” to most area parades, is committed to charitable and patriotic aims. The group’s purpose is to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution, to promote the well being of veterans and their widows and orphans, and to actively participate in selected charitable endeavors, which include programs to promote child welfare and nurse’s training.

The titles and symbols of the 40 & 8 reflect its World War I origins. Americans were transported to the battlefront on French trains within boxcars stenciled with a “40/8” denoting its capacity to hold either 40 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 40 & 8was founded in 1920 by American veterans returning from France. Originally an arm of the American Legion, the 40 & 8 became an independent and separately incorporated veteran’s organization in 1960.

Membership is by invitation and is currently restricted to members of the American Legion. A resolution is pending that will allow the nomination of unassociated honorably discharged veterans and honorably serving members of the U.S. armed forces.