"Carl L. Caviness American Legion Post No. 102" is quite a mouthful, which may be why the name tends to be abbreviated these days to just "American Legion" in references to graveside rites and otherwise. Which is too bad, but understandable.
When Chariton's American Legion post was organized during the summer of 1920, Carl was singled out to be honored in its name because he was the first Lucas Countyan to be killed in the World War I --- in France during 1918.
After the war, his remains were repatriated to Chariton and in 1954, his mother, Minerva, were buried nearby. So they share this tombstone with a flag on top in the Chariton Cemetery --- and I walk by it fairly often.
I couldn't track down a photograph of Carl a couple of years ago, while working more intensively than now to track Lucas County's dead, from the Civil War forward. Photos are available, however, as are two people related to him in a distant sort of way, both of whom are interested in doing more to share his story.
I'm thinking a plaque might be in order to tell passers by why they should care about Carl. So there's another project to think about. Stay tuned.
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