American Legion Post 105 found a scrapbook from the State Commander, Leo Crawford 1956-1957 in the Club Room of the Post 105. These books were in bad shape and slowly deteriorating from old age and are being restored by Michael Toschak, American Legion Post 105 member.

Commander Crawford was from American Legion Post 828 in Menlo Park. The Post closed in 2009 and at that time they merged with Post 105 in Redwood City, Romie Bassetto was commander of Post 105 at the time. These books were then placed in a corner of Post 105 and forgotten only to slowly rot over time. One mistake was the glue they used to paste to the pages of the scrapbook, it dried and all the reports and name tags were loose. The name tags were reglued to the appropriate photos and reports have all been salvaged and placed in archival plastic sleeves. Also the backing of the photos was made of construction paper, Patriot Blue. This paper was starting to show it’s age and was replaced by acid free paper of the same color. Besides the pages being restored, the scrapbook bindings were restored and a spine was added for extra support.

There are many historical photos in these books and many are one of a kind. Post 105 will post these pictures to www.calegion.org, including the portraits of every state commander since 1919 to 1957.

Michael Toschak
Author: Michael Toschak