How did it start?
Let us start from the very beginning, and exactly from creating the 501st
Legion. It was 1997, that is a year, in which George Lucas decided to show
once again his trilogy in the movie theatres – this time in the special,
remastered and uncut version. In this very year Albin Johnson, one of the
fans of the Star Wars saga from the USA developed a humble web site on
which he posted his photos in the Stormtrooper costume. Shortly after
that, he started to receive photos from the other fans, also dressed in
the costumes from the movie – not only stormtroopers armours, but also
costumes of TIE fighters pilots, the Imperial officers, and even Lord Vader.
As a result, an idea of bringing together all those persons in the costume
club was born. Initially it was called the Detention Block AA-23, however
Albin, wanting to give the group a more military character, decided for
the name the 501st Legion. Originally, the Detention Block had to be
replaced with a name of the Escadra, but it was too much associated
with the aviation, but a Legion referring to the Roman tradition fit
just perfectly. And a number of 501? No, it is not an advertisement of
the well-known model of jeans – Johnson wanted the number to be at
the same time high and rounded, hence an idea for 500, and to make
everything look realistic, one added to it a digit of 1.
The number of fans in the costumes expanded – finally, the Legion
encompassed practically every continent (besides Antarctica). In 2003
it also reached Poland. Initially it functioned as the Polish Outpost – it
was a local unit, a "station" of the 501st Legion, but an amount of its
member exceeded 25 (it happened in 2009), and the Polish Outpost
was renamed to the Polish Garrison. Now, a division counts 65 active
members, although who knows – maybe at the moment when you are
reading this, a few new comes?
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