American Legion Greer Post #11 held its monthly meeting on November 16, 2023 with 32 members in attendance. Commander Clayton Rados thanked the cooks for the delicious turkey and ham meal. Guests in attendance were Amanda Bechen, Dominic Kotab, Darcy Karberna and Carlie Schoenfelder. Carlie and Darcy represented the Wagner Pool Fund raising committee. Their wish was to have a Jingle, Mingle & Bingle event at the Legion Post after the Parade of Lights on December 1st as a fund raiser. More will follow in the newspaper. Chaplain Don Kotab gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The Preamble to the Constitution of the American Legion was recited by all members. Commander Rados then called the meeting to order Doug Kokesh was present to speak about a picture of a Japanese flag found in a book about WW II. The flag was captured on Iwo Jim. The flag is autographed by various members of the Marine’s 5th Division who fought at Iwo Jima during WW II. One of the signatures is Arthur J. Mach of Wagner.

Minutes – Adjutant Dave Isebrands read the minutes of our last meeting. Minutes were approved as read.

Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer Dan Gruenewald gave the treasurer’s report. The treasurer’s report was approved as presented.

Americanism - Americanism Officer Don Kotab is hoping for some applicants from Wagner High School students for the various opportunities offered by our Legion Post.

Service Officer – Service Officer Merle Stone gave his report.

Baseball – No report. Season has ended.

Legion Riders- The riding season has ended for the Legion Riders Bingo – We had a great turnout for the first three Sunday Bingos. Bob Kucera needs volunteers for the following five Sundays. The volunteers are November 19th – Clayton and Tony, November 26th John Fuchs and Ray Soukup, December 3rd – Melvin and Dave, December 10th – Bob Kisely and John Crisman, December 17th – Mark Wiechmann and Ray Soukup. The Post again wants to thank Paul Kucera for all he does for the Post and being a Son of a Legionnaire member.

Veterans Service Officer – Veteran Service Officer Jerry Seiner informed members that their VA health care cards cannot be renewed any sooner than three months before expiration. All living WW II veterans now get free health care which also includes nursing home care.

Old Business- Bechen has completed all necessary forms for our reinstatement of IRS tax exemption status. Commander Clayton has a large file representing client files of all the forms Amanda has submitted. It was a large and tremendous effort accomplished on her part.

There was no flag retirement again this year at the Wagner Public School during this year’s Veterans’ Day Program. Hopefully, we can accomplish this sometime this spring.

The District 8 meeting was held in Springfield and was lightly attended. Commander Clayton did attend the District 6 meeting in Wessington Springs on October 28th since he was unable to attend the District 8 meeting in Springfield. He did speak with State Commander Courtney Steffen who is looking for four members of our District to step forward to help re-energize our District.

New Business- Discussion ensued regarding the Parade of Lights. The Post voted to allow the Wagner Pool Fund committee to use the Post home at no cost for their event after the Parade of Lights other then hold them accountable for any damages that might occur during the Jingle, Mingle & Bingle event. Jay Youngbluth and Paul Kucera will do the Bingo calling.

The Post will again have the sweepstake event to be held on February 24th. It will be our 35th annual sweepstake celebration. We will need to inform the city and state that we are holding the event.

Membership stars were passed out for continuous membership in the American Legion. The Auxiliary felt a dehumidifier is needed in the basement as some mildew was found. Dave I. stated that he had an extra one and would just donate it to the Post to help correct the problem.

A Thank You to the Post was read by Vice Commander Dennis Clemens from the Leo Soukup family for the funeral honors given at Leo’s funeral. Dennis also read a Thank You from the Veterans Community Project in Sioux Falls for our donation to their project. The VCP’s Inaugural Lighting Ceremony will be held on Tuesday, December 5th at the VCP Village at 367 North Willow Avenue in Sioux Falls. Dennis also donated a book on the Viet Nam war to the Post library.

The monthly drawing winner was Jay Youngbluth who donated the money back to the Post. Don Kotab gave the final prayer and we closed in due form.