The Wagner American Legion and Wagner American Legion Auxiliary recently sent delegates to their respective 2025 State Conventions. The annual four-day event was held in Huron on June 19 – 22. The state conventions for both organizations along with the Sons of the American Legion are held in the same hotel/convention center as many members belong to both the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary.

Delegates representing the American Legion Greer Post #11 were Greg Geiman, Robert Kucera, Daniel Rezac and John Crisman. Delegates from the American Legion Auxiliary Greer Unit #11 included Barb Kucera, Kathy Geiman, Jeanette Fuchs and Alyssa Mathis. Of the two organizations only, Greg Geiman is an officer at the state level for the American Legion as he serves as the Department’s Sargeant at Arms.

The Legion’s meeting runs differently than many organizations in that during the state convention, the meeting never actually stops and takes breaks. Legion members are free to come and go as needed with the only break being the recess at the end of the day’s session.

The current National Commander, James A. LaCoursiere Jr., as well as the candidate projected to be the next National Commander, Dan Wylie, were both in attendance, which was quite an honor. Wylie was a guest speaker at the meeting and LaCoursiere was a speaker at the banquet. Two of the biggest initiatives that the Legion Commander will be heavily promoting this upcoming year will be Be the One (which is a national campaign to help negate the high suicide rate amongst Veterans) and Better Together (focuses on working together for the betterment of our nation’s Veterans).

Awards that were presented to the Wagner American Legion during the convention included Jerry Seiner receiving Honorable Mention for his work as the Editor of the Reveille newsletter that all Wagner Legion and Auxiliary members receive monthly. Another award that was presented to the post was 2nd place in the Annual Department One-Year Post Yearbook History Contest. Vice-Commander John Crisman received this award on behalf of the Wagner American Legion’s Historian, Alyssa Mathis, who created a scrapbook of all of the Wagner American Legion activities that happened in the past year. In regard to the Member of the Year, unfortunately, Dan Rezac, the unit and district 8 member of the year, was not chosen as the winner at the state convention. Nevertheless, his service to his country as well as his local legion and various community organizations makes his post very proud.

During the Auxiliary’s State Convention there were several guest speakers that made the event very memorable. They included the 2025 Girls State Governor and current Governor Larry Rhoden. The excitement and energy of the Girls State Governor was enlightening and contagious. She was truly excited to be elected and get to be a part of so many upcoming speaking engagements. Governor Rhoden, who also spoke to the Legion, spoke of his long lineage of military service. Rhoden spoke of his father who served in WWII and was a part of General Patton’s Third Army in addition to being a part of the Battle of the Bulge.

The Wagner unit did not receive any awards but did receive many activity mentions during the reports given by various state chairmen. For the Member of the Year award, it was a very honorable group of women that were chosen as each district’s member of the year, and even though their own member, Barb Kucera, did not receive the state award, the Wagner ALA unit could not be prouder of her and all that she accomplished this year as an auxiliary member.

In the end it was a very enlightening conference for both organizations and their delegates. A lot of knowledge and experience was shared in order to help continue both organizations’ missions for the betterment of South Dakota Veterans.