The annual VFW Post 7319 Veterans Day Banquet was held at the American Legion with a potluck supper at 7:00 p.m. on November 11, 2022. Toastmaster for the evening was Mark Roberts. The Invocation was given by Mark who then introduced officers of both the VFW and American Legion and their Auxiliaries and welcomed Mayor Todd Johannsen and his wife Barb.

Following a delicious chicken dinner, with pot luck provided by the Auxiliary, the drawing began for the annual gun raffle fund raiser. Winners of the three guns were Donna Ishmael, Brennan Leines and Jake Bouza.

Entertainment for the evening was provided by the Wagner Community School students. Jennifer Barnett, one of the four Voice of Democracy essay contest winners that were selected to represent Post 7319 in the District 7 level competition, was on hand to read her essay. This years theme was “Why is the Veteran Important”. Also presenting essays were Cruise Koupal and A.J. Kotab, two of the winners of the Patriot’s Pen contest. This years theme was “My Pledge to Our Veterans”. This years contest boasted 260 entries written by Wagner Community School students in the 5th thru 8th grades. Mieke Slaba was recognized as the driving force behind the many entries in the contest. Sixteen were selected to compete in District 7 competition.

The POW/MIA table was set in a place of honor by VFW Auxiliary member Sandy Seiner. It is set for one. This table is a way of symbolizing the fact that members of our military are missing from our midst. We call them comrades. They are unable to be with their loved ones and families, so we join together to pay our humble tribute to them and to bear witness to their continued absence.

PostQuartermasterandCharles Mix County Veteran’s Service Officer, Jerry Seiner, spoke to those in attendance about the recently passed legislation included in the PACT Act. The PACT Act is the toxic exposure bill which grants military personnel who served in Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan presumption for a number of illnesses caused by toxic exposure to burn pits which were used frequently in those conflicts. Toxic exposure presumptives are mostly breathing related issues from cancers to breathing issues such as bronchitis, asthma, rhinitis and COPD. Also included in the bill were two new presumptive for Vietnam Veterans. These included hypertension and MGUS along with hypothyroidism and Parkinson’s Disease, which were added this past summer. Several locations where service members were exposed to Agent Orange (AO) were also added. Contact your local Veteran’s Service Officer if you have any questions on any of the new locations or presumptives. Our VFW Teener 16 & Under baseball team was recognized for their accomplishments in this years baseball season. The team, coached by Sam Metzger and Matt Slaba, placed second in the State Tournament. Matt Slaba was in attendance and spoke about the season. He stated that the boys did a great job this year and had everything come together at the end of the season. They hosted and won the regional tournament and played excellent baseball in the state tournament. Although they came up one game short of winning the championship, Matt was prouder of the fact that the boys were awarded the Lou Thury Sportsmanship Award for the 2022 tournament. Matt overheard a player from the winning team comment that “the players from Wagner were just nice guys”. A round of applause was given for the successes of this years team.

A tribute was offered to deceased members of our post who passed in the last year. A prayer and a moment of silence were offered for Robert Grumkow, Ben Slama, Bob Breen, Francis Cuka and Charles Thaler.

To conclude the evening, continuous membership pins were presented by Commander Mark Roberts to 19 post members, to include 50 year members Danny Rezac and Daniel Horner, 55 year members Jim Zacharias and Don Sternhagen, 60 year member Eugene Dressler and 65 year member Robert J. Soukup.

VFW Auxiliary President Charlene Beeson thanked those present for making the banquet a success and for all of the food which was donated by those in attendance. She also reminded everyone that membership in the Auxiliary is important and that new members are always welcome.

Mark Roberts closed the banquet with the Benediction and thanked all who attended.

Receiving continuous membership pins are L-R, Mike Kotab, 10 year; Jim Zacharias, 55 year; Don Sternhagen, 55 year; Eugene Dressler, 60 year; Tony Krcil, 25 year; Bob Soukup, 65 year; Danny Rezac, 50 year.