News

Bottineau American Legion Post 42 has long and successful history

By Heather Milbrath

06/18/2013

Every week, a group of men gather at the Old Frykman building on 5th Street. These men come from several different occupations and backgrounds, but all have one common bond, they are all veterans.

For now, this building on 5th Street is the home of the Bottineau County Veterans, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion and the AMVETS. Many of the men who attend these morning gatherings are members of the Legion. Some men are members of more than one group, and some are members of all three.

The Bottineau American Legion Post 42 has the longest history here in Bottineau of the three groups. In 1919, a notice was printed in the Bottineau Courant calling for all war veterans to meet at the Grand Theatre to organize an American Legion Post. There were 15 names on the application for a charter, one veteran from Omemee, one from Roth and the rest were from Bottineau.

The Bottineau Legion Post 42 was issued a charter on Sept. 2, 1919, and had 23 members at that time. The first post commander was Monte Woods.

The group got to work right away, hosting a celebration for returned servicemen to try to increase membership. Many activities were held, like a tug-of-war between the Army and the Navy, a parade, a baseball game between Omemee and Willow City, a motorcycle race and a dance with a free supper for the servicemen. The Grand Theatre also chose to join in the festivities, showing three free Charlie Chaplin movies. According to the The American Legion in North Dakota “During an intermission, 50 men signed up for the new post.”

In 1923, the Legion began to work with the Bottineau County Commission to build a War Memorial Building. President Roosevelt directed all states to have a “War Memorial” building to honor the veterans. According to Al Wondrasek, the state of North Dakota’s governor then directed the counties to build, own and operate these buildings in North Dakota.

The Bottineau County Library was housed in the War Memorial building with the Legion for a number of years. When a new courthouse was built, the county library was added to the courthouse.

Now the Legion, the VFW and the AMVETs are all under one roof and have formed a coalition called the Bottineau County Veterans, Inc.

Although these groups get along well now, this was not always the case.

While at the veterans building, Wilmer Marzolf spoke about the friction between the VFW and the Legion. Marzolf pointed to a pictures on the wall of Leonard Marzolf and said “That is my brother,” and points at one of Clarence Helgeson and says

“That one is my brother-in-law,” Both of these men had been Commanders of the VFW at one time. Marzolf went on to explain that when the VFW was first established it was “going to be the end of the Legion.”

Because of this, many Legionnaires, like Wilmer Marzolf, were very resistant to joining the VFW. Marzolf stuck with the Legion, and has been a member of Bottineau Post 42 for over 50 years. Ironically, now the VFW and the Legion are more of comrades then competitors.

The highest membership the Bottineau post ever had was 316 in 1954. The current membership is around 120 members.

The current Legion Commander is Heather Thompson. Thompson was the first female commander of an American Legion district office in North Dakota. Thompson was named Post Commander this year and is also the first female Bottineau Legion Post Commander.

The Legion is very active in the community and has donated to most non-profit organizations in the county, ranging from Annie’s House to the local FFA chapter. The Legion also supports the American Legion Baseball team. The Post pays for umpires, the coaches and does all the flags for the Post 42 baseball team. Many of the veterans also umpire the Legion games.

The first Post 42 Legion team was established in 1947. Woods, the first Legion Commander, was also the first baseball coach through the mid 1950’s. The Bottineau Legion baseball is still active today, and one veteran remarked that we have “one of the best Legion programs in the state.”