News
VFW has strong presence in Bottineau
Heather Milbrath
07/16/2013
The Bottineau VFW is another veterans group in Bottineau County that has been around for many years. The Bottineau VFW was chartered on October 4, 1968, and has had a strong presence in the community since its inception.
Most people notice the VFW’s presence in the community on Memorial Day. Nearly every Memorial Day for the past 25 years, hundreds of flags have lined the streets of Bottineau to honor veterans. While most people appreciate this display, many do not know where all these flags came from.
The Bottineau VFW first started the “Parade of Flags” event in 1988. That year, Gordon Kittleson had this little idea to put up flags on Memorial Day to honor deceased veterans. This ‘little’ idea has become a large project, one that all three veteran organizations in Bottineau team up to help with.
The program has grown from around 100 flags at its inception, to the 440 flags that were scheduled to be put up this past Memorial Day. Bottineau VFW Post Commander Ronnie Martin, sees this number increasing to over 500 in a short time.
With a program this large, Martin emphasizes the cooperation of all veteran organizations.
“The Parade of Flags is a VFW program, but we could not pull it off without the help of other veterans outside the VFW,” Martin said.
The Bottineau VFW has nearly 100 members and collaborates with the VFW Ladies Auxiliary for many of their programs, like the Poppy Program and the Community Luncheons.
“While we do a lot of VFW programs for the community, I think the most important thing that we do is help other veterans,” Martin said. “If anybody is going to help a vet, it is going to be another vet.”
Martin said that the VFW helps veterans in many ways, from raising awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder, to fundraising for the Bottineau VFW Cancer Fund.
Martin feels that one of the most simple, yet influential, things that has helped veterans in the community is the morning coffee sessions at the veterans hall. When the Bottineau VFW moved to the new building and the Veterans of Bottineau County was organized, Martin had a new idea to help veterans.
“At first we only had coffee two mornings each week, then three and then every day,” Martin said. “Now even some Saturdays you will see men coming in.”
On any given day there will be 15 to 20 former veterans gathered at the veteran’s hall. This is not a sanctioned event put on by any of the three veteran organizations, but rather an open affair for all veterans. The coffee pot goes on at 8:30 a.m., and often times there is baked goods or donuts and always lots of conversation.
Many of the men who gather here are regulars, like Dale Simon who said that he is there every day, unless he is out of town. All throughout the morning there are more veterans arriving, as well as other community members looking for information from a veteran. There is much to be heard, like one veteran telling another: “Glad you came, the Navy had us out numbered for a while,” or the story of a proud dad telling these veterans about his son’s recent deployment.
While much of the conversing is about what is going on in the town, a majority of it is about these veterans’ experiences in the wars. They can relate to each other’s stories and often open up about things they have never talked about before.
“Many of the older guys that come in were pretty quiet right away, but now you hear them telling their experiences from the war,” Simon said.
The morning coffee meetings are something that the veterans really seem to enjoy, and is also a good time to reach out to a veteran if you are looking for information.
Martin says that morning coffee is something they plan to continue when they move to their new building and all veterans are always welcome.
“If there is a flag flying out front, the door is open,” Martin said.