From the Brainerd VFW in 2016. Here is a look at the "good old days."
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From the 2015 history file of the Brainerd VFW.
Brainerd VFW In 2014:
Brainerd VFW in 2010:
In about 2010, Brainerd VFW member Dave Meyer successfully consolidated the Honor Guards from the VFW, Legion and DAV. They have operated as one at funerals and parades ever since. Dave Meyer is still the unit coordinator.
November 11, 1993: Veteran Norman Nelson, of Brainerd's VFW Post 1647, sheds a tear as he salutes during the playing of “Taps” at the Veteran's Day Ceremony at the All-Veterans Memorial. The observance was at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month to mark the signing of the WWI Armistice in 1918.
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The Brainerd VFW in 1992: A flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol was raised at the VFW in Brainerd. It was a gift from then Congressman James Oberstar.
Brainerd VFW in 1991:
Brainerd VFW in 1990:
Brainerd VFW in 1989. There was a ground breaking ceremony for the All Veterans Memorial in Brainerd.
Brainerd VFW in 1987. Brainerd Mayor Billie Michaelis signed a Loyalty Day proclamation. Brainerd's own Shotgun Red was the entertainment at the celebration.
1982. Brainerd VFW Post 1647 put on Loyalty Days, May 1st and 2nd. Former Minnesota Governor C. Elmer Anderson (1951-1955) was Mayor of Brainerd when he issued a Loyalty Day proclamation on May 1, 1982. That was in honor of the Department of Minnesota Sixth District Convention in Brainerd. The Brainerd VFW Commander was Loren McLaughlin. Motel room rates were from $22 to $43. A parade had entries from Wadena, Benson, Randall, Monticello, Princeton, Montrose, St. Cloud, Maple Lake, Little Falls and Sauk Rapids. Department of Minnesota was represented. There was a fly-over of two military jets from the 148th Tactical Group in Duluth.
Brainerd VFW Auxiliary member Helen Doucette said that it was in 1973 when the post had its first baseball team for 14 and 15 year old kids. There was no money so parents took turns carpooling the players around. District competition was in Long Prairie that year. They borrowed tents from Camp Ripley and camped out for two nights. Some parents brought campers and trailers. Brainerd didn't win, but it was a fun VFW family activity.
Brainerd VFW 1968-1970. This was during the Vietnam War. The Brainerd VFW was doing its best to publicize good things in the community.
July 25, 1944: Wally Marchel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Kaspar Marchel, Brainerd, has been wounded in action somewhere in the South Pacific, where he has served the past eight months. He remains in an overseas hospital. His brothers, Joe and Leo, are both pilots in the U.S. war effort.
July 24, 1944: Tech/Sgt. Albert Fuhre, son of Nels Fuhre, Route 6, Brainerd, has served in the South Pacific for nine months and logged 303 combat flying hours. In that time he has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and two oak leaf clusters to it. He was also awarded the Air Medal.
July 23, 1944: PFC Douglas Anderson, Brainerd, is serving with the fifth Army in Italy in a quartermaster bakery company. They were recently hit with an attack by the German Luftwaffe and the bakers lost three men dead and 11 received the Purple Heart for being wounded. Anderson said they were running again in 24 hours.
July 17, 1944: Pvt. John Corey, of Jenkins, is known in Brainerd primarily for his prowess as a light-heavyweight boxer. He enlisted in the army two years ago, went through basic training, was promoted to corporal, then discharged when they found he was just 16. Corey, now 18, has enlisted again and is back with his former infantry unit.
July 13, 1944: An Army Air Force lieutenant, a bombardier who has served on 25 combat missions and has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, arrived here today to assist in recruiting 17 and 18-year-old men for the Army Air Corps Enlisted Reserve. He will be here through tomorrow at the VFW Hall in the Iron Exchange Building.
July 12, 1944: Friendship is a wonderful thing, and even better when boyhood friends stuck together in army life. Such is the case for Pvt. Leonall Andersen and Pvt. Paul Cibuzar, of Brainerd. They entered service together at Ft. Snelling, went to basic in Alabama, then more training in Los Angeles and Camp Roberts. To top it, they are home on leave at the same time.
July 5, 1944: Captain Richard Broach, son of Col. and Mrs. Henry Mills, of Brainerd, is a prisoner of war in Germany, according to word received here from the War Department. Broach, flying a Mustang fighter plane, was reported missing over Holland a month ago. The captain is a graduate of West Point.
July 3, 2024: Word has been received that a son, Terence, was born June 30 in Leicester, England to Capt. William J. McCollough and his wife Cecil. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. H.F. McCollough of Brainerd. Capt. McCollough is with the 8th U.S. Army Air Force, and his wife was a Section Officer in photo interpretation in the British WAAF.
June 25, 1944: A decoration received from a Lt. General rarely happens to most soldiers, but to Staff Sgt. Roy Schilb of Gull Lake View, it's the same old story. The War Dept. announced that Schilb was awarded his seventh Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of an additional Air Medal. He is with the 13th Army Air Force.
June 19, 1944: Pvt. Theodore Halstead, of Northeast Brainerd, who left here with the first group of draftees over three years ago, was back home for the first time in 20 months. He had been serving with armored forces and was wounded in North Africa and Sicily and was awarded the Purple Heart.
June 18, 1944: Lt. Hortense McKay, Army Nurse Corps, and one of the last army nurses to be evacuated from Corregidor in the Philippines in April 1942, has been promoted to the rank of captain. She had recently been in Brainerd on leave with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George McKay, and is now stationed in Australia.
June 15, 1944: A heavyweight “pocket cruiser” type destroyer, named for the late Capt. Wallace L. Lind, a native of Brainerd, was launched yesterday from the U.S. Steel shipyard in Kearney, New Jersey. Lind, a WWI veteran, died in 1940. He was awarded the Navy Cross for trying to save the USS Pres. Lincoln after it was torpedoed by the Germans.
June 14, 1944: Capt. Richard Broach, flying a Mustang fighter, has been missing in action over Holland Since May 30, according to word received by his parents, Col. and Mrs. Henry Mills. Capt. Broach has participated in over 250 hours of combat flying over enemy territory. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
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June 7, 1944: Allied invasion forces blasted 10 miles into France on D-Day. The U.S., British and Canadian forces fought through heavy German resistance, but the beachhead is secured. Gen Eisenhower had told the troops: “You are about embark on the great crusade. We will accept nothing less than full victory.”
June 6, 1944: D-Day Extra! INVASION! Warships and Air Forces Back Landings in Normandy! American, British and Canadian forces storm the French coast – a mighty fleet backs the invaders. In the dim light of dawn, assault forces from the British coast launched the greatest invasion of all time.
From the Brainerd Dispatch December 25, 1943: Staff Sgt. Kirk O. Wels, a former employee of the Dispatch, placed this ad in the paper: “From somewhere in England, to all my friends: I can't send individual Christmas greetings, so I'm sending mine this way in the paper. Hope those who care will see this.”
Yes, those were the god old days, but the future is ahead of us to forge for ourselves. Veterans helping veterans and the community.