Residents gathered in Stewardson Saturday, Veterans Day, to take their first look at Stewardson American Legion Wilbur Braughton Post 611’s new headquarters and witness the dedication of the building after approximately five years of work by the post and community.
Post 611 Commander Bob Prosser kicked off the dedication ceremony by speaking to the crowd and declared Saturday to be a “great day in the history of Post 611,” before introducing Post 611 Adjutant Phil Boyer.
“Today is a monumental day for Wilbur Braughton Post 611,” Phil Boyer said.
Phil Boyer recognized veterans from the generations before him, several of whom were in the crowd, and said he hopes the building eventually becomes home to even more members.
“It’s not every day we can fill a room with veterans from every conflict from World War II to present day,” Phil Boyer said. “You do it for all the veterans that can’t quite carry the torch anymore. That’s how this organization works, and that’s how the next generation is going to carry us.”
According to Phil Boyer, members of Post 611 voted to begin fundraising efforts for the new building in October of 2018, and plans for the new headquarters gained further traction after First National Bank of Waterloo donated the property on which the building now sits in August of 2019.
“We had little to no money, and we were so much closer to ‘no’ than ‘little,’” Phil Boyer said. “You can’t even imagine.”
Eventually, after receiving donations from local residents and businesses, Post 611 held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the building in August of 2021.
“We can literally look at every business in this community and honestly say they’ve supported us in some fashion,” Phil Boyer said.
Phil Boyer also told the crowd that the post has met 100% of its membership goal and appears to be growing.
“This is about the future,” he said.
Residents gathered in the new building also heard from retired American Legion Illinois State Commander Roy Weber who, in addition to congratulating the community and the post on its “beautiful” new building, shared his thoughts on Veterans Day, telling the crowd that the sacrifices veterans and their families have made often go unnoticed.
“Most American profess to truly love our veterans, especially at gatherings like this on Veterans Day and Memorial Day, and while their feelings are sincere, it’s important to remember veterans are defending us 365 days a year,” Weber said.
Weber also commented on the mental health problems experienced by veterans after their military service.
“The American Legion continues to remind the public that more than 6,000 veterans a year take their lives,” Weber said. “We should all commit to be the one to save that life.”
After the ceremony, Weber said he’s been impressed to see such strong support from a community where only roughly 750 residents live, and he thinks the new building is yet another step in the right direction for Post 611 as it continues to defy the challenges facing legion posts throughout the nation.
“They must have all really pitched in,” Weber said. “It gives them the opportunity, the new building, to get new people, get younger people involved in the community.”
Past commander of District 13 of the Illinois Department of the American Legion Josh Theilen has been working closely with Post 611 in their efforts to get a new building of their own, and he told residents Saturday that when he first came to Stewardson to meet with members of the post, he had trouble finding their headquarters.
“The first time I set foot in Post 611, I wasn’t sure where to put my foot,” Theilen joked. “It’s been a long five years. Congratulations.”
U.S. Army Veteran Dave Boyer of Strasburg, 76, is all too familiar with the long journey Post 611 has gone through to get its new building and called the post’s old building a “dump.”
“The old building we had was rundown,” Dave Boyer said.
Dave Boyer served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and he’s been a member of Post 611 for 52 years.
“We did a lot of air assaults, helicopter assaults,” Boyer said.
After completing his military service, which lasted from 1966-68, Dave Boyer worked for Caterpillar Inc.
Dave Boyer said he thinks it means a lot to the local community to have the new building which he says will be a good venue for legion meetings and community or family dinners.
“This is great,” Dave Boyer said regarding the post’s new building. “I didn’t think we’d ever get anything like this.”
Among the many residents gathered at the post’s new building Saturday were Cathy Souslie and Joyce Read, who both have a number of veterans in their families. This includes Read’s father, who served in the U.S. Navy.
“He was a SA1 Navy Navigator in World War II,” Read said.
Read explained that she and Souslie, like many residents, rely on the post and its toy drive for affordable Christmas gifts because they both live on a fixed income.
“I think it’s cool,” Read said regarding the new building. “It’s really nice in here. It helps people like us get Christmas baskets from them.”
The dedication ceremony Saturday also included a 21-gun salute performed by members of Post 611 just outside of the new building as another member performed “Taps.”