Submitted Photo The Donnybrook American Legion Honor Guard, with assistance from other local Legion posts, offers a military salute at a veteran’s funeral at Berthold in October 2023. From left are John Kinkade, Milo Wallace and Dean Verstaete of the Minot post, Dean Popinga of the Donnybrook post, Ryan Storro, Panch Harshaw and Klinton Hanson of the Berthold post, and Gary Knudtson of the Donnybrook post.

The American Legion Post 195 in Donnybrook celebrated its 100th anniversary four years ago, and its members remain committed to its mission of service to its communities and veterans.

The Donnybrook Legion was formed on July 28, 1920, when 15 World War I veterans submitted a request for a local American Legion post, according to a Nov. 11, 2020, article published in the Kenmare News. The local Legion hall was named in honor of Clarence McCormack, who was killed in action during WWI near Soissons, France, on July 20, 1918.

Post Commander Dean Popinga said the Post 195 Legion currently has 14 active members, who still meet in the original Legion hall. Popinga said the hall is filled with memorabilia from the various conflicts its members have served in, from WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

“It’s generally where we have our meetings and stuff. One of the major functions of that is to keep the building maintained and our equipment maintained so when Memorial Day and Veterans Day come around we can use our uniforms and guns to give a proper salute to veterans and their families,” Popinga said. “One of our important functions is, of course, funerals. We’re the only one in a pretty large geographical area that actually does those anymore. A lot of the local posts have closed down, or are inactive I should say. We get requests quite often to do those.”

The post’s members volunteer their time for such ceremonies and are joined by members from other posts, such as Minot’s, to fill the gaps created if they aren’t able to round up a full contingent.

“Berthold hardly has any members left, so a few of us went over there a few different times. If you’re going to have a full contingent it takes about 13 people, but we double up or do without. We get by with whatever we have,” Assistant Post Commander Gary Knudtson said.

Popinga said funeral salutes are often one of the things veteran’s families remember about the burial rites.

“The fact that a group of people got together to honor their loved one – the gun salute is something they’ll always remember. They are always, always so grateful. That is another major motivation, the genuine gratefulness that the families have for helping them out,” Popinga said.

Popinga said the Donnybrook’s Legion has been fortunate recently to welcome two retired Air Force veterans, bolstering their numbers and injecting some youth into the proceedings.

“They settled right there in Donnybrook, and at our last meeting they asked if they could come and I said, ‘absolutely.’ So we got them in and got them signed up. So, we’re very happy about that, as recruiting people is something we certainly try to do,” Popinga said.

Popinga, who lives in Minot, said for his part he was relatively new to the Legion, having joined 14 years ago. He said most of the post’s members have been involved for 20 to 30 years. Popinga was able to join the Legion after his service in the Army infantry during the 1983 Grenada invasion was redesignated as a conflict.

“I grew up in Donnybrook and knew pretty much everybody there. My dad was a part of it. The Legion buried my father. My mother was a part of the Legion Auxiliary, so we have a family tie there. A lot of people I knew were a part of it, so I wanted to be a part of it,” Popinga said. “One of the things that really compelled me to be a part of the Legion was to give back to the community … You pay it forward. Even though I haven’t lived in that community for many years, you still have memories of people who helped me out when I was a kid and all my neighbors. It shows respect to all the veterans and their families.”

Popinga credited the Legion Auxiliary’s efforts in that regard, as they facilitate the involvement of community youths in various events, particularly preparing for Veterans and Memorial Day ceremonies.

“Through the auxiliary we try to incorporate young adults and kids into everything that we do, to instill patriotism and honor for our country,” Popinga said.