WW1 Veterans Honored By Post 64 At Banquet

December 16, 1977

…………………………………Middleboro Gazette- By Clint Clark:-……Simeon L. Nickerson Post 64 last Friday

held a banquet in American Legion Hall in honor of veterans of World War 1.

……….Post Commander Fred Montrond, who invited 34 WW1 veterans to the banquet, was pleased to

note that the post’s first two commanders, Fletcher Clark, Jr., and Kenneth B. Keedwell, were

among the 14 who attended.

………..Addressing the audience, Past Commander Clark briefly traced the founding of the local

organization and displayed two posters of historic importance. The first was to publicize

a “mass meeting of returned soldiers and sailors” for the purpose of organizing a local

American Legion Post.

……….The meeting, held in the banquet hall of the Peirce Building attracted about 40 local

servicemen, he recalled. The second poster advertised a $20,000 fund drive to raise money for

purchase of a permanent headquarters. Prior to that, the Post held its meetings in the Grand

Army of the Republic Hall in the Peirce Academy.

………..Past Commander Keedwell, as well as several other guests of honor, spoke reminiscently of

past members and events in the early history of the Post.

……….. In addition to Past Commanders Clark and Keedwell, other WW1 vets were presented flags

with their names engraved on the base. They included, Frank E. Minnott, Ralph B. Mendall,

Timothy E. Leary, Charles I. Wambolt, Augustus DeMoranville, Forrest B. Standish, Norman R.

Guidaboni, Everett Saunders (also a Past Commander), Elwin H. Norris, Joseph F. Ellis, Roger

Beech and Kenneth Maker.

………..A banquet in honor of WW1 veterans occurred to Commander Montrond when he found 21,

active paid up members who had served in that war. “Ralph Mendall had a lot to do with finding

the rest. He remembered a lot of them. And, those we called told us of others. We came up with

a total of 34 men.”

……….In addition to those noted, the list included, Albert F. Soule, Sr., George P. Deane,

Henry D. Powell, William F. Boucher, Sr., Ernest E. Thomas, Edward W. Card, Robert T. Roht,

Stanley F. Alger, Freeman E. Taylor, John A. Yanak, Sr., Maurice A. Fuller, George I. Dunham

and Roger W. Tillson.

……….Among those who assisted in the making the occasion a success were Post members Doris

Alberti, chaplain, and Betty Swift, publicity. Past Commanders Ernest Montrond and Arthur

Pratt also aided in this venture. Members of the Legion Auxiliary prepared and served a ham

and bean supper.……………………………………………………………(Posted by Bob Lessard Historian 2014.)