Stanley Post #20 of the Department of South Dakota is one of the oldest veteran’s organizations in South Dakota and the United States. Shortly after the end of WWI in 1918, military leaders met in Paris, France, and later in St. Louis, Missouri in May of 1919. On July 5, 1919, local veterans applied for a post charter requesting to be Post #1 considering Fort Pierre’s stature as the oldest community in South Dakota. Finally on July 11th, 1919, Stanley Post #20’s application was endorsed.
Membership soared, and in 1932, a large hall was constructed on Deadwood Avenue, which is now the Verendrye Museum. In 1968, under the guidance of “Lucky” Bendewald, Bernard Duffy, Ed Duffy and others, the Post moved to a smaller location next door to the Verenderye Museum and constructed a smaller building to the south approximately 18’wide x50’long. The post membership dwindled down to about 16 members by May of 2013.
On May 11th of 2013, Stanley Post 20 Commander Edward Duffy passed away and Post 20 Adjutant James Hammell who was getting up in age, felt that he could no longer administer the duties of his position.
In June of 2013 Royce Loesch of Pierre, who formerly served as Post 8 Commander and State Membership Chairman, recognized the need for Stanley Post 20 to pick up its membership and have a Post Commander who could again guide Stanley Post 20 and revitalize the post for the veterans of Stanley County and Fort Pierre. At this time the old brick building representing the American Legion Post 20 was being rented out and used for storage. It was a somewhat dismal observation on the face of it.
On June 18th, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. a Post 20 Revitalization Committee Meeting was convened with John Duffy, Jim Hammell, Royce Loesch, Reed Stoeser, Eugene Collett and LeRoy Klinger in attendance. The primary function of the Committee was to elect a slate of officers and send the new list of officers to the State Headquarters in Watertown, S. D. Post Commander Royce Loesch was elected Stanley Post 20 Commander, Reed Stoeser was elected Post 20 Vice Commander, Joe Ducheneaux was elected 2nd Vice Commander, Eugene Collett was elected Post 20 Adjutant, John Duffy was elected Post 20 Americanism Chairman, Judge Advocate, Post Historian and Publicity Chairman, Bart Bartels was elected Chaplain, and LeRoy Klinger was elected Sergeant-at-Arms. Excitement and pride took over the new members of Post 20 and Cmdr. Loesch and Judge Advocate John Duffy got air time on the radio stations and the Capital Journal to publicize the revitalization of the new post and that Post 20 was back in business for the veterans of Fort Pierre and central South Dakota.
Post 20 Dues were voted on and set at $30.00 and would continue unless voted on to change.
Discussion was held concerning the possibility of using a room at the Moose Club located at 910 N. Deadwood Ave. in Fort Pierre. After meeting with Kevin Schmitz, Manager of the Moose Club, the idea was presented by Post 20 Commander Royce Loesch and later accepted by the Fort Pierre Moose Club. A 1st meeting was scheduled for July 11th, but later changed to Wed. July 10 at the Moose Club where Post 20 has met every 1st Wednesday of the month ever since. Finance Officer Eugene Collett reported that there was a balance of just over $1,511.00 in the post checking account at the time the revitalization meeting took place.
It wasn’t long and Post Cmdr. Loesch realized that the post needed a set of flags to post at the meetings so the post started looking in to getting some flags. However, John Duffy whose uncle Ed Duffy had stored the post flags in the basement of his antiquated Chateau Bar in downtown Fort Pierre, remembered that Ed had stored them somewhere and most likely in the basement of the building. There was only one problem. The building had been flooded in the great Missouri River flood of 2011 and the likelihood that the flags, if they were stored down in the basement of the old Chateau Lounge, might be terribly damaged. Post member John Duffy talked with his deceased uncle Ed Duffy’s wife, Pat Duffy, about the flags. So later, Pat and her daughter Dana Duffy Costner, decided to go through the basement and search for the flags and any other valuable artifacts of the old Stanley Post 20 and they found the flags that were in excellent condition. They also found the old helmet-liners and web belts of the old post Color Guard. It was a great discovery and they are now being preserved as part of the history of Stanley Post 20. Since the old Post 20 Colors were found in excellent condition, there was no need of having to buy a new Stanley Post 20 Flag. A new US flag and new Flagpoles have been purchased and now serve Stanley Post 20 and the citizens of Fort Pierre.
By August of 2013, the officers of Post 20 had begun to start removing junk that was left in the building by the previous tenants and it was musty and there was a lot of mildew in the building. It had to be cleaned out. Post Cmdr. Royce Loesch, 1st. Vice Cmdr. Reed Stoeser, Dist 3 Vice Cmdr. and Post 20 Chaplain LeRoy Klinger, along with Post 20 Adjutant Eugene Collett all helped to clean out and haul away the left over junk from the building.
On August 7th, 2013, the recently elected officers of the newly revitalized post 20 were officially installed and soon certified to the State Headquarters in Watertown, S.D. As of Aug 7th, there were 23 paid-up members belonging to Post 20. By this time Post 20 had begun having potluck suppers at 6:00 p.m. before their 7 o’clock meetings. This seemed to work out well for everyone.
Newly elected in June, State Commander Rick MacDonald had his Commander’s Homecoming Celebration in Hermosa on Aug 17th, and a few months later on January 8th 2014 became the first State Commander to visit Post 20 since Post Revitalization in June 2013.
National Commander Dan Dellinger of Vienna, Virginia was elected at the 95th National Convention in Houston, Texas on Aug 29th and that was the start of a National 5-Year Membership Campaign that Post 20 became a big part of.
In September of 2013, Post 20 began having Color Guard Drill and Ceremony Training and performed as a Color Guard for the first time since post revitalization at the home football game in Fort Pierre on October 6th 2013.
Post 20 introduced its first quarterly newsletter, “The Fort Report” in November of 2013.
In 2013, Post 20 performed as a Color Guard in football games and ceremonies on 3 occasions, participated in 3 parades with a float or as a Color Guard, and served in 1 Fundraiser.
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Mallory Smith, a Kindergarten teacher at Stanley County Elementary School, was chosen as Stanley Post 20 Teacher of the Year. She was honored by being the focus of our Veteran’s Float in the Parade of Lights in December, 2013 and recognized again at our Christmas Banquet also.
On March 5th 2014, Post 20 unanimously voted for Eugene Collett as Post Legionnaire of the Year for 2014.
On April 2nd 2014, Stanley Post 20 reelected Royce Loesch, Commander; Chris Forster, 1st Vice Commander; Larry Manke, 2nd Vice Commander; Eugene Collett, Finance Officer/Adjutant; Randy Slama, Veterans Affairs and Veterans Services Director; Kim Hallock, Post Chaplain; John Bolger became Sgt. At Arms; John Duffy, became Historian, and Judge Advocate and Americanism Officer; and Kim Hallock and Reed Stoeser became Assistant Historians to John Duffy. These newly elected officers were installed on May 7th 2014 by District 3 Vice Commander, LeRoy Klinger of Post 20. Later in May, several members of Post 20 went out on Grave Decoration Detail and decorated veteran’s graves at Scotty Philip and Cedar Hill Cemeteries in time for Memorial Day.
From June 19-22nd 2014, Stanley Post 20 of Fort Pierre helped Post 8 Pierre host the 2014 South Dakota State American Legion Convention. Due to the high number of memberships obtained as of that date, Stanley Post 20 was honored to lead the State Parade on Saturday, June 21st with the Color Guard and banner being displayed by a total of 9 members from Post 20 in Fort Pierre, SD.
In July, 2014, Stanley Post 20 was given a Federal Grant for Veteran’s Transportation in Highly Rural Areas thru the River Cities Transit System and the VA of the Federal Government. It remains to be seen just how much it will be used. Post 20 members also began in earnest, to have many fundraisers such as a Beer Garden at the Stanley County Fair Grounds 4th of July Rodeo. The post was kept busy doing fund-raisers and beer sales, and also selling tickets to a music show like the Moe Bandy music show for the rest of the summer. The post worked 3 large Beer Gardens during the summer 2014 and 9 Perkins Fundraisers since January 1, 2014, besides having a double-barrel Shotgun as a raffle project to earn some more capital. The post also led the 4th of July Parade in Fort Pierre, along with leading a few other parades with their Color Guard, and also presenting the Colors in four Stanley County Homecoming games in 2014.
The Stanley Post 20 adopted a new Constitution and By Laws in September of 2014 and later in November voted to amend the Constitution by adding a dissolution clause. It was later registered as a Not for profit Veterans Organization with the Secretary of State’s office in Pierre, South Dakota. As of February 2nd , 2015, the total of paid up members for 2014 and 2015 numbers about 93 members. This number includes: 2 World War II members, 8 Korean War Veterans, 45 Vietnam War Veterans, 5 Lebanon/Grenada Veterans, 7 Panama Veterans and 33 Persian Gulf War Veterans. At this time, Post 20 has roughly 39 members whose address is Fort Pierre, 31 members whose address is Pierre, and 16 members who live out of town, and 4 of those which live out of state.
Currently, meetings are held at the Moose Lodge at 910 North Deadwood Ave. in Fort Pierre on the first Wednesday of each month at 6 P.M. with a potluck supper, and a membership meeting starting at 7:00 P.M.
Respectfully submitted by: Royce R. Loesch, Stanley Post 20 Commander, P.O. Box 56, Fort Pierre, S.D. 57532

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