Section D Pg 30 Missoulian Centennial Ole Beck Post Is In Its 41st Year
Ole Beck Post Is In Its 41st Year
Ole Beck Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars was organized in 1919.
In November of that year, during a conversation at a picnic party of Veterans of the Spanish War, the Philippine Insurrection and World War 1, it was suggested that all veterans present were eligible for membership in a veteran’s organization known as the VFW.
Charles G. Adams, who was present and a member at large of the VFW, proposed that the group proceed at once to organize a VFW post in Missoula.
In addition to its entertainment program, the VFW post conducts relief work that reaches out to help the families and dependents of needy veterans. The annual poppy sale conducted by veterans provides relief money which serves to brighten and cheer the lives of those less fortunate.
The first veteran of World War II to become a member of Ole Beck Post 209 was Virgil Guy Phillips. Phillips was on the American light cruiser Marblehead in two engagements during which time many Japanese ships and planes were accounted for, but in which the Marblehead was badly damaged.
Present commander of the local VFW Post is Sam L. Butler. Other officers are Norman Grovedale, senior vice commander; John Walters, junior vice commander; Raymond Spratt, quartermaster; Wayne Livesey, chaplain; Herb Kruger, surgeon, and Leonard Johnson, judge advocate.