The history of the American Legion in Dorchester is not the normal story of veterans getting together to form an organization to celebrate past victories of military empowerment. In fact the story is quite unusual indeed and relates to our neighbor four miles south of our community - that being Abbotsford.
Before one enters that space - I should point out that it is my intent to research other past military organizations that originated or existed within the confines of the Village of Dorchester. One such organization is that of the “H.F. Pruyn Post” which was organized about 1885 and lasted until 1927 when the last member of that organization passed. This organization consisted of Civil War Veterans and although not much information is available regarding the organization; the obituary of the last member to pass is included here and which provides some information regarding the heros of those days.
The Dorchester Newspaper of Feb. 11, 1927 states the following:
Mr. Chas. Beyreis died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Feldbrugge on Friday, February 4th, after a week’s illness following a paralytic stroke and was laid at rest Monday.
The funeral service was conducted at the Evangelical Peace Church of which he was a member, Rev. J. Bizer officiating, Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Six of the members of the Wagon Train, of Abbotsford, acted as pall bearers and military escort along with the commanding officers and color bearer. An old neighbor and veteran of the Civil war, Mr. George Holton, of Abbotsford, carried the colors belonging to the Howard F. Pruyn Post of Dorchester, of which Mr. Beyreis was the last member as far as we know.
The Howard F. Pruyn Post No. 168 was organized in about 1885 with a charter membership of around 78 and with Mr. Beyreis death, it has gone down to history. Oh, these grand old men who defended the flag and country so well in 61 are fast slipping away to that other land where wars cannot follow. It saddens our hearts when we think that soon they will only be a memory when once they were as fine and stalwart as the guard who attended the bier Monday.
Charles Beyreis was born in Underleben, Thueringen, Germany, Dec. 24, 1844 and was 82 years, 1 month and 10 days of age at time of death. In 1860, he emigrated to the United States and during the following year he enlisted in Co. B., 46th New York Volunteer Regiment and later was transferred to Company F., 17th Veteran Reserve Corps —Volunteers. He received his discharge at Indianapolis, Indiana on September 16th, 1864 after having served faithfully and well for about three years in the Civil war. Two months later, he returned to Germany and in 1869 he was united in marriage to Amelia Lehman at Underleben. In 1881 he came back to the United States and settled at Milwaukee. In the spring of 1882; he came to Dorchester where his family joined him on the farm east of the village. Mrs. Beyreis died 15 years ago and since that time, he has lived with the children. He lived with his daughter, Mrs. Phillip Conrad at Medford but the last six years have been spent at the Feldbrugge home.
Ten children were born to Mr. And Mrs. Beyreis, nine of them survive him, five sons, Ed, of Dorchester, Richard of Milwaukee, Kurt and Charles of Wausau, and Fred of Exland and four daughters, Mrs. Anna Conrad of Medford, Mrs. Lena Kredschmer, Goodrich, Mrs. Emma Hein Colby and Mrs. Bertha Feldbrugge at whose home he passed away. Besides his children, he leaves to mourn his loss, 44 grand children and 11 great grand children.
The beautiful and impressive military funeral offered these grand old men of ours is but a little way of expressing the love this nation holds for those who have defended the flag.
When we look at the splendid men trained to take their places, we feel that never will “Old Glory” be allowed to trail in the dust and then indeed we are sure that those who have held the banner on high before will say: “It is well” and gladly give into the younger, stronger hands the keeping of this starry banner we love so much. May his children be comforted by the thought that he who is gone has not lived in vain and he will live on and on in the hearts of his countrymen.
Those who were here for the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Beyreis and Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Beyreis of Wausau; Fred Beyreis of Exland; Richard of Milwaukee; Mr. and Mrs. John Hein of Colby; Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Conrad of Medford; Mr. and Mrs. Chris Kredschmer of Goodrich, and five grand children, Ernest Beyreis of Unity; Carl, Herman and Gertrude Feldbrugge of Milwaukee and Emma Feldbrugge of Mauston.
1919 – In France, shortly after victory was obtained from the World War 1 Battlefields, American Veterans got together and organized a veteran’s organization which they called "The American Legion”. This organization was intended to honor and remember those who died in battle and to provide an avenue whereas grievances could be taken and the leaders of the legion could address with the political bosses in Washington. So let us start from the beginning when The American Legion was created. March 15 -17, 1919 — Members of the American Expeditionary Force convene in Paris for the first time.
May 8 - 10, 1919 — St. Louis Caucus: “The American Legion” is adopted as the organization’s official name. The Legion’s draft preamble and constitution are approved.
June 9, 1919 — The National Executive Committee adopts the Legion emblem.
September 16, 1919 — Congress charters The American Legion. The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic organization. Focusing on service to veterans, service members and communities, the Legion evolved from a group of war weary veterans of World War 1 into one of the most influential nonprofit groups in the United States. Memberships swiftly grew to over one million and local posts sprang up across the country. There are about 14,000 posts world wide. The posts are organized into 55 departments: one each for the 50 states along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico and the Philippines. Over the years, the Legion has influenced considerable social change in America, won hundreds of benefits for veterans and produced many important programs for children and youth.
November 10, 1919 — Now in order to tell the story about Dorchester’s American Legion Post 517 – first we have to tell the story of the Abbotsford Post 139 because the two over the years became intermingled.
On November 10, 1919; the World War 1 veterans from Abbotsford gathered together to form a local based American Legion Post and applied for a post name. A few months later the Abbotsford Charles F. Hanson Post 139 was approved.
July, 1935 — Sixteen years after Abbotsford received their post name; low attendance and inactivity from the Abbotsford Veterans required a change in strategy. So the Dorchester Veterans were requested to join the Abbotsford unit; which they did making Abbotsford Post 139 once again a viable unit.
October, 1938 — Meetings were held from time to time in Abbotsford from the date of inception in 1919 to this date in 1938. As the attendance from the Abbotsford members dropped dramatically; it was decided to hold the November, 1938 meeting in Dorchester. Find listed the newspaper article from that time.
NOV. 15, 1938 — LEGION MEETINGS TO BE HELD IN DORCHESTER Members of the Dorchester-Abbotsford Charles F. Hanson American Legion Post No. 139 in regular meeting of the organization in the Dorchester Village Hall Thursday evening, voted to hold all future meetings in Dorchester.
Since the post’s organization all meetings had been held in Abbotsford and in recent years in the Armory. However, with little or no activity by its members, it was decided to change the meeting place to Dorchester, officials stated.
Twenty two members attended Thursday’s meeting, which was presided over by Commander Lee Jensen, who urged every member to contact non-members in order that a 100 per cent membership could be attained.
Named as entertainment committeemen for the December 8, meeting were G.H. Rutsky, chairman - S.C. Sorenson and Dr. A.W. Schief. Lunch was served at the conclusion of the meeting. Officers of the post are: Commander Lee Jensen - Vice-Commander, Louis Kauffman - Adjutant, O.C. Genrich - Finance Officer, Harry Ketcham - Sergeant at Arms, Fred Weddeking - Service Officer, L. Stocker - Chaplain, Oscar Nelson.
Attending the meeting were: Lee Jensen, William Jantsch, M.F. Lawrie, Dr. A.W. Schief, S.C. Sorenson, Arnold Baehr, G.H. Rutsky, Emil Pudleiner, O.C. Genrich, Wm. Tauchen,
Erich Beisner, Henry Ramminger, Tom Wigstadt, L. Wigstadt and Oscar Nelson of Dorchester and Harry Ketcham, Clyde Mayfield, A. Lieders, L.H. Stocker, Henry Hingess, Paul Hundt and Fred Weddeking of Abbotsford.
January 11, 1940 — LEGION POST TRANSFERRED TO DORCHESTER Transfer Made At Regular Meeting Last Night At Club House
The Dorchester Clarion ran this article on the American Legion:
At its regular meeting at the club house last night, The Charles F. Hanson Post No. 139 of the American Legion passed a resolution to transfer the post from Abbotsford to Dorchester. The resolution was unanimously passed.
The post then proceeded to buy a set of post colors, which consists of an American flag and a Post banner. The colors are to be trimmed on 3 sides with 2 inch yellow silk fringe and ornamented with a pair of 6 inch yellow silk tassels on a 9 foot yellow silk cord. Each flag is mounted on a 9 foot pole which is surmounted with a 6 inch brass eagle. The flags will be carried by leather carrying belts. The Post Banner will be of navy blue material with gold lettering reading Charles F. Hanson Post 139, American Legion, Dorchester, Wisconsin and the Legion emblem in the center. After the business meeting, 1500 feet of film “The Legion Marches On” was shown, The film was taken at the National Legion Convention in New York in 1938. After the program a lunch was served by a committee composed of S.C. Sorenson, Dr. A.W. Schief and L.H. Stocker.
September 12, 1940 — This article appeared in the Dorchester Newspaper — DR. SCHIEF ELECTED LEGION COMMANDER
The Charles F. Hanson Post No. 139 held their annual election of officers at the Club House on Tuesday evening. The following officers were elected: Dr. A.W. Schief - Commander, E. Beisner - 1st Vice Commander, H. Ramminger - 2nd Vice Commander, O. Genrich - Adjutant, Wm. Wigstadt - Chaplain, Stocker - Finance Officer, G.H. Rutsky - Historian, Wm. Jantsch - Sergeant At Arms, Wm. Tauchen - Service Officer, Ernest Abbegelin - Trustee 3 Years, Paul Hunt - Trustee 2 Years, Rev. Browe - Trustee 1 Year.
Retiring Commander S.C. Sorenson, Lake Mills was present to take charge of the election. A lunch was served after the meeting by the committee composed of Rev. Browe, Trustee 1 Year.
August, 1946 — Meetings continued to be held in Dorchester under the name of Charles F. Hanson Post 139 from 1940 to 1946. Apparently, at this time the Abbotsford Veterans requested their Post 139 be returned to Abbotsford and so the Dorchester Veterans decided to apply for and establish their own Post name.
August 29, 1946 — An article from the Dorchester Newspaper Read: DORCHESTER LEGION POST NAMED LEACH-PAULSON
Officers Elected: Plans for Auxiliary Discussed at Organizational Meeting. Twenty five veterans of World War I and II met at the clubhouse last Thursday evening to begin organization of a local post of the American Legion. The post will be named Leach-Paulson in honor of local youths who were killed in the last war.
Officers were elected and plans for an auxiliary organization were discussed. A meeting was scheduled for September 16 at the clubhouse, at which time organization of the new post will be completed. A permanent charter from National Legion Headquarters is expected in about 90 days.
All veterans affiliating with the local post before then will become charter members. Several new members joined up at Thursday’s meeting. Officers elected at the session were: E.J. Piechowski, Commander - E.G. Beisner, First Vice Commander - Lester Dake, Second Vice Commander - Milton Kronschnabl, Adjutant - Galen Waldhart, Sergeant-At-Arms - Ray Holtz, Finance Officer - James Bauerfeind, Historian - Wm Jantsch, Chaplain - and Frederick Reynolds, Service Officer. The service officer will answer inquiries about terminal pay, application blanks for which are now available at the post office. The officers will be installed at a ceremony planned to be held after receipt of the permanent charter.
The new commander appointed Terrence Foley, Eric Beisner and Ray Holtz as membership committee.
The post was named in honor of Donald Paulson, son of Mrs. Alice Paulson, who was killed in Germany on January 29, 1945; Elmer Leach who was killed in action in France on June 24, 1944, and Kenneth Leach, brother of Elmer who was killed in a B-17 bomber training crash near Dalhart, Texas on September 24, 1943.
The application submitted by the Dorchester veterans for the purpose of establishing a Dorchester based American Legion Post was received by the National Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana on October 28, 1946 as is evidenced by the stamp on the original document. The application was three pages long as each page had room for only 14 names except the third sheet was a regular piece of paper and not an official form and that sheet had 28 names on it for a total of 56 names. Those names are listing at the end of this writing. Approval took quite awhile and finally on August 30, 1947; the National Headquarters sent the charter document approving the Dorchester American Legion Leach-Paulson Post 0517. The state department of the American Legion followed with their approval on September 8, 1947.
September 11, 1947 — The Dorchester Clarion printed this article:
Wm. Carnahan Is New Commander Of Legion Post – Election of Officers and First Meeting Of New season Held Monday Night Leach-Paulson Post No. 517, American Legion, chose William Carnahan, Commander of the organization for the coming year at its annual election held at the Legion hall Monday evening. E,J. Piechowski, who moved to New Berlin recently, is out going commander.
Emil Pudleiner was elected first vice-commander; Steve Chotoff, second vice-commander; Milton Kronschnabl, adjutant; Arthur Seidel, finance officer; Arthur Habeck, historian; Matthew Duellman, sergeant-at-arms; Donald Carlson, service officer; William Jantsch, Chaplain; William Carnahan and Arthur Seidel were named athletic officers.
Appointive officers and committees will be named at the next regular meeting of the post. On October 13, the newly elected officers will hold a meeting next Monday evening to make recommendations to the commander for the appointive posts. The business meeting Monday evening occupied itself with discussion of a turkey shoot planned for mid October. It was decided to permit marksmanship competition in archery and smallbore rifles for turkey prizes. Monday night’s officers meeting was charged with making final preparations for the event.
The information above in my opinion is quite interesting and I think explains why historians get excited when researching the past and finding answers to the questions being pursued.
However, after contacting both the National Headquarters in Indianapolis Indiana and the State Headquarters in Portage, Wisconsin; neither of those organizations had any data that would support an official transfer of the Abbotsford Charles F. Hanson Post 139 to the Dorchester Legion group. Therefore, it is my official opinion that all of the newspaper articles of the time reflect that the transfer did in fact take place but that it was done by the two local groups themselves and was not an official act of the National or State American Legion. However, the Dorchester Legion did in fact purchase flags and colors with the words :Charles F. Hanson Post 139 - Dorchester, Wisconsin. Now I ask you - would they have spent money for those flags knowing that the name would be changed back. I Think Not!
FOUNDING MEMBERS OF DORCHESTER AMERICAN POST 0517
October 18, 1946
Edmund J. Piechowski - Eric Beisner - Lester Dake - Milton G.
Kronschnabl - William P. Jantsch - Otto C. Genrich - Raymond H.
Holtz - Donald Schreiber - William Malchow - William Wigstadt -
Tom Wigstadt - Ben Wigstadt - Eugene Skerbeck - Edgar Paulson -
Dale Sorenson - LaVerne Daeke - Bernard Staab - Eugene Pueschner -
Michael Peters - Clifford Herman - Steve Chotoff - Graydon Beisner -
Francis Hanson - Alvin Reynolds - Frederick Reynolds -
William Carnahan - Gordon J. Pueschner - Henry Genrich
THESE NAMES WERE ADDED TO THE LIST SHORTLY AFTER OCT. 18, 1946
Arthue R. Seidel - Galen M. Paul - Dr. A.W. Schief - Gordon A. Schief -
Ralph W. Baxter - Herbert Malchow - Mprris W. Keefe - John A. Mertens
- Joseph W. Younker - Ralph J. Meyer - Franklin J. Fritsche - Donald E.
Carlson - Eugene E. Olson - Edwin P. Dejka - Galen K. Waldhart -
Lawrence A. Heindl - Leonard N. Bush - Frank Revie - Edward Schmid -
Eugene M. Lindau - Arthur Habeck - Leon H. Erlei - Nicholas A. Helfert -
Leonard J. Jantsch - Clarence Fenner - Emil Pudleiner - Allam Pudleiner
- Don M. Underwood - LaVerne J. Sauter.
September 12, 2016 — In conclusion and to bring everybody up to date; the Dorchester American Post 517 is thriving with 46 members while both the Abbotsford and Colby Legion Posts disbanded in 2014. Although there is no excitement to write about as things continue without fanfare. The Dorchester Legion Post continues to provide financial assistance mainly to three organizations; The Wounded Warrior Organization - The Fisher House and the Sacred High Ground Veteran’s Park in Neilsville, Wisconsin which honors veterans from all wars/conflicts. Hopefully, I will be able to add more information as time wears on in this small hamlet.