Custer VFW celebrates 80th anniversary Saturday

By Esther Noe

All of Custer and beyond is invited to join the Kenneth Kuper Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post No. 3442 in celebrating its 80th anniversary Saturday, March 29, starting at 1 p.m.
On March 29, 1945, 52 original members applied for a charter under the national organization to form the post. These men were from all walks of life, although most were veterans of World War II.
Post No. 3442 was named after Private First Class Kenneth Kuper of the U.S. Marine Corps, who was killed in action Aug. 8, 1942. Kuper was the first casualty of Custer County in World War II. After his funeral, Kuper’s father re-enlisted for a second round of combat action.
The Ladies Auxiliary was formed March 28, 1946, for spouses and family members of the veterans. The last charter member, Fred Fernbaugh, was buried two years ago.
Fifty-year post member and former post commander Ed Sedlezky joined in 1975.
“When I became a member, the post had gone downhill. A lot of the originals had moved on or moved away. The post was meeting once a month just to keep the charter, and they’d meet in different houses,” said Sedlezky.
The reorganization was kindled when a World War II and Korean veteran and husband of one of the service reps at the office passed away. At his funeral, between the American Legion and the VFW, they could not find enough personnel to have a color guard.
“To me, that’s a big thing,” said Sedlezky.
Sedlezky started talking with Keith Blume, Myron Eggers and Johan Stam about reorganizing in 1975 with about 50 post members.
“We had no funds or anything yet, so we rented the basement at the Coolidge building,” said Sedlezky.
There, the post members put in a kitchen and held pancake dinners and dances, among other things.
When the YMCA got organized, Sedlezky said, “We got booted out and had no place to go. This was in one of the first years I was commander. One of our auxiliary members had a realty business, and she called me up one day and said, ‘Ed, I know you’re looking for a post home. I’ve got the perfect place,’ and it was this place. It was a pawn shop and bar.”
Sedlezky agreed to look at the place and bring it up in a meeting.
After seeing it though, Sedlezky said, “It was a mess. I mean, the main floor ceiling was coming down. It hadn’t been used in several years. The basement was bare bones. It was at one time a three-lane bowling alley. Parts of that were unfinished, dirt floor.”
So Sedlezky brought a post member, World War II veteran and local carpenter to see the building. After walking around, he said, “Oh hell, this is easy. Go for it.”
That settled it. There was just one drawback. The post had no money, and the building cost $80,000. As a result, Harold Hayes, a post member and a retired general, suggested working with the realtor and putting out promissory notes.
“In four years, we paid it off, and it was all volunteer work,” said Sedlezky.
The mindset in paying off the mortgage was that everyone could do something. One of the ways the post members decided to raise money was by holding steak suppers every Friday night. They got a deal from the meat cutter at Lynn’s Dakotamart, and Blume got the post members into cooking.
The Ladies Auxiliary joined in by doing prep work, setting up and making food to sell. Another lady was in charge of getting funds to shop for the specials at the store.
After four years, they owned the building completely, “And it was all by our own hands. It was a lot of work,” said Sedlezky.
To celebrate, the post had a party and burned the mortgage. The ashes are now in a wooden box in the office with a headstone reading R.I.P. VFW Mortgage.
Post No. 3442 has remained focused on investing in the community ever since.
Honor guard members lead the parades in town and used to fire in precision along the way.
At one time, it served a meal to 200 people in two hours for a junior/senior banquet, and for 10 years it did the meal for the Lion’s Club meetings.
It also used to do luaus and roast a hog in a barbecue pit at the VFW. The members would stay up all night and into the next day tending to the hog, and the ladies would make side dishes to go with it.
“It was a community affair,” said Sedlezky.
Over the years, some people told Sedlezky that they could not become members because they had families. However, Ed believed the post was family-oriented and had his children involved with different projects over the years.
“We had a lot of fun doing stuff like that,” said Sedlezky.
Today, Post No. 3442 is all about service, country, family, faith and the American spirit, according to Sedlezky.
“We are an organization of veterans. We’re proud of it, and we do a lot of stuff for a community,” said Sedlezky. “We take care of our own. There in the beginning, when we started organizing, we took care of all of the funerals. Our own personnel was the honor guard.”
Currently, Post No. 3442 has 453 members which is one of the best in the state, according to post commander Eric Lewis. To be a member, you have to serve and have a campaign ribbon from a war zone, whether it be hostile pay or duty pay.
Nevertheless, Sedlezky said, “When you join a VFW, there’s no rank. We’ve got privates in the post all the way to generals, but they’re all the same. We have no distinction. That’s why we’re known as comrades and fellow patriots.”
“We share common ground,” said post quartermaster and 41-year member D.D. Couch.
Today, the post makes major contributions to youth, the school, churches, community, food pantry, senior center, Meals on Wheels, the Sanatorium Cemetery and more.
Lewis said, “Everything we make here goes straight back to the community and veterans. That’s our big thing. Lately, we have given an awful lot for school programs. We just paid for some cheerleaders to go to a national competition in Florida. We just provided monetary support for baseball teams down in Hot Springs and now in Custer.”
Along with things like this, the post sponsors the Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy essay contests for middle and high school students and gives scholarships to graduating students.
“And of course, we’re the ones that do the extracurricular programs down at the VA and the State Vets Home. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have the bicycles to ride on the trail. They wouldn’t have the kayaks to be in the lake. We do all of that,” said Lewis.
Post No. 3442 also serves its members in all sorts of ways, whether that be monetarily, spiritually or physically.
“It happens all the time. We’ll have a member that is falling on hard times. We lend them money. We give them money. We give them help. We pick up and haul things for them, hook up washers and dryers. It just goes and goes. It’s a family here, for sure, and we certainly take care of one another,” said Lewis.
Couch said, “The object of the VFW is we’re fraternal, patriotic, historical, contributional and educational, and we cover all of that quite well. We are probably one of the top posts in the state and have been for many years.”
Meanwhile, Sedlezky said once you get involved, you are involved for life.
Many members of Post No. 3442 have chosen to commit their support to the post by becoming Legacy Life Members. These are William Barlow, Larry Bengtson, Blume, Couch, Darold Couch, Callahan Cundy, Richard Dieter, Anthony Gonsor, Gordon Heggen, Joseph Jara, Lewis, Paul Miller, Peggy Parish, James Perry Jr., Gene Phillips, Allen Raver, Stephen Saint, Timothy Sander, Sedlezky, Ernie Thornell, Wayne Urban, Dustyn Wenzel, Raymond Wickham and Dennis Wicks.
In celebration of the 80th anniversary of Post No. 3442, there will be a party at the VFW starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 29. For the meal, guests can expect slow-smoked barbecue. This year, the event will be catered to give post members a break to celebrate. While the event is free to attend, the post is selling commemorative coins for $10 each to fund the celebration.
At 2 p.m., there will be a special program organized by Couch. It will consist of an opening prayer, the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, POW MIA candle lighting, introduction of guests and reading of proclamations, including one signed by Gov. Larry Rhoden recognizing the anniversary of the post and the leaders who got it where it is today.
The history of the post will be shared as well. Then, the names of the 52 charter members will be read, a bell will be rung and red roses will be presented to any family members present. For the 40 Ladies Auxiliary charter members, their names will be read, a bell will be rung and yellow roses will be presented.
They will also announce the post’s Legacy Life Members and go through a roll call of past post commanders and Custer County veterans who were killed in action or missing in action, ringing the bell for the deceased.
There will be a prayer for those who have gone forth followed by “God Bless America,” an honor guard firing and “Taps.”
After the program, the Full Gallop Band will be playing from 3-7 p.m.
Everyone is invited to join the Kenneth Kuper VFW Post No. 3442 in the celebration.