There are 11 members who reached their 50th consecutive year of membership last year. They are: Bob Anderson, Duane Bluhm, Allen Chisholm, Harold Easterday, William Hackett, Don Hanson, E. Nehring, Rainer Weis, Isadore Weller and Clint Hoiseth. The late Ray Webb received his award at a regular post meeting early last summer.
The state commander will be at the banquet. He will make the presentations to the 50-year members.
Carl Wagner, a former post commander who is planning the banquet, said Post 271 has members all over the country. They live in Washington, California, Colorado, Iowa and all over Minnesota.
"It (their membership in Post 271) has got to mean something to them," Wagner said. "They've been out there for ten, 15 years and still kept membership here."
The organization "goes back to the days in the service ·combat," he said. "You depended on the guy beside you" and those behind the lines who sent supplies forward and "took you to the hospital."
Veterans join the Legion because "everybody just feels close," Wagner said. "They all wore the uniform."
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