Photo by Jenny Kirk Marine Randy Tesdahl talks about recruitment techniques during the Minnesota American Legion Fall Conference on Saturday at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

MARSHALL — As the American Legion gets set to celebrate 100 years (1919-2019), it’s the ideal time to commemorate the past, but also to take note of where the organization is and to put plans in place to shape its future.

As more than 400 people gathered in Marshall recently for the 2018 Minnesota American Legion Fall Conference, there were significant discussions regarding the decline in Minnesota membership numbers.

“We are about 4,000 down from where we were last year,” Legion Membership Director Mike Maxa said in a presentation at the conference on Saturday. “That’s why these workshops are so important. We can’t have the same six or seven guys doing all the work. There are a lot of veterans we can get after.”

Founded on Nov. 10, 1919, the American Legion is the largest veterans service organization, advocating for and supporting veterans and their families — past, current and future.

“The American Legion is 100 years old and a lot of good things have happened in that time,” Maxa said. “So if you’ve spent one day of active duty, you’re a veteran. You’re eligible to be a member. (As current members), it’s our job to get the word out and introduce them to American Legion. It’s time to get after it. It’s time for action.”

St. Paul Department Adjutant Randy Tesdahl spoke to conference attendees about recruitment.

“We sell all the time and we don’t always know it,” Tesdahl said. “For example, when my wife asks me to take out the garbage and I don’t want to, but then she rubs my shoulder and gives me a reason why I should, so I take out the garbage. She sold me on the idea.”

Tesdahl said every member should be proud to be an American Legion member, which should make encouraging others to join much easier.

“The American Legion created the G.I Bill,” he said. “Do you know that if a person needs help with claims, the Legion can help? It’s all about learning your audience. You need to find out about the veterans. Everyone is a recruiter. Ask everybody.”

Tesdahl said he joined American Legion in 1976.

“The Vietnam vets were my peers,” he said. “They were mistreated. So we went to Congress and created the G.I. Bill and tried to make things better. I helped make it so when my generation got out they were treated better.”

Seventh District Commander Jeff Gay, who served as chairperson for the conference, thought the event went very well.

“We had 431 people who registered,” Gay said. “We did have one candidate for National Commander visiting. He was there the whole time.”

Gay said a lot takes place during the three-day conference.

“We have a department executive meeting early into it, to look at improving resolutions,” he said. “We did that. We also discuss all sorts of different subjects that will affect the Legion and the Legionnaires in addition to committees such as brain science, hospital association and child welfare. There’s a whole list of them that we have set up to work with veterans and their families.”

Regarding declining membership, Gay said attrition and a lack of younger members has a lot to do with it.

“We’re having a difficult time getting some of the younger, newer veterans in there,” he said. “We need them to bring our American Legion forward and upgrade what we do. We’ve lost so many World War II and Korean vets, so we need younger people to come in and grab the baton.”

One of the ways to do that, according to Gay, is to focus more on the entire Legion family, which includes American Legion, Legion Auxiliary, Junior Auxiliary, Sons of American Legion (SAL) and Legion Riders.

“We’re trying to work closer together,” Gay said. “Rather than just having a bar, we want to do games and other things for kids and families.”

The American Legion is instrumental in several programs, such as baseball, Boys and Girls State, children and youth, deer hunting, shooting sports, Legionville and scholarships.

“The American Legion wrote the draft of the first G.I. Bill and we work closely with the Boy Scouts,” Gay said. “There’s also the oratorical contest, shooting sports and scholarships. There’s such great history that nobody knows about.”

Like the American Legion itself, the Fall Conference couldn’t have been successful without a lot of volunteerism.

“All the stuff we do is by local volunteers,” Gay said. “We couldn’t have pulled this conference off without the help of all these great people from the area. We had three buses we were running constantly. We also had the registration table and one person who was basically a gopher.”

Part of the agenda on Saturday included Al Zdon’s presentation of “Six Great War Stories.” Zdon is the communications director/editor for St. Paul.

“People ask me sometimes what’s the favorite part of my job,” Zdon said. “It must be because it looks like I’m having so much fun. Without a doubt, the best part of my job is getting to go out once a month and interview a veteran. They’re from all the wars. I’ve interviewed guys 20 years old as well as a lot of 90 year olds. But I do have a special fondness for the World War II guys.”

Zdon said his talk is called “100 Stories” but that he narrowed it to six.

“I’ve probably done over 200 stories,” he said. “I’ve written for 22 years now. I’m so glad and honored to have worked for this organization all these years because part of what we do is preserve the memories and associations of our time together.”

Zdon said the stories he planned to share are also in the books — “War Stories” Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

“All these stories you’re going to hear (Saturday) are World War II guys,” Zdon said. “We need to sell about 300 more books to make the project break even. I promised the Legion we’d do that, so I hate to stop now.”

Zdon shares stories about Medal of Honor recipient Mike Colalillo, whose unit got pinned down in the farmland in Germany in 1945. Instead of hunkering down like a lot of soldiers did, Colalillo knocked on the lid of tank and asked to use the machine gun, which he did until it ran out of ammunition. Later, he was asked to appear at the White House by Harry S. Truman.

“He said he’d rather have one of these (Medals of Honor) than be president,” Zdon said of Colalillo.

Zdon spoke about Frank Kinney, who joined the Navy in 1937.

“He was almost out when Pearl Harbor was bombed,” Zdon said. “He worked in the engine room on a navel vessel. He was on the USS Wasp when three torpedoes hit it. The lights went out and communications were lost. There was panic and fear in the dark.”

Zdon said everyone was ordered to abandon ship and that Kinney jumped off the ship and found a group of about a dozen guys hanging onto a net. There were death charges coming at them.

“(Kinney) was a flyer and an officer, so he knew what to do,” Zdon said. “He survived the war.”

Silver Star Delbert Keuhl was an ordained minister when WWII broke out. Zdon said Kinney quickly learned that “if the men won’t come to you, then you have to go to them.”

“(Kinney) was one of them and they loved him,” Zdon said. “They called him ‘Jumping Jesus.'”

Zdon called Leon Frankel a “really terrific pilot” who flew torpedo bombers and earned a Navy Cross. Later in his career, he was asked to fly for the Israel Air Force.

“He was a Jewish kid from St. Paul and a found of Israel’s Air Force,” Zdon said.

Zdon said Anton Cichy was forced on the Bataan Death March.

“For Anton, (the march) last seven days and he was only fed once,” Zdon said. “The food missed his tin plate and landed on the floor, but he ate it anyway.”

Kept as a prisoner of war at Camp O’Donnell, Zdon said Cichy often ate night crawlers and leaves off the trees.

“Most of the guys died from diseases or a weakened condition caused by malnutrition,” Zdon said.

Cichy was among other American POWs that were forced to work on Japanese ships, often called “hell ships.” Aboard the Arisan Maru when torpedoes hit and forced people overboard, Cichy managed to drift away safely and eventually walked 600 miles inland. Zdon showed a photo of Cichy’s bloody shoes.

The last story centered on Ken Dahlberg, who was drafted into the Army and got into the Air Corps.

“He was a Triple Ace, which means he shot down 15 German planes,” Zdon said. “He was a ‘No Guts, No Glory’ kind of guy.”