Post Messenger Recorder -

Congress first incorporated and chartered American Legion in 1919, as a service organization for Veterans and the community they serve. Returning Veterans from WWI in Belleville first charted a chapter in 1920. The name Duppler was the first local Veteran who died in WWI, and Smith was the first Veteran who gave his life serving in WWII.

We currently have 47 members, one in Illinois, one in Colorado, one who lives up north and one on active duty now serving in Alaska. That man is the third generation in his family, with all three holding membership in our Legion. That man’s father, the second generation, served as Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, and his father, who lives in Belleville today, served during the Vietnam conflict. This is just one instance where you can see our little American Legion has a lot of history serving the community.

If you would like to see more history, go to the local Public Library in Belleville and request to see a hard bound book published by Post 460 and the local business men at the time ending of WWII. It shows many of the local men and women who served along with many of their pictures. You will notice that many family names you will recognize today.

Some of the things our Legion does throughout the year are:

Our February meeting is a dinner for members and spouses and the deceased member spouses are invited.

We have Memorial Day services at the high school on Memorial Day. During COVID we hold a brief ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park.

We have a Veterans Day program at the high school on Veterans Day. Nice program put on with student body participating, usually Quilts of Valor are presented at this time.

The Legion sponsors Badger Boys ($800) and Girls State where 2 ($700) Junior High boys and girls are selected by the school to attend camp for a week to learn and practice government. The Community Club sometimes helps defray some of the cost for the girls.

The Legion has, in the past, sponsored county government day at the state capital. Students are offered law enforcement training camps, and also offered a chance for testing for scholarships for scoring on government knowledge. We also offer 2 to 3 scholarships of $200 each for graduates every year.

Legion in the past offers Poppies for donation prior to Memorial Day in the community.

Winter Bingo is the last Sunday of January, February and March. Usually 35 to 50 people of all ages attend.

In the past a yearly fundraiser is our Feather Party, held on the second Saturday, usually in November. Bingo upstairs and raffles downstairs, along with raffle tickets selling prior. This will be the third year without a Feather Party - we don’t want to cause hardship with local businesses asking for donations to support our event with prizes while they are trying to recover from being closed and reduced sales. Instead we encourage everyone to shop local and support the local churches and organizations in the community. We will hold our end of year raffle, which is our main money fundraiser for the year. Prizes will be guns or cash, depending on the wishes of the winners.

Legion website is wipost460.com and we have a Facebook site also.

Legion sponsors local Boy Scout Troop by letting them use our building for meetings.

Last fall we sponsored the local EMS and Fire Department night in the Library Park.

Last summer we had a raffle at the Brother Love Music Festival and will again this year; Brother Love supports many local youth activities.

In addition we have supported the Food Pantry Turkey Drop, Local church serving free Thanksgiving dinners, Belleville Senior Citizen Center, Belleville Fire Dept. and the family of the National Guard Pilot killed in a training accident from Madison. WE try to limit any donations from us to the area local.

This year we are sponsoring, for the first time, American Legion Baseball, made up of high school students.

Prior to Memorial Day we put flags on Veterans’ graves in Belleville and close surrounding cemeteries in Green and Dane county; we are flagging approximately 400 to 500 grave sites every year.

In the past Harold Nolden presented a check from the American Legion for the first donation to the Village for the old warming house in Community Park.

More recently, with the generous support of local residents and past families, we were able to plan and construct the Veterans Memorial Park in the center of town.

We have 17 Veterans with ties to this community, eight are members of Post 460 signed up to go on a Badger Honor Flight on October 11th this year.

The above listed events are some of the things that come to mind we are involved with. As you can see we work with the youth, the middle age and senior citizens, along with our Veterans. This is not possible for us to do without the continued support of everyone in the community. Time will tell if we celebrate another birthday 50 years or 1 year from now, but if we cease to exist who will pick up the expense and the work that we currently do now for the community?

Wendall Fenstermann, Adjutant/Treasurer

Duppler-Smith Post 460 American Legion Belleville