Veteran’s Groups

After the Civil War had ended in 1865 and the surviving soldiers had gone home, and after the horrible images had faded somewhat, many of them began to miss the friendships and camaraderie that they had shared during the war.  Out of this, the Grand Army of the Republic was formed.  In Delphos, Post #95 of the GAR was named after Captain Rudolph Reul, a local doctor who had formed a company of all Delphos men to fight for the Union.  Because this group never opened to other war veterans, it eventually died out.

The Spanish American War in 1898 was the first our country fought on foreign soils.  At the end of the war these veterans, many who came home sick or wounded, found there were no provisions for medical care or veteran’s pensions for them, nor did the government show any interest in providing for their sacrifices.  In their misery, a group formed that would become the VFW or Veterans of Foreign Wars.  The Delphos VFW Post #3035 was not chartered until 1935 and was named in memory of two Delphos soldiers who were killed in WWI., Charles S. Walterick and George H. Hemme.  To be a member of this group, one has to have been in combat on foreign soils.  This group still has an active post in Delphos.

At the end of World War I, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers found themselves trapped in France, told that logistically it would be weeks or months before they could be transported home. To boost morale, a patriotic group was formed and named the American Legion.  Locally, Commemorative Post #268 of the American Legion, was chartered in 1920 and the first commander was Leonard Stallkamp.  The Legion is open to all persons who served their country during times of conflict.  This post is also still active.

World War II ended in 1945 and as the num­ber of returnees swelled into the mil­lions, it was evi­dent that some sort of nation­ally orga­nized assis­tance for them would be needed. The older estab­lished national groups were available to them, but the lead­ers of this new gen­er­a­tion of vet­er­ans wanted their own organization and formed the American Veterans of World War II.  AMVETS Post #27 of Delphos was organized that same year with Roger Hoverman as commander.  It was named in honor of John A. Peltier who lost his life while serving on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed by the Japanese.  The AMVETS no longer have a post in Delphos, but their banner is proudly hanging in the military section of our museum.