2020 is the United States Memorial Day Sesquicentennial (150th)...

Because of the 2020 Pandemic restrictions, the normal Manning ceremony was reduced to a very simple and short service for the health and safety of all participants and spectators.

The other major change is there were no Manning American Legion members participating. Sadly that organization - the War to End all Wars American Legion Emil Ewoldt Post 22 has disbanded.
But in true Manning Spirit & Patriotism - the "Show must go on" and it did indeed!

I'm always looking for Memorial Day programs from the past.
When I recently found this 1969 program in a family's collection, I thought - "what the heck" where are all of the WWI & WWII names."
Then it really dawned on me that the program is and has always shown the list of names of deceased Veterans, but I've mostly worked with the more recent Memorial Day programs over the last 20 years so this 1969 program surprised me.
Then when I saw the 1985 program, I was more aware of the number of names listed.
Then compare to the 2019 list...it is STRIKING!!!

Now why should we care about preserving our history and especially the records and documents of our local organizations?
2020 is the first Memorial Day that the Manning American Legion Emil Ewoldt Post 22 had no involvement, because that organization has disbanded and is no longer active.
I was fortunate to get quite a few very old and some original documents that were left behind and locked in a small closet in the former hall, and recently discovered by the owner who gave them to me to scan and preserve.
A couple of documents shown below will give you just a little idea of what the Legionnaires have done for this community...Sadly, now their organization is no more in Manning.
Almost incomprehensible when you look at, for instance, the list of names in the 1947-48 mailing list.

I fully understand the reasons why the men of the Legion could no longer maintain this organization/building. Most of the committee members are in their 70s to early 90s and very few younger generation Veterans are members. This is also a numbers game, whereas during WWI & WWII there were hundreds of Manningites who served and returned to Manning to live and raise families, but in the later years, relatively few numbers of Manningites have served, PLUS most of them never returned to Manning after their military service.

So sadly an organization of very Patriotic & Proud members no longer exists in Manning.

1969 Memorial Day program

1985 Memorial Day program

2019 Memorial Day program

Just a small sampling of Emil Ewoldt Post 22 activities in the past...

1921 Legion dues

1928 Christmas lights fund raiser

1929 Christmas lights fund raiser

1947-48 mailing list

As you can see from the 2019 Memorial Day program above, all of the Manning WWI Veterans have passed away and most of the Manning WWII Veterans.
These men & women were part of Manning's Pioneer history and the Greatest Generation.

We need to consider that with the loss of all of these Manning people will and has had a major effect on the community and will be much harder for the current generation of Manning citizens to hang on to the organizations we still have...all of which this community would not be able to function and provide the quality of life we have.

Also realize that the lists of men in the Memorial Day programs above are JUST those who are buried in Manning - there are hundreds more who moved away and are buried elsewhere.
In my Manning military database I have well over 1000 Manning connected Veterans, which is an astounding number for such a small community.

So if you are a Manning Veteran or member of a family of a deceased Veteran - please contact me so we can work on your military history.

Many communities decided to cancel their services but I'm glad that Manning decided otherwise...