74th Annual Veterans Dinner
Winnebago County Veterans Association, Veterans Memorial Hall,
Cliffbreakers 700 West Riverside Blvd Rockford IL
Friday November 7th 2014 5:30 PM

The Veterans Dinner has been a tradition in Rockford for 74 years. It has brought together for one evening people from the government sector, people from the private sector and Veterans from all walks of life to honor the Veterans in our community.

The keynote speaker for the evening will be Joseph L. Galloway, who co-authored with Lt. Gen. (ret) Hal Moore the national best seller We Were Soldiers Once and Young, which was made into the critically acclaimed movie We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson. Joseph L. Galloway was one of America’s premier war and foreign correspondents for half a century. During the course of 15 years of foreign postings—including assignments in Japan, Indonesia, India, Singapore and three years as UPI bureau chief in Moscow in the former Soviet Union–Galloway served four tours as a war correspondent in Vietnam and also covered the 1971 India-Pakistan War and half a dozen other combat operations. Last year Military History magazine polled 50 leading historians to choose the Ten Greatest Books Ever Written on War. We Were Soldiers Once…and Young was among those ten books.

Why: On June 1, 1954, November 11th was designated as Veterans Day to all who served, past, present and future. Seventy-seven years ago on August 13, 1937, a group of men in Rockford known as the Ex-Servicemen’s Organization founded the Veterans Day Banquet hosting the first dinner on Armistice Day, November 11, 1938 at the Bethesda Covenant Church. The keynote speaker was Charles G. Seidel. In 1939 a second Armistice Day Banquet was held at First Lutheran Church, with Dr. J. Oliver Buswel, President of Wheaton College as keynote speaker.

In 1939, the organizations name was changed from “Post of Ex-Service Men” to a “Post of War Service Men.” In 1944 Daniel Post was accepted into the American Legion and became Post #864. The American Legion Daniel Post #864 sponsored the banquet until 1998 when the Winnebago County Veterans Association took the responsibility to preserve continuity of the banquets honoring all veterans. The banquet has been held each year to honor veterans who served in the military of our country.

Social hour and cocktails will begin at 5:30 pm and dinner will be served at 7:00 pm. The Veterans Dinner Program will follow dinner. This year we will be offering a single entree featuring Turkey. Tickets are available at a cost of $250 per table of 8 or $35 each. To purchase tickets contact Scott Lewandowski at (815) 969-1999.