The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic, war-time veterans organization, devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is a not-for-profit community-service organization which now numbers nearly 3 million members, men and women, in nearly 15,000 American Legion posts worldwide. The American Legion's national headquarters is in Indianapolis, with additional offices in Washington, DC. In addition to thousands of volunteers serving in leadership and program implementation capacities in local communities and the Legion's standing national commissions and committees, the national organization has a regular full-time staff of about 255 employees. The South Dakota state headquaters is located in Watertown, SD.
The American Legion Auxiliary is a patriotic service organization with dedicated, empowered women across the world who are devoted to America's veterans, children and youth, with the notion of inspiring Auxiliary members' communities. It is a non-profit organization, affiliated with The American Legion. There are nearly one million Auxiliary members in 10,100 communities across the world.
Frank Holcome Post 43 is part of District 1 and is a very active organization both in Legion and Auxiliary activities. We support the community of Centerville, South Dakota and the surrounding area. Our evening Legion meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of every month at 8:00 p.m. We usually celebrate the Legion birthday early with our traditional oyster stew supper in January. The honor guard is always available for funerals and to present the colors at football games and various school activites. Our legion hall is popular with the community for wedding receptions, dances, birthday and anniversaries.
Records date back to meetings held in January 1884 of a post called Anson McCook Post #36 with 33 members. In May 1889, the post number was changed to Post #46. A charter was granted on August 1, 1920 to Post 43.
Frank Holcombe was born May 27, 1894 in Centerville, SD. He entered the army on September 11, 1917 as a member of Battery D, 147th Field Artillery. He was killed in action by enemy shellfire near Cottan, France on August 3, 1918 and was buried in a churchyard there. Three years later, his remains were returned and was laid to rest at Riverview Cemetery on August 14, 1921. The Centerville Legion Post 43 was renamed to honor the World War One veteran.
The dedication ceremony for Frank Holcome Post 43 was held on October 12, 2002 with the Honorable William Janklow, then Govenor of South Dakota as the guest speaker. On April 6, 2002, the 81st Annual District 1 Convention was held in Centerville.
