Local vet seeks to revive Post #45

After moving to Sundance from Idaho a couple of years ago, veteran Phil Colozzi quickly noticed that the town no longer had an American Legion Post.

Believing that this support network for local veterans is an important part of a community, Colozzi has taken it upon himself to revive Legion Post #45 and is reaching out to find potential members to help him rebuild.

A town in one of the most patriotic states in the nation deserves its own American Legion post, he says.

“This is the fifteenth city my wife and I have lived in the past 60 years and the first time I could not find an American Legion Post to transfer to,” he says.

“I sent two letters to the post office box here in Sundance, no reply. So, after talking to other vets and reaching out to nearby posts, I contacted the state adjutant. I’m now the interim Commander of Post 45 and they emailed me the list of members.”

Sundance’s Legion post disbanded in 2021 after its membership dwindled to the point that it no longer had enough actively participating members to conduct its business, such as electing officers and planning events.

Prior to its disbandment, Post #45 was known for its efforts to provide support to local vets and sponsor Boys State programs and other meaningful state activities for youth.

So far, Colozzi has not met with great success in contacting previous members.

“I’ve tried to reach all 25 members on the membership list, only a few answered their phone and only a few called back after leaving a message on their answering device,” he says.

Colozzi is hoping that previous members, as well as veterans who would be interested in joining for the first time, will reach out to him and help him rebuild the membership list.

Colozzi served in uniform for six years, he says: two years Army Reserve and four years U.S. Air Force. He was discharged from Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD, in 1962 after serving there for about eight months.

Ellsworth was also where he met his wife of 60 years, he notes.

“She was a civilian nurse at the base, and I had back issues,” he says. “God does work in mysterious ways.”

This will not be Colozzi’s first time as a post commander.

“In 2009 and 2010, I was commander of Post #76 in Port Orford, in Curry County, OR. We had 35 to 40 members every month and some vets drove a 100-mile round trip from two other towns, Gold Beach and Brookings, to be there,” he says.

“Eleven of them were Veterans of Foreign Wars, WWII and up to the recent wars. We buried four with honors in those two years. One by suicide, that hurt the most; he was our VA representative.”

Post #76 did all the normal stuff that the American Legion is known for, he says, but placed a special emphasis on making sure the men and women who had served and were buried in the towns were honored – not just by members of the post, but also by the town, and its kids big and small.

“Each grave had the conflict, the branch and where he or she died serving – similar to how you honor the vets on the Sundance Veterans Memorial. I pray to God they are still honored,” he says.

“We also built a Veterans Memorial in Curry County overlooking the Pacific, it was dedicated in 2013. It’s for anyone who wore a uniform – police, sheriff, even coast guard and merchant marines.”

Colozzi asks anyone interested in helping to restart Post #45 to contact him via [email protected] or 208-660-0669.