Donald ‘Sompy’ Elliott, Korean War veteran of Robert V. Lindsey VFW Post 10041.
Sent to us from Auxiliary Member and his daughter, Sundi:
“He was definitely a family man, raising 6 kids, hardworking, extremely patriotic and a mentor to many young men who served our Country. He was a cowboy and college champion bull rider prior to the Korean war.
He loved watching bull riding and cowboys till he passed 5/2/23. He always told us money doesn’t grow on trees, and demonstrated a strong work ethic through out his life.
Letter Written To Jonny Guinn & Bob Herron and all the officers of the VFW Robert V. Lindsey Post #10041,
I graduated from high school in 1952 – spent three years in the Army and served in the Korean War. I arrived in Bethel in 1956. I’ve been in Bethel all these years and have tried to make Bethel a better place to live – you know the rest of the story. I thank you for brining us here and honoring us tonight – thinking of those who have gone before us and thinking of you who have worked so hard to hold the VFW and Women’s Auxiliary together. Keep Up the good work.
In the early Stages of our club – we started with $0. We had the first fundraiser with Bingo games at the Cowan hut – the “gym” for Bethel High School – with paper cards and beans. We put in many hours to purchase materials for building our clubhouse – all with volunteers such as Don Shantz, Jim Geerdts, army advisors, NG Bob Ellis to name a few.
We moved onto the first dog races (with about 125 or so dog teams,) In the early years everyone had a dog team – we held races every year. It was fun at first, then it turned out to be hard work when we had over 220 entries – we decided it was too big of a project to handle. The snowmachine was invented and everyone was getting a snowmachine instead. The K-300 took over the dog races after that.
The VFW has moved three times to our present location—thanks to Hal Borego for giving us the land where our post home presently is.
The VFW also sponsored Boy Scouts—Major John Dow, Maj. Rousch, Bill Lyons and members including Jimmy Hoffman flew our Boy Scouts to camp and fishing lakes a couple of times. Some of our Boy Scout troops included Mike Shantz, Lyman Hoffman, John Weisse, Andy Anderson and the Hoffman boys (to name a few naughty boys). That became too big to handle when they (naughty) grew up faster than I could keep up with them.
I give you these books of Harpo—one day they will make a movie of his life—he was my war hero and my neighbor and I wanted to join the Navy but it was 4 years and I didn’t want to sign up for that long. This book tells it like it was.
I know the VFW will go on for a long time as there seems to be no end to wars and the survivors of wars will continue where we left off. We planted a seed, 50 years ago now—now we have a big oak tree that needs T.L.C. to keep growing.
Tammy needs Hoffman coming, the Tundra Sisters, the Winkelman band of McGrath, and the people who worked so hard to put this party together.
Thanks to all for coming, the Tundra Sisters, the Winkelman band of McGrath, and the people who worked so hard to put this party together.
Yours in Comradeship, Sompy Elliott [Signature: Sompy Elliott]
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