Veterans Memorial Hall at the Depot in Duluth was originally a meeting place for the Civil War veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic. Now it is an organization that honors and remembers all veterans in the Arrowhead of Minnesota. Wisconsin vets are welcome there, too.
VMH holds a Remembrance Dinner every December as a fundraiser for its programs. This year’s keynote speaker will be past president of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, Steve Daniel of Duluth. He’ll be talking about local ship building efforts in our region during World War Two.
“The Inland Waterways of Duluth were located on Park Point and they produced wooden sub chasers. Globe Shipyards in Superior produced patrol frigates and tugboats.” said Steve Daniel in a recent interview.
Tickets to the dinner are $65 and it will be catered by Valentini’s, which is an old Northland tradition with roots going back to the 1930’s in Chisholm. The money will be used to maintain both static and travelling displays, plus help record veterans’ oral histories and many other things.
“That’s our annual fund raiser that helps raise money for the Mike Colalillo Scholarship and it helps us do programs like History in a Pint,” said Jay Hagen of Veterans Memorial Hall.
Jay Hagen and retired Army Guard General Ron Hein are just two of the event’s organizers and they want people to mark Thursday, December 3rd on their calendar for the dinner at 5:00 p.m. at the historic Depot on Michigan Street in Duluth. Steve Daniel says he is honored to tell his tales at the fundraiser since he comes from a nautical family that played a role in World War Two.
“My father was in the war and my uncle and a lot of other people and my grandfather was in the Coast Guard Auxiliary and used his boat on the Detroit River,” said Daniel.
To get tickets online, do an internet search for Veterans Memorial Hall Remembrance Dinner or go to www.thehistorypeople.org.
