Senator joins Fort Berthold Auxiliary
Senator joins Fort Berthold Auxiliary
By Jerry W. Kram
The Fort Berthold Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9061 and Auxiliary have had many honored members over the years. At the Grand Entry of the Four Bears Memorial Powwow they introduced another.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp accepted an invitation from the Post 9061 Auxiliary to become a lifetime member of the organization. Children of veterans can join the auxiliary and Heitkamp’s father served in World War II, said Judy Hood, president of the Post 9061 Auxiliary.
“We recruited Senator Heidi Heitkamp into our auxiliary as a lifetime member,” Hood said. “It all came about when we had a ceremony acknowledging Vietnam Veterans. The state senior vice commander, Emery Fisher, was there and said it would be beneficial for these ladies to recruit Heidi into the auxiliary.”
Hood said the auxiliary contacted Heitkamp’s office and sent the paperwork for membership. Hood didn’t hear anything back for weeks.
“I told my husband that she wasn’t going to join,” Hood said. “She’s too busy and that’s OK. Suddenly I hear that she had lost the application but she was so honored to be asked. I was so excited. It is such a wonderful thing for her to join our auxiliary.”
Heitkamp was presented a shawl, yellow with blue fringe after the VFW colors, with the VFW logo and post name and number on the back.
“I’ve been to a lot of powwows, Heitkamp said. “So I’ve done a lot of marching, but never with my own shawl. So that made it incredibly special today.”
