Local veteran prioritizes giving back to community through work with Amvets

By Molly Roberts
Posted 11/9/21

Kevin Reece of Wellman served in the United States Navy for twenty years, joining the service after graduating from Mid-Prairie in 1981 and serving until October 2001. But his involvement with the …

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Local veteran prioritizes giving back to community through work with Amvets

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Kevin Reece of Wellman served in the United States Navy for twenty years, joining the service after graduating from Mid-Prairie in 1981 and serving until October 2001. But his involvement with the military community and veterans didn’t end there; he stays heavily involved with veterans’ affairs in various organizations because, he said, he wants to give back to the community.

Reece, who has worked as a boiler operator at the VA hospital in Iowa City for 17 years, is the commander of the Amvets in Richmond, a post he’s held since 2003.

“I stay active in veterans’ affairs now. It’s giving back, a sense of that,” Reece said. “It goes back to the family attitude of being in the military… there’s a big community in the military. The camaraderie of people is amazing, and it continues to this day. I’ve got a lot of people who worked with me before that I stay in touch with, who want to know how I’m doing.”

The Amvets coordinate events like military funerals, are involved with the school district by organizing assemblies and events, and often march in parades in Kalona and Wellman. The Amvets have influence in a lot of different community organizations, whether they’re acting as a corporate sponsor for ball games, hosting class reunions or small weddings, or donating money to local food pantries.

“It’s a veterans’ organization, but we do a lot of support in the community,” Reece said. “Veterans give back to their communities.”

“We have a Sons of Amvets organization and a ladies Auxiliary organization and they’ve really been a cornerstone to our success,” Reece said. “Veterans numbers are dwindling; the age of veterans is going up and the membership is going down, so it’s a struggle to keep our charter. So, bringing in the Sons to help — they’re doing it in honor of their parents and they just like helping veterans.”

During his time in the Navy, Reece worked on six different ships and went out on five deployments, including his first deployment, which was a six-month cruise that he left for just 10 days after his first child was born.

Just last month Reece attended a reunion with the crew he served with from 1983-1985.

“There’s a crew of us that do a reunion every year,” Reece said. “So many laughs together and stories — one story would lead to another, then another, then another. Seeing all those guys from when we were young, and seeing us now, is really special.”

Reece said that when his wife passed away two years ago, the support he received from his military colleagues was just as great as the support he received from people in his local community.

“There are a lot of people throughout my career who worked for me who have reached the same rank or higher than me,” Reece said. “With Facebook now, I keep in touch with a lot of them. The community, staying in touch with other veterans, is really important and really nice.”

The Amvets will help host an assembly for high school students at Mid-Prairie on Thursday, Nov. 11, which is Veterans Day. The Amvets will present the colors, the school will have guest speakers, the band will play each service’s theme music and then veterans from each service will be individually recognized.

“I like doing events like that because you never know if you’re going to influence somebody,” Reece said. “You never know whose life you’re going to chance. Or maybe they’ll learn more about veterans. It gives them a connection, so they can see that average people do these things. Us veterans, we’re real people too, just like everyone else.”