Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
LAST MAN'S CLUB
LAST MAN'S CLUB. Iowa veterans who served with the 90th Division in France during WORLD WAR I held their 14th annual steak dinner and reunion at the PAGE HOTEL in 1952. The club was organized in 1939 with Arnold Utzig as its first colonel. Although attendance declines on most occasions, one "guest" was always present--a bottle of Burgundy wine that was to be opened for a toast to all departed comrades by the last surviving member of the club. (1)
Utzig died in 1967 and the bottle of wine disappeared. Those at Utzig's home at his death remember a group of the club members passing around the bottle. It is not known if that bottle was the one from 1939 that Utzig kept in his safe. In 1988 it was believed that Emil Drexler of Dyersville was the last member of the club.(2)
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Source:
1. "'Last Man's Club' Plans Dinner," Telegraph-Herald, April 13, 1952, p. 2
2. Chaund, Timothy, "Only Memories Remain About 'Last Man's Club' Escapades," Telegraph Herald, June 6, 1988, p. 24