Jamestown resident Cory Haugen elected to North Dakota DAV leadership role

Jamestown resident Cory Haugen was elected 3rd junior vice commander for the North Dakota Disabled American Veterans, putting a local veteran into one of the department’s leadership slots as the organization weighs benefits, funding and service priorities for disabled veterans across the state.

Haugen was part of a new statewide slate chosen by members of DAV Department of North Dakota at its annual convention in Bismarck. Leslie Ross of Dickinson was elected commander, Frank Senn of Minot was named senior vice commander, Mark Landis of Bismarck became 1st junior vice commander, Ian Anderson of Fargo was elected 2nd junior vice commander, Greg Remus of Grand Forks was chosen as department judge advocate and inspector general, and Charles Emery of Minot was elected department chaplain.

For veterans in Jamestown and Stutsman County, Haugen’s election matters because DAV describes itself as veterans serving veterans, with a focus on help with VA benefits and other services. A Jamestown representative in the department’s top officer group gives local veterans a direct connection to the state organization as it continues to work on access to benefits, implementation of the Honoring our PACT Act and funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

That local connection carries added weight because the North Dakota DAV convention was held in Jamestown just a year earlier, when members met May 2-4 at the Gladstone Inn & Suites. More than 60 DAV members were expected to attend that gathering, including veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, a mix that showed how wide the organization’s reach remains in a county where veterans from multiple eras still live side by side.

At that Jamestown convention, members took up resolutions for the national convention and discussed VA funding and how the PACT Act was being put into practice. Haugen’s rise to a statewide post suggests those debates will continue to be shaped by veterans who know the needs of local communities like Jamestown, where service members and their families often turn to DAV for guidance on claims, benefits and the paperwork that can determine whether help arrives on time.