Happy to say I'm alive and kicking but occassionally the demands of my job make it seem like all I do is work, eat and sleep and it can go on for months at a time. When you add in the daily demands of owning a home, family and friends there just isn't much time left over for the computer.
A couple of those friends have offered to give me a hand when times are tough. Barry Gregorich and Ted Koepke now have the keys to this blog so don't be surprised if you see a post here by either of them in the future. They are both hard working guys as well but I think between the three of us the blog will be more up to date and interesting. For example those "of the week" links I have on the left side of the page may actually change every week. :)
Summer is here and people are out doing thier thing so website-wise there is not alot to report on right now. The 2nd Brigade's 40th Anniversary party at Ft Campbell, KY June 12-14 went off without a hitch but I don't have any details as I wasn't able to make it there. Jon Quick sent me a few photos so I do know that at least a half-dozen Vets of the original A 1/501 to arrive in Nam Dec.67 were on hand.
The 14th annual reunion/convention of the 101st Airborne Division Vietnam Veterans Org took place at Ft Campbell this weekend June 26-28. Too early to get any news on this yet but I'm assuming all went well.
Thanks to Barry and Ted for volunteering to pull slack for me and I wish you all a happy and safe 4th of July weekend.
God bless our troops in harms way right now.
Later, Joynt
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
I Was There Last Night
I got this in my email from my buddy Dave Reinheimer B 2/501 the other night. It's been around before so maybe you've seen it but it's worth another read. If you haven't read it before this guy is right on the mark.
I Was There Last Night
By Robert Clark
A couple of years ago someone asked me if I still thought about
Vietnam. I nearly laughed in their face. How do you stop thinking
about it? Every day for the last (now nearly 40) years, I wake up with
it, and go to bed with it. But this is what I said. "Yea, I think
about it. I can't quit thinking about it. I never will. But, I've also
learned to live with it. I'm comfortable with the memories. I've
learned to stop trying to forget and learned instead to embrace it. It
just doesn't scare me anymore." A psychologist once told me that NOT
being affected by the experience over there would be abnormal. When he
told me that, it was like he'd just given me a pardon. It was as if he
said, "Go ahead and feel something about the place, Bob. It ain't
going nowhere. You're gonna wear it for the rest of your life. Might
as well get to know it."
A lot of my "brothers" haven't been so lucky. For them the memories
are too painful, their sense of loss too great. My sister told me of a
friend she has whose husband was in the Nam. She asks this guy when he
was there. Here's what he said, "Just last night." It took my sister a
while to figure out what he was talking about. JUST LAST NIGHT. Yeah I
was in the Nam. When? JUST LAST NIGHT. During sex with my wife. And on
my way to work this morning. Over my lunch hour. Yeah, I was there.
My sister says I'm not the same brother that went to Vietnam. My wife
says I won't let people get close to me, not even her. They are
probably both right.
Ask a vet about making friends in Nam. It was risky. Why? Because we
were in the business of death, and death was with us all the time. It
wasn't the death of, "If I die before I wake." This was the real
thing. The kind where boys scream for their mothers. The kind that
lingers in your mind and becomes more real each time you cheat it. You
don't want to make a lot of friends when the possibility of dying is
that real, that close. When you do,they're a liability.
A guy named Bob Flanigan was my friend. Bob Flanigan is dead. I put
him in a body bag one sunny day, April 29, 1969. We'd been talking,
only a few minutes before he was shot, about what we were going to do
when we got back in the world. Now, this was a guy who had come in
country the same time as myself. A guy who was loveable and generous.
He had blue eyes and sandy blond hair. When he talked, it was with a
soft drawl. Flanigan was a hick and he knew it. That was part of his
charm. He didn't care. Man, I loved this guy like the brother I never
had. But, I screwed up. I got too close to him. Maybe I didn't know
any better. But I broke one of the unwritten rules of war.
DON'T GET CLOSE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO DIE. Sometimes you can't
help it. You hear vets use the term "buddy" when they refer to a guy
they spent the war with. "Me and this buddy a mine . "
In war you learn to keep people at that distance my wife talks about.
You become so good at it, that twenty years after the war, you still
do it without thinking. You won't allow yourself to be vulnerable
again. My wife knows two people who can get into the soft spots inside
me. My daughters. I know it probably bothers her that they can do
this. It's not that I don't love my wife, I do. She's put up with a
lot from me. She'll tell you that when she signed on for better or
worse she had no idea there was going to be so much of the latter. But
with my daughters it's different.
My girls are mine. They'll always be my kids. Not marriage, not
distance, not even death can change that. They are something on this
earth that can never be taken away from me. I belong to them. Nothing
can change that. I can have an ex-wife; but my girls can never have an
ex-father. There's the difference.
I can still see the faces, though they all seem to have the same eyes.
When I think of us I always see a line of "dirty grunts" sitting on a
paddy dike. We're caught in the first gray silver between darkness and
light. That first moment when we know we've survived another night,
and the business of staying alive for one more day is about to begin.
There was so much hope in that brief space of time. It's what we used
to pray for. "One more day, God. One more day."And I can hear our
conversations as if they'd only just been spoken. I still hear the way
we sounded, the hard cynical jokes, our morbid senses of humor. We
were scared to death of dying, and trying our best not to show it. I
recall the smells, too. Like the way cordite hangs on the air after a
fire-fight. Or the pungent odor of rice paddy mud. So different from
the black dirt of Iowa. The mud of Nam smells ancient, somehow. Like
it's always been there. And I'll never forget the way blood smells,
stick and drying on my hands. I spent a long night that way once. That
memory isn't going anywhere.
I remember how the night jungle appears almost dream like as the pilot
of a Cessna buzzes overhead, dropping parachute flares until morning.
That artificial sun would flicker and make shadows run through the
jungle. It was worse than not being able to see what was out there
sometimes. I remember once looking at the man next to me as a flare
floated overhead. The shadows around his eyes were so deep that it
looked like his eyes were gone. I reached over and touched him on the
arm; without looking at me he touched my hand. "I know man. I know."
That's what he said. It was a human moment. Two guys a long way from
home and scared sh"tless. "I know man." And at that moment he did.
God I loved those guys. I hurt every time one of them died. We all
did. Despite our posturing. Despite our desire to stay disconnected,
we couldn't help ourselves. I know why Tim O'Brien writes his stories.
I know what gives Bruce Weigle the words to create poems so honest I
cry at their horrible beauty. It's love. Love for those guys we shared
the experience with.
We did our jobs like good soldiers, and we tried our best not to
become as hard as our surroundings. We touched each other and said, "I
know." Like a mother holding a child in the middle of a nightmare,
"It's going to be all right." We tried not to lose touch with our
humanity. We tried to walk that line. To be the good boys our parents
had raised and not to give into that unnamed thing we knew was inside
us all.
You want to know what frightening is? It's a nineteen-year-old-boy
who's had a sip of that power over life and death that war gives you.
It's a boy who, despite all the things he's been taught, knows that he
likes it. It's a nineteen-year-old who's just lost a friend, and is
angry and scared and, determined that, "Some *@#*s gonna pay." To this
day, the thought of that boy can wake me from a sound sleep and leave
me staring at the ceiling. As I write this, I have a picture in from
of me. It's of two young men. On their laps are tablets. One is
smoking a cigarette. Both stare without expression at the camera.
They're writing letters. Staying in touch with places they would
rather be. Places and people they hope to see again. The picture
shares space in a frame with one of my wife. She doesn't mind. She
knows she's been included in special company. She knows I'll always
love those guys who shared that part of my life, a part she never can.
And she understands how I feel about the ones I know are out there
yet. The ones who still answer the question, "When were you in
Vietnam?"
"Hey, man. I was there just last night."
I Was There Last Night
By Robert Clark
A couple of years ago someone asked me if I still thought about
Vietnam. I nearly laughed in their face. How do you stop thinking
about it? Every day for the last (now nearly 40) years, I wake up with
it, and go to bed with it. But this is what I said. "Yea, I think
about it. I can't quit thinking about it. I never will. But, I've also
learned to live with it. I'm comfortable with the memories. I've
learned to stop trying to forget and learned instead to embrace it. It
just doesn't scare me anymore." A psychologist once told me that NOT
being affected by the experience over there would be abnormal. When he
told me that, it was like he'd just given me a pardon. It was as if he
said, "Go ahead and feel something about the place, Bob. It ain't
going nowhere. You're gonna wear it for the rest of your life. Might
as well get to know it."
A lot of my "brothers" haven't been so lucky. For them the memories
are too painful, their sense of loss too great. My sister told me of a
friend she has whose husband was in the Nam. She asks this guy when he
was there. Here's what he said, "Just last night." It took my sister a
while to figure out what he was talking about. JUST LAST NIGHT. Yeah I
was in the Nam. When? JUST LAST NIGHT. During sex with my wife. And on
my way to work this morning. Over my lunch hour. Yeah, I was there.
My sister says I'm not the same brother that went to Vietnam. My wife
says I won't let people get close to me, not even her. They are
probably both right.
Ask a vet about making friends in Nam. It was risky. Why? Because we
were in the business of death, and death was with us all the time. It
wasn't the death of, "If I die before I wake." This was the real
thing. The kind where boys scream for their mothers. The kind that
lingers in your mind and becomes more real each time you cheat it. You
don't want to make a lot of friends when the possibility of dying is
that real, that close. When you do,they're a liability.
A guy named Bob Flanigan was my friend. Bob Flanigan is dead. I put
him in a body bag one sunny day, April 29, 1969. We'd been talking,
only a few minutes before he was shot, about what we were going to do
when we got back in the world. Now, this was a guy who had come in
country the same time as myself. A guy who was loveable and generous.
He had blue eyes and sandy blond hair. When he talked, it was with a
soft drawl. Flanigan was a hick and he knew it. That was part of his
charm. He didn't care. Man, I loved this guy like the brother I never
had. But, I screwed up. I got too close to him. Maybe I didn't know
any better. But I broke one of the unwritten rules of war.
DON'T GET CLOSE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO DIE. Sometimes you can't
help it. You hear vets use the term "buddy" when they refer to a guy
they spent the war with. "Me and this buddy a mine . "
In war you learn to keep people at that distance my wife talks about.
You become so good at it, that twenty years after the war, you still
do it without thinking. You won't allow yourself to be vulnerable
again. My wife knows two people who can get into the soft spots inside
me. My daughters. I know it probably bothers her that they can do
this. It's not that I don't love my wife, I do. She's put up with a
lot from me. She'll tell you that when she signed on for better or
worse she had no idea there was going to be so much of the latter. But
with my daughters it's different.
My girls are mine. They'll always be my kids. Not marriage, not
distance, not even death can change that. They are something on this
earth that can never be taken away from me. I belong to them. Nothing
can change that. I can have an ex-wife; but my girls can never have an
ex-father. There's the difference.
I can still see the faces, though they all seem to have the same eyes.
When I think of us I always see a line of "dirty grunts" sitting on a
paddy dike. We're caught in the first gray silver between darkness and
light. That first moment when we know we've survived another night,
and the business of staying alive for one more day is about to begin.
There was so much hope in that brief space of time. It's what we used
to pray for. "One more day, God. One more day."And I can hear our
conversations as if they'd only just been spoken. I still hear the way
we sounded, the hard cynical jokes, our morbid senses of humor. We
were scared to death of dying, and trying our best not to show it. I
recall the smells, too. Like the way cordite hangs on the air after a
fire-fight. Or the pungent odor of rice paddy mud. So different from
the black dirt of Iowa. The mud of Nam smells ancient, somehow. Like
it's always been there. And I'll never forget the way blood smells,
stick and drying on my hands. I spent a long night that way once. That
memory isn't going anywhere.
I remember how the night jungle appears almost dream like as the pilot
of a Cessna buzzes overhead, dropping parachute flares until morning.
That artificial sun would flicker and make shadows run through the
jungle. It was worse than not being able to see what was out there
sometimes. I remember once looking at the man next to me as a flare
floated overhead. The shadows around his eyes were so deep that it
looked like his eyes were gone. I reached over and touched him on the
arm; without looking at me he touched my hand. "I know man. I know."
That's what he said. It was a human moment. Two guys a long way from
home and scared sh"tless. "I know man." And at that moment he did.
God I loved those guys. I hurt every time one of them died. We all
did. Despite our posturing. Despite our desire to stay disconnected,
we couldn't help ourselves. I know why Tim O'Brien writes his stories.
I know what gives Bruce Weigle the words to create poems so honest I
cry at their horrible beauty. It's love. Love for those guys we shared
the experience with.
We did our jobs like good soldiers, and we tried our best not to
become as hard as our surroundings. We touched each other and said, "I
know." Like a mother holding a child in the middle of a nightmare,
"It's going to be all right." We tried not to lose touch with our
humanity. We tried to walk that line. To be the good boys our parents
had raised and not to give into that unnamed thing we knew was inside
us all.
You want to know what frightening is? It's a nineteen-year-old-boy
who's had a sip of that power over life and death that war gives you.
It's a boy who, despite all the things he's been taught, knows that he
likes it. It's a nineteen-year-old who's just lost a friend, and is
angry and scared and, determined that, "Some *@#*s gonna pay." To this
day, the thought of that boy can wake me from a sound sleep and leave
me staring at the ceiling. As I write this, I have a picture in from
of me. It's of two young men. On their laps are tablets. One is
smoking a cigarette. Both stare without expression at the camera.
They're writing letters. Staying in touch with places they would
rather be. Places and people they hope to see again. The picture
shares space in a frame with one of my wife. She doesn't mind. She
knows she's been included in special company. She knows I'll always
love those guys who shared that part of my life, a part she never can.
And she understands how I feel about the ones I know are out there
yet. The ones who still answer the question, "When were you in
Vietnam?"
"Hey, man. I was there just last night."
Catching Up
CAMPING AT KOKOMO
Just a heads up for those planning to camp during the 26th annual all services Vietnam Veterans reunion in Kokomo Indiana this September 18-21. Members of HCVVO (Howard County Vietnam Veterans Org) should have already received camping reservation forms and can mail them in prior to August 1st along with your payment of $10 per night with a 2 night minimum. Lots not paid for by August 1st will be released to the general public. As usual I will be pestering the other six members holding our seven lot basecamp to "gitter done" ASAP. We have a good location so lets not lose it.
As of June 1st non-members/general public can make camping resevations and those must also be paid for by August 1st. HCVVO has purchased 10 acres of adjoining land the past few years so there is no waiting list for camping lots. Anyone wanting to camp can be accomodated so bring some friends. To make reservations go to the HCVVO website "Events" page by clicking the camping link. CAMPING
This HCVVO reunion in September is the oldest and largest event of this kind in the country. Join 40,000 plus people for a weekend of good times September 18-21.
Seeya there, Joynt
________________________________________________
2nd BRIGADE REUNION
I apologize for being slow in getting this info out but in the early going there was some confusion about the actual dates of this event. In February I got an email from Al Golden stating the correct info for the 40th anniversary remembrance of the 2nd Brigades first full year in Vietnam. I would like to stress that while this focuses on 1968 ALL 2nd Brigade Namvets are welcome and encouraged to come as there are many more anniversaries yet to come. Alpha company will have a good turnout as usual and hope to see you there. Here's a basic itinerary and all the contact info you'll need.
40th ANNIVERSARY - 2d Brigade Reunion, June 12-15, 2008!!
Troopers of the 2d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, 1967-68
(1/501 Inf, 2/501 Inf, 1/502 Inf, and Bde HHC)
Although the 101st Abn Div (Air Assault) will be in Afghanistan and Iraq,
we are organizing a (40 years later) reunion of our Vietnam 2d Brigade,
on 12-15 June, 2008.
Contact Jim Hallums; 931-572-9527; hallumsfarm@charter.net. Let him
know you are coming, and if you will be at the bar-b-q or the bde dinner.
Schedule
Thursday, 12 June
1100-1600 Registration at the hotel; 1500-2300 Hospitality room open
Friday, 13 June
0900-1500 Visit Ft Campbell; lunch, barracks, activities as the Post can provide.
1500-1800 Hospitality room open;1800-2100 Bar-be-que.
Saturday, 14 June
0900-1600 Activities as desired (golfing, tour of Nashville, local trips as desired)
1200-1600 Hospitality room open;1800-2100 Reunion dinner.
2100-0100 Hospitality room reopen.
Sunday, 15 June
0900-1200 Reunion guests depart.
Register at Reunion Hqs, Holiday Inn Express, 4 mi N of Fort Campbell on
Hwy 41A. Phone 270-439-0022; ask for special 2d Bde rate. Best wishes,
Or REPLY TO: JOHN H. CUSHMAN, Cdr 2d Bde/101st, '67-‘68
6200 Oregon Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20015; 202-541-0435; JackCushSr@aol.com
___________________________________________________
ALPHA COMPANY VIETNAM SERVICE LIST
If you haven't been to that page of the website lately check it out.
Thanks to contributions from John Burris, Val Zappert and Barry Gregorich that page has jumped from a little over 500 names to 661. A few new names have been added to the "We Remember" page as well. Special thanks to those three guys and all of you that contribute to our A 1/501 website.
That was a lot of typing for me so I probably made a boo-boo somewhere. If you see a mistake of any kind anywhere on the website or have a suggestion please let me know. Every little bit helps to keep our website worth a visit.
TIA, Joynt
Just a heads up for those planning to camp during the 26th annual all services Vietnam Veterans reunion in Kokomo Indiana this September 18-21. Members of HCVVO (Howard County Vietnam Veterans Org) should have already received camping reservation forms and can mail them in prior to August 1st along with your payment of $10 per night with a 2 night minimum. Lots not paid for by August 1st will be released to the general public. As usual I will be pestering the other six members holding our seven lot basecamp to "gitter done" ASAP. We have a good location so lets not lose it.
As of June 1st non-members/general public can make camping resevations and those must also be paid for by August 1st. HCVVO has purchased 10 acres of adjoining land the past few years so there is no waiting list for camping lots. Anyone wanting to camp can be accomodated so bring some friends. To make reservations go to the HCVVO website "Events" page by clicking the camping link. CAMPING
This HCVVO reunion in September is the oldest and largest event of this kind in the country. Join 40,000 plus people for a weekend of good times September 18-21.
Seeya there, Joynt
________________________________________________
2nd BRIGADE REUNION
I apologize for being slow in getting this info out but in the early going there was some confusion about the actual dates of this event. In February I got an email from Al Golden stating the correct info for the 40th anniversary remembrance of the 2nd Brigades first full year in Vietnam. I would like to stress that while this focuses on 1968 ALL 2nd Brigade Namvets are welcome and encouraged to come as there are many more anniversaries yet to come. Alpha company will have a good turnout as usual and hope to see you there. Here's a basic itinerary and all the contact info you'll need.
40th ANNIVERSARY - 2d Brigade Reunion, June 12-15, 2008!!
Troopers of the 2d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, 1967-68
(1/501 Inf, 2/501 Inf, 1/502 Inf, and Bde HHC)
Although the 101st Abn Div (Air Assault) will be in Afghanistan and Iraq,
we are organizing a (40 years later) reunion of our Vietnam 2d Brigade,
on 12-15 June, 2008.
Contact Jim Hallums; 931-572-9527; hallumsfarm@charter.net. Let him
know you are coming, and if you will be at the bar-b-q or the bde dinner.
Schedule
Thursday, 12 June
1100-1600 Registration at the hotel; 1500-2300 Hospitality room open
Friday, 13 June
0900-1500 Visit Ft Campbell; lunch, barracks, activities as the Post can provide.
1500-1800 Hospitality room open;1800-2100 Bar-be-que.
Saturday, 14 June
0900-1600 Activities as desired (golfing, tour of Nashville, local trips as desired)
1200-1600 Hospitality room open;1800-2100 Reunion dinner.
2100-0100 Hospitality room reopen.
Sunday, 15 June
0900-1200 Reunion guests depart.
Register at Reunion Hqs, Holiday Inn Express, 4 mi N of Fort Campbell on
Hwy 41A. Phone 270-439-0022; ask for special 2d Bde rate. Best wishes,
Or REPLY TO: JOHN H. CUSHMAN, Cdr 2d Bde/101st, '67-‘68
6200 Oregon Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20015; 202-541-0435; JackCushSr@aol.com
___________________________________________________
ALPHA COMPANY VIETNAM SERVICE LIST
If you haven't been to that page of the website lately check it out.
Thanks to contributions from John Burris, Val Zappert and Barry Gregorich that page has jumped from a little over 500 names to 661. A few new names have been added to the "We Remember" page as well. Special thanks to those three guys and all of you that contribute to our A 1/501 website.
That was a lot of typing for me so I probably made a boo-boo somewhere. If you see a mistake of any kind anywhere on the website or have a suggestion please let me know. Every little bit helps to keep our website worth a visit.
TIA, Joynt
Friday, February 15, 2008
Rooster
Listening to the radio on my way to work today I heard the DJ say something about Vietnam and the 101st when introducing the next cut he was playing. The song was "Rooster" by Alice in Chains. I'm sure many of you have heard it before but maybe you haven't heard the story behind it. The title comes from guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell's father. "Rooster" was his nickname in Vietnam, where he fought in the war. The song is about some of his feelings and experiences, told from his perspective. Jerry's father was in the 101st and toted an M-60 and he appears in the songs video which I found on good ol' YouTube and it's worth a looksee. Rooster
Here's a website that has some interesting comments about the song Comments and just for the hell of it here are the lyrics.
Rooster - Alice in Chains
Ain't found a way to kill me yet,
Eyes burn with stinging sweat,
Seems every path leads me to nowhere.
Wife and kids, household pet,
Army green was no safe bet.
The bullets scream to me from somewhere.
Here they come to snuff the rooster, oh yeah.
Yeah, here comes the rooster,
You know he ain't gonna die.
No, no, no, you know he ain't gonna die.
Walking tall, machine gun man,
They spit on me in my homeland,
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy.
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death,
My buddy's breathing his dying breath,
Oh god please, won't you help me make it through?
Here they come to snuff the rooster, oh yeah.
Yeah, here comes the rooster,
You know he ain't gonna die.
No, no, no, you know he ain't gonna die.
If you look real close at the video you'll see a 1st Cav patch show up. The producers weren't paying attention. Should have been some screaming eagle patches in there :)
alpha 3-6 kilo out
Here's a website that has some interesting comments about the song Comments and just for the hell of it here are the lyrics.
Rooster - Alice in Chains
Ain't found a way to kill me yet,
Eyes burn with stinging sweat,
Seems every path leads me to nowhere.
Wife and kids, household pet,
Army green was no safe bet.
The bullets scream to me from somewhere.
Here they come to snuff the rooster, oh yeah.
Yeah, here comes the rooster,
You know he ain't gonna die.
No, no, no, you know he ain't gonna die.
Walking tall, machine gun man,
They spit on me in my homeland,
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy.
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death,
My buddy's breathing his dying breath,
Oh god please, won't you help me make it through?
Here they come to snuff the rooster, oh yeah.
Yeah, here comes the rooster,
You know he ain't gonna die.
No, no, no, you know he ain't gonna die.
If you look real close at the video you'll see a 1st Cav patch show up. The producers weren't paying attention. Should have been some screaming eagle patches in there :)
alpha 3-6 kilo out
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
What's Up For 2008?
Michael "Mad Monk" Bradshaw sent me a heads up on the 1st annual West Coast 101st Airborne Namvets reunion in February. If you want to party with fellow namvets out there in lalaland it's time to saddle up. Here's a link West Coast Reunion
In April it's the all services namvet reunion in Melbourne Florida. This is a big one second only to Kokomo Indiana. If you want to take a spring break do it in Melbourne
and in June a special gathering of 2nd Brigade namvets will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the brigades first full year in nam, 1968 at Ft. Campbell Kentucky.
I'll post the details on that later.
In April it's the all services namvet reunion in Melbourne Florida. This is a big one second only to Kokomo Indiana. If you want to take a spring break do it in Melbourne
and in June a special gathering of 2nd Brigade namvets will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the brigades first full year in nam, 1968 at Ft. Campbell Kentucky.
I'll post the details on that later.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Happy Holidays to all and I hope to see you in 2008 at either the 2nd Brigade reunion in June or the Kokomo Reunion in September.
Joynt
P.S. I forgot to mention that I had uploaded the pics of the 70's reunion held last June at Clarksville, TN/Ft. Campbell. I still have some finishing touches I want to add but you can check out the pics at this link The 70's Reunion
Congrats to all involved in this excellently planned reunion especially Barry Gregorich and Bob Hess who were the main movers and shakers of this effort.
Nicely done guys!
Joynt
P.S. I forgot to mention that I had uploaded the pics of the 70's reunion held last June at Clarksville, TN/Ft. Campbell. I still have some finishing touches I want to add but you can check out the pics at this link The 70's Reunion
Congrats to all involved in this excellently planned reunion especially Barry Gregorich and Bob Hess who were the main movers and shakers of this effort.
Nicely done guys!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Ronnie LeBlanc
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There was a comment posted in the Meatball thread below concerning the passing of Ronnie LeBlanc on thursday Aug 23rd. He was with a bunch of you guys at the Clarksville reunion in June and I wanted to make sure as many of you as possible were aware of the sad news.
Here's the comment from a friend.
Bobby said...
Desperately need to hear from ANY of the guys at the reunion in Clarksville, TN on June 15, 2007. Our brother in arms, Ronnie LeBlanc, died on Thursday moring, August 23rd, 2007.
contact: electric.deacon@gmail.com
August 25, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Equal time for B co. 2nd Bn. 501st Inf.
It's hard to believe it's been fifteen years since my first contact with a fellow namvet I served with. In the summer of '92 I got a phone call from 3rd platoon buddy Mark Orr and a few weeks later a letter in my mailbox from Dave Reiheimer. Those two guys finding me literally changed my life but I won't bore you with all that now.
Dave and I went thru basic and AIT together and flew to Vietnam together. He was assigned to B 2/501 and I of course went to A 1/501. We met face to face again at the annual Kokomo reunion in sept 92. Dave was armed with all kinds of valuable info on tracking down old Nam buddies. He has been a major player in locating members of his own unit and B 2/501 has had many successful reunions. Dave recently sent me a couple links concerning thier most recent gathering in Oregon.
Check them out. B 2/501 Reunion News Artical and
The B 2/501 website's 2007 reunion page
There is no way to put a value on good friends like Mark and Dave. I wish all of you the best of luck in finding your old buddies.
Drive on, Joynt
Dave and I went thru basic and AIT together and flew to Vietnam together. He was assigned to B 2/501 and I of course went to A 1/501. We met face to face again at the annual Kokomo reunion in sept 92. Dave was armed with all kinds of valuable info on tracking down old Nam buddies. He has been a major player in locating members of his own unit and B 2/501 has had many successful reunions. Dave recently sent me a couple links concerning thier most recent gathering in Oregon.
Check them out. B 2/501 Reunion News Artical and
The B 2/501 website's 2007 reunion page
There is no way to put a value on good friends like Mark and Dave. I wish all of you the best of luck in finding your old buddies.
Drive on, Joynt
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