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

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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

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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

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

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.

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!

Ronnie LeBlanc

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

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

2nd Platoon, B 1/501

Some grunts from B company gathered together this past July for the first time since serving in Vietnam during 1971. By all accounts it was a very successful reunion and they even got some coverage from the local news station.

Click this link to see the B 1/501 Reunion News Clips

A big "thumbs up" for a job well done to the 2nd plt B 1/501 and thanks to thier former medic Guy Lamunyon for giving me the heads up on this reunion. Doc also sent me this link to thier reunion photo album. Check it out.



(fyi-shameless plug) I've been getting those Geronimo T's being worn by the 2nd plt vets printed since 1997. They are still being offered at the Geronimo-Vietnam website's 501st PX.

Buddies

Old friends Barry Gregorich and Bob Hess got together again recently in Pennsylvania to visit the Westmoreland County Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Barry and Bob were ringleaders of the big A 1/501 reunion in Clarksville TN this past June.
Getting buddies back in touch is the primary goal of this website and we've been having a lot of success lately. Click on the pics for a larger view.