|
LAKE TEXOMA 2009
Our reunion this year was at Eisenhower State Park located on Lake Texoma in northern Texas. The lake is located in both Texas and Oklahoma. The reunion was held on 19, 20 & 21 June, 2009. We had special lodging rates at the Hampton Inn in Denison, Texas thanks to the efforts of Danny Briggs.
I have been trying to decide how to attack the narrative. IF I put everything related to the reunion in it will be very long. If I do not put everything in some of the events will be lost in translation. So, I guess I will put it all in and hope for the best.
I have to tell you if you ever come to Texas and visit the "Lil Cowboy", do not, I say again; DO NOT go anywhere with him especially if he wants to take a short cut. You could be traveling around north Texas for days. He even got lost in Trenton, pop. 662 and he lives there. Now you do not have to believe me, ask his family. They do not call it a short cut, they call it "Taking the Scenic Route".
One of Keith's responsibilities for the reunion was to get Bar B Q grills. Well of course when I asked him about them he mumbles and says,"Well, I don't have any". We go to the High School where he works and he begs one from a contractor, but one is not enough to cook for 40 people. I had noticed two grills in the front yard of one of his neighbors and I ask him why we do not ask these neighbors of his if we can borrow the grills for the reunion. Keith tells me that the guy who had lived there, a Viet Nam Vet, had just died and Keith did not want to bother the widow. A couple of days later we were passing the place again and I asked him how long the guy had been dead. (Remember, when I asked him before, he said, "the guy just died".) Well, as it turns out, the guy had been dead for a month and a half. Hell, my wife said the least of her worries would have been my grill. By a month and a half she should be looking for another husband. As it turns out, Keith visits the widow, does her a "good turn" and gets the grills.
Over the next few days we got all the loose ends tied down. One of the loose ends was the souvenir coins. When I got a chance to inspect them I noticed that the lettering was coming off. After a few calls to Georgia where I purchased them I am told they were not engraved as per usual; but laser engraved. For some reason it didn't take. Understand, this is Thursday and we plan to give them out on Friday. For once, "Lil Cowboy" comes thru. We take them to the place he has all of his high school stuff done and they buff the old stuff off and do a regular engraving job, all in one day.
I should mention that Troy and Nora Caufield and their granddaughter arrived early. They were staying at the RV park with their rig. Troy and his granddaughter "Coon" chipped in and were a big help. "Coon" is the hardest working 13 yr old I have ever met. She worked harder than any adult there. We made her our Company "Gopher" and artist since she loves to draw.
Friday evening we had a reception of sorts in the meeting room of the Hampton Inn, Everyone except Tommy and Jeanne Higdon and my wife and daughter were there on time. I called Tommy a few times and got no answer on his phone. We couldn't wait any longer, so I gave out Screaming Eagle coins to all of the Company members in attendance. I also unveiled our new web site which I believe everyone in attendance thought was very nice. Don Stevenson, a Red Leg who was in the 1/501 and a friend of mine brought a slide show of Nam.
I tried calling Tommy Higdon again, and this time I got him. He tells me he got on I-635 from the airport to go to 75N and drove by it going East. Said a Texas driver would not let him get to the exit. In any case he goes a while and turns around and goes back west, and yep, he missed it again. Tommy and his bride finally get in. My wife had picked up my daughter at the airport at 1330 and were going to go see my daughter's new apartment before coming to the reception. Well they get on some freeway and go the wrong way. By the time she realizes she is going the wrong way, she is all the way down to I-30 and the traffic is backed up to Waco. They both arrived late but safe and sound. The rest of the evening went well and all had a good time getting re-acquainted with old friends.
I had been thinking of ways to make money for the company fund, so I decided to auction off my mustache of 30 yrs. I started the bidding at $125.00 reserved bid. No takers. I figure it is a lost cause because no one wants to part with that much money. Just as I figure it is a no go, I look in the corner and there are about 10 of those miscreants all huddled together. Harry Harrington or Lobo shouts out to wait; they have pooled their money and bid $136.00. Now who would have thought that men I served in combat with would plot against me like this. Now Tommy wasn't in on the bidding, so when he put in we had $146.00 for the mustache with the honors to be done on Saturday at the picnic.
Saturday morning I crank up one of the grills at my camp site. We have decided to try and cook a brisket. We start at 0700hrs. We are to eat at 1500 hrs. One would think that 8hrs. is long enough to cook a brisket; WRONG!!! We cooked it another 4hrs the next day and it was the best I ever had. Too bad it wasn't that way on Saturday. No Problem... we have wings, sausage& kraut, grilled German sausage and ribs. In addition we had slaw, potato salad, Lynn's Cowboy beans, rolls, cake and drinks.
After we ate we had a few administrative details to take care of. These items included presenting Larry Debuhr his own Moses Staff just in case he decided to take another trip up the mountain and spend the night. Those who do not know what I am talking about, it will be posted on the blog.
As some of you may know, it was determined that I would become a redneck upon successful completion of an oral exam. In addition, there was to be a vote on my induction as Commander of the Texas Republican Army. As you will see in the pictures, I was placed on a throne. Lil Cowboy called it a throne, I call it a "Helper Crapper" you would find in a nursing home. In any case, Keith, John, Tex, Harry and my daughter asked questions. They were either "Go" or "No go". The questions ranged from who was the first vice president of Texas (didn't know and didn't care), to what Texans died at the Alamo. Well, I passed the test and received a plaque making me an official "Redneck". A title some of you may have thought I possessed all along.
Then came the vote on the really important issue of the day. Was I or was I not going to be commissioned Commander of the Texas Republican Army. As I expected, due to the numerous votes I purchased over the course of the weekend, I was voted in. The first official act as Commander was to unilaterally vote myself Commander for life. I promoted Tex to 1Sgt. Now we will see how long this one lasts.
Next came Keith's turn. I do not know if you know why he is called" Lil Cowboy" or not, so I will tell you. Keith really loves horses, but he is scared to death of them. He is also too short and can't get up on a real horse. He has never learned to ride, but would like to. Well, Keith used to run around the yard with a stick between his legs making believe it was a horse. He never had a cowboy hat, but Sherry use to cheer him on with "Ride 'em Lil Cowboy" as he made believe he was riding a horse. Lynn and I thought long and hard on what would make him the most happy. We decided that a stick horse that made horse noises and a little cowboy hat would be the ticket. As you can see by the pictures he really looks good in his hat, bandana and riding his stick horse.
We presented Keith with a plaque as a token of our appreciation for all his hard work and financial support in organizing this reunion and welcoming him into Alpha Company.
The final event of the day was a raffle. Keith, Lynn and I descended upon merchants from Dallas to Denison to hopefully make the raffle a success. We had some very unique prizes. In fact, one was sold for $30.00 as soon as it was won.
Sunday morning, some of us had breakfast at the Golden Corral; others had to leave early and get on the road. All in all, I believe everyone had a good time. We had three new attendees this year; Troy Caufield, Lee Bostic and Larry DeBuhr. I hope all of them become regulars in the future.
This was a reunion to be remembered as are they all. We did some different things and had a really good time. Every year will be different from the previous ones. Hope we can keep them going for many years to come and enjoy each others company until we are old and senile. Oops, we're already there. I look forward to next year's reunion and seeing all you from the past and hopefully new guys who haven't been able to come before or haven't been found yet. Keep lookin'.
"Rat"
LAS VEGAS 2008
Alpha company chose to have the Reunion in Las vegas because flights were readily available and relatively inexpensive. We had a record number of attendees. We also had located two relatives and a former high school sweetheart of two of our troops who did not make it home. Larry Kirkland's brother Keith, his high school girlfriend Debbie Keele and Neile MacKay's sister Karla Sanchez were in attendance. This reunion was a little more formal than those in the past. We had a "Fallen Trooper" ceremony to honor those who did not make it home. It was a moving as well as somber event. It was not something we will do again in the near future, as it had a deeply emotional impact on some of those who attended.
We had a sit down dinner catered by the hotel and it was excellent. After dinner we had a few presentations, with John Martin receiving a plaque for all the hard work he has done for our Company. I presented Harry Harrington with a JuJu stick because he had not gotten a deer in about 3 or 4 years. You will be happy to know that his first time out with the "Stick", he got a deer. I was honored to receive a letter from and signed by all the men in attendance. The letter out lined my nomination for the OCS Hall of Fame.
After all was said and done, it was another great experience especially for the relatives and friend. They were able to get questions answered they had been contemplating for years. They also discovered just how many friends their loved ones had.
We all gathered for breakfast on Sunday morning and said our goodbyes.
Attendees:
Frank & Sadie Alls
Don & Jane Bertsch
Don Breen
Danny & Deidre Briggs
John Conroy
Steve Cruthis
Tom Doxtater
Phil & Colleen DuBois
Glen & Sharon Funk
Bill & Linda Green (1st Bde Camp Eagle)
Harry & Susie Harrington
Tom & Jeanne Higdon
Mark & Kathy Jensen
Debbie & George Keele (Larry Kirkland's friend)
Keith Kirkland (Larry's brother)
Jerome & Barbara Koutny
Ken mance
John Martin & Suzy (John's daughter)
Cleon & Sylvia Moseley
Bob O'Connor & Bob's sister Maureen
Bill & Cathy Parker
Fred & Barbara Pirmann
Jim & Stephanie Rogers
Karla Sanchez (Neile MacKay's sister)
Rick Snedden
Neal & Beth Tillman
Jim & Elaine Wojtowicz
Vonnie & Vera Wolf
Val & Lynn Zapert & (daughter Mikah)
Ray & Iko Malpica (Val's 1sg from Fort Ord)
- Rat
OKLAHOMA 2007
The Oklahoma Reunion was held at Western hills Guest Ranch, a State Park, about an hour west of Tulsa. Val Zapert and Neal Tillman dragged their trailers there and gave us a great backdrop for our gathering. Lynn Zapert and Beth Tillman put together a great cookout of burgers, hotdogs and Danny Brigg's favorite bake beans. Of course "Rat" controlled the grill with a spatula and his "Stick", which he made in and brought back from RVN.
Val provided everyone with an "Ass Kicking Alpha" T-shirt.
Jim Rogers was kind enough to buy everyone breakfast. A very nice gesture in deed.
Jerome Koutny brought 35mm slides of his tour, which he had taken and Tom Doxtater brought movie film he had shot. Tom and his brother rode their bikes from Detroit.
The accommodations were a bit rustic for the ladies, but a great time was had by all and old acquaintances were renewed.
Attendees were:
Frank & Sadie Alls
Don & Jane Bertsch
Danny & Deidre Briggs
John Conroy
Steve Cruthis
Tom Doxtater & Brother
Phil & Colleen DuBois
Ted Gagacki
Harry Harrington
Mark & Kathy Jensen
Jerome & Barbara Koutny
Danny Mabe
John Martin
Bob O'Connor
Jon Quick
Jim & Stephanie
Neal & Beth Tillman
Ron & Sue Vroman
Val & Lynn Zapert
- John "Big John" Martin
BRANSON 2006
The second welcome home event was not as good as the first in terms of grandeur. It was sponsored by a former LRRP guy who is semi famous. I think he wrote a book. In any case, it was the 1st official "A" Company reunion.
Attendees were:
Val Zapert
Harry Harrington
Neal Tillman
Bob O'Connor
Steve Cruthis
Tex Dilday
Danny Briggs
Ron Vroman
To say that it was an emotional gathering is an understatement. This meeting and show of appreciation by the residents of Branson for the Vietnam veterans was the first "Thank You" since returning home. There was a parade that we marched in and everyone along the way was calling out thanking us for our service. There were tears, shouts and some laughter. All in all it was a very moving experience for all of us.
After all was said and done, we met at the RV Park where I was staying and we had a BBQ. In addition to the BBQ, we all went to dinner at a local restaurant. On Sunday morning we met for breakfast before everyone had to hit the road. We may have bigger reunions, but I do not think we will have one which had such an impact on those who attended. There were many deep conversations after we finished eating. I know some if not all of the guys who were there felt a lot better when they left for home. Just ask them.
- Rat
BIG BEND 2006
After I got on those web sites, I contacted various company members. One of those was Harry Harrington. Now Harry likes to go hiking and exploring in places that snakes avoid. One of those places was Big Bend National Park in Texas. This place is right on the Mexico border. Well I had called Harry a couple of times just to get reacquainted. On one such occasion, he asked me if I would like to meet him AND Steve Cru this at Big bend and spend a couple of days exploring the beauty of the south west desert. Not having seen him in almost 35 years I agreed to go.
I arrived about mid morning. As I came around a bend in the road, I spot two older looking gentlemen sitting under an old taco stand overhang drinking beer. I said to my self, "has to be them, who else would be drinking beer at 1000hrs in the morning" We had a great weekend cooking out, seeing the country side on horseback. We got to see our first herd of mountain goats. We also met an old Marine who has a unique place. He has an open air bar in his front yard and any one who stops by is welcome to a free beer or two, or three.
We had a great time catching up on old times.
- Rat
BRANSON 2005
I was the only attendee, I thought and then at the insistence of my wife. I was sure I would not know anyone and was not looking forward to the drive. When I got there, I met Jon Quick, who happened to be a member of Alpha Company, 1968. Jon and I had a great time. This was the first big wWelcome Home" event for Vietnam Veterans. It was sponsored by H. Ross Perot. There were vets from all services represented there, with the 101st having the largest contingent.
There were fly overs, demonstrations, displays, chopper rides and a really great outdoor concert. here were numerous groups including the Dube Brothers, Credence Clearwater, Tony Orlando and others. President George W. Bush addressed us via satellite TV. I can not tell you how this experience affected me. I came home feeling better about my self.
Jon Quick gave me some web sites to check out and I found 8 guys who met for our first official reunion the next year.
- Rat
|
