Guys-
I’ve scanned a lot of my pictures and will post them on the site soon. Here’s one I found of Larry Ballard setting up his gun.
Can you help me identify everybody?
Speaking of Larry, I mentioned last time that he had sent me VHS tapes of TV interviews about his experiences in Vietnam and about the re-interment at Arlington that he arranged for Alexander Chin. My son Bryan has now posted them as streaming video on the platoon site nomad81s.com/movies. They are fascinating — Larry is very well-spoken and says things that many of us felt. He will be at the reunion (July 15-18 in San Antonio).
Larry has located and spoken with Michael Hoffler, who was one of the first replacements into the 81s platoon in December 1966. He flew to the Nam on a 707 rather than going by ship as the original members of 2/26 did. He now lives in New York. He and Larry talked about the old days when the platoon’s guns were strung out from CAC 7 to Coco Beach. He left Khe Sanh in February 1968. Larry also called Bob Hommer, and is trying to locate Johnny Traylor in Georgia. He was in touch with him years ago but not recently.
Kudos to our reunion host Eloy “Rod” Rodriquez and Bruce Pilch for reaching out and connecting with platoon members.
Bruce tracked down Cary Cooper and spoke with him by phone (I did too). As Bruce mentioned in his message, Cary’s had reconstructive shoulder surgery after being hit by a backhoe at work, and has 5 more weeks of physical therapy before returning to the construction company he’s been with for 32 years. He has 4 kids. One son was born 30 Jan 68 while we were at Khe Sanh. As Bruce mentioned earlier, Cary has stayed in contact with Charlie Kipp, Gary Hoopman, Jim Borgh, Dave Rice and Ross Tyner. Cary will send their updated contact info. Cary’s really looking forward to the reunion.
Rod located Gordon Colucci (Brown), who also spent time in Hotel’s 60mm mortars (as did Bob Hommer). Gordon has been in touch with Freddy Johnson (who’s interested in coming to the reunion.)
Rod also tracked down Ken Fisak. Bruce has called him — Bruce fondly remembers Ken MC’ing the evening entertainment in his gun pit on 558. Smitty has spoken with Ken too. Would one of you guys please keep Ken in the loop on the our reunion plans? He doesn’t have an e-mail address.
I talked with Charlie Kipp for a long time last night. How great to catch up after 42 years! Charlie retired 6 months ago as an electrician in Chicago, after a couple of wives and 3 kids. He’ll be at the reunion — his plan now is to drive to Minnesota and fly to San Antonio with Gary Hoopman, and then after the reunion spend some time fishing in Minnesota with Gary (who, like Maynard Sinclair, is a master fisherman.)
Eric “Smitty” Smith, thanks for passing the word on the site about Jimmy Everley of Golf Co. I wasn’t aware of his actions that day until you posted the writeup.
And speaking of actions, Joseph L. “Coop” Cooper’s Bronze Star citation for his actions on LZ Margo has been posted on the site. Pretty impressive. Here’s a link.
Gunny Fab’s daughter Linda “Samee” Fabyunkey will be at the reunion along with her neice Jordan and perhaps her neice-in-law Nikki. Her brother Larry (ex-Marine) may also come. In a recent message, she described growing up with Gunny Fab, including how he helped her read Shakespeare’s Macbeth in high school. I can hear it now, “Gooooooooooood morning, Shakespeare!”
Some open items:
Bob Hommer: Do you have contact info for Linwood Thompson? I’d like to call him.
Smitty: Would you please make another run at connecting with Bob Ridgway? I believe you spoke with him within the last several months, but his e-mail address no longer works. Also, would you reach out to Walt “Phil” Philbin? It’s been way too quiet from N’awlins — I’m wondering if the personal e-mail we’ve been using for him isn’t connected. Thanks.
Maynard Sinclair will attend the reunion — his daughter Samantha wrote to say that he wouldn’t miss it for the world. Pedro Marquez, he sure appreciates your calls.
Rod: I’m still getting a bounce-back on Freddy Johnson’s e-mail. Do you have an updated address?
Larry: Terry Lee Poole told me that he planned to resurrect his e-mail account. Have you heard if he has? He hates to travel these days, but it would be a great pleasure to see him at the reunion.
My son Bryan is testing “list-serve” software, which will let us all send and receive group e-mail at a single e-mail address — that way we all will have instant access to updated e-mail addresses as we add them to the list. He’ll send details soon. In the meantime, the mailing list for this e-mail has updated addresses on everyone. Also thanks again to Bryan for the excellent job transcribing Larry’s videos to streaming video.
Rod is working on finding the best hot and tasty “Mexican Plates” and “Mariciaches” for the reunion. Once he receives the Khe Sanh Vets agenda, he’ll work on ours so as not to interfere with each other. This will be great, guys.
Semper Fi.
-Alan
———————————-
Reunion info:
THE KHE SANH VETERANS 2010 REUNION, SAN ANTONIO TEXAS JULY 11-18,2010
AT THE BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY INN EL TROPICANO HOTEL
110 LEXINGTON ST- SAN ANTONIO TX 78205
PHONE 866-293-1842 FOR RESERVATIONS CODE (KSV)
There Will also be a Direct Link to reservations on the KSV Website www.khesanh.org $99.00 A DAY 2 Days Before & 2 Days After (See Reverse Side For Amenities)
San Antonio International Airport (SAT)
• Distance: 9.5 MI
• South to Hotel
• Shuttle Charge (oneway): $ 18.0ft QJSD)
• Taxi Charge (oneway): $22.00 (USD)
•Time by taxi: 20 minutes Take 281s to 35s take 1st exit Mccullough turn left go 2 lights right on St Mary’s to 1st light turn left on Lexington hotel on left side
On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities (washer/ dryer)
Hours of Operation: 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Dry Cleaning Pickup/Laundry Same Day Dry Cleaning STUDIO Outdoor Pool Live Entertainment Kids Eat Free Service Dogs Welcome Free Parking (In & Out) Balcony Rooms (Smokers)
This San Antonio Riverwalk hotel features a full-service restaurant called Mangos, where guests can enjoy Latin and American-inspired dishes, friendly service and free meals for kids. Also visit Expreso, our lovely lobby-level cafe for a smoothie or latte. Buffet Breakfast $9.95
.jpg)
