Update March 16, 2016

1/83rd Unit News	1. Remembrances - March is the Anniversary month of two of our 1/83rd Brothers who did not make it home from Vietnam. Lest we Forget. March 20th will be the 48th Anniversary of the death of Joseph Cruz Baza, a Veteran of C Battery (1968). (Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial) March 31st will be the 45th Anniversary of the death of Robert Lee, a Veteran of HQ Battery (1970-71). (Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial More on Joseph and Robert can be found on our website. 2. Support - please keep the following members of our group in your prayers. They have health issues they are dealing with and could use our continued support. a. Kenny Knebler (68-69) - Kenny was in a serious vehicle accident (tractor/trailer accident) a while back and is still dealing with the after effects. b. Ed Thomas's (66-67) wife Ginny. 3. Congratulations - Don Eikenberry (66-67) and his wife Trudy celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary on March 15. A wonderful milestone and a great testimony to the love and patience of Trudy!! 4. Milestone - many of us are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of being inducted into the Army this year. My anniversary was Feb 16 and I have heard from many others who were inducted around that same time. We are indeed fortunate to be able to have reached that anniversary so a big Congratulations to us all!! 5. New Address - Neal Schwartz (68-69) and Ken Mitchell (70-71) recently moved, their contact info is on the Roster. 6. Edwin D. Patrick - I recently added a link to the website which gives some interesting details and pictures on the ship that brought many of us to Vietnam. I had this material once before but the author had pulled it from the Internet. I recently found it once more and received permission to add a link on our site. I know that most of us never saw some of these portions of the ship, I know you will get a kick out seeing this. Here is page that you need to look at. Look for the links that were added on 2/12/16. 7. Nui Dat Video - Ray Elwood (66-67) sent me a 30 minute video taken while he was with HQ Battery in 66-67. I really enjoyed seeing it as it contains a lot of familiar faces and locations. I know the 66-67 guys would enjoy seeing this video but I have not had any success in loading this to the website as it is an extremely large video file. I don't have any experience or software to edit this video and wanted to know if any of you have done anything like this. Please let me know if you can help. 8. Reunion News a. Make your hotel reservations as soon as you can. I have already had to add rooms to our room block 2 times and the hotel is telling me that adding any more space could be a problem, especially the closer we get to the Reunion. The longer you wait may result in you having to find a room in another hotel. b. The current list of those planning to attend can be found here. c. For more on the 2016 Reunion, See this section on the 1/83rd website. Optional Post-Reunion Tour to Gettysburg on October 17 - Please contact Mike Reetz directly with any questions on this excursion. His contact info is on the Roster. 9. 83rd Unit Merchandise - See this section on the 1/83rd website.
Photo of the Week
General News	1. Please remember that all contact info that we have for our group can be found on the Roster. This is the best spot to start if you need to contact one of the group.
Interesting Links and More	1. Wounded Warrior Project - Many of you are probably aware of the controversy surrounding this organization and that they recently fired the CEO and COO. Here is some info that was sent to me. 2. Rex Hon (66-67) sent this story on Agent Orange. 3. Allen Saltzman (66-67) sent this story about a WWII Veteran who recently passed away. Justus Belfield donned his Army uniform one more time, even though he was too weak to leave his bed at an upstate New York nursing home. The 98-year-old World War II veteran died the next day. Rest in Peace. 4. Dan O'Brien (69-70) sent this info on the M-578 Light Armored Recovery Vehicle (VTR). Look on this page. 5. Danny Sandoval (66-67) sent this Johnny Cash Vietnam themed song, Drive On. 6. Look at this story and you won't complain about your aches and pains. WWII Veteran runs for the fallen. 7. A friend sent this link to photos that Astronaut Scott Kelly took during his year in space, some great photos here. 8. A friend sent this video, it has been around before but is always worth another look. Many people don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with "God Bless America ....." So here is the entire song as originally sung. God Bless America with Kate Smith. History of the song Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two. The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans. This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith. Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings. Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time. Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (who also wrote "White Christmas") and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country. When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song. This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan. To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry and for many generations of Americans to follow.
Did you Know	Argyle socks and other clothing with the familiar diamond and line patterning on it like sweaters and leggings, are derived from the tartan (pattern) of Clan Campbell, of Argyll in western Scotland. (Courtesy of How-To Geek Newsletter)
Website Updates	1. If you come across anything that you think may be a good addition to our website let me know. Also, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the website, let me know. 2. Check out all the latest updates by looking at the website Table of Contents.
Vietnam Veterans of America Update	1. VVA Update for February 12, 2016 2. VVA Update for February 18, 2016 3. VVA Update for February 26, 2016 4. VVA Update for March 4, 2016 5. VVA Update for March 11, 2016 6. VVA website
1/83rd Roster	Review your entry on the website Roster and let me know if any changes are necessary. If your email stops working, I cannot reach you if you have incomplete contact details on the roster.
Missing members of the 1/83rd	Help us find those former 83rd members who haven't found us yet!! I am sure that each of us has someone they would really like to reconnect with. If we all pitch in, we may find many more of our old buddies. Here are some ways to do that: 1. If you are in contact or have contact info for any 1/83rd guys please contact them and tell them about our group or at least tell me and I will contact them. 2. Look through the roster on the website and if you know of others who are not listed, let me know who they are. Also, if you see any incorrect or missing info (including your own entry) let me know. 3. If you have copies of old orders tucked away someplace, send me a copy so I can make sure those names are on the roster. 4. Sometimes all it takes is a name and location and we can find someone but the more details we know the better our chances.
Rules & Regs	If anyone would like an updated copy of the "Rules & Regs" document which has helpful information about the website, let me know. Go to Contact Us and submit your request or email me directly.
Advisory	If you get an email from and it has a website link included anywhere within the email, most times you should be able to just click on the link and you will be taken to the website. Sometimes however, the link will not work because, in sending you the email, the link is deactivated although it is still usable. If this should happen, another way to use the link is to copy and paste it into the address line on your browser. Please be sure to let me know if you have any questions on this. Please make sure that your email system allows emails to be received from both of my email addresses, bill_t_08012@yahoo.com and artillery_83rd@yahoo.com Please note that there are no blank spaces in email addresses. What you see in mine between words/characters is the underscore (_) character.