Update March 22, 2017

1/83rd Unit News and General 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 49th Anniversary of the death of Joseph Cruz Baza, a Veteran of C Battery (1968). (Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial) March 31st will be the 46th 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. Health Issues for Vietnam Veterans - Hepatitis C - this information was something I put out in update's back in 2015 but bears repeating for those who may have missed it. Look for the item number specified in these links: March 10, 2015 - Item 2, Hepatitis Advisory March 25, 2015 - Item 4, Hepatitis May 30, 2015 - Item 7, Hepatitis C Liver Flukes - this is an item recently mentioned in a story in the January/February Edition of the Vietnam Veterans of America magazine. Here is that story. Here is more on this subject that was sent in by Greg Sachnewycz (70-71) 3. Vietnam Veterans Memorial 2017 Reading of the Names - As part of the 35th Anniversary Commemoration of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial all of the more than 58,000 names will be read from Tuesday, November 7, 2017 through Friday, November 10, 2017. A few of us volunteered in 2012 to read the names when it was the 30th Commemoration and it is a wonderful experience to be part of. If anyone will be in DC at that time and is interested in volunteering, more info can be found at this link. 4. 1/83rd Website - Please let me know if you come across any links in my website that are broken. With so much content, it is inevitable that links go out of date so let me know if you find one that does not work. 5. Full Roster on Website - Check your entry on the Full Roster to make sure all your information is up to date. Notify me if any changes are necessary. If your email stops working, I cannot reach you if you have incomplete or incorrect contact details on the roster. 6. Support - Please let me know if anyone of you or your family have health situations so we can let everyone know of the need for our support. 7. Please remember that all contact info that we have for our group can be found on the Full Roster. This is the best spot to start if you need to contact one of the group. 8. Reunion News - Mike Reetz (66-67) has agreed to plan and organize our next Reunion. When and where to be determined. Mike's contact info can be found on the Full Roster if you have any questions.
Photo of the Week	The Three Soldiers Vietnam Veteran's Memorial at The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC. Photo Courtesy of Johnnie Pearson (68-69)
Interesting Links and More	1. Restored B-29 Takes to the Air. Ed Kloiber (68-69) sent this nice story. 2. Found this video story of a 103 year old Pearl Harbor Survivor at the American Veterans Center website. 3. Escape from a locked car trunk. This story is worth sharing with your friends and family.
Did you Know	In military lingo, a “klick” is shorthand for “kilometer”. Although the exact origin of the term is unknown, it is believed to have originated with Australian soldiers in Vietnam, who would use the gas regulator on their rifles to count off the distances they had hiked. They did so by moving it forward one mark for every 100 meters traveled, then reset it on the 10th interval, which resulted in an audible click for every kilometer hiked. (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	1. VVA website
1/83rd Roster	Check your entry on the Full Roster to make sure all your information is up to date. Notify me 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 a current copy of the "Rules & Regs" document which has helpful information about using 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.