Update May 5, 2014

1/83rd Unit News	1. Late arriving May Birthday - Rich Tufano 2. New Email Address - Andy Gambill (71) - See Roster for details. 3. Artillery Insignia - John Browne (one of our Aussie mates) posed this question to Don Aird (70-71)... "Don, I have a number of these items in my collection, including a couple of Field Artillery clasps. My question is....can the Field Artillery clasp go under the Sharpshooter or Marksman badges? I have found some Expert Weapons badges like the one on the left that has the Arty clasp....but am unsure if you can put the Arty clasp under the other two, or are they mainly for rifle and pistol clasps etc?" Don passed that along to me and here is my reply... "Don & John, I have never seen nor heard of such a clasp before but I did find a picture (via Google) of one where it is attached below a Marksman badge. I am attaching it to this email. I will pass this along in my next "Update" and see if anyone else is aware of this." Has anyone seen such a clasp attached to Marksman badges (or anyplace else)? 4. 83rd Artillery Art - Ron Sims (70 -71) sent this along... "Bill this was a painting Joe Byrd had done for us and he gave it to me three years ago and then passed away 9 months later. Just thought I would share. If others are interested I will contact his wife to see where they can purchase a copy. Thanks, Ron" Lt. Lt. Byrd was FDO for "C" Battery in January 71. He passed away in 2011. 5. Don Aird (70-71) sent me this and I shared it with our Aussie and Kiwi mates. It is an important part of Aussie and Kiwi Vietnam War History that might interest all of you as well. "I am advised that the landowners of the rubber plantation at Long Tan determined that the trees had suffered damage resulting from recent Cyclones (perhaps even back to Durian in 2006) and that they would remain stunted and undersized and thus under-productive, and so needed to be replaced. The plan is to plant new trees in the next month. It will be five or six years before they even start to resemble the plantation which hosted the battle of Long Tan. Pity about the timing, with the 50th anniversary in Aug 2016 bound to draw a significant crowd, but the plantation is, after all, a working plantation and needs to remain profitable. We can expect some site restrictions around the Cross in the next few years including the ANZAC Days and LT anniversary days as the trees will be young and susceptible to damage. I have updated my "Long Tan Cross" website" ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Be sure to let me know what is going on in your life so we can share it with everyone in this section. See the latest 1/83rd News by clicking here.
Interesting Links and More	1. An American P-51 pilot who chased a German M-109 under the Eiffel Tower in 1994 just died. This is a brief account with pictures. Click here. 2. Walt Noechel (70-71) sent this "In The Land That Made Me Me" 3. Don Aird (70-71) sent this story on what looks like a forefather of C Rations "World War One: The dubious reputation of Maconochie's stew". 4. Rex Hon (66-67) sent this video on an mysterious and obscure Vietnam Veterans memorial. 5. Neal Schwartz (68-69) sent along these 3 videos of the Vietnam War... a. “Welcome Home” Trailer b. “The Best Vietnam War Music Playlist Part 2" c. "Vietnam War Part 1" 6. Don Aird (70-71) sent this snippet from the VFW. The VFW Counters ‘Crazy Vet’ Editorial VFW National Commander Bill Thien is asking all members and advocates to flood the New York Times with good news stories to counter an opinion editorial published this week that uses accused triple murderer Frazier Glenn Miller as the focus of a piece, entitled "Veterans and White Supremacy." “The First Amendment protects the free speech and expression rights of this young author and the rights of the New York Times to publish it, but it also protects my right to disagree with the message,” said Thien. “The ‘crazy Vietnam veteran’ label isn’t talked about much these days, yet despite 40 years of moving on with our lives and successfully reintegrating into our communities, we all know the potential is just another headline away,” he wrote in a letter to membership. “The shooting on Sunday in Overland Park, Kan., was as senseless as it is tragic, but we cannot allow political pundits, the media or our academicians to use the failings of one to once again paint all of us as damaged goods,” he said. “That is why I am asking that you send your personal comments directly to the New York Times, but in a positive manner, such as ‘I am a proud Vietnam veteran who came home from war, went to work, raised a family, and continues to help give back to my community and country. I am not damaged goods.’ Let them hear our voices by writing today to letters@nytimes.com.” 7. Danny Sandoval (66-67) sent this video on a touching reunion of Vietnam Vets and their Montagnard interpreter from the war. Nice story. 8. Here is an audio link to a story in the March 2014 issue of the American Legion Magazine concerning charities that prey on Americans' patriotism and support for Veterans.
Website Updates	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. Check out all the latest updates by looking at the website Table of Contents.
Vietnam Veterans of America Update	1. VVA Update for April 25 2. VVA Update for May 2 3. VVA website
2014 Reunion News	1. As you know, Roger and Kathy Hatcher volunteered to organize an optional dinner show excursion during the reunion in Branson. Roger sent me a couple of links to the Hughes Bros show which is reported to be one of Branson's best. If you are on the fence about attending the dinner show, maybe this will help convince you. Show promo. Hughes Bros website ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Please check the list on the website of those who have said they will attend the 2014 Reunion and make sure you are listed and that you are listed correctly. 3. Unless you are extending your stay longer, please make sure your hotel reservation covers at least 3 nights (October 12, 13 and 14). You will need to stay through Tuesday night Oct 14 (Check out on Oct 15) if you plan on going to the Farewell Dinner on Tuesday evening. Please double check the confirmation you receive from the hotel to make sure the dates are correct. 4. If you have any questions on the reunion, please let me know.
1/83rd Unit Crest Patches and Pins	If anyone is interested in buying an 83rd Artillery Unit Crest Patch let me know. Price is based on how many you order. If you are interested, send me an email with your mailing address and how many you want. Don't send any money until you receive the patches. When you receive them, you will see the cost for the number you ordered plus my mailing address for payment. If you want an 83rd Artillery Unit Crest Pin, I have a link on the website where you can order them from one of the 3 vendors listed. I have bought from all 3 of them and they are identical in quality, all are very good. Please note that Uniform Accessories will ship 2 for one price where the other 2 only ship 1 for almost the same price.
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	For a current copy of Rules and Regs, go to Contact Us and submit your request.
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.