Update June 29, 2015

1/83rd Unit News	1. Remembrances - June was the Anniversary month of one of our 1/83rd Brothers who did not make it home from Vietnam. June 25th was the 44th Anniversary of the death of our Wayne Murphy, a Veteran of HQ Battery (1970-71). Wayne had been assigned to the 1/83rd until the unit stood down and was an Ammo driver. Since he still had three months remaining on his tour he went to another M110 unit, "B" Battery 1/39 where he was killed on June 25, 1971 when his convoy was attacked. His name is on The Wall (Wayne Stephen Murphy on Panel 03W - Line 89) More on Wayne can be found on our website. Lest we Forget. 2. Sick Call - a. Bruce Taiji (67-68) sent me this health update: "I have completed two rounds of chemo treatment. The first round of chemo treatment was very rough for me and I spent 6 days at the VA Hospital in Nashville. I was admitted into the hospital due to low white blood cell count and also low blood plated count. I am doing great after my second round of chemo treatment. I will have the third round of chemo treatment on next Tues (16 June). and a forth round of chemo on June 30. After the forth chemo treatment I will have another CT scan done. If the CT scan shows that the tumor on my pancreas has gone DOWN in size, then I will be scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor. That is the plan as of now. I feel great and I will NOT let this cancer stop me from enjoying life. Thank you for all the prayers and support as I go through this." Keep Bruce in your prayers, his contact info is on the Roster if you want to send him a card or note of support. b. Tom Spicer's (66-67) wife Vicki is undergoing surgery in July. Tom's contact info is on the Roster for anyone who wants to send Vicki a card or note of support. 3. Email Change - Jim Pound (70) has a new email address. See the Roster for details. 4. Challenge Coin - I am still waiting to receive the sample coin from the mint. When I get that, I will take a picture and send it to everyone so you can see the coin before you tell me how many coins you would like to buy. 5. Reunion News - See section below. 6. Unit Merchandise - See section below. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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.
Photo of the Week	Lest we Forget. Vietnam Memorial Wall
General News	1. Nothing this time.
Interesting Links and More	1. A few of you have sent me this story, Sundown in Tacoma. It is a news story of a man who plays Taps each evening, a nice tribute.
Did you Know	The Colt Peacemaker revolver has been in production off and on for 142 years (with breaks from 1942-1955 and during 1975). (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 June 12, 2015 2. VVA Update for June 19, 2015 3. VVA Update for June 26, 2015 4. VVA website
2016 Reunion News	1. Reunion News - I sent out a Save the Date email to all of you the other day with the dates and location for the 2016 Reunion. Be sure to share that with anyone you plan on bringing to the Reunion. Last time, some of the wives complained that they were not aware of certain Reunion details. That was chiefly because you did not share all necessary Reunion details with your wife or significant other. More details will be coming along in the coming months and I will next be letting you know how to go about making Hotel Reservations. If you have any questions on the reunion, please let me know.
1/83rd Merchandise	Unit Merchandise - All the proceeds from Hat, Decal and Patch sales go to the Reunion fund. a. 1/83rd Unit Crest Patch (3.25"h x 2.75"w) - $6 each. Here is a photo. b. 1/83rd Unit Crest Decal (Decal is round 3.5" x 3.5") - $5 each. Here is a photo. c. 1/83rd Hat (Adjustable-Black only) - $20 each. Here is a photo. d. 1/83rd Unit Hat Patch (same patch as is on the 1/83rd hat, 3"h x 6"w - $6 each. Here is a photo. Shipping is included in the above prices. To order these items, contact Bill Taggart at artillery_83rd@yahoo.com or 856-228-5614 (my contact info is also on the Roster). Make sure you supply your mailing address when making your request. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you want an 83rd Artillery Unit Crest Pin, you need to buy directly from the vendor. 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.
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.