Update July 9, 2017

1/83rd Unit News and General News	1. Remembrances - June was the Anniversary one of our 1/83rd Brothers who did not make it home from Vietnam. June 25th was the 46th Anniversary of the death of our Wayne Murphy, a Veteran of HQ Battery (1970-71). More on Wayne can be found on our website. Lest we Forget. (Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial) 2. 2018 Reunion - Mike Reetz (66-67) has advised that the next Reunion is tentatively planned for October 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. More details will be provided at a later date. Mike also said... "There were a couple of fellows that offered assistance with the Reunion who live in Texas. If anyone would like to help at the reunion, they can call me." Mike's contact info can be found on the Full Roster 3. Veterans License Plates - Ron Sims (70-71) sent along the following suggestion a couple of months ago.. "Bill, I know we are all feeling pretty sad since several of our comrades have recently died. So without trying to be inappropriate I thought I would try to add a bit of fun for us. Most states in the US have veteran license plates and it might be fun to have our members send us photo’s of their veteran plates and we can post them on our website. I will start off with mine from Virginia". I only received 3 license plate photos so it's not worth doing this at this time. If more photos are received I will consider adding this new section. The ball is in your court now guys if you want to do this. 4. Hepatitis C News from My HealtheVet - Click here. 5. Vietnam Veterans Memorial 2017 Reading of the Names - Registration is now open. 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. 6. 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 With so much content, it is inevitable that links go out of date so let me know if you find one that does not work. 7. 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. 8. 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. 9. 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.
Photo of the Week	Fireworks explode over the National Mall on July 4, 2017, in Washington, DC Photo Courtesy of The Atlantic
Interesting Links and More	1. Walt Noechel (69-70) sent this interesting look at the development of the Ford Model T. 2. The American Flag and its inspiration for our nation from the American Veterans Center. 3. Greg Sachnewycz (70-71) sent this story about the National Vietnam War Museum. I will also be adding a link to this on our website. 4. Barney Downey (70-71) sent this link to a story of the Battle of Long Tan. I will also be adding a link to this on our website.
Did you Know	The Secret Service was created on July 5, 1865. Although this was mere months after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the original mission of the Secrete Service was to suppress the production and distribution of counterfeit currency. They would not take on their now very visible role as presidential protection until Congress requested they do so after the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley. (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