Update July 26, 2016

1/83rd Unit News	1. Support - please keep Walt Gilliam (66-67) and Otto Aliffi (66-67) in your thoughts and prayers, both are experiencing some serious health issues. Please let me know if anyone of you or your family are in similar situations so we can let everyone know of the need for support. 2. Change of Contact Information - I recently received new email addresses for Ray Spence (68), Pete Veltri (70-71) and Larry Richins (69) and new phone number for Bob Burton (66-67). You should always check the Roster for these details. 3. 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. 4. Agent Orange Newsletter - Here is the latest Agent Orange Newsletter from the US Dept of Veterans Affairs. You can read it at that link or download a PDF version. 5. Bob Bosl (68-69) sent this note: "Recently read a Vietnam based combat book entitled “Perfume River Nights”, mentions an infantry getting hit by “friendly fire” from the big guns at LZ Bastogne on H&I strike, though author also commends that same group with “saving their butts” later, interesting reading." 6. Al Saltzman (66-67) sent this photo which I added to News and should be of interest to those of us who were at Nui Dat. 7. Reunion News - All Reunion attendance fees (along with the Reunion Reply form) are due back to me by August 1. There are still 18 who have not yet sent in their fee and form. Please get them to me by that date as I have a lot that has to be done for the Reunion. If your plans have changed, let me know. I am meeting with the Reunion hotel staff in August to go over logistics so I need to have firm numbers for that as well as other items. a. The current list of those planning to attend can be found here. b. For more details 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. 7. 1/83rd Unit Merchandise - See this section on the 1/83rd website.
Photo of the Week	Courtesy of Al Saltzman (66-67)
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. Neal Schwartz (68-69) sent this note and link: "The latest article from ATWS might be of interest to many. It covers Cuba in Vietnam, Last Flights from Saigon, Military Myths & Legends: Common Myths of the Vietnam War, Battlefield Chronicles: Fire Base Mary Ann, and several other topics of interest. I point this out because of the Fire Base Mary Ann story. Our own Captain Virtis A. Savage was in the Battle of Fire Base Mary Ann during his third and final tour. In fact he was awarded the Silver Star for his actions and then they tried to place blame for the attack on him as they did on many others. The article pretty much explains it, and how it affected his career and the career of many others in similar and higher positions." Here is that story. 2. Dan O-Brien (69-70) passed along this obituary of Colonel Arch Battista who started the drive to connect the C-123's to the Agent Orange lawsuit. He was successful. After being a command Air Force pilot for 30 years, he graduated from law school and continued the fight. 3. Doolittle's Raiders from the American Veterans Center. An interview with one of the last survivors. 4. Neal Schwartz (68-69) sent this note and link: "Check this out. It might be another good place to register and find comrades. I didn’t find any 1/83’s entered. I signed myself up however under B – 1/83 – XXIV. This is not the home page, but the sign up page "
Did you Know	The term shrapnel, fragmentation thrown out by an exploding munition or bomb, comes to us by way of Henry Shrapnel, a British officer who invented the first anti-personnel round–an explosive hollow cannon ball filled with lead shot–in 1784. (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 July 8, 2016 2. VVA Update for July 15, 2016 3. 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.