1/83 Artillery Update
December 3, 2019

1/83rd Unit News

and

General News

(Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial)

Remembrance - December 29th will be the 53rd Anniversary of the death of one of our 1/83rd Brothers who did not make it home from Vietnam, Clarence E. Everett, a Veteran of HQ Battery (1966). More on Clarence can be found on our website.

(Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial)

Lest we Forget.

2. Sad News - I recently learned that Gary Kilpatric (67-68) lost his wife Mary this past September after a long and difficult battle with Alzheimer's. They were married almost 53 years. Condolences can be sent to Gary at:

2323 Calle Halcon
Santa Fe, NM 87505-5714

3. Happy News - Rusty Gray (68-69) just became a proud and happy new Grandparent. Rusty and his wife Jinny welcomed 6lb 15 oz grandson-Dawson Lewis Gray on Thanksgiving Day. What a great day for such a happy event.

4. Late Arriving Birthday - A new addition to the December Birthday list is Mike Scott (68-69). Happy Birthday Mike!

5. 2020 Reunion - Don Eikenberry and Ray Elwood will soon be providing updated information on the 2020 Reunion. As you know Don is organizing the Reunion and Ray is organizing the optional day-trip on October 14, the day after the Reunion. We all owe a big thank you to both of these guys for all the work they have put in to help keep our Reunions going.

I will be sending out a group email as soon as Don and Ray are ready so be on the lookout for that.

The Reunion is scheduled for October 11-14, 2020 in Colorado Springs, CO. There is now a link on our website with details along with a list of those who have told us they plan to attend. Please review this list for accuracy and let me know if you see any errors. The link to the list is on that page.

Questions on the Reunion should be directed to Don Eikenberry. Don's contact info can be found on the Full Roster

6. I will be working on the backlog of website updates after this news update.

7. National Museum of the United States Army - The U.S. Army announced that the National Museum of the United States Army located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia will open to the public on June 4, 2020. Here is more on that.

8. St. Barbara's Day, the Patron Saint of the Artillery is celebrated each year on December 4.

9. 1/83rd Unit Merchandise - Here is a link to the latest merchandise.

10. 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.

11. News - if you have any good news that you want to share send it along. Having good news to share would be a real pleasure, as it seems like we are constantly only talking about sad news. Here is the latest 1/83rd News.

Interesting Links and More

1. Rex Hon (66-67) sent this story about the commotion caused among some neighbors when an 8-inch Howitzer moved into their North Carolina neighborhood. Here is the story and video, Military vehicle raising concern in Durham neighborhood

2. Al Saltzman (66-67) came across a new movie about the Australian Forces in Vietnam. It is called Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan. Here is a description of the movie. If you can find it anywhere, be sure to pass that info back to me.

3. Ed Kloiber (68-69) sent this video link AC-47 "Spooky" Gunship

4. Dan O'Brien (69-70) also sent one on the same subject, Puff the Magic Dragon: The AC-47 "Spooky" Gunship There may be an add in the beginning of the video which you should be able to skip after a few seconds.

Did you Know

The Hoover Dam construction project (started in 1931) was the first construction project in the world where the workers were required to wear hard hats.

(Courtesy of How-To Geek Newsletter)

1/83rd Website

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Check out all the latest updates by looking at the website Table of Contents.

Vietnam Veterans of America

1/83rd Roster

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.

I have recently become aware of several changes to contact info. It is important that you keep your contact information up to date on the Roster, it is the only that your buddies can find you! Let me know when things change.

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.

There is a long-standing page on our website where I list men that are either missing, inactive or trying to be located by someone in our group. I am asking everyone to review that page and let me know if you have updates you would like me to make.

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.

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

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