1/83 Artillery Update
December 22, 2014

Seasons Greetings to everyone.

1/83rd Unit News

1. Remembrance - December 29th is the 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. Lest we Forget.

2. Perseverance - I just heard from Calvin Loftis (66-67) who for a long time has been trying to find an old "A" Battery buddy, Ralph Lusk who he had not seen or spoken to since 1967. Calvin managed to track Ralph down yesterday and they had a nice visit. This just to prove that if you are willing to invest a little time you too can track down an old buddy.

3. Troop Ship to Vietnam Update- in the last week update I mentioned the story below. Well, in the 12/21 issue of the Phila Inquirer a follow-up story ran. The identity of "Little Ty" was found, he was Tyrone R. Parler who served with the 610th Engineer Company in 67-68. Unfortunately, Tyrone passed away at age 56 partially from dealing with his service in Vietnam. May he rest in peace.

Troop Ship to Vietnam - there was a recent story in the Philadelphia Inquirer (the main paper in Phila) about an exhibit which has been on display in Phila. for a couple of months. The exhibit is some artwork found on a troop ship that took guys to Vietnam. A twist in the story is that some of artwork was done by someone from Phila only known as "Little Ty". A few people have tried for some time to track him down. I hope to get to see the exhibit soon but I thought you would enjoy the story. Any of us who went to Vietnam on the Edwin D. Patrick can relate to this story.

4. Unit Merchandise - See section below.

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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

1st Sgt Roy Laudette and Santa (Sgt Tom Bennett, aka Sgt "Rock" - HQ Battery - Nui Dat December 1966

General News

"Learning about and applying for VA benefits shouldn’t be complicated for Veterans and their families. That’s why we improved Explore.VA.gov, the website that makes it easy to see all the benefits that VA has to offer to help Veterans buy homes, earn degrees, start careers, stay healthy, and do so much more after service."

Interesting Links and More

2. Don Aird (70-71) sent this holiday, patriotic display - God Bless The USA Tribute in Lights

3. Walt Noechel (69-70) sent this story of bravery at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 - The Pearl Harbor P-40 boys

4. Tom Bailey (66-67) has a very interesting job, his company gets to blow up things. This video show a building in Detroit that Tom's company recently imploded. The video repeats a few times at various speeds and is pretty cool - North Park Plaza Building implosion December 14, 2014

5. Neal Schwartz (68-69) and Dan O'Brien (69-70) passed along their recommendation on the movie Last Ounce of Courage which, on the surface, appears to be a Christmas movie, but it isn't. It speaks loudly about our freedoms and what's happening to them.

Here is what Neal had to say...

"I’m sure Dan sent you the info on this one too. If he didn’t mention it, you might want to put it out to all with a simple message that perhaps our sworn commitment to fight for freedom may not be over just because we’ve already served. Everyone that believes in freedom has to respect the real meaning of this film, even the atheist, even a real Muslim, or a Hindu. It’s not at all about religion, it’s about freedom and the freedom to practice whatever we believe in, what we fought for in the past, what we should be fighting for again now. Perhaps we need to heed what Ronald Reagan was telling us about how just one generation can take it all away from us. It is on Netflix.

Just think what it would be like if the silent majority would stand up and show the negative minority just how it’s going to be. We all know the truths, just how many of us are going to stand up again for what we believe in. People need to take a stand, not just sit on the sidelines and let it all slip away."

Ed. I have not seen this movie but I am passing this along as requested.

6. Dennis Mack (66-67) sent this interesting video on how the USS Pennsylvania, the largest Submarine in the U.S. Navy, works.

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

2. VVA website

1/83rd Merchandise

Unit Merchandise - The proceeds from Cap, Decal and Patch sales will go to the Reunion fund.

a. Unit Crest Patches (same patch as has been available 3.25"h x 2.75"w - $6 each. Here is a photo.

b. Unit Crest Decals (Decal is round 3.5" x 3.5") - $5 each. Here is a photo.

c. 1/83rd Caps (Adjustable) - $20 each. Here is a photo.

If you are interested in any of these items, send me a check. Make sure you supply your mailing address.

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

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

Please note that there are no blank spaces in email addresses. What you see in mine between words/characters is the underscore (_) character.

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