‘FLEXIBLE’
2/94th Battalion Update Number 34
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Members Found
Member info
AO and Veterans Administration
Website: http://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/
Hi to all,
Members found:
Darrell Gutsche found,
Spores, William R. - Lieutenant 69-70 who served with A Battery.
Sgt Rocky Calderon B Battery????? 1971 to 1972 found the website.
Also had some names of the fellows he served with.
Puff, Stokes, or Dwayne Thundershield (Hymore South Dakota).
I added Sgt Calderon and the other names to our B Battery list but I am not sure of this. The gun he mentioned was Big Duster so I am assuming B Battery.
I will add the other fellows with as much data as we have to B Battery. If anyone has anymore data on these fellows, let me know.
Member info:
Former Captain Sharrett of HHB and Service Battery sent in an interesting article on a Christmas tradition of out Maine.
Photo of the wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery
These wreaths
– some 5,000 – are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of
Harrington, Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the
wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He’s done this since 1992.
A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an
educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more
remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the
state.
AO and Veterans Administration.
My fight continues. Now that the holidays are over I will be following up with Mr. Len Sistek of the House VAC oversight and investigations on adding Chronic Peripheral Neuropathy to our list of "associated toxic chemical damages."
I think I made that clear at the meeting in December in DC.
Ironically, as I thought back on those events no one challenged the data I presented. Only whose fault it was it was not added and the nefarious way that only the transient form of this disorder was added which, actually benefited almost no one. So I am very optimistic at this point that this will be added. Still more needs to be done on other toxic chemical issues.
I will be sending Dr. Birnbaum of the EPA a sample of what I am doing with the failure discussion on not only the generic issues but also the B and T cell dysregulation. Just to see if I am on the right track or not. Understanding my working paper is very technical reading but not as technical as a microbiologist would be of course.
I hope that the immune system expert scientist she pointed out to me will get involved with at least some of it. I will copy him also but he has not contacted me yet.
I did post two articles at:
http://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/Chas/VAwronganswers.htm
This one is on how accurate the VA information given out is actually and the methods these smug people that work for the VA use in talking to Veterans.
http://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/Chas/VAbudgets.htm
Department Of
Veterans Affairs Repeatedly Violated Ban Against Diverting Health Care Funding.
Hope everyone had a super
Christmas and a tardy All The Best the New Year can bring to each and everyone
of you.
I get e-mail from a lot of you obviously but one in particular always has some statements at the bottom that either make me think or gives me huge chuckle.
This last one was a classic in which he also sent in the Christmas Story below:
Politicians are like diapers.
They both need changing frequently and
for the same reason!
The following article appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News on December 22, 2005
Here's a Yule Story That
Ought to be a Movie
By Ronnie Polaneczky
It started last Christmas, when Bennett and Vivian Levin were overwhelmed by
sadness while listening to radio reports of injured American troops.
"We have to let them know we care," Vivian told Bennett.
So they organized a trip to bring soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center
and Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philly, on
Dec. 3.
The cool part is, they created their own train line to do it.
Yes, there are people in this country who actually own real trains. Bennett
Levin - native Philly guy, self-made millionaire and irascible former L&I
commish - is one of them.
He has three luxury rail cars. Think mahogany paneling, plush seating and
white-linen dining areas. He also has two locomotives, which he stores at his
Juniata Park train yard.
One car, the elegant
Pennsylvania,
carried John F. Kennedy to the Army-Navy game in 1961 and '62.! Later, it
carried his brother Bobby's body to D.C. for burial.
"That's a lot of history for one car," says Bennett.
He and Vivian wanted to revive a tradition that endured from 1936 to 1975,
during which trains carried Army-Navy spectators from around the country
directly to the stadium where the annual game is played.
The Levin's could think of no better passengers to reinstate the ceremonial ride
than the wounded men and women recovering at Walter Reed in D.C. and Bethesda,
in Maryland.
"We wanted to give them a first-class experience," says Bennett. "Gourmet meals
on board, private transportation from the train to the stadium, perfect seats -
real hero treatment."
Through the Army War College Foundation, of which he is a trustee, Bennett met
with Walter Reed's commanding general, who loved the idea.
But Bennett had some ground rules first, all designed to keep the focus on the
troops alone:
No press on the trip, lest the soldiers' day of pampering devolve into a media
circus.
No ! politicians either, because, says Bennett, "I didn't want some idiot making
this trip into a campaign photo op."
And no Pentagon suits on-board, otherwise the soldiers would be too busy
saluting superiors to relax.
The general agreed to the conditions, and Bennett realized he had a problem on
his hands.
"I had to actually make this thing happen," he laughs.
Over the next months, he recruited owners of 15 other sumptuous rail cars from
around the country - these people tend to know each other - into lending their
vehicles for the day. The name of their temporary train?
The
Liberty Limited.
Amtrak volunteered to transport the cars to D.C. - where they'd be coupled
together for the round-trip ride to Philly - then back to their owners later.
Conrail offered to service the
Liberty
while it was in Philly. And SEPTA drivers would bus the disabled soldiers 200
yards from the train to Lincoln Financial Field, for the game.
A benefactor from the War College ponied up 100 seats to the game - on the
50-yard line - and lunch in a hospitality suite.
And corporate donors filled, for free and without asking for publicity, goodie
bags for attendees:
From Woolrich, stadium blankets. From Wal-Mart, digital cameras. From Nikon,
field glasses. From GEAR, down jackets.
There was booty not just for the soldiers, but for their guests, too, since each
was allowed to bring a friend or family member.
The Marines, though, declined the offer. "They voted not to take guests with
them, so they could take more Marines," says Levin, choking up at the memory.
Bennett's an emotional guy, so he was worried about how he'd react to meeting
the 88 troops and guests at D.C.'s Union Station, where the trip originated.
Some GIs were missing limbs. Others were wheelchair-bound or accompanied by
medical personnel for the day.
"They made it easy to be with them," he says. "They were all smiles on the ride
to Philly. Not an ounce of self-pity from any of them. They're so full of life
and determination."
At the stadium, the troops reveled in the game, recalls Bennett. Not even Army's
lopsided loss to Navy could deflate the group's rollicking mood.
Afterward, it was back to the train and yet another gourmet meal - heroes get
hungry, says Levin - before returning to Walter Reed and Bethesda.
"The day was spectacular," says Levin. "It was all about these kids. It was
awesome to be part of it."
The most poignant moment for the Levins was when 11 Marines hugged them goodbye,
then sang them the Marine Hymn on the platform at Union Station.
"One of the guys was blind, but he said, 'I can't see you, but man, you must be
beautiful!' " says Bennett. "I got a lump so big in my throat, I couldn't even
answer him."
It's been three weeks, but the Levins and their guests are still feeling the
day's love.
"My Christmas came early," says Levin, who is Jewish and who loves the Christmas
season. "I can't describe the feeling in the air."
Maybe it was hope.
As one guest wrote in a thank-you note to Bennett and Vivian, "The fond memories
generated last Saturday will sustain us all - whatever the future may bring."
God bless the Levins.
And bless the troops, every one!
Kelley