News
Vets, Patronize *Sears & Applebee's* They are our good friends!
May 28, 2010
Thanksgiving is a day when we pause to give "Thanks" for the things we have.
Memorial Day is a day when we pause to give "Thanks" to the people who fought for the things we have.
Author Unknown.
Be sure to "Thank" a Soldier and a Veteran this Memorial Day!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 15,2010
Charlie Company Mexican Riviera Cruise this December!
December is the time of the year for the BLAAAAS! Mexico is "Great" this time of the year. Time to get away and get some FUN in the SUN! Join us on a 7 day Cruise to Mexico with your Brothers & Sisters of Charlie Company! Join George & Patty White, Wil & Cheryl Dahkle, Larry & Vicki Mason, Rich & Chris Miller, Leroy & Ann Henning and Jim & Della Neeley, so far! This should great fun for all. Leave LA and go to Cabos St. Lucus, then to Mazatlan, and then onto Porto Viarda...all great places to have fun!
If you think you may want to go, or want more info, contact Cheryl Dahlke @ 360-692-5640 or e-mail her at cdahlke@msn.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 15, 2010
Hello Everyone,
Well here is the info everyone has been waiting for. Really hope to see you all there this year! Please let me know as soon as possible if you plan on attending-need head count for Dinner!
Thanks,
Jim
~~~C/2/22 Reunion Info~~~
The Annual Charlie Company Reunion will be held again in Centralia, Washington. It will be held from Aug. 6th-8th.
Agenda:
Aug. 6th- Noon-Steam Locomotive Train Ride (And Robbery with our own Warhoop Miller leading the pack! Possible Golf Game before the Train Robbery- working on that for those who may want to Golf)
Aug. 6th- 2 PM- Visit the Viet Nam Veterans Museum next to Train Station
Aug. 6th- On your own for Lunch & Dinner ( They serve food at the Eagles)
Aug. 6th-That evening get together at the Eagles- (7PM?- 10PM)
Aug.7th- Meet at the Centralia American Legion at noon for Reunion. Dinner will be served at 5PM in the Legion Hall. Then continue with our reunion!
Aug. 8th- Breakfast at 8AM & our say our Goodbye's at a local Restaurant.
Reminder: The Agenda is subject to change, but the above is the "Tentative" schedule. This will be updated as we get closer to our Reunion. Hope to see you all there.
MOTEL INFORMATION FOR C 2/22 REUNION 6th, 7th & 8th of August
Please Note, if you are planning on attending, get your Motel Reservations as soon as possible!
The Peppermill Motel will be our "Host Motel"
Peppermill Motel- Exit 81 360-330-9441
$66.70 plus Tax- Group Rate with 10 or more. (Reg price is $89 for Summer Rates, they are giving us a hugh discount + Military Discount!)
Call as soon as possible to reserve a room at this rate, also, let me know also that you will be staying there.
Travel Inn Take - Exit 81
Large view of lake in back rooms
Call 1-866-736-9344 - reservations only
Holiday Inn Take - Exit 81
Continental Breakfast
Call 1- 360- 330-9441 or Fax to - 1-360-330-1467
Econo Lodge Take - Exit 88
Pool & Continental Breakfast
Call 1-360-736-2825 or Fax to 1-360-736-2651
King Oscar Take - Exit 81
Continental Breakfast
Call 1-360-736-1661
Ferryman's Inn Motel Take - Exit 88
AAA Discounts
Continental Breakfast
Call 1-800-977-2094 or 1-360-330-2094 ,
Fax # 1-360-330-5049
Motel 6 Take - Exit 88
NO group rates
Call 1-360-330-2057 or Fax to 1-360-330-2066
All these Motels can be seen from exits , ALL these motels are in Centralia, WA
Return Trip to Viet Nam
May 5th, 2010
Larry & Vicki Mason are planning a return trip to Viet Nam next year. Anyone interested in going with them, contact Larry @ 503-621-0453. The one's that went last year had a "Great" time. Larry's pictures of his trip will be posted on our site as soon as he gets them to me.
April 17, 2010
Thank You Nathan Henwood
I would like to thank my good buddy Nathan Henwood of Montesano Washington for taking the time to get this website up & running. Without him, no doubt, we wouldn't have a web site. He had put many hours into getting this site to work properly. So Nathan, we all "Thank You" for getting us there!
April 3, 2010
Hello My Brothers, well finely we have our web site back on line. Lots of problems getting this site to play DVD's. It is fixed now and up & running good. The site has changed for the better. For me, it is much more "User" friendly and changes can take place much faster, and I can keep what hair I have there on my head! I was loosing it rapidly!
Reunion News
We have our yearly "Mini" Reunion this year again in Centralia, Washington, so mark your calendar! It's the first weekend in Aug. Events will start on Friday. We are still working out the details. As soon as it is finalized, I will post it.
Also, I NEED YOUR PHOTOS! If you have slides, which most of us did, take them to Wal-Mart and the will charge $.24 apiece to have them put on a CD. It is about the cheapest place I have found to get them done. One more good advantaged to using Wal-Mart, they will do it in the store, not sending them out and having the chance of loosing them. So get them changed over, send me a copy and I will get it into "Charlie Company's Web Site"
Jim Neeley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 10, 2009
A Veteran's Day Wish
By Roger Frydrychowski
My salute to each of you on this Veterans' Day 2009. You served well. Stand tall, be proud and receive the salute and thanks of those around you. You deserve it.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Nov.4th, 2009
Well the Reunion is behind us, for the ones who made it to Seattle, we all had a great time, for the one's that couldn't make it, I'm sorry you could not be there. I will be posting the reunion pictures and all the photo of Charlie Company our brother had brought me...Somewhere around 3,000 more pictures I guess. We have pictures from the 77th Arty at Soui Tri also. Those were taken during the battle. Impressive! So, just to let you know, I will not be able to get to this until after Elk Season is over..."Priorities ya know" Will keep you posted.
Jim
********************************************************
Aug. 8, 2009
Reunion Info
Charlie Company Reunion will be held Friday, Oct. 9th, starting at 10 AM. It will be in the hospitality Room at the Marriott Seattle Airport Hotel. This is the same day a bus trip is planned to pick up our Brothers that want to go, and take them back to Fort Lewis, so, the main get-to-gather for Charlie Company won't really get going until after 5PM, when the bus returns. It will run til the "Last man is standing"
Be sure you register with the 22nd Infantry Society at
http://www.22ndinfantry.org/09reunionregistration.htm
More info on the way as it come in. Will post the Itinerary for Oct. 8th thru the 11th in the next few days. "See you in Seattle"!
********************************************************
Aug.5,2009
I have been in contact with Dave Goodwin. He is trying to find anyone that knew Bill Janes, KIA 12-20-1967, he came to Charlie Company in March of 67'. If you remember him please contact Dave at dlgoogwin7@hotmail.com.
Thank you,
Jim Neeley
********************************************************
Reposted May 4,2009
Been in contact with Rick Arthur and Major Thomas Flemming, they have been invited to our reunion in Oct. They are from the Air Cav, 25 Div. who were stationed at Chu Chi. They were the ones who would give us fire support from their Gunships. On the morning of March 21st, 1967, their two gunships were the first on the scene at Soui Tri. They eye witnessed the battle, and us breaking thru the jungle. They will be there to give us a different perspective of how the battle looked from the air. Rick Arthur will be there for sure, Maj. Flemming will let us know for sure later. Hopefully they both can make it. Be sure to give them a big "Welcome"....Jim
Reposted May 4, 2009
I talked on the phone a couple days ago with Joe Engles, he was not with Charlie Company, but was with A Battery, 77th Arty, 4th Div. He was at Soui Tre when we arrived. He is very "Thankful" for us showing up when we did. We have talked several times now, and has been invited to our reunion in Oct. He is looking forward on meeting all of you from "Charlie Company". You all be sure to give him a "Big Welcome", remember all the fire support the 77th gave us, they saved our asses more than once....Jim
********************************************************
Posted May 3, 2009
A Message about Van Karg taken from the Minnesota Dept. of Veterans Affairs, May 2009 Newsletter. Van had met with US Dept. of Veterans Affairs Gen. Eric Shinseki that day of the interview.
Veteran Spotlight: Van Karg
3, Issue 5 9Van Karg believes that connecting with the community
and others is the most important thing a
Veteran can do to help heal the sometimes "invisible"
wounds of combat.
Karg is a Vietnam Veteran who works to help others
find the support and connection that helped
him transition from a solider to a civilian. As the
14th District National Executive Committeeman
for the Disabled American Veterans, he works to
serve all Veterans and their families and lives every
day by that mission.
On June 13, Karg will gather with many of the
soldiers he served with in Vietnam to reconnect,
reminisce and remember their experience in Vietnam.
The group is planning to attend the Minnesota
Honors Vietnam Era Veterans event as part of
their reunion weekend on the Minnesota State
Capitol grounds in St. Paul, Minn.
Karg is looking forward to this year’s reunion. He
remembers how close this group became after
basic training and while serving in Vietnam.
"When you work with that many guys in close
quarters you start to think the same way and take
care of one another," said Karg.
The group, based out of Ft. Lewis Washington,
served together from September 1966 to September
1967, mainly in the southern region of Vietnam.
He remembers being the most fearful when the
unit first arrived in Vietnam. He recalled the
actual environment of war being far different from
their training.
Karg remembers his return to the United States as
less than positive.
"Well I didn’t have any bad experiences when I
returned, you know they talk about how people
got spit on and called names and what not. That
didn’t actually happen to me," he said.
However, he recalls that he and others didn’t
receive the welcome Veterans before them had.
"We didn’t have the welcome home ceremonies,
and when we got back to our communities, we
weren’t welcomed into the American Legions
and the VFWs, we had to go in and make ourselves
welcome," he said.
Karg also feels strongly that this situation, and
others like it, were extremely detrimental to
families of service members.
"Our families got hurt by it too, even our children.
In school children would come up to my
children and say, my mom and dad told me this
about your dad, about being a baby killer. Well
that hurt my kids too and that’s not the right way
to go about it," he said.
Karg feels that today the reception of returning
service members by the public and Veterans
organizations has changed – and for the better.
However, he believes many Vietnam Veterans
and their families remember the hurt, and may
still be hurting.
"If they don’t open up, they’re holding it in, and
until they open up to the public it’s going to stay
that way," he said.
Karg reiterates that it is important for all Veterans
and their families to connect with a community.
"Get active in something. If you get active in
something then someone is going to talk to you
and you’re going to let things out. If you don’t
get active in a community then you won’t let
things out," he said.
He attributes a vital part of his healing process
to his connection, and the opportunity to reunite,
with his fellow service members. He said it
is the most important thing he and his unit have
ever done to move forward.
"We actually didn’t get together until three years
ago, 39 years after we served," said Karg.
He is excited about the June 13 event at the State
Capitol.
"This is the perfect time for this reunion, we’re
expecting 40 men from Minnesota and Wisconsin
to come to this reunion," he said.
********************************************
I talked to Van today, he says everyone of you are invited to come to this reunion. You may reach Van for details at: vlkarg@hutchcel.net
He hope you all can make it back for this one, if you can't, he hope to see you all in Seattle! *Jim Neeley*