MILITARY REUNION NEWS

MILITARY REUNION NEWS e Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance

The Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation recently hosted the dedication of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on the 69th anniversary of the end of the war. Long known as the forgotten war, the Wall of Remembrance ensures the over 36,000 American servicemen and 7,100 Korean members of the Augmentation to the US Army (KATUSA) who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of democracy will never be forgotten. The dedication offered the US and The Republic of Korea an opportunity to express their gratitude for those who served in the war to defend democracy and the people of South Korea.

For more about the Korean War Veterans Memorial visit www.nps.gov/kowa/index.htm For more about the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation visit www.nps.koreanwarvets memorial.org/our-progress/

Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance

Korean War Veterans Memorial

USS Cogswell DD-651

For the first time in its history, the USS Cogswell DD-651 Association held a reunion in Florida. Finding a hotel for a small military group was a little daunting in Mouseland, but reunion organizer, George Overman, found a connection at the last minute that saved the day and the reunion.

The Homewood Suites by Hilton in the Buena Vista section of Orlando, Florida, turned out to be a great host at a very reasonable price ($106 a night) for the Association. It also included free parking which is becoming harder to find as well. In fact, some of our members who have attended multiple reunions said it was among the very best of hotels we have used. With our numbers shrinking in the Association, it is harder to find hotels willing to host a small group (50-100) like ours. The hotel extended the low rates for a number of attendees who came early and a few who stayed late to enjoy the area.

The hotel staff worked hard to make sure they accommodated our needs and wants, including a large hospitality room that housed our memorabilia, souvenir sales items and beverages and snacks. During the official three days of the reunion, the hotel provided a free and full breakfast buffet that our members really appreciated.

As this was the first reunion where we didn’t offer an organized tour option – by our members’ choice – the location was central enough to give various touring options for attendees on their own. Some chose to go on a nearby airboat ride, others visited Disney shops and even more decided to take advantage of the beautiful pool and patio and just enjoyed a quiet day in the hot sunshine.

During the day, the hotel sent a representative to welcome our group.

On our opening night, our Association President welcomed everyone to the reunion and the hotel assisted us in assembling our “MIA” – Missing in Action – table for our traditional ceremony.

With just a small café on site, most of the attendees found plenty of dinner options in the surrounding area. Of course, each evening included “sea story” sessions in the hospitality room.

On Thursday we held our Association meeting and discussed future reunion plans as well as the disposition of some of our collected traveling museum items.

We held our dinner banquet on Thursday night with a presentation by Mat “Mas” Wittal, an automation and robotics systems engineer at nearby NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and a Navy veteran. Mat, who is working on the ambitious commercial and international mission “Artemis,” gave us an inside look at the plans for a new moon landing and an eventual base for a future manned mission to Mars.

The banquet, as it always does, included a poignant time of remembrance as the list of shipmates who’ve died since the last reunion was presented. One of our guests was a World War II submariner, an uncle of one of our members, who lives in nearby Vero Beach. The reunion included three first time attendees and the banquet included several family and friends of members.

Planning is underway for a Fall 2023 reunion in the Mountain Time Zone. The USS Cogswell website is www.usscogswell.com.

Reported by Association VP and newsletter editor, James L Smith, and shared by George H. Overman (RM 64-66), Secretary/Reunion Planner.

“MIA” – Missing in Action – table for our traditional ceremony

USS John Young Veterans Association

The reunion in Charleston, South Carolina, included a meet and greet, Veterans Association Meeting, and tours of Patriots Point, the USS Yorktown and USS Laffey.

Our veterans enjoyed a dinner cruise — our big night out —hosted by Spiritline Cruises. The harbor tour was breathtaking. The views were fantastic and so was the (much talked about) she-crab soup. Everyone enjoyed the fine cuisine and drinks onboard. There was also live acoustic guitar music.

There were 26 guests, 20 of whom were Navy Veterans. This event was significant as the integration of women to fleet assignments (at sea) occurred in the mid 90s and we had several women attend, two of whom were among the first onboard. They mentioned that the men were not very accommodating in the beginning and that it took some time for adjustments to allow for them to serve at sea.

Visit www.ussjohnyoungdd973.org/ for more about this reunion.

Reported by Michael Trotta, Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Significant for this event, two of the first women assigned to the USS John Young in the mid 1990s, along with some of the women who were also onboard through early 2000.

Left to right: Jack Gunsett, Larry Stoddard, Michael Geubert and Herbert “Lou” Drenner. They were the first to board the USS John Young and go out to sea in 1978. USS John Young group in Charleston, South Carolina. Robert Brooks, a former Navy Damage Controlman, was the recipient of the amazing raffle prize, a USS John Young tribute plaque (designed by Metal Art of Wisconsin) during the dinner cruise.