Join us for 2018 Bravo Reunion in Philadelphia

Transcription

1 Join us for 2018 Bravo Reunion in Philadelphia Inside this Issue Reunion Update Paver Dedication, Ft. Benning...3 Obituaries ,5 Note from Miss Kitty re Parasite..5 Notes from the editors: Please remember to send Miss Kitty or Louanne Hedrick Hill any address or changes Miss Kitty or Lou The Roster has been updated please go to our website to access it. Please check for new-found Bravo Brothers. 1

2 2018 Bravo Reunion April 25 th April 29 th Crowne Plaza Hotel 260 Mall Boulevard King of Prussia PA Rates: $140/night + taxes breakfast included free parking. This is a full-service hotel adjacent to Valley Forge Park and across from the biggest mall this side of the Mississippi! For the gamblers there is a casino five minutes away. Lots of restaurants, some within walking distance. The hotel has a shuttle that will transport you to venues within five miles of the hotel. Reservations: Call the hotel (610) ID is Bravo Group. If you prefer a king bed please make your request at that time. Reservation deadline is March 26, 2018 If you would like to stay in the city of Philadelphia before or after the reunion we have some special rates for you: The Logan Hotel is happy to extend a 10% discount off of their best available rate to guests that would like to stay pre/post their trip to KOP. The discounted rates, as of now, would be from $ per night for a King room between or through April 22 April 25. The rates for stays between or through April 29-May 2 nd are $215 per night for a King guestroom. To book the rooms, please contact BRENNA KEARNEY, BUSINESS TRAVEL SALES MANAGER T: C: Brenna.Kearney@TheLoganHotel.com Holiday Inn Penn s Landing: 100 North Columbus Blvd. Rates start at $ with parking and breakfast included and are non-refundable and must be booked at least 7 days in advance. Phone: Wednesday 25 th /Thursday 26 th arrival and registration. Friday - we are planning a trip into Philadelphia including the Vietnam Veteran s Memorial (where we will hold the Memorial Service) Independence Hall, Liberty Bell and more. Saturday After the Ladies Brunch it s a free day to go back into Philly or tour many of the attractions in the area outside the city. Banquet to be held Saturday evening. Philadelphia Vietnam Memorial Valley Forge Park 2

3 Columbus Georgia Convention & Visitor s Bureau Honors Bravo Company With Paver Invitation from Convention Bureau It was a privilege having your military reunion in Columbus, Georgia. As a way of saying thank you, we invite you to attend a dedication at the National Infantry Museum for the paver we purchased in honor of your reunion. The dedication took place on Veterans Day - Saturday, November 11, 2017 at 11:00 AM on the Heritage Walk at the Infantry Museum. The guest speaker was BG Christopher Donahue, Commandant of the U.S. Army Infantry School. Bart and Teri Denlinger and Slater Davis attended the ceremony representing Bravo Company. Bart Denlinger and Slater Davis at Fort Benning for paver dedication. 3

4 Ron Adams, Rusty Gates, Hugh Butler, Evan Ketcherside with John. Lt. Col. John Tripp passed away on Thursday, November 30, 2017 at his home with family by his side. He was 72. Born June 2, 1945 in Kansas City attended St. Pius X Catholic High School, graduating with the class of He continued his education at Pittsburg State University, receiving a Bachelor s Degree. While at Pittsburg State, John was a four-year letterman in football. In 1968 he was commissioned 2nd Lt in the US Army through the ROTC program. One might think John was quite busy with his studies, football and ROTC, during college, but there he met the lady he would spend the next 48 years of his life with, and before his deployment to Vietnam, John married Karen Kay Jones. John was trained at Ft. Benning, Georgia, graduating from both Airborne and Ranger Schools, and went on to serve with the 23rd Infantry Division during Vietnam. He returned to Ft. Benning as an instructor at the United States Army Infantry School, teaching company level tactics to new officers. John attended graduate school and received a Masters of Educational Administration in 1974 from Georgia State University while at Ft. Benning. John moved his family to Claremore, Oklahoma in He began working at Burgess- Norton, even before they had a building. He held numerous positions during his 30 years there, retiring as Manufacturing Manager in After moving to Oklahoma, John joined the US Army Reserve and trained at the 4156th US Army Reserve School in Broken Arrow, OK until his retirement in 1991 as a Lieutenant Colonel. As a resident of Claremore, John was an early member of the Optimist Club. He was also very active in the Meals on Wheels program and was their treasurer for eight years. He enjoyed fishing and boating with his family, and he also collected military memorabilia. John had a big heart, not only for his family, even strangers were recipients of his generosity. A planner and organizer, John would make a list for things that needed to be accomplished, he would even make a list for you to help insure that you were organized as well. He was always looking to be of help in any way he could. Those family members that survive include his wife of 48 years, Karen, his daughter Sarah Nail and her husband Chad of Claremore; his son Andy Tripp and wife Jenny of Tulsa; his grandchildren Connor Nail, Creed Nail, Anna Tripp and Madeline Tripp and others. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to Claremore Meals on Wheels, 715 McClellan, Claremore, OK, 74017, or St. Cecilia Catholic Church, 1304 N. Dorothy Ave., Claremore, OK, Bravo brothers Dean Haberly, Ron Adams, Rusty Gates, Dave Black, Johnny Mac Shelton and Evan Ketcherside gathered with Karen Tripp at John s service in December. 4

5 Kirby Demonbreum Our good friend, Kirby Demonbreum, age 71 of Lascassas, Tennessee, passed away on Thursday, December 14, 2017 at his home. Kirby was the son of the late George and Dorthy Warren Demonbreum. He is survived by his loving wife, Carolyn Demonbreum; son, George (Dawn) Demonbreum; daughters Angelia (Bruce) Davidson, Tina (Michael) Coffelt; brother, Gerald Demonbreum; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Services to celebrate Kirby s life were held on Monday, December 18, Kirby served his country proudly in the US Army during the Vietnam War. He received a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Silver Star for his valiant service and bravery. Kirby was retired from Nissan. Kirby, on right, with Bob Tropilo. From Miss Kitty: Several years ago, one of the men from the 3/47 Co of the 9th Infantry Division let me know that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He later died of bile duct cancer caused by liver flukes. His cancer diagnosis came on very suddenly. In trying to diagnose his condition, several doctors had no idea how to treat him. Along came a Vietnamese- American Doctor who actually left Vietnam as a teen at the close of the War. He knew that liver flukes infected Vietnamese rivers. He also knew that the parasitic eggs can lay dormant for over 30 years. Sure enough-- right diagnosis but too late. The point of this article is to alert Vietnam Veterans to get tested for parasites as a precaution especially if you have been plagued with problems in the abdominal area. These parasites infect an estimated 25 million people worldwide though rare among most Americans. Jaundice, itchy skin, weight loss and other symptoms appear only when the disease is in its final stages. If caught early, there is effective treatment. Better to be safe than sorry. Case in point: The 69-year-old, who lives in Port Jefferson Station, New York, didn't have any symptoms when he agreed to take part in the study, but hoped his participation could help save lives. He immediately scheduled further tests, discovering he had two cysts on his bile duct, which had the potential to develop into the cancer, known as cholangiocarcinoma. They have since been removed and for now he's doing well. VA study shows parasite from Vietnam may be killing vets

6 The following are s that Bravo s Ron Adams sent to Miss Kitty January 4 th & 5 th, 2018 Barb and I are on our way to Yuba City Calif. about an hour north of here to visit a 97-year-old Lady named PEARL, she was our neighbor when I was growing up and my MOM's best friend. She lived down the street, also her husband (at that time) was our family Doctor and was until he died about 5 years ago (well he had retired way before that). Doc and Pearl divorced waaaaaaaay back and she absolutely hated him from that day on. She worked and put him all the way thru college and med school you know how the women are right?? So anyway, Pearl on or around July 10, 1969 walked down to our house to tell me goodbye, I was boarding a bus in down town SAC headed for Oakland to catch a flight to McCord AFB and then on my way to NAM. He handed me this big Saint Christopher Medal about the size of a silver dollar, it had a magnet mounted inside it and was about 1/2" thick. She told me when I got to Nam to put it on my metal pot and it would give me good luck. Well obviously, it would have never stayed 10 minutes in the bush mounted to my pot and besides most of the time I was wearing a bush hat. But I put it in my pocket and this is exactly where it was kept for the entire year, I would often pull it out and say a little prayer with it or just PLAY with it. Over the weeks and months, it became a really smooth piece of metal in my pocket. After the first and second incident that first week in the field I realized that this piece of luck given to me by Pearl was or had so far really saved my ASS. I came home with this and it never l left my body until I was home from Fort Lewis after my 5 months remaining in the ARMY After that it went to the front of my refrigerator where it stayed thru "two" wives and many girlfriends Then one day my sister Susie was admitted into the Hospital and the whole family was asked to come down they had given her a not so good diagnosis of living through the open-heart surgery she was about to go through. As I left my house headed for the hospital I went over to the fridge and grabbed the St. Christopher medal. I put it in Susie s hand and closed her hand before she was wheeled into surgery. The doctors said they had removed about 40% of her heart and she would probably live a life of about 4 to 6 more years. Susie was home a few weeks later and insisted that I take back my medal. So back to the fridge it went. Then in 2011 Susie passed away. By her wishes I made arrangements to have her cremated, before they took her into and through the process I put the Saint Christopher Medal into her hand once again, said a prayer and that was the last time I saw my sister. Well it was not the last time I saw the Saint Christopher. When I picked up her ashes the gentleman there gave me a small plastic bag and said this was the only that that did not turn to ash through the extremely hot process. Yes, it was the Saint Christopher and the only thing that burned was the magnet mounted inside. It was a little tarnished but it was back with me and this morning it is traveling back to its original owner and I will present Pearl with this keepsake now almost 50 years after she presented it to me. That is my story and I am stickin' to it. Follow-up January 5 th Hi Miss Kitty, thank you for the suggestion, I did make one big mistake when I was telling my story yesterday. Pearl was born on Feb. 6th, I had assumed she and my mom were about the same age. Well Pearl gave me immediate hell about that, my mom was born in 1922 meaning she would have been 96 this coming July 13th, whereas Pearl being born 10 years later will be 86 next month. So, I am adjusting my story. We really had a wonderful day. She was born and raised in the little town of Live Oak, her parents migrated (legally) from Mexico into this area that is all nut orchards, mainly almonds and walnuts but has diversified over the years with even a lot of rice and of course wine vineyards. This is where we had lunch at "Betty's" a small Mexican restaurant just one of many small businesses that has been in town since Pearl was a small girl. Now owned by a 3rd generation grandson who is also the Town Mayor, we got a photo of the meeting. With her lunch Pearl enjoyed her favorite cocktail (bourbon/soda) and told us the story of how right after she and Hoover were married she had received a $100 bill for a Christmas from her parents. She decided she would purchase a PLOT at the Live Oak Cemetery (her mom and dad had years earlier) so for a mere $25 she owned a plot next to where mom and dad and even a sister would all at some time be buried. Of course, then her husband was convinced he should have one too, so half of her Christmas money had been spent. Who would have ever imagined she would spend an additional $500 years later when they divorced and she purchased it back from him. This story prompted our visit by the cemetery for a couple pictures. Back at her house we presented her with a little Photo book of pictures I dug out of my archives mostly of her and my mom (pic of cover attached). Then came the big surprise, I had written out a little brief story of the history like I did for you, and gave her the Saint Christopher. She broke down in tears. It was pretty overwhelming for sure and I need to add that her and my sister Susie had become very close friends after my mom passed away in 1995', which gave the story even more meaning. We spent close to 5 hours with Pearl and 2 furry little friends "Amos & Andy", yes Pearl is very much a dog lover and it just so happened that her two dogs were Rat Terriers, one of them looking very like our "Buckie". Barb was very surprised and we had lots to talk about on the hour drive back to home. She had only met Pearl one time and that was over 20 years ago... Pearl seems very healthy, has a memory better than I certainly do, and seems to be enjoying life living alone. She is not proud of the fact that she will smoke a couple of (half) cigarettes a day and loves a shot of good bourbon to mellow her out most anytime of the day. She has 3 grown daughters, and a couple of grand kids, one great grand kid. All are in Sacramento except the oldest is in SO-Cal but single and retired so she does come north for visits a few times a year. We will plan another trip very soon... thank you for listening. Ron 6