Reunion 2008 Schedule
Days inn , Indianapolis , airport site
This year we will be meeting in Indianapolis Indiana at the Days Inn, Airport site.
We are pleased to announce special guest, Major General Marty Umbarger , the
Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, who will be joining us at the reunion
weekend Ceremonial portion of the weekend.
In addition, Howard Paris who served as 2/12's Battalion's S3 Staff Officer in
1967 and during our deployment and through the first half of 1967.
We're also honored to have Patty Randall, the widow of Mike Randall,
in attendance, Mike Randall who gave his life trying to rescue Gene Handrahan
A/2/12 MIA, when he was pinned down and hopelessly cut off.
We have more surprises but not confirmed as yet. Stay tuned for future updates.
Ken Eising has provided this list of attractions in the Indianapolis area
for those of you who would like to take extra time in the area.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Some attendees will be arriving early. There are plans for some of them to golf
at the nearby Public Golf Course.
This will not be the tournament date, just a casual game, to practice with
the golfing group.
Bill Carle is the contact man for the golfing information
Contact info:
Bill Carle
Phone: 1 (317) 780 9735
E-mail wcarle@sbcglobal.net
Golf Info:
Practice Course:
Winding River Golf Course http://windingrivergc.com/
Tournament Course:
Smock Golf Course http://smockgolf.com
Info for both courses:
Tee times will be 10:00 A.M.
Green Fees will be $35.00 or less which includes riding golf carts.
Maps will be available from Bill Carle at the reunion.
Friday, May 30th, 2008
The Greater Ivy Open, with all the prestige associated with the event, will take place on Friday morning at 10:00AM.
Generally, the attendees begin arriving on Wednesday or Thursday.
Officially, the the Reunion does not begin until afternoon on Friday.
While the golf match takes place, some of the ladies will be
going on a shopping spree. That is being organized by the ladies.
As for the men, many of them will travel north thirty miles to pay
tribute to A/2/12 Veteran, Mike Randall at his gravesite.
This group will be led by Mike's widow, Patty Randall. This will take place immediately after lunch.
A series of vans will be used to transport us to the site.
We will all regroup for dinner, which will be served at 6PM and will include this menu:
Homemade lasagna w/ beef & vegetable
toss garden salad
Bread and Butter
desert
At 7:30 pm, I'll be presenting videos for the amusement of the attendees. It will all be over by 8:30, at the latest, to allow the attendees to spend the evening together in conversation.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Hotel will be serving a hot and Continental breakfast for us in the Meeting Room at 8:00 AM.
Morning activities after breakfast, will include a trip to the
Congressional Medal Of Honor Memorial in downtown Indianapolis.
We are planning to have a local veterans group to play taps at the Memorial.
We have a confirmation from Alex Umlauff from the Indianapolis White River State Parks that they will provide a person to talk to us about the Medal of Honor Memorial in Indianapolis to our group at 9:30 A.M. Either Alex or one of his interns will do the honors.
Color Guard and Bugler will be provided by the Indiana National Guard, Sgt. William's team will do the ceremony. Sgt. Williams is going to try to get one of his team members that just retired to come back and help as he is a Viet Nam veteran and thinks he will be honored to help out.
Richard Evans, one of our most valued Associate Members will speak next. He will address
the gathering representing his brother, Donald Evans, A/2/12s, Congressional Medal of Honor
Recipient at the CMH Memorial.
Some of our most profound thoughts on our tours are shared in the shadow of these
monuments to service to our country. This is the time to pause
and consider the many losses and sacrifices that were made by the men who
carried the torch when their time arrived to serve our Country in a far away land.
There is another Military Museum nearby, which we will visit, if time allows.
I was not aware of this until recently, but the Indianapolis area
boasts more Veterans' Memorials in their vicinity
than any other section of the country except Washington DC.
We will return to the the Days Inn to be served lunch.
Lunch will be served between 12:30 and 1:30 PM and will consist of:
DELI BUFFET
sliced roast beef
Roast turkey
honey ham
POTATO CHIPS
tossed salad w/ dressing
American and Swiss cheese
fresh tomatoes and lettuce
onion and pickles
Cole slaw and potato salad
hot rolls
COFFEE - ice TEA
Saturday afternoon will be the highlight period of the weekend as the Ceremony and Testimonials will take place.
Allyn J Palmer will once more serve as our Master Of Ceremonies for the afternoon.
A Table of Honor will be set for Eugene Handrahan, A Company MIA, who never
returned from the war. Bill Braniff, who was Gene's Squad Leader in Vietnam
will once again set the table for our missing brother from our Unit. He will be
assisted by Patty Randall, representing Mike Randall, who gave his
life trying to get to Gene Handrahan that day.
As the Table of Honor is set, the significance of the different adornments
will be explained by Porter Harvey.
Once we have brought the missing
soldier's spirit into our fold we will begin the Ceremonies with
the singing of the National Anthem,
which will be performed by Christian Culleton.
Following this will be a Spiritual Invocation by Gary Brenly.
The next segment will be the lighting of the Flames Of Remembrance Candles
with the reading of the names of the forty-four combat
losses of men who served in A/2/12 anytime during the year 1966-1967
by the surviving vets and of course, Mike Randall.
This will be followed by the viewing of a new
Honor Roll slideshow acknowledging the men who were killed while serving in
A/2/12 in Vietnam during our period of deployment.
This will be followed by the reading of the names of men who we've
lost to natural causes since our tour in Vietnam.
MAJOR GENERAL R. MARTIN UMBARGER,
the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana
will address the attendees first. We are honored
that he found time to join us as we commemorate the men
who served with us in Vietnam.
The second Guest Speaker, Col Howard Paris, (ret) will then take the podium
to deliver an oration on the 2/12 Battalion.
There will be a short intermission following this section.
Upon our return, the short movie, "Warriors..In Their Own Words" will be played. Jim Olafson,
A/2/12 XO from 1967 provided the short 8 minute tribute to the fighting men of our Armed Forces.
Jim Bisson will speak next on our Companies participation in the counter Offensive to the 1968 Tet Offensive and the extraordinary challenges it presented to the Company. He will be assisted by other Association members who served during this period.
Following this, a number of A/2/12 speakers will
move to the podium to submit their thoughts on our tour in Vietnam.
The winner of the Greater Ivy Open Golf Tournament will be announced
next. The last one to win the award was Bill Carle. Bill
is one of the locals who have worked so hard to help
plan the details of the Indy Reunion.
At the end of the ceremony we'll take our annual reunion photo before dinner.
Dinner will be served from 6-7PM and will consist of :
roast pork loin
braised sirloin beef
twice baked potatoes
tossed salad w/ dressing
pasta salad
butter corn
cucumber, tomatoes viragretti
California blend vegetables
hot rolls w/ butter
coffee and tea
two deserts
Saturday evening, we will be repeating the popular
social and dance. The DJ is named David Webb and
he will be providing music for our dancing
and listening pleasure until 11PM. David will be playing music
from the fifties and sixties. I am bringing along over 270 songs from my collection
with a listing so that the party folks can choose their selections easily.
I believe we may even have a bit of karaoke for the
brave souls this evening.
Sunday, June 1st, , 2008
Breakfast from 8 to 9:30 AM and the menu will be the same as
Saturday morning. The men will be served in the hall
just outside our Meeting Room.
This will be our last opportunity to say goodbye to our buddies
and the ladies from the Association.
As we get older we have come to appreciate how
significant it is that we are fortunate to gather
as a Unit and remember the men who were lost, and
the friends who left such a mark on us.
Most veterans never have this opportunity.