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Mike Randall, shown below, who was one of four men of A/2/12 who gave their lives in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Gene Handrahan when 

he was pinned down in a firefight outside of Cu Chi in October 1968. Gene became an MIA on that day, but it wasn’t because his buddies 

didn’t try to save him. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with Patty and I can tell you she is one remarkable survivor. 

Mike, who is now being considered for a CMH (he was awarded the DSC posthumously for his action that day) would be proud of the 

lady he chose to marry within a month of meeting her.    

$69. per night for a standard room.

Features that are provided by the Inn include:

      Free Wi Fi High Speed Internet

Complimentary Airport shuttle

Complimentary Hot Breakfast and Continental Buffet

Free local calls

On site restaurant and lounge

Room service

Outdoor Swimming Pool

Self service laundry facilities

Same day dry-cleaning service

Safe Deposit boxes at Front Desk

Complimentary USA Today

The hotel is minutes from all major businesses and local attractions such as: Eli Lilly, Federal Express, Allison Transmission, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Raceway Park, Downtown Indianapolis, RCA Dome, Conseco Field House, The Indianapolis Zoo, Children's Museum, and White River State Park.

Be sure to mention when booking that you re going to the 'Alpha Association Reunion' in order to receive the special rates and assure availability. We have had members try to book without saying that they were with us and were turned away because of the block of rooms that have been set aside exclusively for Alpha Association members. The hotel is ours for that weekend except for a limited number of rooms that were set aside. Those are all taken.

Many members will be arriving early on Thursday so if you can, get there early and stay late. The official reunion will begin on Friday afternoon as attendees will be trickling into our function room. Our first meal will be served at 6PM on Friday evening.

In the interest of allowing as many of our members as possible, we've maintained the traditional $75. per veteran and spouse or significant other. We understand that other friends may care to join us, so we are asking that additional attendees contribute $50. per person. After the initial husband and wife fee is paid, other family members may attend free. We think these are fair and reasonable rates to assure that sufficient funds are collected to pay all their costs relative to the reunion. The costs include the function room and meal costs. Meals will include breakfasts on Saturday/ Sunday, dinners Friday and Saturday.

Once more in compliance to our charter, no one gets left behind due to inability to pay the reunion fees. Just let us know if you would like to go and cannot afford the fee and we will all chip in and assure that you will be there. Consider it payback for sharing your canteen with us back then. In addition, a limited number of rooms were offered by local members for those who don't have the funds to pay for hotel room. Contact me with your requirements and we'll get you set up.

If you haven't paid your annual dues for the year, you may do so with your fee for the reunion, if this is convenient, at time of registration.     

Who do i pay?

If you look in the bottom of this envelope, you will see a card that should be returned with payment to me this year. Be sure to make out all checks to ALPHA ASSOCIATION. I appreciate all the donations to my retirement fund, but the IRS will probably tax me on it, so wait until we meet at the reunion. Just kidding. I want to be sure that the funds are properly sent to the Association, so make those checks out to the association.  It is important that you get this card mailed to me so that I may properly register you to our event. If you don’t plan on paying your dues until you arrive at the reunion, you will still need to tell me if you are going. Otherwise, we will not be able to properly number the folks who will be there for the meals and we’ll run short on meals! The sooner you let us know if you are going, the better we can organize the affair. One more thing that becomes a bit of a problem over the years. Some of the men don’t decide to go to the reunion until the last minute and don’t pre-register. They then asked for badges when they arrive. As in the old days, “No can do, GI”. No warning that you’re coming, no authentic infantry badges, no exceptions. Just too busy that weekend and I can’t afford a lap top to accommodate them.  In addition, when you register, I would appreciate the name of who you will be arriving with so that I can get all the badges properly made up. This also means the extra family members and friends in attendance.

Who will be there?

As is customary, I will be posting a listing daily showing who will be attending. You can access this list along with web links to nearby attractions off our website, WWW.ALPHAASSOCIATION.ORG. 

It will only be as accurate as the information that I get from the attendees, so get that card in the mail early for the best seats. OK, that doesn’t matter, but it is important to keep us posted on your intentions.

What's on the agenda for the weekend?

Golf comes first; tee times have been set up for Thursday, May 29^th . This will give the guys a chance to sharpen their skills for the tournament. Many others just arrive on Thursday because they feel the three-day period isn’t long enough to spend with their friends in the Association. Come early, stay late!

Friday morning will once again feature the annual golf tournament, The Greater Ivy Open.

Contact Sam Babcock to register for the tournament and to receive specific details:

Sam Babcock 115 Victoria Heights Middletown, CT      06457

Tel: 860-347-5077         E-mail: bluecrabing@sbcglobal.net.

This year there will be a special trip that the non-golfers will be making. Mike Randall, who I mentioned earlier, is buried in his hometown cemetery around twenty miles north of Indianapolis and we will be traveling to his gravesite with his wife Patty to pay tribute to this A/2/12 hero who gave everything he had to try to save his brother from our Company.

Like last year, the Board Members decided to allow Friday evening open with no activities planned. We will be meeting in the Function Room, but we have no specific plans for that night. Check in for last minute changes though, I may have a surprise or two. In fact, count on it.

After breakfast Saturday morning, we will be visiting a Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial in downtown Indianapolis. All are welcome to join us. If we have time, we will also see the Veterans Museum, not far from there. Upon returning to the hotel we will be served lunch. That will be followed by the Ceremonial segment of our weekend. Our Master of Ceremonies once more will be Allyn J. Palmer, Commander, A/2/12, 1966-67. The MIA table fro Gene Handrahan will be prepared first, followed by our tribute to the men killed in Vietnam in our Company during our tour.  We will then be honored to hear short addresses from some of the attendees, including General Umbarger. Anyone who has a thought to share with the attendees is invited to participate.

Saturday dinner is served after this ceremony followed by the annual reunion photo, or visa versa depending on where the sun is for our photographer, Jim Deluco. .

Saturday evening festivities begins at 7PM. We will be having a social on Saturday night. From 8 to?  we will be meeting in the Banquet Hall to share some old memories. We will be having a DJ play those Oldies that so entertained us as youngsters. There will be dancing for those of us that feel so inclined.  For the others, we can share the music and maybe even sing along, not unlike we did in Vietnam in the few times we were in camp.

Sunday morning the attendees will share a breakfast together and begin saying their final goodbyes for the weekend. It is another year older for us, and we count our blessings, which are many.

Check on our website often for more details on the reunion. WWW.ALPHAASSOCIATION.ORG

Is our website and on the home page will have links to the updates, including the menu.

This is the highlight of my year. All year long I look forward to meeting once more with the guys who were without equal in my life. Here’s hoping that another large group will join us in Indianapolis as we celebrate the Brotherhood that gave us hope, when our courage was waning, laughter, when even a smile was hard to come by. More than anything else, it was the friendship that ultimately made the difference and kept us going when we couldn’t see past Vietnam to this day 41 years later. 

See you in Indy.