Delta Company 1/20
Delta Company, 1st Of The 20th, 11th Light Infantry Brigade
Americal Division
Delta Company, First of the Twentieth, Eleventh Light Infantry Brigade,
Americal Division
2004 Reunion Newsletter
Greetings to all of Delta Company, and then some! As Wendell Strode said: "What a wonderful, wonderful time we had at the 2004 Reunion!" We had 91 people in attendance, 39 Delta men, including 15 new attendees: Billy Burrus, Dorateo & Rebecca Lasa, Rich & Elaine Karakis, Adrian Fitzpatrick (Col. Fitz), Chuck & Cindi Seketa, John Arias, Ronnie & Shirley Horton, Herb & Sharon Wielenberg, "Top" Remijio Galvan (& brother Modesto), Jesse Bickers & wife, Frankie & Patty Belcher, Kenneth & Connie Leslie, John Simpson, Martin & Rose Juarbe Jordan, Max Sullivan (our Chaplain) & wife and Bill Rose. We also had some very special quests: Marge and Shirley Lovegren (mother and sister of David Lovegren), Bill & Edna Polier (brother of Marge Lovegren), Mary Lou and Chuck Freeman (widow and son of Charles Freeman), Bonnie Walsh Ward (now re-married widow of Alpha Company commander, Capt. David Walsh) and Bill Ross, Alpha Company Forward Observer. (My apologies if I missed anyone.) Jesse Bickers was the other survivor (besides Don Hotch) of the March 1, 1969 chopper crash. Don Hotch attended our 2002 Reunion, so we have now had both survivors attend reunions.
We had most of the gang show up by our dinner (with DJ) on Friday night. After dinner I was beginning to get a little worried as I knew that we were still missing some important, expected guests. But sure enough, as the night wore on, here came all of the Wades (5 in all), the Prodgers, Steve and Andy Runice (after riding 12 hours on their motorcycles), the Juarbes (all the way from Florida) and a few more late arrivals. We were all happy to see them arrive. Of course we also had the usual suspects attend, you can find them on the attached list. We all stayed up late in the conference room, talking, reminiscing, going over each other's pictures, and reviewing the history that (former) Capt. Seketa is putting together for Delta. I think some of the folks were up well past midnight getting re-acquainted with each other again.
Saturday morning we began to circle back up at breakfast. We had our lunch at noon, with prayer by Chaplain Sullivan (who was with us on the night of June 10, 1969). For those of you that don't know, Max delivered the dedication prayer at the Vietnam Memorial, in Washington, DC. He was able to relate some of his thoughts regarding the events leading up to the dedication. After lunch we had an Awards Ceremony, honoring the family losses of Bonnie Walsh-Ward, Mary Lou and Chuck Freeman, and Marge and Shirley Lovegren. You can view their Memorial Certificates on the website, on the Memorial page. We awarded Bill Howard a Certificate as well for his courage and bravery, these many years, dealing with his serious wounds.
We followed the Awards Ceremony with our Business Meeting. We elected Jason Wright as President, Wendell Strode as Vice-President and Mac McLellan to continue as Treasurer. We also voted to hold the 2006 Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on April 27, 28 and 29 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday). Lastly we held our Auction, auctioneered by our very own John Ewing. The key item, presented by Bonnie Walsh-Ward, was an American flag that had flown over the US Capital, and is dedicated to the men of Delta Company. After much discussion, we decided to frame the flag in a shadow box and the highest bidder will "own" the flag until the next reunion. Wendell Strode made the highest bid and dedicated the flag to "Skeeter" Lasa!
For those of you who haven't made a Reunion I (again) found Wendell Strode's comments about the Reunion useful: "Quite honestly, it was comforting to me to discover that many of you have addressed our Vietnam experiences very similar to what happened with me, pretty well blocked it out of your mind and memory until just a few years ago. Then we began to wonder about certain ones of our squad/platoon/company and to recall experiences during our time there. While some of that recalling is painful, I find it most comforting and beneficial to be with each of you and to reflect together on the good times as well as the ones that were more challenging." Well said, Wendell!
Please keep us updated with your e-mail or home address. For e-mail, do this through the website Contact link, at www.deltacompany.org. We are approaching 170 names on our database, and being able to e-mail information (such as this newsletter) is much easier than mailing it out.
Well, men and ladies of Delta, as I sign off as President and turn over the reigns to Jason, I must say there isn't a finer group of people that I could be with. I look forward to seeing many more of you again in 2006, and hopefully some of you sooner!
Your Forever Friends,
Alan and Leslie
Jason (and Jane) Wright
