Delta Company 1/20

Delta Company, 1st Of The 20th, 11th Light Infantry Brigade
Americal Division

Delta Company 2006 Reunion Newsletter

Delta Company 2006 Reunion Newsletter:

May 14, 2006

We wanted to give all of you a short report on our 2006 Reunion. We had something like 70 men from Delta in attendance (30 of them new to the Reunion), along with wives, friends, children (well OK, grown kids), grand-kids etc., for probably close to 150 folks in attendance. Needless to say, a great time was had by all. Our Reunion was organized by President Jason Wright and Vice President Wendell Strode. We started out Thursday night with a filling barbeque dinner at the Strode's beautiful family home/farm, just outside of Bowling Green. Not all of our attendees were there on Thursday, so it just meant more food for the rest of us! Jim Drieth displayed his brand new 2006 Corvette on the front lawn, and we did our best not to spill barbeque sauce on it; Jim was grateful.

We started off Friday morning with some visiting at the Holiday Inn, and then we took a chartered bus to the Corvette plant there in Bowling Green and had an interesting tour of the plant. Most of us refrained from buying a new Vette off the line. You couldn't anyway, as all of the new Vettes are already purchased; and yes, some owners are waiting right there to drive them away! We next went to the Guthrie Memorial Bell Tower on the Western Kentucky University campus for a group photograph. The Bell Tower includes a memorial to all of the Strode men who have served in our Armed Forces. The group picture will be displayed on the Delta website as soon as we can get it posted (deltacompany.org).

After the group photo, off we went to the Corvette Museum for a tour there. In case you're picking up a theme here, you should. Wendell Strode, our 2006 Reunion organizer happens to head up the Corvette Museum, which is right across the street from the Corvette plant. We had a prime rib dinner at the Museum, followed by a video of the Americal Division and the 11th Light Infantry Brigade (from pictures we had) put together by the audio/visual folks at the Museum. The video was followed a musician who had volunteered his time for the show. Then back to the Holiday Inn conference room for more fellowshipping, talking and looking at each others pictures.

Saturday morning, found us back in the conference room for more fun. Just being together, talking, swapping stories, looking at pictures and getting reacquainted after what, say 36 or 37 years. Our 30 new men who were "first attendees" had a great time and it was very heart-warming for these men to see their buddies again. We were very fortunate to have two of our former Captains with us, Capt. Chuck Seketa who commanded Delta from February, 1968 to about August, 1968 and Capt. Chuck Maxson, who followed Capt. Seketa in the field, and finished with Delta in December, 1968. We also had, for the first time, three of our medics, Tom Warder, Mark Tietjen and Mike Skrnich. It was truly an honor to have these men with us.

Our business meeting started at 1 PM with a financial report by our Treasurer, Mac McLellan, and thanks to the generosity of all of you, we were able to fund the entire 2006 reunion and end up with a surplus to start out the new term. We elected our new slate of officers for the 2006 to 2008 term. Wendell Strode was elected our President, Dwight Sommar was elected Vice President and Sherry Barger as Secretary. Mac offered to continue as Treasurer. We will hold our 2008 Reunion again in Bowling Green. As of right now, we will need to have the meeting either earlier in April, or the first week in June; more to follow when we have the date tied down.

In attendance with us was Tom DeForge, brother of Lt. David DeForge, platoon leader of the Mortar platoon. We lost David on March 8, 1969. Tom brought his two sons with him, Tom Jr and David, named for his uncle. At our Business meeting we presented the DeForge's with a Memorial Certificate in remembrance of David. Our Mortar Platoon men presented Tom with the Certificate.

Also in attendance was Mrs. Marge Lovegren and her two sons, Dick and Steve. Mrs. Lovegren's son David Lovegren was lost on March 1, 1969; and as many of you know, we were unable to recover his body after the fateful helicopter crash that day. We are thankful that both of these families were able to be in attendance with us and we again extend our deepest sympathies to them in the loss of their brave men.

Sunday morning we held a Memorial Service and read the names of all of our Delta men who were lost. We shared hymns and prayers in remembrance of those men.

Many of you have asked about our dues. The answer is two-fold, first, our dues are voluntary, secondly, we ask for annual dues of $100 OR whatever amount you are willing to donate. Regardless of donation amount, all of our Delta men are welcome at the reunion. Some of our men come to the Reunion and are very generous. Some come and aren't able to be as generous. We want any Delta man (and his family) to be welcome at the Reunion regardless of donation amount. Again, dues are voluntary; $100 per year. Some donate more, some less. Whatever, come to the 2008 Reunion. If you want to donate of any amount, send checks made out to Americal Division/Reunion Fund Co. D 1/20, to Mac McLellan. email us for the address

And to those of you who were not able to be with us, we truly missed you. We hope you can join us at our next Reunion in 2008. Here's looking forward to seeing you then in Bowling Green.

Below is a summary of our attendees; * means new attendee:


 Jack Arias                       *(Capt.) Chuck & Ardys Maxson
*Jack Armey                        Mac & Theresa McLellan
 Cliff & Sherry Barger             Bruce & Sue Moore
 Fred & Ruth Battle               *Larry & Delonda Morton & son LaRon
*Fred & Linda Beyer               *Ricardo Palomares
*Bob Brink & sister Lois Leonard   Jim & Edna Polier
 Jeff & Karin Colvin              *Gary Priest
 Alan & Leslie Conger              Toby Prodgers
*Richard & Becky Culver           *Ron Reese
*Bob Damon                        *Steve & Linda Reynolds
*Tom DeForge, Tom Jr & David       Bill & Dana Rose
*Jim & Sue Drieth                  John & Jan Rosebrook
 Tom & Tonia Ebert                 Steve & Rebecca Russell
*Randy & Charlene Evans           *Tom Seeger
 John & Karen Ewing               *Daryl & Nancy Seegert
 Freddy & Deb Falgoust             (Capt.) Chuck & Cindi Seketa
*Bill & Kiva Gratzer               John Simpson
*Jay Grieser & Patricia Kesterson *Mike & Barbara Skrnich
 Elmer Hall                        Dwight & Pennie Sommar
 Danny & Sue Hanna                 Dennis & Nancy Sperry & daughters Andrea & Denise
 Bob & Sheila Hatten               Wendell & Jan Strode
 Jack & Pat Hayden                *Dennis Taylor
 Ronnie & Shirley Horton & daughter Teal & Dean Edwards and sons Jamie & Justin
*Norm & Corky Tatara               Cliff & Mary Jo Tholen
 Bill & Linda Howard              *Mark Tietjen
*Mickey Janowski                   Erskine & Georgia Wade
*Curtis & Daphine Johnson          Michael & Rosalyn Wade son Michael
 Martin & Norma Juarbe            *Tom & Judy Warder
 Rich & Elaine Karakis             Jim & Carla White &Ron&Winona White
 JD Kilzer                         Herb & Sharon Wielenberg
 Stan Larson                      *Jan & Jill Winters & daughter Evy
 Jason & Jane Wright, son James, daughter Mindy & granddaughters
 Marge, *Dick & *Steve Lovegren    Ken & Connie Leslie
*Joe Lupo                         *Dennis Lyons
 Duke Davis                        Skeeter & Rebecca Lasa

Photographs of our reunions
Reunion 1999 | Reunion 2000 | Reunion 2002 | Reunion 2004 | Reunion 2006