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Our reunion was a lifelong dream of Ted
Nichols, a member of Echo Company, 3rd Platoon in country in 1969. He was basically the only one I (Harvey
Lang) had stayed in contact with over the years, with the exception of occasional contact with others in 3rd Platoon.
He wanted this to happen years ago, and then in the spring of 2001, Ted died of cancer.
The death of Ted was devastating;
this loss brought home once again the brotherhood of being a Marine. The facts are we all made it home, not because of our
individual skills or luck, but because we all had each other, and we took care of each other. I had also been in contact with others off and on since we had returned back to
the world in ’69. We met in September of 2001 and decided to start work on the first reunion.
Sonny
Hollub was
our first contact who had been in contact with several 2/26'ers, Paul Tribus, Doc Charlie Klotz, Rudy Fonseca,
Bruce Killen, Ron Barrett, Lee Martin and others over the years and it mushroomed from there.
The 26th Marines
Association’s website www.26thMarines.com was created by
Sonny Hollub. This site has all the up to date information regarding, our organizations history, origins,
current officers, past and next reunion information, contact information for members on a voluntary basis, and other information
related to our ongoing 26th Marines Association.
As
some of you may have noticed, 2007/2008 Reunion Photos have not been posted. The website where our previous reunion
photos were stored has been discontinued and an alternative site or method of posting reunion photos is being examined.
Once a final decision has been made, it will be posted on our website www.26thMarines.com under Photos
or Reunion Photos. Check the website often for changes.
Quinn
Harry found
us early on and created his website www.26thMarines.org. His site is a repository for Nam photos and a compendium of other historical pictures and information related to our
past. Quinn continues to do an exceptional job at maintaining his website. Any pictures you have of your time
in Nam can be sent to Quinn at quinn.f.harry@lmco.com . This
site is appropriately linked to the 26th Marines Association’s website, as well as the association's website
appropriately linked to Quinn’s.
My honest opinion was that we had about as much chance
of doing this as a fire team in the middle of hell, facing off a company of NVA regulars with only snow balls to fight with.
In May of 2002, this lifelong dream became a reality,
and we were together again for the first time in 30 years.
Now you
know the background of the Association and the intention of this letter. It is an introduction to the new officers, our goals,
and our intentions to keep the association as an ongoing organization.
The goal of this association is to
preserve our brotherhood, reflect on our past and present for the benefit of all. Our intent as officers of this association
is to not only make this possible, but to improve the next reunion and strength of our organization.
In closing, I would like to tell
you, current information regarding 2009’s 26th Marines Association reunion will be held in San Diego, California (and as decided at this 2008’s membership meeting)…
San Antonio, Kansas City or New Orleans will be the city of choices for our 2010 reunion.
It will
be held in approximately the same time frame as our last few reunions (September – October 2008) also as decided by
our annual membership meeting. We are currently accumulating information
related to these 3 cities which will be sent to you via the last know mailing address, last known email and posted on the
26th Marines Association website, www.26thMarines.com under "Reunions".
Semper Fi,
Phone - 512-312-4168
Richard
Soto, Public
Relations Officer e8top@aol.com1833 Amelia Ave.San
Pedro, CA 90731-1106 Phone - 310-547-4509
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