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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 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. We 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.
All
photos of past reunions are posted now. If any of you have pictures you took and want them made available to everyone,
please send those pictures to Sonny for inclusion.
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.
Our 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, we would like to tell you, 2012's 26th Marines Association reunion will be held in Alburquerque, New Mexico (and as decided at this 2011’s membership meeting)…
St. Louis, Mo., Minneapolis, Mn. and a city in the Mount Rushmore area, will be the city of
choices for our 2013 reunion. Information on these cities will be presented at the 2012 reunion for you perusal
prior to voting.
We are currently accumulating information related to these 3 cities which
will be sent to you via the last known mailing address, last known email and posted on the 26th Marines Association
website, www.26thMarines.com under "Reunions" and
as mentioned above, presented at the 2012 reunion as well for a vote.
Semper Fi, P. O. Box 364,
Lordsburg, N. M. 88045
Phone - 575-542-8085
Sonny Hollub, Secretary
/ Treasurer - ghollub@austin.rr.com 340 Humphrey Dr.,
Buda, Texas 78610 Phone - 512-312-4168
Richard Soto, Public Relations
Officer - e8top@aol.com 1833 Amelia
Ave.,
San Pedro, CA 90731-1106 Phone - 310-547-4509
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