I, along with Richard Molck, Robert Bennett and Skip Greene were in Branson, MO October 24 - 26 for the off-year board meeting and to work on next year's reunion.   Jerry McKnight was unable to be with us due to work commitments.

 

We accomplished some items and are well on the way to completing the entire schedule.  We located a venue for the memorial service and decided with the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter for them to provide the honor guard and rifle squad details as well as the chaplain and a bugler for TAPS.   We met with the food and beverage director at the hotel and worked out the menu details for the daily breakfast, men's lunch and the Saturday evening banquet.  After meeting with several photographers, we selected the best fit for our group.  We attended several shows and gathered information to determine group activities and started the process to locate banquet entertainment. We asked the CVB and the hotel sales director to suggest suitable activities from which to choose for the ladies' tour during the Saturday business meeting and men's lunch.  I will be posting a request for a coordinator for the ladies' activity on the WOW Facebook page, but if anyone reading this is willing to step forward, that would be most appreciated.

 

It is our goal to complete all reunion arrangements and have a registration form available just after the new year.   The hotel has begun receiving reservations and we were quite excited to see who is on the list.  You know who you are, and we can't wait to see you again.

 

We can report that the hotel is well suited to our needs, the staff is very service oriented, and they are well versed in handling military reunion groups.

 

During the board meeting we reviewed the past year's accomplishments, set goals for the time remaining until the reunion, selected the Lockee and Lonely Bull award recipients and re-energized ourselves towards working on behalf of the association.

            Memorial Service Chapel                       Wall of Hero's at the Radisson.

Now that we are home and have a chance to reflect on our trip and what we experienced, we are confident that Branson was an excellent choice for the 2018 reunion.   It has been described as "Las Vegas Without the Gambling".    Shows, restaurants and other entertainment are everywhere and there truly is something for everyone.    This is the farthest west we have ever been and we hope that those shipmates that have not attended reunions in the past due to distance will now join us.  And, of course, we look forward to those of you that have joined us in the past being with us again.  Our reunions keep getting better-let's continue that and make this the best attended and most enjoyable yet!