Message From The President
Reunion XIV is history now and I hope everyone attending got home safely and will remember this reunion as one of the best to date. The hotel, Town and Country, provided food, drink and an excellent atmosphere for a great reunion. The facilities were “First Class”, the food in their restaurants was very good and they helped in putting on one of the best reunions thus far of the 14 we have had. Ken Miller, the reunion chairman made an excellent choice of the hotel and his great organizational skills made the weekend go smoothly without a major hitch.
We had two great speakers for the weekend. “Jug” Burkett, author of the book, Stolen Valor, spoke to the group on Friday evening at the Stable Your Mount Party and our very own, Brigadier General Terry Tucker spoke to the est. 800 troopers, family and friends at the Saturday night banquet.
On Saturday, buses ferried everyone to Balboa Park, the site of our Memorial service for our Killed in Action and for those Blackhorse troopers who died since the last reunion in New Orleans.
The weather was absolutely beautiful. The high for the weekend was 73 degrees with a low of 63 degrees for the evenings. With the San Diego trains across the parking lot, many troopers and their families went all over San Diego to see the sights. It was very convenient, clean and carried you most everywhere you wanted to go. The Reunion Committee consisting of Gene Johnson and chairman, Ken Miller, Mike Forti, Robert Hoyt and myself did a great job to assure the weekend went without any problems.
11 ACVVC presented it’s two special awards at the Saturday night banquet. The Jack Quilter Memorial award was presented to John Casterman of M Company and the 11 ACVVC Trooper of the Year award was presented to Eric Newton of K Troop, our Public Information Officer (PIO) for his efforts of assisting in getting our Website up and running and his notification to the various newspaper, radio and television stations of our gathering in San Diego.
A special thanks goes out to all those that helped out at various times for the Quartermaster Store, Registration and coordination with the hotel to assure everything was accomplished that made the weekend a wonderful event that all attending will remember. We now set our sites to next year for the reunion in Buffalo.
We will meet next year on August 3 – 6, 2000 in Buffalo, New York, sight of the Niagara Falls. We will be at the Adams Mark Hotel, which is now under a $4 million renovation. It is a truly beautiful hotel whose Sales office is dedicated to showing us old crusty veterans a great time while there. Reunion Chairman, Mike Forti has been working a year now to make sure this reunion is another great success. For you early birds, you can make your reservations by calling 716-845-5116.
In my next message, I will let you know about the elections that took place in San Diego and who will be leading 11 ACVVC for the next few years.
Now, in closing, all you troopers know about next year’s reunion and many of you have relocated your old buddies because of our website. Call them up and make sure you get commitments from them to meet you in Buffalo next August for Reunion XV. Hey, that’s why they call them Reunions and it's time you attend and see your old buddies.
Till next time,
ALLONS !!!!
PresidentK Troop 1968-69