Thanks to all that made the reunion and contributed their bios. I believe that we all felt that it was a very spiritually uplifting weekend and we were all glad that we came. We had 40 classmates attend with 18 wives. Unfortunately, Glenn Barlow and Tom Buckley and their wives had to cancel at the last minute. We found 90 classmates but many could not attend primarily due to other commitments. We hope that more can attend the next reunion scheduled for San Diego in late October 2005. As noted later we will make an all out effort to find all classmates by then.

Many arrived on Thursday afternoon 10/23. Paul DiBlasio set up a Welcome Room at the Crossroads Inn on Main Side. Paul's sales meeting organization skills provided a well-organized registration process and snacks and drinks for the travel weary. It was surreal to meet everyone after 35 years! Some classmates kept in contact over the years but many of us unfortunately did not. Time had changed our appearances somewhat but 35 years seemed like 35 seconds after we shook hands and hugged in some cases and quickly caught up. Chuck Rinehart grabbed some guys for the O'Club. We also had an impromptu dinner at the Globe and Laurel arranged by Chris Munger, who was the only Platoon Captain to join us. I thought that it was interesting how the G's and H's seemed to spend a lot of time together as did the S's, T's & W's, etc. I guess that original alphabetical Platoon grouping tended to stay with us all.

Before going through the events of Friday and Saturday, a special thanks to Joe Reich for making all of the arrangements. Everything went like clockwork and we all felt like VIPs. Thanks, Joe!

On 10/24 Friday AM we boarded a base bus and went back to TBS. Joe Reich arranged a for a PowerPoint presentation (the new Marine Corps) orienting us to the ways of the current TBS program. One of us asked Major Justin Wilson, the presenter, to refrain from foul language since there were ladies present. Major Wilson advised us that there were many women now going through TBS and that type of language was not used as a matter of course. Subsequently, we all walked around trying to find our old rooms. We then went for a tour and presentation of the New Night Vision Lab. We received a very comprehensive talk by MSgt retired Mike Fink and then took turns using the night vision glasses to walk around the first room of the lab. Talk about a DARK room! Thanks also to our bus escort, SSgt. Taylor Cobb, who did a great job in getting us to, around, and back from TBS.

We then returned to the Crossroads to join the wives for a delicious buffet lunch at the NCO club (another change - no more separate buildings for NCOs and Officers, just separate rooms). Capt. Shannon Frison gave us a talk about the "Marines for Life" Marine employment assistance program. (Contact Capt. Ben Swisher at (703) 784-9068, if you would like to participate). Afterwards, we all went over to our old barracks. We quickly realized that the Crossroads Inn and the new O'Club were built on our old Annex PT field and O'Course site. Many realized that we were sleeping on the very site where we did sit-ups 36 years earlier! While walking around the barracks area, we heard the names Red Baron and Black Bart, although not always in endearing terms. Paul W.'s old barracks had bars on it and is now used as a computer network site. All of our old Quonset hut classrooms were now just used for storage. The Annex is no longer needed since Main Side OCS is sufficient to handle today's requirements.

On Friday afternoon we took a bus over to Main Side OCS for a lecture and tour of the War Fighting Lab and the O'Course. While taking the ride over we realized that not only did we have to hike 8 to 12 miles on the Hill Trail, but we also had to walk a good mile or so each way from the Annex to start the hike! None of us wanted to run the O'Course for old time's sake, but Don Oliphant and Jim Groark both did kips on the pull up bars which, as we all know, is the first obstacle in the O'Course. Another member of our class also tried the kip but didn't quite make it. Of particular interest was that all the ropes were taken down when not in use?? While walking around the War Fighting Lab, which was adapted from the Nazis, most of us didn't remember going through it, but gradually it all came back. Then we all took the bus back to the Crossroads and got ready for the reception at the O'Club.

On Friday PM we all went to the reception. The format was excellent because we all got to circulate and catch up. Somehow we ugly Marines managed to marry some very attractive woman. Go figure! As we all know "If the Marine Corps wanted us to have wives they would have issued us one". Thus, we definitely did that on our own! We took a great group picture, which all should have by now, however it is also on the website. The Names-to-Faces comes courtesy of Marty Fallgren.

On 10/25 Saturday AM we all boarded a luxury bus for DC. Jerry Hudak gave us Hershey bars for the trip. Pete Hibbard was quick to remind us of the USMC term "Pogey Bait"! The first stop was the Vietnam Wall. I know that many were apprehensive about going to the Wall again or for the first time. However, we all went and seemed to be glad that we went. Some of us went previously either alone or with family but we got a lot more out of this visit because we got to share other fellow Marines' feelings. We have a few pictures of our guys spotting fallen classmates. Hearing some of the Infantry guys noting 10 Marines in a row from their rifle platoon that got killed in one day really got to us. The poignancy of the Wall visit was broken somewhat when the "straggling" Linton Whittles was running to catch our bus. Barry Rogers quickly ran out and cheered him on yelling "Come on Whittles, you just have five more seconds and you have the O'Course record, you can do it, Whittles"! Everyone cheered and laughed. Our somber moods were lifted somewhat.

The next stop was 8th & I - Marine Barracks. Our tour was made possible through a friend of Walter Weathers. The bus driver, Sgt. Kelin Hawkins, deftly got us around an unanticipated anti-Iraq demonstration, whereupon we arrived at 8th & I. We knew that the Silent Drill Team does not perform this time of year, but we wanted to take a tour anyway. Were we ever glad we did! Again, we got the "Red Carpet" treatment. We were escorted by Capt. Mike Hays. Colonel Dan O'Brien, CO of the Marine Barracks, took the time to greet us and tell us something about the Marine Barracks' history. The highlight was the tour of Center House with all the memorabilia and the tap room. We all were very impressed when Capt. Hays offered and poured us beers!

The Saturday evening cocktail party was held in the Hawkins room in O'Bannon Hall at TBS. Robert Cook showed us some slides he had from our OCS and TBS days. Someone asked another classmate why he didn't have any pictures to show, whereupon he said "I was too busy trying to survive OCS/TBS to take pictures!" Ervin Martin spoke for all of us in observing that we were a group of dedicated, successful men in our careers and many of us had long term marriages. We are a very August group!

On Sunday Linton Whittles lead a Memorial Service honoring 15 of our fallen classmates. It was a very emotional service and there wasn't a dry eye in the Chapel. We all appreciated the hard work that Linton put into the service. Fortunately, many contributed some excellent content for Linton's eulogies. His presentation was very passionate and moving, especially when he talked about those that he had known closely. His training as a Marine and Minister got him through it. Of particular interest was that Linda Zier, John Zier's widow, also attended, which perhaps provided some closure with her courageous husband, John. If you would like a copy of Linton's service, he said that you can contact him and he will e-mail you a copy.

We all said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch.

Other Information:

If you did not get the Group picture, please contact Paul Wilburger.

The next reunion is tentatively scheduled for 10/21-10/23/05 or 10/28-10/31/05 in San Diego. Don Oliphant and John Okerman have volunteered to make the arrangements.

Paul Wilburger
24 Tee Lane
Red Hook, NY 12571
845-758-3195
paulwilburger@frontiernet.net

We have enhanced the website: www.oocities.org/golf768reunion/ to include the Group picture taken on Friday night along with a "Names-to-Faces" cross reference courtesy of Marty Fallgren. Information to order t-shirts from Walter Weathers has also been added. If you have any pictures from the reunion, please e-mail them to Paul Wilburger and he will get them on the website.

Contacts for each of the five platoons to build our classmates contact list are as follows:

1st Platoon Bob Cook and John Okerman
2nd Platoon Jerry Hudak and Marty Fallgren
3rd Platoon Bill Lawson
4th Platoon Ben Sorrell and Barry Rogers
5th Platoon Carl Widell and Dave Wallingford

Paul Wilburger will be the central collection point for the contact information.

Semper Fi to all!