Friday Activities
Friday was a day of varied activites. Old Sailors started arriving in the lobby area at 5AM and swapped yarns until the Cattlemen started serving breakfast. There were quite a few 2 hour breakfasts that consisted of more jaw movement devoted to sea stories than there was to chewing food. It was great.
As the day began on Friday the Robinsons started out by giving Tom Green County baseball caps to every crewman that attended the reunion. A most generous and appreciated gift. Thank you guys.
Bill Haack made available a gift bag that contained a water bottle, key chains, a Navy pen, a diskette , a copy of the ships history, and photos of our ship. In addition he had made a large framed photo of our ship that would be presented to the town. Thanks Bill.
David Dulaney sold T-shirts with a picture of our ship and renion 2001 printed on the back and front. In addition he sold Tom Green County plates to mount on our cars. Thanks David.
Captain Riedemann contributed a 3 inch 50 cartridge case that had been fired in Viet Nam for a raffle. The money collected ($200+) to be used as the reunion coordinators saw fit. Thanks Mick.
The Booth's brought a ton of photo equipment and film and took photos of every attendee that entered the banquet room. They also made a video film of the activities that went on in the banquet room. Thanks guys.
A poem was written by John McClanahan that was read during the banquet. Thanks John.
And the greatest gift of all was the wonderful spirit of thanks and good tidings that was contributed by all the attendees. It was this spirit that really made our reunion so festive and so great. Thanks to all of you.
Some Sailors waited for
their ladies and went out of the hotel to start the day with breakfast at a
local eatery and when well fortified began a long day of shopping mixed with
some sight seeing.
Was shopping Your Thing?
I feel sure that there were enough places to shop to keep you occupied most of the day.
Maybe you felt like hanging out in the lobby with many others from our reunion.
Fort Concho Tour
The group was picked up at the front of the Holiday Inn and transported to the Fort by the bus load.
Fort Concho was built in 1867 to protect settlers from the Indians. When the soldiers arrived and built the Fort the civilians arrived soon after and built their town across the Concho River. Fort Concho has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is the best preserved fort west of the Mississippi.
The bridge in the forground is called Celebration Bridge in recognition of the one the soldiers used to get to the lawless town for entertainment. On this side of the bridge is a replica of the path(much beautified)that is about 5 blocks long, that the soldiers used to get to town. The town has been preserved to capture the flavor of the way it was back then, including Millies Bordello museum.
Shortly after arriving we were
given a demonstration of old time cannon firing. At least one Gunners Mate mouth
started to water from the desire to try his hand at it. Of course that was not
allowed by the Officer in Carge. When one of us ran to the front of the caisson
to snap a picture the Sargent in charge got a little upset.
When the firing demonstration was completed the tour of the headquarters building, the enlisted mens barracks, and several other buildings was completed. The photo below is the Headquarters building we visited.
We finally got to the mess hall and did a little business at the bar. The reunion coordinator was told during the planning stage that $90 worth of drinks would have to purchased or a set up fee would be charged. The coordinator just giggled. Look at the glasses on this table and you can guess if a set up fee was paid. One of the men seems to calling for more beer.
Two old Sailors enjoying some quiet memories of their time at sea.
At the end of the Texas BBQ the original crew of LST 1159 were gathered at the end of the mess hall and pictures were taken. If I counted correctly 15 of the 22 original crew that attended the reunion also attended the BBQ.
We need contributions of lots of photos to fill out the scrapbook for this day.
To check out Saturdays
activities click here
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