Green, blue marks that move there.
Did I walk in front of you?
No, I didn't.
Where was he?
He was in the phone alley.
Come on Leo.
Taking pictures of a little lion right there.
She said stay.
I dropped it to my camera.
That's your friends.
That's right.
I've got a lot of great friends.
I'll say where are those drop it in?
That's right.
Which one is this now?
That's right.
I'll put that in my bottle.
This is the outside of the lightning.
That's right.
1915 Model T Ford.
Black one.
A brass radiator.
Looks like a new one.
Another feature this car has is a tilt steering wheel.
That was invented in 1914 by Cadillac.
Only they didn't call it the tilt wheel.
They called it the fat man's wheel.
Are you the guy for this?
I'm the babysitter here.
I'm the caretaker.
That's right.
Are you fixing that?
That's right.
Our members are active duty personnel and the rest are veterans.
And even though most of you already belong to various groups, I hope you will consider joining us.
You will be part of preserving the history of the unit before time overtakes us and we're no longer around the perpetuities.
It pleases me that whenever the 124th soldiers of today look at the painting, they know why they have the privilege of wearing that unit citation.
If any of you have souvenirs, pictures, scrapbooks, or any memorabilia and would like to donate items to the museum, please do so.
We are establishing a tape archive and we invite those of you who want to, to make a tape of your experiences and send it to us.
If you don't have a tape recorder, every library has one for a month.
Please think about it because these stories need to be preserved.
I've been busy collecting World War II antiques and gear to dress a mannequin in combat mode.
I was determined to have a ground founder standing next to the general's uniform.
I had him all dressed, including an emhoyne carving and grenades.
It is our hope that in the near future all the different organizations will plan a joint reunion in Orlando so you can visit the museum.
Maybe May 6th through 12th, 1995 would be appropriate. It's the 50th anniversary of Colvin Woods.
Thank you for allowing me this time to speak with you.
I'd like to close with the words that I'm told Chaplain Colvin used to say to the men, and which I think are very pertinent to all of us at our stage today.
Every night is New Year's Eve and every day is a holiday. Thank you.
I'm sure to many of us that really brings back memories.
We're real happy to have Chaplain Roger Melton with us and he's going to come and speak to us this time.
I think you all can all hear me right here.
I lived in the coal mountains of West Virginia for 19 years.
There was a little village in the mountains called Mulligan.
Sam Hinch from Pennsylvania ran the tannery and Sam told me he asked Captain Matthew John McNeil, who in those days was captain in the Confederate Army.
He went with him to the Confederate reunion of the Confederate veterans up until his death until they all died out.
Sam said, Mr. McNeil, what do you fellows say when you get together?
He said, you lost the war, you didn't have much to talk about.
And Matthew John McNeil said, Mr. Hinch, what do we have to say?
Principally knowledge.
I want to just say to the men of the 124th Infantry, there's something worth saying and I want to say to you very briefly.
I don't know that we produced many heroes.
It's hard to know what's going on in the jungle even when you're up there, right there, what's going on.
But of all the stories of the men of the 124th, I don't know whether you remember Ellis Kilgore.
Kilgore was from California.
He was a sophomore at Southern University of California when he came to our regiment.
He came to the chapel down at Camp Shelby and said, Chaplain, I don't believe in killing.
He said, I told it to the draft board, I told it to everybody, here I am in a fighting outfit.
I don't believe in killing.
Kilgore was about that tall, rose of cheeks, hard man with a Winston smile.
I said, Kilgore, do you believe in saving life?
Yes. Would you be willing to serve with the medical corps unit?
Yes. And it was arranged for him to be, I forgot now, I think it was the second battalion medical unit.
The Geneva Convention said that chaplains and medics were not to be all.
But the Japanese didn't know that, so all of the medics were armed.
The chaplains were not armed, though on occasion I did bring up a rifle but never fired it.
A sergeant told me this story about Kilgore.
When they armed him, he came to me and said, they say I've got to carry this rifle, I don't want to carry it.
And I went to the medical man in our regiment with his head and told him this story.
He said, if you tell him, then I say he's a fool, but if he doesn't want to carry it, he doesn't have to carry it.
The fighting was in the jungles.
The sergeant told me this story.
He was behind a log and he looked and he saw Kilgore falling on his knees.
There was a man that was wounded on up the trail in the jungles, crying out for help.
And he said, Kilgore, where you going?
He said, I'm going up there to help that man.
He said, you'll never make it.
Kilgore said, I'll try.
He crawled on up.
He never made it.
It was quite a while before we held the service in one of the outfits for Kilgore.
And as I cried, the grave was just that.
I don't know how many heroes we produced, but I can't think of the courage of a man in combat that would risk his life and die trying to help somebody.
I want to take my hat off to many others that I don't know of.
We've got something to say.
I'm sure there were other heroes.
I know of several other outstanding brave leads.
But we have something to say and to be thankful for.
If we had a man that didn't believe in killing, but he believed in saving lives, and he died doing it, he was from the 124th Infantry.
Let's have just a moment of silence to thank God that we had the privilege to help our country in the time of great need.
I remember I wrote a letter to everyone that lost their lives.
I think there were 450.
I'm sure there were other men just as brave.
There was something huge, just as brave.
But there were brave men, and I bet they did their job well.
Let's have a moment of silence and thanksgiving.
War is a terrible thing.
It takes perseverance and courage.
We may have done just a little bit.
But that little bit in the far-off islands and jungles of the South Pacific and Philippines
was a part of keeping this country free and putting down tyranny and exalting righteousness.
We thank thee that memory is still living and old comrades can get together.
We thank thee for this gathering, these men and families that are gathered here tonight. Amen. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate those words.
It reminds me that my country, right or wrong, is still my country.
This time we're going to call on Dr. Mike Yelper.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. Roger, I'm going to talk about Ellis Kilgore tonight.
I heard the story in a different way than you did. I heard the same story, but I heard it differently.
I was in the Itope campaign and during that campaign I contracted something called strungeloidosis,
which is like hook work. These bugs bite you and they eat your food for you.
I was on this frame down to 140 and bloated down. I looked kind of like a pregnant skeleton.
I was evacuated and taken back to the States and on the troop ship on the way home,
my deck partner was the fellow medic of Ellis Kilgore, who also went up to try to help Ellis and the other man who was wounded himself.
So I heard that story and for every year after that that I've served a church on Memorial Day, I've mentioned Ellis Kilgore.
So it's just I was so pleased to hear you mention him tonight. I'm glad to hear that happen.
Joe asked me if I would tell you if anything happened to me in combat that pushed me toward the ministry.
And I guess the simple answer to that is no. The decision to become a minister came much later in my life.
I was 40. I celebrated my midlife crisis by going to seminary.
But I had, however, served the church almost full time all those years in music and in youth.
And so it wasn't that big a transition. But something very profound did happen to me.
It was on that journey. How many of you were on the trip across the Drennamore with that green force battalion to hopefully find or hopefully not find 80,000 Japanese?
We didn't find them so we could tell the story and share the story.
I went with the chaplain Melton on that trip and I could spend a long time here reminiscing about Pappy Williams
sitting in the middle of the stream with his sub-machine gun waiting to get his troops out before he'd leave.
I heard him order the chaplain and I to leave and we did then and so on.
But on the way up there, something happened to me that I have not shared all that often for a bunch of reasons.
But I was very much aware of where I was. I had been squirrel hunting with my daddy.
I knew how to look in trees. And my job was to protect him. I carried the rifle in combat and I was his bodyguard.
And I was looking in the trees and doing my job as far as I was concerned.
And some time in that day, along that journey, very much aware of where I was. I was not hallucinating or anything of that sort.
There went up and down my spine an electrical charge. I didn't measure. I didn't count out the seconds.
It seemed like five minutes. It probably was 15 seconds. But it was a profound experience.
It was an energizing experience and a remarkable experience that has been variously interpreted to me by deeply spiritual people.
I hesitate to tell you that the sense that I don't want anybody to think if you haven't had the same experience,
God hasn't touched you in some way. He does become that different people in different ways.
But it was a profound experience, Joe, and that's kind of what you were asking me to share, I think. And so you can know.
I boiled these remarks down to 45 minutes. Then I shortened them. There are so many stories I'd like to tell you.
Just about that one trip across the river. Before we made that trip, I saw one chaplain hang around a while
when we were ordered to evacuate because we were being shelled because he wanted to help the medics with some wounded people.
So there were some strong men there who did some courageous things. I don't know if he ever got credit for that, but I know he did it.
And I'm sure that's not all. But it was a profound experience, a moving experience, and one which I suppose got in shape right.
But I want to share that with you. Thank you.
Applause
Thank you. Now we're here from Sam Spence, 31st Division, Society. Whatever that is, not on sound.
My life's had a conflict with my family. The 31st Division Society has a museum and a shell just like Camp Grant.
We have over 600 members. This year, the reunion will be held in August. I don't have the details on it, but as soon as I get it or Joe gets it,
I'll put it in the paper. And to talk about the reunion, you don't have to go all the way to the association, but we appreciate you.
I would like to say this. A big organization like that would need a lot of people that you've got, but a lot. What we do need is we have here in this reunion,
this is more of a paper. So as soon as I get concrete information, I'll talk to Joe. If he gets it, we'll put it in the paper.
We appreciate you coming out. We usually have a writer's crowd. Last year, we had over 300 people.
I've had people that I've had to show up here and come through the event. We've helped with that.
Next, we're going to hear from Herb Thurston, 134th medic.
I said my little piece a few minutes ago. It was great to be with you. I would like very much to know if anyone present was with my company,
because that's the Purdue that comes to me out of assigned to. I've only met one person that I served with from my company.
That was Merrill Creek. Third Purdue. I come to Third Purdue.
I was with you all the way then, and I'll talk to you later. If anyone is interested, I brought with me again tonight the coloring picture of the mural
that I drew. This has mentioned earlier of the Battle of Coventry Woods as painted from state of Florida.
It's wonderful to hear the remarks made here tonight.
Now we're going to hear from another writer, Leo Lowell, 167th. Leo?
Thank you, Eric. It's an honor to speak with you this evening.
First of all, I would like to thank all the good people coming to Asheville.
It's one of the largest reunions we've had.
Joseph, I have 92 people here. And two others that came in late.
I would like to thank all the people, the 167th and the 3rd Regiment that came this year.
I think we've got about 10, 12, 13 people, something like that. And yesterday afternoon, I left up in my hotel room,
or hotel room, I left my phone there, and it rained. I had to get along with this phone call.
I'm in Jackson, Mississippi. And a guy by the name of Guy Green was called my room up there.
He wouldn't have known where the guy by the name of Sam Spence was here. I said, well yeah, Sam's here.
He said it wasn't good for him. I said, anybody else here? I said, from Mississippi.
I said, well, I think there is two or three more. There might be some more.
How about all the guys from Mississippi standing up?
I'm afraid that I might not have it now. I'll land in the dark.
Five men, I'll have to tell, report that guy. He had five men from Mississippi up here this year.
And that wasn't the reason he called me. The reason he called me is the guy is having this here 31st Infantry Dixie Division
History Book printed. And I left a lot of these laying around. I don't know how many of them were picked up.
He told me to give them a pitch here at the banquet. And they wanted, first they'll file their papers in 150 words sent to the printers.
And if it goes over 150 words, I think you have to take 50 and send the words, something like that.
And they said they need a lot more biographies to get the printers there, to keep the printers happy.
Because if we don't get too many responses on that, they're not going to print the book.
So we'll talk it up a little bit, get some more biographies into the printers.
And they changed the deadline from July 31st to August 31st. And they changed it again.
The deadline is now November 30th of this year. And it don't cost you anything unless you go over 150 words and put the biography in there.
But the book, when it's printed, will be sold and cost $48. And it will be the same size as the old 31st Infantry Division book that came out after World War II.
So if you're interested in getting your biography in the book, you're going to have to get on the ball and get it in there.
And he also told me that he was sorry he couldn't make it up here to the reunion this year because he spent a week out in Utah after the National Guard convention.
And he went back home and said it was just too much to make another trip and he wanted to be home one day and make another trip.
So he called me and told me if I could tell him about this.
He told me that the membership now for 31st Dixie Division Society is up to 810 page members and he's looking for more.
So just like Sam Smith said, we're going to have a reunion down there in Mobile out down in May of 93.
He said we're all still alive down here in Mississippi after Hurricane went through.
But it didn't do them too much damage up there where he said he was going to go on a 40-day trip.
He's got some high winds, a lot of rain.
So that's about all for the 31st.
Oh, well he wanted me to tell you that his membership is $10 a year, three years for $25.
So I want to ask, how was your meal tonight? Great? Okay.
What about the tour? Did you like those? It's out of the mountains. All mountains.
I want to thank Joe Wall for making this reunion a big success again this year.
He's done an excellent job as has been every year.
And I want to also thank the people that helped Joe with the reunion this year. Joe, you've done a good job.
That's about all I want to tell you folks this evening.
So I'm going to turn it back over to Valerie to see what you've got to say.
Isn't it good that we stayed around to be as old as we are? This guy went to this bar and he sat down and ordered a drink.
And this cute little thing came over and said, man, come on, get close to me.
He said I'll do anything that you want me to for $200. He says, okay, tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock you be at my house.
I want you to paint my house.
What better state are we going to recognize?
Oh, show me over here. Oh, Gene Vance.
You better hold on to this because here he comes.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you.
We won't welcome you, just for you.
We're glad to have you and we hope that you will be to the next one.
I was happy when I got here. We were taken and the man got out and issued me a key to the city, if I can get it on rent.
But the first thing I had was when I went to get on the elevator, I felt something bumping with my coat on. There's the key.
I felt something on the elevator and I felt something in my pocket.
I looked around and the guy had his hand in my coat pocket.
I said, hey, brother, what are you doing? He said, I'm looking for a match. I said, you want a match? Ask for it.
He said, well, my mama always told me don't ever talk to strangers.
You know, we read a lot about old George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Patrick Henry.
Old George Washington jumping out of the cherry tree.
And he said, ask him. He said, George, where did you get that hatchet you chopped that cherry tree down with?
He said, I stole that hatchet. Now old George wouldn't tell a lie, but he wouldn't steal it.
That one private guy looked at that one the night when he went across the Delaware.
He gets up there and he says, Barefoot, isn't it cold? He says, how come we got across the Delaware?
Everybody else is going to Florida.
But look, old Patrick Henry, now he says that's some famous words there.
He says, give him liberty or give him life.
Life, give him liberty or give him hell.
Well, what happened? And they never even made an eye on him.
He and his wife had a terrible fight that morning.
I mean, this drunk was walking down there, was in the pot.
And he had gotten out there and he'd ordered several drinks and this fellow hauled away.
And the bartender said, look, I think you've had just a little bit too much to drink now.
He says, I'm not going to serve you anymore.
The old boy looked around and he says, I'm not drunk. I'll tell you what I'll do about it. I'm not drunk.
He says, look out there, is this little one-eyed cat coming in the door over there?
The bartender says, I know you're drunk. That cat ain't coming. He's going.
There were three fellas that showed up at the bar together.
And old St. Peter met them out there.
And he looked at one of them and he says, hey, what did you do down on down there?
And he says, St. Peter says, I preached the gospel for 36 years down on earth.
He says, you sit down on this bench over here.
And he comes to the second and he says, what did you do down on earth?
He says, St. Peter, I tell you, I was a preacher and I preached the gospel for 35 years down on earth.
He says, you sit down on this bench over here.
The third guy come up and he says, what did you do down on earth?
He says, St. Peter, I drove a cab in New York City for 18 years.
Man, he says, I've been waiting on you. Come on in here.
Well, they got up there and those preachers began to protest.
Oh, the man driving a cab driving the preachers, they wouldn't let him in.
Old St. Peter says, where is he?
He says, that man driving a cab in New York City in 18 years says he scared the hell out of more people than both of you preached out in 71 years.
He had an old buddy here now several years back there.
He had him a little job working down in South America.
And while he was down there, he got a telephone call.
His mother-in-law had passed away.
They asked him, says, do you want to train me about him or do you want to marry?
He thought for a minute.
He says, both. I don't want to take no chance.
They were just like preachers.
And he was shutting down on his congregation something or he was taking to shut down.
And after a while, he says, now says, all of you who wants to go to heaven, says, hold up your hand.
Well, they ever want to hold up their hands, but that little old one, Deacon, sitting on the front row.
He says, what's the matter now, brother? Don't you want to go to heaven?
He says, yes, sir, boss.
Well, he says, I thought you'd get a little good day.
Incidentally, when I get back, I have just decided I'm going to take on a new job.
I'm going down to this meal that way they're making those 20 foot poles.
Now, in case you wonder what they're going to do with them 20 foot poles,
that's made to touch these people that you won't touch with a 10 foot pole.
Had he had a date in that one time, this old girl would be able to repeat.
Oh, boy, he was working on it. He was trying to take the Christian out of her.
He was just down.
And he finally thought he had it just where he wanted it.
And he saw it that next Sunday morning. He says, Sister, this is says, I prayed for you for two hours last night.
She looked at him. She says, I was on my way. Why didn't you pick up the telephone, catch a cab and come on over?
They had this Texan. You know, every time you ever think big and big in Texas.
Oh, man, everything's big and big in Texas.
So this Texan was showing this New York around Texas.
He showed him the Longhorn cattle and then he showed him just Alamo and just showed him everything.
And every time you see that, that's big and big.
You know, got New York. So they finally decided that while he was the New Yorker, we'd invite him up.
So he got out there, you know, and he showed him the Empire State Building.
He said, well, he said, we ain't got one quite that tall, but we got two in Houston.
That's almost that tall and five times as wide.
And he just went on and kept on. So finally the New Yorker says, I'm going to get him now.
He took him up to Niagara Falls.
He says, now, I'll tell you what, you ain't got nothing in Texas like that, have you?
He says, no, but I'll tell you what, we got to come and wait until we start that leak in 30 minutes.
But you know, Niagara Falls, we had a terrible experience there.
We got out there and we run a little late. We got talked a little while.
We run a little late and we, I rushed off out there and I found myself chipped.
I told him, explain the situation. I said, we're going to miss our plane.
We're not going to make connections there.
And he says, well, he says, I'll see if I can get you.
I said, it'd be worth $10 for you if you can get us over there.
So we went out there and piled in the back of the taxi and he took off.
And we're there. After a while we hauled away and he got in a traffic jam.
Well, that old boy, he didn't hesitate. He got over on the right-hand shoulder.
He was just a-going. I mean, he was hitting those bumps.
Those doggone utility pools right there looked like a big fence.
Well, Sally and I had gotten down in the bottom of the global.
We just scared to death.
Well, we finally got around that traffic jam and he didn't take us off.
And it wasn't too long. We were in a siren.
Well, I mustered up enough strength to get up over that back seat and look out there.
And it was a siren and a blue light.
I said, scared to drive. I said, he's out of the woods.
I said, can you outrun him?
He said, I'm going to do my best. And he snapped that thing to the floor.
Well, they wasn't on the old cop caught up with us, you know.
Pulled him over and he says, hey, caddy.
I said, didn't you hear my siren? He said, yes, officer, I did.
He said, didn't you see my blue light? He said, I sure did.
He said, well, how come you speed up whenever you heard and saw a lisp?
He said, well, officer, I'll tell you, 10 days ago my wife ran off
with a fake trooper and I thought you was him bringing her back.
Laughter
He had a priest and the Baptist minister was a cocktail bar.
And they're walking around there and this priest had his martini.
He was taking a sip and looked at that old Baptist minister.
He says, hey, says, aren't you going to have a martini?
He says, man, I'd rather commit adultery than to take and for taking that stuff.
And he says, I had to, but I didn't know I had a choice.
Laughter
We had an old buddy down there that is a great fisherman.
He goes fishing every day. I mean, every day he goes fishing.
And he comes back with a boatload of fish.
So he got out there and the old game board got to watching.
And he says, are you catching all these fish?
He says, up the river up there.
He says, man, there ain't nobody else around here catching nothing.
That's rather odd. He says, I'm going to go fishing with you sometime.
So he says, I'll go with you at 4 o'clock every morning.
So the next morning the old game board was there waiting on him.
And they went up, they cranked up, went up and they rode and rode and rode and rode and rode.
Finally, up by the big bend in the river there about 200 yards across.
He got out there, you know, and he says, this is it.
And the old game board got out there and he began to hear briefly and carried two rods.
And he began to rig them up there and getting all ready.
And about that time, old Sam got out there and he told me he got a, here's a little tackle box.
He had a bunch of a fuse about eight inches long and some dynamites and capsules.
He beat himself in a cap and a fuse stuck in dynamite, threw it out there and it ballooned.
The fish began to come. He was taking them up, putting them in the front of the boat,
putting them up and putting them in the boat.
And the old warden said, look, what you're doing here is illegal.
He says, I'm going to have to arrest you.
He didn't say nothing. He just reached down in his box, got himself out another stick of dynamite,
another cap, beat it into the fuse, stuck it in the cap, lit it and threw it back in the game board's left.
And he says, are you going to talk or are you going to pitch?
You know how the limbo got started.
A Scotchman going under the door of a paid dollar.
How about the breakdown?
Oh, the breakdown? Oh, well, I told him that.
The next guy started these hooligans stealing these herb caps off these cars when they were still in motion.
I'll bid y'all enough of this, Joe.
I'm going to sit down here and somebody talk and talk some sense.
Joe, you better get up here and take over and see what you can do.
Today is a hard act to follow as we get to Gene Ira up here, Helen Chokes and so forth.
I'm really impressed by the number of people that are here and the fellowship we've had together
and the good times we've had on the tours.
We wouldn't be sure where we were today.
We were up in the fog most of the day.
So we've had some good meals, I'm going to tell you a lot of them are going to happen.
Slow down when we get back.
I thought it would be kind of nice to find out the different states that are here.
When I was checking over here, I thought we had at least half the states of the United States,
at least the lower 48 that are here.
I'll start with California because we've got a young man here who comes to a number of our reunions
way out of the state.
So raise your hand.
There you go, George.
And then almost as far but not quite.
Southwest, Lou Hall from Arizona.
Then we've got Nebraska.
Then we have Iowa and we've got a couple here.
Joe, two Joes.
Then we've got Tennessee, how about Minnesota?
And Michigan.
We have one coming that will make the Indian.
Ohio.
New York.
Maine.
Massachusetts.
John Graham was coming but he got a O.
New Jersey.
Virginia.
North Carolina.
Georgia.
Kentucky.
Florida.
Alabama.
Mississippi.
And Cacke.
And we have many other states that we've been.
Hawaii.
Maryland.
You know, a number of our people have been to most of the reunions.
And we just show hands as to the different reunions and those that are here now.
And we'll start with Orlando.
All of us were at Orlando.
That was the first one, way back in 1983.
Then we went to Nashville.
Then we went to Richmond.
Then we went to Omaha.
Then we went to Niagara Falls.
Then we went to Montgomery.
Then we went to Saratoga Springs.
Then we went to St. Augustine.
Then we went to Cappie Hill.
Then we went to Virginia.
And all of us were here in 1992.
So that's a good representation.
You probably had a chance to read the article about World War II saving the world.
And read it again.
I don't know where I got it, but it was in my file, so I taught it with me.
And we also want to remember the list that we have here of the people that have been on our mailing list over the years,
or those that we know of that have passed on.
And I'm not sure how many names are on here.
If you know, along about 89 or 90, there were a lot of people that are listed.
And so we think of our buddies, and this is one of the reasons why we get together in these reunions.
And to some it's difficult to come, but come hell or high water, they're going to make it.
And so that's a great undertaking.
I was going to give a little statement from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes.
And you preachers know what's in there.
But I will mention it.
Said, to everything there is a season and time for every purpose under the heavens.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
A time to eat and a time to laugh.
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to read and a time to sow.
A time to keep silent and a time to speak.
So 50 years has passed.
The greater majority of us went into the service.
And most of us started down in Camp Shelby and some started in Texas.
And then some started a couple years before, along about November 25, 1940, when the guards were mobilized.
So we measure our lives by time.
I was a treasure of my church from the day I returned from World War II until the end of 1989.
That was 43 years until we measured our lives in time.
I became a scout leader shortly after I returned from service.
And I'm still working with them, but not as a scout master.
I taught church school from the time I completed high school until a couple years ago, which was about 60 years.
I have been active in the Veterans Affairs for many years.
And since 1986, I've been an associate rep for the DAP through the Omaha VAMC.
And there's a few other little jobs, including this one here, for the last 10 years.
And I've enjoyed it, but our work is increasing.
And I do need some help.
As time goes on, it would be nice if there was a couple that could kind of take over and render some of the responsibility.
But we'll see how that comes out.
I think now that we should get some idea of where you'd like to go next year.
And I know there's several here that have mentioned certain areas they'd like to go.
We know we've been in the South more than we've been in the North.
We don't consider the Mason-Dixon line as a barrier to our fellowship,
because about 50% of our people came from the North and from the South to make the 31st Division.
But I've heard some talk about hiding, some talk about Texas.
And I'll give you an idea later on.
Does anybody like to promote a certain area of the country, something that is accessible for everyone to get there?
We don't want to keep anybody away, but if we keep getting discount ferries like we got this year,
I think we could go almost anywhere.
How about Whartle Beach, since we had the hurricane the last time?
We couldn't make it.
Whartle Beach?
South Carolina.
We were talking about that.
What does it have to offer, John?
Golf.
Golf?
26-star policy.
That's right.
How many pointy golf balls?
150 restrooms.
Okay.
I'd like to please go to Boston, Massachusetts, and to roll out the work that we started.
There's a lot of times that we start, we'll be there.
I think it's a struggle for me.
I think it would be fun to go there and shop, buy some sand, everything.
I'm going to be getting high in the
Okay, anybody else got any suggestions?
How about Ohio over there?
Well, as many of you know, I had a tape here played off and on about Dayton, Ohio.
The United States Air Force Museum located there.
It's the largest Air Force Museum in the world.
If you want to go through the museum and see everything they got, it'll take you four to five days to see it.
We can go through there and hit the high spots in one day.
They have over 100 airplanes there, some old, some up to the present time.
They got the missiles and they got the IMAX theater where you go in and watch this.
They're a space shuttle take off and land.
That's the only thing you have to pay for that one theater.
The rest of the museum is free.
We have other things besides that around Dayton area.
And motel rates are about the same as this here.
Any other locations?
We've been sort of prodded to go to Texas, but we have our archipelago here, but East Buckeye has been coming from Texas.
And you want to say anything about that?
Next, Chris.
Hi.
Next, I have a suggestion that I promised my wife I wouldn't even let you ask me for one slug of it.
I suggest Duluth, Minnesota, because it's too far away from any of the areas.
More so than going to another part of the country.
Duluth lives on a summertime tourism program.
It is the flamboyant part of the world.
It's an all-wilderness place.
The city is quite old.
They have several different things of interest.
My friend, O'Leary, backed me on that.
There are, it has a North Shore Drive on the way to Canada, which is voted the second most seating drive in America in a few years.
You go to the museums there.
There's the Mumble World nearby, Oakland Pitline.
It makes living for tourists.
And at this particular time of the year, the mail will write clean.
It has a spectacular color that will follow me to any place in America.
I can say this is my first year here, not my faintest.
But if I have a vote, I'll vote for Duluth.
Thank you.
Now you want to make my pitch?
Yeah.
We've never really gone back to the same place that we have been before.
But sometimes there's some changes which are dramatic.
And we were in Omaha, Nebraska in 1987.
And to those that have heard about Omaha since then, there's been a lot of dramatic changes.
First, when you were there in 87, you saw a lot of old warehouses that cluttered the area of the riverfront, especially from the 480 Bridge.
They were torn down in Conagra, took over that whole area.
They built their corporate headquarters there.
They put in a beautiful little lake.
They put a little boat on there to go around there for a quarter in the lake.
They got two great big fountains.
And then another thing, have you heard of this?
The largest indoor jungle in the world joins the zoo there, the Henry Dorsey Zoo.
It's right up on the triple A Royal baseball station.
And this, you go on several levels.
There's all kinds of critters down there roving around.
And there's things flying above you.
You've got to kind of watch out for them.
But there's monkeys and birds and there's hippos and there's everything else that crawls and climbs and screeches and everything else.
And I think in about four months over a million people will have to do that.
And it joins one of the largest zoos in the city.
And then there's a riverboat excursion that you can take.
They have a meal aboard, get on the old resort and go up there.
If you miss the logs floating down, you're all right.
I haven't heard anything hit the boat yet and so it's made it up and down.
There's a lot of things there which you may or may not be familiar with.
But Boys Town is there.
That's a tremendous thing.
Of course, SAC and all of it is kind of toned down now.
There's not too much.
When we were there in 87, we went to Lincoln.
We even had a bunch of Indians come down.
We were going to a reservation but we brought the Indians down there.
And we made a few Indians up.
Some of our people here.
Our friend here got up and did a few dances.
And it was well, I'm flogging but not quite.
There's a lot of other things there.
But I don't want to be too persuasive on it.
But it is a nice place to go.
And there is an Amtrak there.
And there were quite a few who took Amtrak.
Maybe it was kind of a disastrous thing.
Ask the lits or ask Betty McHara or some of those.
It was very good.
We had a ball.
It was running late at Tuesday.
And then there was a flood in South Iowa so they had to put the train on another track.
It goes up in old Burlington but it went on a northern route.
And Betty asked the engineer, you know, where you going?
And I know I've never been on Amtrak.
I'd like to go to Branson Missouri.
It's the second national of the world.
And it's for senior citizens of all the shows that are at cheap prices.
Help me out.
Everybody wants to go there but they don't say it.
I don't care.
I'm talking for the weak myself.
But it's very good.
Yes, it is.
Well, we were thinking of that too because it's accessible from the south quite a bit.
From Mississippi and Alabama and the middle area like Tennessee and Kentucky
up our way.
And I don't know where in Queensland.
I think you might have to go to Jeffery.
Frankville.
Anyhow, why don't we kind of first get a show of hands on some of those suggestions.
And we'll kind of bring it down to maybe two or three and then we can figure it out.
Okay.
Texas.
Just raise your hand if you're interested in Texas.
Boston.
You want to count them?
Ira, you want to count them?
Don't ask Ira.
Boston.
Okay, why don't you mark them down.
Okay.
See we had that Duluth, Minnesota.
I'm trying to be impartial by not moving that down.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay, Ohio.
France and Missouri.
Just one hand, your right hand.
Okay.
And Omaha.
Okay.
Well, we're down to between Boston and Branson.
Now, you know, I go to a lot of present-day meetings and lots of times they go by voice vote.
But you know, the no's always try to outdo the yeses. You know, voting though about maybe a fourth of them are voting no.
So why don't we just stand so we can get a good count.
Okay, let's take Branson.
And I'm standing.
And Gene is standing here.
Okay.
You know, when there's somebody from all around Georgia that's so clear to look for, that's good.
Or Florida.
Okay, and Boston.
Wow.
How many?
One year.
Okay.
There has been a suggestion that possibly you might change the time.
There's been some times that we have met in May or early June for the reason of the area.
Like when we were in Montgomery, it's pretty hot when you get up into June.
So we were down there early in May.
And so we were wondering if we would like to go say to Branson in the middle of next May.
I think we could try to say okay.
Now the thing that goes with that, we don't have anybody right in that area that attends our reunions.
And we generally need a home sweet, somebody to check it out and everything.
We can do a lot by phone, no matter.
But like here we had Foster and he was able to check out things.
And then we used the Chamber of Commerce and the Visitors Bureau quite a bit.
So how many would like to go and would make any difference to you if we went in mid-May?
Why don't you raise your hand?
Well, the fall has been real good because the heat is over. Of course, up in Iowa we never have any summer.
It's been cool all the time.
But would you like to keep it?
Again, I guess it's a fall.
Twelve months and we're going to promote something real good.
We need twelve months.
So would you agree to go down there in September?
How many would like that?
Now, how many would go to the next reunion?
Oh, that's great.
Okay.
Now, we could.
Yeah, we could. We wouldn't make too much difference.
Foster's going to talk here and he's going to lead us in God bless America.
And then after that, Cheplin Melvin is going to dismiss us with a prayer.
And thank all of you again and I hope and pray that we all have a safe trip home and that we find our loved ones in good condition
and everybody just take real good care of yourself going on.
Thank you.
God bless America, land of the highland.
Thank you, Sider and Dider.
Through the night with the light from above.
From the mountains, through the prairies,
to the ocean, quiet with foam.
God bless America, my home sweet home.
That's about all for the 31st.
Oh, well, he wanted me to tell you that his membership is $10 a year,
three years for $25.
So I want to ask, how was your meal tonight? Great? Okay.
What about the tour? Did you like those?
It's out of mountains, all mountains.
I want to thank Joe Wall for making this reunion a big success again this year.
He's done an excellent job of having this every year.
And I want to also thank the people that helped Joe with the reunion this year.
Joe, you've done a good job.
That's about all I want to tell you folks this evening.
So I'm going to turn it back over to Valerie.
Time marches on.
Isn't it good that we've stayed around to be as old as we are?
This guy went in this bar and he's sitting down and ordered his drink.
And this cute little thing comes over and says, man, come on, get close to me.
He says, I'll do anything that you want me to for $200.
He says, okay, tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock, could you be at my house?
I want you to paint my house.
What better state are we going to recognize?
Oh, show of the over here.
Oh, Gene Vann.
You better hold on to this because here it comes.
Ladies and gentlemen and the rest of you, we want to welcome you to this reunion.
We're glad to have you and we hope that you will be through the next.
When I was happy when I got here, we were taken and the man got out and issued me a key to the city, if I can get it on rent.
But the first thing I had was when I went to get on the elevator, I felt something bumping with my coat down.
There's the key.
I felt it on the elevator and I had something felt something in my pocket.
I looked around and the guy had his hand in my coat pocket.
I said, hey, brother, what are you doing?
He says, I'm looking for a match.
I said, you're on a match?
Ask for it.
He says, well, my mama always told me don't ever talk to strangers.
You know, we read a lot about only George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Patrick Henry.
Oh, George Washington jumped out of the territory.
And he said, George, where did you get that hatchet?
He jumped that territory down there.
He says, I stole that hatchet.
Now, old George wouldn't tell a lie, but he wouldn't steal.
That one private guy was there when he went across the Delaware.
He gets up there and he says, barefoot in the cold, he says, how come we got across the Delaware?
Everybody else is going to Florida.
But look, old Patrick Henry, now he says that's some famous words there.
He says, give him liberty or give him hell.
Like, give him liberty or give him hell.
Well, what happened?
And they never even let it out on him.
He and his wife had a terrible fight that morning.
Now, I mean, this drunk was walking down there and he was in the pot.
And he had gotten out there and he'd ordered a sale of drinks and this fellow hauled away.
And the bartender says, look, he says, look, I think you've had just a little bit too much to drink now.
He says, I'm not going to serve you anymore.
The old boy looked around and he says, I'm not drunk.
He says, I'll tell you what I'll do about it.
I'm not drunk.
He says, look at you.
He says, is this little one-eyed cat coming in the door over there?
The bartender says, I know you're drunk.
That cat ain't coming.
He's going.
There were three fellows that showed up at the bar together.
And old St. Peter met them out there.
And he looked at one of them.
He says, hey, what did you do down on the down on earth?
And he says, St. Peter says, I preached the gospel for 36 years down on earth.
He says, you sit down in this bench over here.
The third guy come up and he says, what did you do down on earth?
He says, St. Peter, I tell you, I was a preacher and I preached the gospel for 35 years down on earth.
He says, you sit down on this bench over here.
The third guy come up and he says, what did you do down on earth?
He says, St. Peter, I drove a cab in New York City for 18 years.
Man, he says, I've been waiting on you.
Come on in here.
Well, they got up there and those preachers began to protest.
The old man driving a cab driving the preachers that wasn't that a man.
Old St. Peter says, where is he?
He says, that man driving a cab in New York City in 18 years says he scared the hell out of more people
than both of them get preached out in 71 years.
Can't an old buddy get out?
Several years back then he had him a little job working down in South America.
And while he was down there he got a telephone call.
His mother-in-law hit base to wake him.
They asked him, says, do you want to train me for the night or do you want to marry me?
He thought for a minute.
He says, both.
I don't want to take no chance.
There was this black preacher and he was shutting down on his congregation something or other.
Oh, he was taking and shutting down.
And after a while he says, now says, all of you who wants to go to heaven says hold up your hands.
Well, they ever want them holding up their hands?
They have the little old one deep in, sitting on the front row.
He says, what's the matter now brother?
I said, don't you want to go to heaven?
He says, yes sir, boss.
I said, I thought you'd get in there for a little good day.
Incidentally, when I get back I have just decided I'm going to take on a new job.
I'm going down to this meal that way they're making those 20 foot poles.
Now in case you wonder what they're going to do with them 20 foot poles,
that's made to touch these people that you won't touch with a 10 foot pole.
Had he had a date in there one time, this old girl would be able to repeat.
Oh boy, he was waking on and he was trying to take that Christian out of her.
He was sure he was shutting down.
And he finally thought he had her just where he wanted her.
And he saw her that next Sunday morning, he says, sister Lipsy says,
I prayed for you for two hours last night.
She looked at him and she says, I was home all evening.
Why didn't you pick up the telephone, catch a cab and come home?
They had this Texan.
You know that kind of thing, big and big in Texas.
Oh man, they have a thing big and big in Texas.
So this Texan was showing this New York around Texas then.
He showed him the Longhorn Cabin and then he showed him just Alamo
and just showed him everything.
And every time he'd see that, that's big and big.
They all got in New York.
So they finally decided that while he was the New Yorker, we'd invite him up.
So he got out there, you know, and he showed him the Empire State Building.
He said, well, he said, we ain't got one quite that tall,
but we got two in Houston that's almost that tall and five times as wide.
And he just went on and kept on so finally the New Yorker says, I'm going to get him now.
He took him up to Niagara Falls.
He says, now I'll tell you what, says, you ain't got nothing in Texas like that, have you?
He says, no, but I'll tell you what, we got to come and wait
until we can stop that leak in 30 minutes.
But you know, we had a terrible experience there.
We got out there and we run a little late.
We got talked a little while.
We run a little late and we, I rushed off out there and I found myself a chair.
I told him the situation, I said, we're going to miss our plane if we're not going to make connections there.
And he says, well, he says, I'll see if I can get you.
I said, it'd be worth $10 before you can get us over there.
So we went out there and piled in the back of the taxi and he took off.
And we're here, we're probably holding away and he got in a traffic jam.
Well, that old boy, he didn't hesitate. He got over on the right-hand shoulder.
He was just a-going. I mean, he was hitting those bumps.
Those old-gone eucalyptus bulls left there looked like a picket fence.
Well, Sally and I had got down in the bottom of the floorboard.
We just scared to death.
Well, we finally got around that traffic jam and hey, he takes off.
And it wasn't too long. We heard a siren.
Well, I must have had enough strength to get up over that back seat and look out there.
And it was a siren and a blue light.
I said, scared to drive. I said, he's after us.
I said, can you outrun him?
He says, I'm going to do my best. And he snapped that thing to the floor.
Well, there wasn't more than the old cop caught up with us, you know, pulled him over.
And he says, hey, Kathy. I said, didn't you hear my siren?
He said, yes, officer, I did.
He said, didn't you see my blue light?
He says, I sure did.
He says, well, how come you speed up whenever you heard and saw all this?
He said, well, officer, I'll tell you, ten days ago, my wife ran off with a fake trooper
and I told you it was him bringing her back.
He had a priest and the baddest minister was a cocktail bar.
And they're walking around there and this priest had his martini.
He was taking a sip and on it.
Looked at that old baddest minister. He says, hey, aren't you going to have a martini?
He says, man, I'd rather commit adultery than to take and for taking that stuff.
And the priest says, I had to, but that didn't know I had a choice.
We had an old buddy down there that was a great fisherman.
He goes fishing every day. I mean, every day he goes fishing.
And he comes back with a boatload of fish.
So he got out there and the old game board got to watching him.
And he says, well, you catching all these fish?
He says, up the river up there.
He says, man, there ain't nobody else around here catching nothing.
That's rather odd. He says, I'm going to go fishing with you sometime.
So he says, I'm going to leave here at 4 o'clock every morning.
So the next morning the old game board was now waiting on him.
And they went up, they cranked up, went up and they rode and rode and rode and rode and rode.
Finally, a big bend in the river there about 200 yards across.
He got out there, you know, and he says, this is it.
And the old game board got out there and he began to hear briefly to carry two rods.
And he began to rig them up there and get them all ready.
And about that time, old Sam got out there and he said, here's a little tackle box.
He had a bunch of a fuse about eight inches long and some dynamite and some capsules.
He beat himself in a cap and a fuse stuck in dynamite, threw it out down the balloon.
Up the fish began to come. He was taking them up, putting them in front of the boat,
putting them up in the boat. And the old warden said, look, what you're doing here is illegal.
He says, I'm going to have to arrest you.
He didn't say nothing. He didn't reach down in his box, got himself out another stick of dynamite,
another cap, beat it into the fuse stuck in the cap.
Did it and threw it back in the game board's left.
He says, are you going to talk or are you going to pitch?
You know, how the limbo got stuck.
A Scotsman going under the door of a paint dollar.
Oh, well, I told him that the break banks got started.
These hooligans stealing these herb caps off these cars when they're still in motion.
I'm going to sit down and get somebody to talk with some sense.
Joe, you better get up here and take over and see what you can do.
Okay.
Okay. It's a hard act to follow as we get to Jean and Ira up here,
Count Chilson and so forth.
I'm really impressed by the number of people that are here and the fellowship we've had together
and the good times we've had on the tours.
We wouldn't assure where we were today. We were up in the fog most of the day.
We've had some good meals. I'm going to tell you a lot of them are going to have to slow down when they get back.
I thought it would be kind of nice to find out the different states that are here.
When I was checking over here, I thought we had at least half the states of the United States,
at least the lower 48 that are here.
I'll start with California because we've got a young man here who comes to a number of our reunions
way out of the state.
So raise your hand. There you go, George.
And then almost as far, but not quite, there's a Southwest, a new hall from Arizona.
Then we've got Nebraska.
Then we have Iowa and we've got a couple here.
Two young men.
Well, let's see, how about Minnesota?
And Michigan.
This time we have one coming that's Indian.
Ohio.
Pennsylvania.
New York.
Maine.
New York.
.