here at the Seven Oaks Hotel.
124th, 167th Infantry Regiments of 31st Division
are holding their 12th annual reunion here this year.
And people are checking in right and left,
and Joe Wall's in there checking them in,
and he's been busy most of the day so far.
So got a little sunshine now,
and I'm going to take some pictures around.
Here is the entrance to the hospitality room
for our reunion from the outside entrance,
and the next to the swimming pool here.
From one side to the other, the length of it.
What's been going on?
Hey, how you doing?
Where you all been today?
To the malls.
We've been shopping.
To the malls.
Lots of malls.
I got back cake though this morning, didn't I?
Yeah.
I'm a little cooped up in the room here,
which is kind of close to any, you know,
the divestiture sort of sense,
but I just want to welcome you to the museum
and the exhibit hall and so forth.
I understand you have a presentation
for the museum this morning,
and I have a photographer for that purpose
so we can document it for posterity.
Got a question.
Yeah.
I have a few more chairs.
You can seat these people in there, Pam.
Well, normally we show a 10-minute video,
and I think the conditions are such that, you know,
by the time we got the chairs on and so forth,
you know, we'd want to get people out of here anyway,
because asking people to sit in there right now
and go back to the bar.
Army medics perform many roles.
They staff in Army hospitals, they teach at schools,
operate in many dispensaries
and similar medical service facilities,
which provide for our nation's soldiers,
and accompany our fighting forces
in the field during combat operations.
Generally, medics suffer a casualty rate
greater in proportion than that of the fighting troops
they serve.
It has always been so.
During the week of May 6 to 12, 1945,
the medical detachment of the 124th Infantry Regiment,
31st Dixie Division, earned the Army Distinguished Units
Salvation and the very numerous individual awards
for valor and suffered heavy casualties.
The regiment was advancing north on Stair Highway
in central and town, Philippine Islands,
when it encountered a Japanese force
strongly entrenched in the woods,
bordering both sides of the road.
On the battle's first day, the 6th of May,
the regiment suffered severe casualties
while trying to force the Japanese positions.
Medics immediately responded to the needs of the wounded,
exposing themselves unhesitatingly
to enemy fire to reach, retreat,
and remove county police from the field.
Many medics were wounded, and several were killed that day.
In one section of the battlefield,
Father Aquinas T. Colton accompanied the medics
into the fire-swept woods, bringing such comfort and support
as he could to the wounded.
He and the medic he was with were killed
by Japanese snipers.
Father Colton received the Distinguished Service Cross,
and the medic a Silver Star for their actions that day.
The battle would continue for six more days,
and there would be many more casualties
among the soldiers and their medics,
and many more decorations for valor.
When the battle for the woods was over,
the soldiers of the regiment named it
for their beloved and respected chaplain.
It is the actions of Father Colton
and the regimental medics that were specially commemorated
in our Florida National Guard Heritage painting
The Battle of Golden Woods
by Jackson Walker and Orlando Florey.
It is with great pride that the 124th Infantry
Regimental Association presents this copy of the painting
to the Museum of the Army Medical Center
for inclusion in their archives and historic records.
Applause
Background noise
Get the dessert.
Background noise
Parasite soldiers start out the west gate toward the fields.
They will grow corn, beans, lentils, melons, peaches and sugar cane.
Some of the older women are going to the Asec Yamato to fish for dinner.
The masons and carpenters are busy with the last details of construction on the new church.
On the sacristy window, Pedro Pizar is finishing his sculpture.
Maria baskets.
The older girls are spinning wool and cotton into thread,
while those busy at the looms are weaving blankets, revosos and cotton cloth.
On the corner basket, a few of the Indian soldiers are learning to fire a cannon to defend the mission.
More than 100 of the men are now trained as soldiers and drill regularly under the direction.
Background noise
Corn is over here.
Background noise
Now most of you have already heard the history and all and where I told you about the Lord, a lot of things can be found.
Some people were in my earlier tour before they once each year.
Now hardened animals of course are permanent structures.
They will grow right on through the horn if they start growing in a particular direction.
Like the sheep, goats, cattle, the zealots, around March or April depending on how much rain we get and the weather and so forth,
you'll see those bluebonnets all over the place.
In fact, the highway department puts out those bluebonnet seeds along our ranch roads, Florida market roads and interstates.
And I'll tell you, this past spring it was beautiful.
We get up all the way down to going up on the interstate towards Dallas, it was beautiful.
But you get in the hill country up around some of those, and I think to me it's a beautiful area because Blueboss really did make things look great.
We started here in South Texas, walked them all the way up to the rail centers in Kansas and Missouri in that area.
And...
...over 28 admirals senior to him.
The animal decides to go as far as California by train to unwind from sleepless nights.
His flag lieutenant goes with him.
Hal Lamar recalls...
...by the letter a couple of weeks in, he perhaps has to make it within a day or so.
One of the first decisions he was made was to produce the turning point America longs for at Midway Island.
Others aren't so sure. Something, it's a Japanese trick.
One of Nimitz's strengths is to consider each opinion carefully and then make up his own mind.
Hal Lamar recalls...
...50-50 or over 60-40, and the animal would come out with a basillul that was completely different from what the...
...Texas picnic was his idea.
...and versus eyes.
I agree that he would crinkle up and he would be very amused and relaxed.
And he thought things out to the last degree, but he didn't let you know that he knew what the answer was going to be.
He wanted you to come up with the same answer he did.
That's the way it is.
Bigger islands lie ahead, the most accliminal assault on the Japanese home islands as he speaks to the crew of HMS Newcote York...
...reigning his voice above the noise of the ship's vent-wrecking fans.
And finally, you will undoubtedly be there when we put ground-due to shore for the final kill.
I hope to be somewhere with you.
Unfortunately, I am no less kind or else.
I almost have to announce first, keep my feet from trying all the days.
But that does not mean that my heart is enough for you and then my spirit.
Nine days later, August 15, 1945, VJJ Victor over to act.
In Tokyo Bay, the Japanese surrender aboard the battleship Missouri.
The Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signs for the United States, and as he says in his victory statement, for all those who die in defense of freedom.
As he addresses the joint session that Congress calls it his honor.
And I will now announce that the Admiral Chester only as a representative of the Great American Army.
The museum of...
...the invasion of the Japanese army in Missouri, the 31st was scheduled to land on the plains of Tokyo in the invasion of the Japanese army in Shibuya.
But it was during the campaign on the Indian Isle that the 31st went into a severe combat test.
And where the division was on a 24th and a 3rd regiment, two of its three distinguished unit fighters.
It is the principal battle of that campaign that is commemorated in the Florida National Guard Memorial Committee.
Battles of gold and blitz by Jackson Walker on the way to the park.
While the painting of the fair is not a reason to celebrate it now.
The 24th and 7th and 8th corps slowly transformed into what both the class and the group.
On the 6th of May, that was Thursday, the Indian attempts to bring period Japanese tradition to fail.
And behind some force of the great Vicki Cashman.
Medics sent in the contested area to bring 18 many wounded.
Our contested corps responded to either of the souls of her issuers.
Also many two group medics.
But the Italian sergeant injured his assistant, the 5th sergeant Colt, and I swear to his health that I will please receive that for retection.
But it is not proven that I am a real man.
As the performing man strikes the one person into the business.
He ran out of comfort and support to several others.
But Colt was killed by the Japanese and was committed to the economy.
It is believed that many of the brown medics and the pink group part, who received the consumable silver star from the Japanese that day.
But Colt received the consumable, the distinct service card and the soul to the regiment in new leaves and the battle came very much to the left.
Respected regimental chaplain.
24th Regimental Association takes pride in presenting a copy of this page to the Nimitz community for removing the fallen
You know Bob here, he's also a veterinarian, a taxidermist.
He's got his taxidermist shot and he's been practicing right next to each other and his motto is, the way you get your pet back.
Now folks down there in McMillan County, when you get west of that line on 98th, like I say it gets dry.
Comes out of Canada about 50 miles west of Winnipeg, goes down through North Dakota and South Dakota.
And incidentally, now here's where I get the wrong wind again.
It goes into Cavalier County, North Dakota, which I think is auspicious because the harvest was so impartial in the west.
Goes down through Cavalier County, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and leaves Texas and goes into Mexico about 50 miles west of the rear gunner.
Well when you get in Winster there, I count in McMillan County, I want to tell you that every year down there we have a two year drought.
It's been going on that way for about a million years.
Back in the 30s, we had one that lasted three years every year.
And that's the one that I always song about because that's the one that's just, my time's up?
Start singing.
Fortune slings and arrows, I've suffered in my time.
Chasing cattle through the brush in the southern nexus wide.
I've seen some trials from Taylor and Maeve, the book of man and the test.
But the powerful curve turns, for me and that he don't rest.
35 months it didn't rain, ever stopped max, oh I cried.
Oklahoma blew away and dusted up our sky.
The grass died out in the cattle, I still can hear them all.
Talk about your droughts, it was the daddy of them all.
On a trip to San Antonio one day we saw a picture show, Burgess Mary in the winter set with a lady named Margaret.
Most every scene the rain came down, no one sure could complain.
My dad sat through that movie twice just to watch it rain.
We had a neighbor named Ray Hayes who lived across Salt Ranch.
Where in later years Ray's greener laid out the wine glass ranch.
When we got home dad couldn't wait to describe the show to Ray.
They drove 60 miles to San Antonio to watch the movie rain next day.
Now a song without a moral is a song without advice.
Instead I'll pass along some words that only once you find.
There are years of grass and water when a cow and a Jew are good.
But you've got to have some bad years to appreciate the good.
35 months it didn't rain, ever stopped max, oh I cried.
Oklahoma blew away and dusted up our sky.
The grass died out in the cattle, I still can hear them all.
Talk about your droughts it was the day of them all.
True story.
Applause.
While the view is still home the moon is in.
And the voice I hear falling on my ears.
The sun of God disclosing.
And he walks with me and he talks with me.
And tells me I am his own.
And the joy we share as we carry there.
I don't ever know.
I don't know.
Sundance, if you're proud to be a Texan, hold your head up proud.
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Is that a proud Texan or not?
Now Sundance weighs right at 1,400 pounds, and he will continue growing in weight and height until he gets to be about 10 years old.
Now Sundance, before you get too big, we need to get to know each other better.
Let's shake hands. Come on, shake hands.
Good boy. Good boy.
Now his horns are seven feet and two inches around the curve, and they will continue growing until he's about 15 years old.
So he's got a good bit of growth to go there yet.
There's a fellow named J. Frank Dobie who wrote a book about the long horns,
and in it he describes how they hunted the long horn just like they did buffalo and deer.
But the long horn, if you got it in corners, they would attack you.
And they've been known to ram their horn all the way through a horse and this horse end rider, both into the air.
So they were pretty vicious. If you look here real close, see his horn comes to a pretty good point,
and the older he gets, the more of a point that will become because he rubs it on rocks and trees.
Okay, back up Sundance. Back up. Back up.
Now to show you how vicious Sundance is, hey boy, give me a hug.
Good boy.
Now that was the second hardest trick to teach him because they don't like to be confined.
It took me about three months beginning to lay his head up there,
and then once I had him good at it pretty good, I put my hat on, head start all over.
We're used to the hat.
They said it was a thumb buster because it's not like a modern day gun where you can shoot it by just pulling the trigger.
You can never shoot that way.
And every time you want to shoot it, you have to thumb the hammer back and then you can shoot it.
Now some of the old cowboys never got any trouble.
They just stayed by themselves and didn't have to use their six-shooter very often.
They may have to shoot a rattlesnake or a wolf or something.
So when they had to, they just simply grabbed it by the butt, pulled it out, thumbed the hammer back,
aimed, and shot.
And they would miss as often as they would hit.
But that's not the fast way.
That's not the Texas Rangers way or the gunfighters way.
It was usually a kill or be-killed situation with them.
So they not only had to be fast, they had to be accurate.
What they would do when they grabbed the body butt, they would thumb it back at the same time, point, and shoot all in one fast motion.
Kind of like that.
Now they can do that with their hands in any position.
They can be hands down, shoot, or they can get hands on the belt buckles, hands up, any position as long as they come down below the hammers to thumb them back.
Now notice I said point the best way, not aim.
That master, someone of the finest of the old-time lowland, said that if you didn't have that natural instinct to point at what you were shooting at,
you weren't one of the great shooters.
Now there were a lot of great shooters back then.
Some were lowland, but some were outlawed.
Now the outlaw was really, really tricky.
You had to watch every move he made.
They did a thing called the rogue agent spin.
The lowland could hit his gun out, he'd change his.
He could hit his gun out, point at the outlaw, and tell him to hand the gun over.
The outlaw would say, hey, you've got to drop on me, take it, and he'd hand it over with the palm of his hand, just like this, slash.
And as the lowland would step out to get it, this is what the outlaw would do.
It's called rogue agent spin.
They also did it handing it out butt first and come underneath.
They didn't have to be a great shot because they were right there reaching for it.
In fact, according to history, some of the old timers were shot at such close range, that old black powder caught the clothing on fire.
So a couple of people, this is true, they didn't get killed by the bullet, they burned up.
And that's true, the old black powder that they hid.
Now to give you an idea how fast some of the Texas Rangers and gunfighters were, everybody hold your hands about a foot apart.
Now as soon as you see me wet, but then I saw Roy Rogers do it, he twirled it the other way.
And so I thought, well that must be something to that.
So I started checking some old West history books, and lo and behold, I found a book called Trigonometry.
A fellow named Eugene Cunningham wrote that about in the 1930s, and he was an old man,
so he lived to see some of those old timers and he talked to a lot of them.
So he was able to record on paper.
This old six-shooter, and I know most of y'all have seen some Western.
This old six-shooter, if it was a TV show or a movie, it could shoot 20 or 30 times with that reload.
But it's not, so I'm going to have to change because I shot them up here.
Now this is some of the things that the old Texas Rangers, gunfighters, and cowboys used to visit the six-shooter.
Each gun weighs right at three pounds.
Of course everybody from Texas can do this.
This gun in my left hand was made in 1883.
It makes it 111 years old.
Now the John Wesley Party, who was from Texas, was the best advanced gun for it.
And the Colesing Laction is the best balanced gun that they ever made.
It doesn't need a wild bill of hip hop.
It doesn't need wild bill of hip hop.
It's the best that it can make for trick shooting and things like this.
This is one of the tour boats.
River walk.
We're moving out.
Right now we've got 61 people here on these two boats.
We're leaving our tour guides behind. There they are.
Hey you're on camera over there. Wave.
We already got five kids.
This is a good place for me to stand up right here.
Alright good morning ladies and gentlemen. How's everybody doing today?
Fine.
Alright how about the rest of y'all?
Let's try it again. How's everybody doing this morning?
Good.
Alright, just like to introduce myself. My name is Anthony.
I'm going to be a driver for at least 30 to 45 minutes.
If you do have any questions as we go along the sides of the river walk,
you can be free to ask. I do have some rules you do have to go by.
First one is if you are sitting next to white railings,
you can ask you to watch your hands and elbows.
Make sure you keep inside the white bar at all times.
There's also no smoking on this boat. There's also no standing.
But if you have a camera, a video camera, and you want to stand up and take a picture
of some of the sights along the river walk, that's fine.
Just make it as quick as possible. If you're going to stand up and take a picture,
like this gentleman is, of the driver, just take your time okay?
Don't take a picture of the driver.
Alright we're going to start with this building that's up here to my left.
If you look over to my left hand side, this right here is the Hilton.
Palacio de Río. What it means in English, palace on the river.
This hotel is against the book world record.
It would be the fastest hotel building. It was built in 202 working days
by a company named H.B. Zagpick.
If you look at the room starting from the fourth floor up,
you notice the room is shaped like blocks.
Each individual room you see up here, they were fully furnished.
It actually showed like Lego blocks by Special Crane and a giant army helicopter.
This building was supposed to be completed in 200 days.
The reason why it was added to two more days is because the word building,
a world largest margarita tank, located right over here to my right hand side.
The village of San Antonio is also the old San Antonio, built back in 1800.
If you look over to my right, we have the stage.
And also where the stage is located you are going to see five bells.
The five bells you see over here represent the five missions of San Antonio.
The one in the center represents the Alamo, which is one of our missions.
We do have shows here every night during the summer months.
When they are performing on the stage, the boats do come through here.
Yeah, this one.
This little island over here to the right side we do have a lot of weddings going on
here every weekend and this is the island I try to keep away from.
Everybody look over to my right side of my boat, it's over to the right.
Up against the wall right over here you can see a mosaic tile which was put there back
in 1930 to represent Old Mill's Cross Seed which was the last known place the horses
drank water before the river.
This is where the Austin Texans would wash their wagons every Sunday.
We just now entered the tunnel of love, it's for most of you love birds, if you are going
to kiss somebody please make it quick right.
We are going to be going to the old army reunion.
Oh old army reunion?
Southwest Pacific.
Oh yeah wait what did you do?
We were in the Pacific during the second world war.
World War II?
What did you do?
We were infantry.
We had a couple of them yesterday, Austin did the same thing as I do.
There were in the army Austin, they had different headstrongs.
Imperial macaws, we were on the other side with the factorial and
frigate.
military Ebow
French gas.
are both underneath the library. The reason why, you are going to drain the river for about two weeks.
But then those two weeks you are going to have a parade on the river walk which is called the mud parade.
Okay we do have a floodgate which is coming up in front of us.
We need everybody to do it to look on the side of the wall. Look on either side. On high level you
are going to see silver plates. This is one of our floodgates. This floodgate comes out of the water
and it forms into like a dam. All the water when we drain this river comes into the main channel
and all the water inside the downtown area rushes to the left.
All the way to the left-hand side and all the way down the river.
You are going to see some yellow flags back there. Look straight up in front of you. Look all the way down the river.
Yellow flag right there is our dam and it's about a 24 drop.
Okay we do have another dam which is a mile away from that one.
It controls that section right there. That dam in front of us controls up in this area.
This floodgate also controls the horseshoe from the main channel.
A couple inches above the water there is a rope and that's there for your safety.
If anybody decides to fall over or the boat decides to sink all you got to do is just swim to the side.
Hang on to the rope another driver will come and pick you up.
Marks along the walls right here. One time we had our dam which is located right here back in 85.
That's when we had our last flood here in San Antonio.
That's the reason why we had our last flood all the way down the river.
So the whole San Antonio River Walk.
If you look to the right side of my boat the tall tree to my right is called the Twin Cypress Tree.
The tree is about 300 years old and it stands 9.5 stories high.
This is the oldest cypress tree along the San Antonio River Walk.
Back in the Alamodade the worst Mexican snipers on the tree.
They picked out the tags and robbed them. We go back into the horseshoe and I'm going to show you Mose Kai talking about the tree.
Let's give them a big holler here.
Very bad.
This horseshoe was completed back in 1941.
It is 4-7 feet deep all the way around.
It does have a mud bottom.
We call this section the natural part of our San Antonio River Walk.
If you look right above you, you have our other floodgate and the floodgate comes straight
down.
The other one I showed you a minute ago comes out of the water.
If I could have the attention to look back here please.
Right over here to the left side is the Mosaic Tile which is talking about the tree we just
finished telling you about a minute ago.
Sniper and a text on the opposite side of the river.
You want to see something weird and strange beside your driver, look over to the right
side of the boat and on the wall, what you are going to see is a tree coming out of a
brick wall.
This tree if you are wondering how it got here back in 1929.
We had a huge flood in San Antonio.
The water got about 6 or 7 feet deep above the tree level.
That is how the tree got there.
By the way that is our largest tree house in Texas.
Baby on the side.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you look over to the left side, look over to the building to
the left, the name of this building is La Mancion de Manchon.
This hotel back in 1956 was the University of St. Mary's Law School for Men, until two
former graduates came back and bought it.
The dates of the building was added two more floors to the top, named the La Mancion Hotel.
This is the only four-star hotel along the San Antonio Riverwalk.
This hotel was also opened back in 1968 for the World Tourist Fair.
If you look up at the two top floors that are pillars, you'll notice they're round.
If you look at the other pillars right below them, you'll notice they're square.
That's how you're going to tell the two top floors were added back in 1956.
Also at this time, folks, look across the street, that tall building to the left, that
tall building right there.
That is the next hospital.
It is the only hospital in the state of Texas that you will find that has a bar and grill
for its basement.
It's also what we call the recovery room.
All right, I'm going to show you an obstacle illusion.
What you need to do is look at the building straight up to your left, look straight up
to your left-hand side.
Once we pass the bridge, you're going to see it's like a single wall standing up on its
own.
Look straight up to your left-hand side.
It says an obstacle illusion.
All you got to do is kick back and relax and say, wow.
Look straight up.
Look up.
Wow.
Everything stays steady.
I think it's a good idea to go back and see the money that's been put in hotels all year.
Okay, I'll come back.
Did everybody have a good time?
Yeah.
Yeah!
What's the price of a hotel loft here?
They all vary.
La Matone is a four star which is kind of expensive.
Not really.
If you get where you want to go, you want it on the river level.
The base of the river is kind of expensive.
If you want it anywhere inside, they don't charge much.
All right, the building over to my left hand side is the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Opened back in 1981.
It has about 644 rooms.
It is the only hotel on the river walk that has a little man-made stream coming right out of the lobby.
If you ever have to be on this section of the area and want to get a fast way to the Alamo,
all you got to do is go to either of the doors over to my left side,
go to the next either of the doors, up a couple of stairs, and you'll be right across from the Alamo.
This is the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Right directly in front of us, we're about to come into what we call the River Square.
This is where you'll find all your restaurants, shops, and your bars.
This section is only about 4 feet deep.
If you have to be on this section later on or late in the evening,
you perhaps have too many drinks tonight.
You fall in the river, no need to panic, just stand up and walk out.
All of the same drink that threw you in, all right?
If anybody would look over to my left side, it's where some of our shops are located.
If anybody on my boat likes chocolate, there's a chocolate factory located to the far left.
Over to my right, on the second level, we do have our other restaurants and shops.
You are wondering what kind of restaurants we have on this section.
We do have Mexican to Chinese, Mexican to Italian, Mexican to Cajun,
Mexican to Indian, Mexican to American, and more Mexican to Mexican food.
If you look over to the right side, this restaurant, over to the right-hand side,
this is another Mexican restaurant.
The name of this restaurant is Casarillo's Mexican Restaurant.
It was the first restaurant on this island to be on the River Walk.
It was on the River Walk until 1946.
All the other restaurants didn't come to the River Walk until 1968.
My dad right there.
Right here?
The one in the back.
Oh, okay.
That's our boat driver's dad right there.
Is that John?
My dad's John.
We are both John.
Is that San Antonio Police?
Excuse me?
Is that San Antonio Police Department?
No, so that's the parking area.
Oh.
So the River Walk area.
Okay.
San Antonio Police Department.
Go up the stairs right there, go up the stairs, go right down the stairs,
and that's under the walls.
It's a sphere. It does have a concrete bottom that's about 7 feet deep.
Do we have anybody on my boat that's from California?
The other boat.
Oh, the reason why I'm asking, most everybody on my boat is from all over the country, right?
Yeah.
Well, I'm from San Francisco, California originally,
and I was just trying to see if anybody was going back home soon,
so I could go with you.
I could take you to bars in Arizona.
Excuse me?
I'm from the same area.
Really?
Yeah.
Are there any other bars?
Yeah, other bars.
Okay.
Ladies and gentlemen, look over to my left side,
there's a beautiful church right over here to my left.
The name of the church is St. Joseph's German Catholic Church.
This church was opened back in 1868.
Back in that year, that's when they had their first German Catholic mass.
It's also open to the public.
If you'd like to see what's inside, it's very beautiful inside,
and they have mass every Sunday, but it's in German.
If you look to my right, you're going to take a picture of this waterfall right over here to the right.
You can stand up and take a picture.
By the way, this is Niagara Falls, Jr.
It's a beautiful place.
How long were you in the army?
About three or four years, sometimes.
Some of them five.
Three, four, five years?
Yeah.
That's pretty good.
I'm pretty soon going to the Marines.
I don't know if anyone wants to, but I want to get out of San Antonio for a while.
That's a good experience.
Yep.
That's what gave me more experience to become a cop, so I'm back out.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you look to my right side of my boat,
way up to the top, the building with the antenna, it's called the Tower of Americas.
It is the second freestanding building in the United States,
and it's located on the Washington Monument and the Seattle Space Needle.
The Tower of America is located every hour on the hour,
and right up above the restaurant is the observation deck.
That section up there does not rotate, but it's 250 to go up.
If you want to come back down, it's free.
It's pretty at night, huh?
Yeah, it's really yummy.
During the day, take it during the day, you can see some of the sights of the room at the beach here at night.
It's very beautiful at night.
Some of the riverwalks, we were turned in,
the horseshoer and they had some of the Christmas lights on.
They started tying them on to see if they were all working.
It was nice, but you don't see it during the month of December.
The riverwalks set up.
Ladies and gentlemen, we're now coming into the Henry Beagle Dollars Convention Center,
completed back in 1968 for the World Temesphere.
Directly in the background, the big brown dome is the Hemisphere Arena,
home of the San Antonio Spurs.
Well, actually, their new home is now located on the opposite side of the highway,
which is the Alamo Dome.
If everybody would look up here to my left-hand side, this beautiful mosaic tile,
it was done by only one gentleman by the name of Juan E. Gorman,
which was a Mexican artist from Mexico, which he did by himself.
Nobody helped him, he did it by himself.
By the way, this is a one-inch by one-inch colored mosaic tile.
He started this back in 1967 and completed it back in 1968.
As he also, after he finished this, he gave it to the City of San Antonio
to represent the 1968 World Temesphere.
By the way, there are 7 million tiles inside that mosaic tile alone.
Alright, this time I'll be making a right turn,
and we're going to go into what we call the second part of our man-made section.
The section we're coming into, we call it the River Center Mall area.
River Center Mall and the new Meria, which is right across the street to the right side,
both put there back in 1968.
And then, we're going to go into the second part of our man-made section,
which is right across the street to the right side, both put there back in 1988,
along with the channel.
The channel does have a concrete bottom, it's about 6 feet deep.
River Center Mall is the only three-story mall in San Antonio,
155 shops, 18 fast food restaurants.
It also includes a movie theater and IMAX theater,
also River Center Mall Comedy Club.
The mall that you'll be seeing in a few more minutes, it is 80% glass.
The other 20% is just credit cards, okay?
Here's a better view of the River Center Mall for the ladies that love to shop.
This is for y'all right up in front.
For you guys, if you look to my left side, this is our daycare center.
Right over here, it's the lab.
The ladies go shopping.
We should leave a couple of bucks for us.
How are you doing this morning?
Fine.
I'm doing great, thank you.
Let's go.
Everybody wave to the left.
Everybody wave.
Oh, you gotta forgive me, I'm kinda tired.
Alright, folks, this time we're gonna go to the right-hand side.
To the right, on the Riverwalk level, you can see a statue.
The name of the statue is St. Anthony.
It was given to us by the Portuguese in 1968,
World Swim's Fair, St. Father of San Antonio, and also the San Antonio Riverwalk.
With that little boy that you see that he's holding in his arms right there, that's me.
I'm gonna need you to do it.
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, this boat is coming up right here, the driver.
This is my brother right here.
Lee, his name's Lee.
On the count of three, everybody's gonna say, hi, Lee.
One, two, three.
Hi, Lee.
That's my brother, folks.
He had about six or seven of them.
We're all going to the Marines.
We're all gonna be in one big family.
Yeah, I don't really like to fly planes.
I'd rather stay on the ice.
Ladies and gentlemen, can I have everybody's attention, everybody enjoy the boat ride and tour.
Yeah.
Alright, hope you enjoyed it.
Please come visit us again.
I hate to ruin it for you all.
If you're doing any of your tour in your boat ride on San Antonio Riverwalk, hope you enjoyed it.
Please come visit us again.
I hope you enjoy your rest of your stay here in San Antonio.
God bless each and every one of you that's on this boat.
Have a safe trip home and a safe vacation.
Okay?
Thank you.
God bless.
Take care.
Watch your step as you exit this bar.
There's no pushing, shoving, scratching or biting.
And also, thank you for not swimming.
If you did bring any personal belongings on this boat, please do not forget them on your way out.
And y'all take care and God bless.
My pleasure driving y'all around, entertaining you guys, and giving you a tour.
Have a great day.
Thank you.
We're inside the shopping mall here by the Riverwalk.
Our fresh dog is in the bathroom.
I'll send her a hand when I get out.
We ask that you watch over us for the rest of the day and the rest of the year.
And we all have a safe journey back.
We thank you, your God, for this food, the blessings of life, and in thy name, amen.
I wish I had, but I woke up the freak to arrest him.
And up there I met a gentleman, and I got a talking with him.
He said, man, he says, well, after trying for six months, I got rid of 175 pounds of ugly fat.
I said, how in the world did you do that?
He says, my mother-in-law went home.
This poor little old lady, she didn't have too much money.
And she goes to the grocery store.
She looked all around there, and she finally decided that she could afford only two items.
That was a bottle of ketchup and two eggs.
She made her purchase, and as she walked out the door, the bottom of the bag fell out.
Ketchup all over the sidewalk, two eggs right in the middle of it, and she began to cry.
Well, the old city drunk was standing at the corner there, and he went over there, and he was going to come at this lady.
He said, lady, don't cry, don't cry. Please don't cry.
And she just was crying out some song.
He said, look, says, it wouldn't have lived no-how. Look, its eyes are too far apart.
He wasn't here. I mean, they were caught there.
So she got up there, and they all decided they wanted to get married.
And the little lady says, now, look, those say I don't have that much money.
Why don't you all just get the deal and get married at the same time?
And they finally agreed to that.
So they agreed to it, and they all got married, and before they got married, they got a code.
They were going right back there, this old lady, how they was doing.
So they got out there, and after about a week, on their honeymoon, there was a number one, she gets a letter from them.
And she says, where's the legal surgery?
And she waited, and she didn't hear nothing from number three.
Finally, after about a month, she received a letter.
And these bottles, she says, are used for marijuana.
Oh, she says, that wasn't in the, I don't remember that one there, not in the code, they are towed.
So she goes around to her friends, and she, nobody knew what that Eastern Airlines was.
So somebody finally suggests, that's called Eastern Airlines.
And the lady answered the phone, said, Eastern Airlines, get it out there in 18 minutes.
This finished liquor, that face through, and this old blacksmith, he had just fitted this horseshoe to a horse's foot.
And he heated it, heated it, chair, and red, and threw it over on the bench to do it out.
Well, the cone comes, this sick of slicker, and he picked it up.
And of course, they threw it down in a hurry.
And the old blacksmith says, did it burn you?
He says, no, it just don't take me long to look at a horse shoe.
So he's got it bundled up, so maybe later on, he'll give you a few more.
Now, we have a text in here.
Oh, you put it out that way, but that's the law.
There's something special regarding this.
Like I said, the other text in which this young man helped a lot in getting our reunion set,
because he lived not too far from here, and he came down and looked around at the various hotels
and some of the entertainment things here, and he gave us some good ideas.
And he set up this hotel, which I think has been a great one for us.
And then I had some help from a retired colonel who lives here.
He was first in the 155, and then he was transferred and went over to Europe.
Archie Phillips is going to give you a welcome from Texas.
Thank you, Jill.
I don't know how many of you are from Texas, but for those that are, all of us,
my wife Maxine and I and those in the group, hope that you have had a good time,
you've enjoyed yourself.
We also hope that you've lived up to our reputation, hospitality, and friendliness.
And if this hotel has sleuth you, every other part of the reunion, that's fine with us.
I would simply like to offer you a belated welcome.
Thank you for coming. Have a safe trip home, and hurry back.
Now I'd like to tell you about a man who lived out in Muleshue, Texas by the name of Bubba Jones.
There is a town by the name of Muleshue.
And he had spent his entire life out on this ranch, accumulating a lot of property,
mine herd, oil wells, and the whole thing.
Finally one morning he woke up to the realization that he'd become very wealthy.
But he never left the ranch.
He thought there's more to life than this.
I'm just going to go someplace for a whole month.
So he came into Fort Worth, he bought a new ortho, luggage and so on.
He thought I'll go to New York City.
Went into New York, he hailed a cab, and the cab, he said, where to, Mac?
He said, I really don't know, I haven't been here before.
He said, why don't you just take me down into the big middle of all this?
So he did.
Took him down in Manhattan, probably.
He got out with the cab, he's standing there eyeballing the landscape,
and he looked up about seven floors.
There's a man up there on the ledge, ready to jump.
Bubba looked around for help, and there wasn't a soul there but him and so.
He cupped his hands to his mouth, and he looked up, he said, don't jump.
The man looked down and said, why not?
Remember your father, I haven't got a father.
Well, remember your mother, I haven't got a mother.
Remember your sweetheart, I haven't got a sweetheart.
Remember your wife, I haven't got a wife.
By this time, Bubba's all out of remembrance.
But being two-texted, he had one more.
He said, remember the Alamo.
The guy looked down and he said, Alamo? What's that? Jump, you fool.
I would imagine that we're like any other group that meets on an occasion like this.
We represent many parts of the United States from all walks of life.
And there are those among us, probably, whose every waking day was bigger and better than the day before.
They've gone through life accumulating many things, worldly possessions, happiness, families, businesses, what have you.
They have to pinch themselves occasionally to make sure this is all true.
Now there's a flip side to that coin.
For some, unknown, for what reason, they seem to go from one decision, one act to the other.
Nothing is ever done at the right time in the right place.
They just go on having to battle the elements all the way through.
About the only thing you learn from that kind of an existence is that adversity truly is an introduction to yourself.
The sin is not in falling. The sin is not getting back up and going on doing whatever you do best.
Now I would think that most of us fall somewhere in the middle of that yo-yo.
Well, we've had beautiful days. We have some memories that we cherish, like to think about.
We've had some bums. We've had things happen to us. We pray the good Lord doesn't make us go through again.
But the thing of it is, at this particular moment, for all of us, regardless of our walk, of life, our circumstances,
we thought enough, at this occasion, to set aside, put down whatever we were doing, and to come here,
to relive a series of events that happened fifty years ago, a half a world away,
and to share these events with people that were worth, were there with us.
My friends, that makes us survivors.
I don't know what survival means to you, but I have one little incident that happened to me.
Years ago, I had a man that used to have the habit of asking me, he said,
Arch, if you had your life to live over, would you make any changes?
If the day had been good, I'd probably say, no, I don't believe a word.
If it hadn't been my oyster that day, yeah, I believe I'd make a change.
He'd say, what would you do? Well, I'd go back to 1948, which was more or less a pivotal year for me,
and I'd start from there. And I went on thinking this year after year,
and finally, one day, the thought occurred to me, the good Lord has bent over backwards on my behalf,
on many occasions, I'd be scared to death he wouldn't do the same thing twice in a row.
I'll take every single day of it, just the way it went down, which is what brings me here,
to this building, at this hour, to be with you, my buddies from the 31st Village.
Now, about a month ago, Sam Spence of Company F called me from his home on the Gulf Coast, Mississippi.
He said, Arch, there's no way this group can repay Joe Wall for what he's done over the years, and I certainly agree.
He said, we should do something for Joe. I agreed to that. He said, would you handle it? I'd love to.
So, I've built a little plaque here, and Joe, I'm not going to attempt to pontificate, so to speak, in depth,
about our admiration for you, the things that you've done for us, appreciation for everything you have done for us.
What I will do is simply read what the plaque says. I had to put it in as few words as the space would allow,
but I'm going to read it to you and to this group. To wit, it says,
Be it known, this token of appreciation is awarded to a wise and kindly man, Joseph W. Wall,
by a grateful group of former comrades for his many years of labor and love dedicated to the memory of the 124th
Infantry Regiment, 31st Division, during World War II, October 21, 1994, San Antonio, Texas.
I will accept. That was me thinking of a word in response. I just have one more thing I want, I would like to leave with you.
If you've had a good time, enjoyed yourself, and you found this location to your satisfaction,
I'd like you to know I played a very small part in this site selection. However, on the other hand,
if you haven't had too good a time, it hasn't been too good a deal for you, you really aren't too impressed
with the seven notes, while in that case, I didn't have a damn thing to do.
I call upon Sam Spence for a continued attribute to Joe. Thank you.
Well, thanks so very much, arts and peers, and all my fellow students.
I just hanged up something in my basket.
I've enjoyed this work, and I don't consider it work, but in a way it is,
because I'm in a period that I like to fill in my time, and I've involved in a lot of things, but this is my first love.
Thank you.
Kevin, why'd you put them pantyhose in there?
You put everything in that darn thing.
I brought the wrong certificate, but you brought out the last one.
I can't talk right now.
Can you hear me?
Yeah.
Okay.
I have this flag that was thrown over the Capitol when I brought the wrong certificate,
and still the flag was thrown for the 1st and 2nd District, and it was thrown on May 24, 1993.
So I'd like to present this flag to Joe, and by the way, the congressman from our state got this for me.
It's really a pretty flag, and I'd like to unfold it and show you.
This is an appreciation of what you've done for us, to hold us together.
And I still don't think they ought to call this a service company.
I think they ought to call it a...
Well, I just joked with Joe about that.
But I think most of us are from other companies, but we support it, and Joe has held us together,
so long, and we really appreciate what he's done for us.
Let me show you this flag.
You can see the service company flag.
I'm going to fold it after we leave.
I just wanted to show everybody what it looks like.
I was over my room, and it took me about 30 minutes.
We might be the most important, but there's a lot of other things here that might belong to them.
But within a day, nobody had to claim them.
Joe, I'm going to take this thing away from you just a minute.
The next presentation we have is Mayor Hedges here.
They jumped the gun on me last. She was supposed to come first, but that's all right, as long as you get all this stuff.
My thanks to Joe is for being my answer.
He has been so much help to me. Whatever I didn't understand, it might be helpful to him.
You can hear me now?
I'm just thanking Joe for all of this to me.
Whenever I had a question or needed something explained or didn't understand something,
I just wrote to Joe, and I'd get a long letter back in detail what happened, when it happened, how it happened, and who it happened to.
He also has been so helpful in passing on messages from me via his newsletter to you all.
You can't believe how much help that is, because we don't send a newsletter,
otherwise I wouldn't be able to get in contact with any of it.
His encouragement has been so important.
He never fails to encourage all of you, if you care to, to join the Association, and many of you have, and I appreciate that.
So in appreciation, this little token of our thanks, it reads,
from the 124th Infantry Regimental Association, is awarded this certificate of appreciation to Joseph Wall. Please accept our thanks for your support.
Thank you.
Applause
While I'm on my feet here, while I'm on my feet, I got a fax letter from Guy Green,
some of you know who he is, and he wanted me to pass this information on,
and here he says, thanks again to you and, oh, for putting on another great reunion of the veterans of our famous 31st Infantry, Dixie Division.
Those that helped you are also, said a great big thanks from all of us here in the Association.
We regret we couldn't attend this year, but I know the brave, you have a lot of representation of the 31st Dixie Division Association there.
Please announce the division reunion for 1995 will be held 16, 17, 18th of May, 1995, in Gulfport, Mississippi, at the Holiday Inn Airport, Highway 49 North.
Everyone is invited to attend this 60th year celebration.
Special note, those that served during World War II with the division will be individually recognized and awarded a PAN and certificate.
Thanks again for your dedication. Hope to see everybody who may go for it.
Now this is the 31st Infantry Dixie Division Association coming from the Mississippi War Memorial Building there in Jackson, Mississippi.
You got a joke?
Yeah, we feelin' somethin' there. We got, you be makin' up your yawn now about the USS Kate Nettie.
You see this old boy had got on a train and he was a-rivin' across Texas.
Well all of a sudden now this train come to screechin' holler. Somebody pull the emergency call.
Finally they got up there, you know, and they went through the up and down askin' any and everybody and every cop.
And nobody had stopped the train. They couldn't figure out who it was.
The old engineer says, have you looked in the restroom? Bathrooms? He says, no. He says, let's have a look.
And about the third when they come to, there was this guy sittin' down there and said, did you pull the emergency call?
He says, I sure did. He says, well, he says, what, you stopped the train for?
He says, man, since I got the hemorrhoids in World War II. He says, that's no reason to stop the train.
He says, 10% of the people in Texas got hemorrhoids. He says, yeah, but theirs is not wrapped around.
I have some notes here. Don't worry about it.
So I'll straight to the Broadway.
Man, don't think you're bad. I do it all the time.
I'm not gonna talk about a battle. I'm gonna talk about this.
I don't know whether it's where it came from, but it's in the regimental.
It was a celebrated advance from Pickett to the Melrose.
Oh, no.
Mapleade Highway.
Okay, I've got it now.
That 49 miles was accomplished in five days, according to the records.
And next to the last day of that celebrated advance, they call it, celebrated for me.
But I was in the front of that battalion that day.
And some experience, plus all the battles that were going left and right.
And we overtook a couple of enemy vehicles.
And we passed the word back, and the word was, keep moving, keep moving.
So we moved on out of the through the woods, and out into the grass about shoulder high to me.
And the word came in, called it. Called it, they called it.
That sounded good to me.
The word says, secure your area and hold it.
So we put out security out there.
And then night got to closing in. Even, late evening closing in.
And said, we're going to make a perimeter here and we're going to spend the night.
So naturally, that's the procedure.
You've got to make your area and you're in the front.
You cut the grass down so you can see those guys sitting in the middle of you.
I was going in process.
I decided, well, I'm going to find out what's in that grass in front of me.
So I wade out through the grass and I come to the road.
And I wade on further and I see two ruts out through the woods, through the grass.
And I thought, well, I better find a way to be here and get the track through there.
So I wade off in there and there it was.
Lost treasure.
I run across two piles of money, paper money.
At that time, I decided it looked more like a dump truck.
Loads of money in each pile.
But I got to thinking, well, maybe there's a jeep.
So I decided a jeep would pile here and pile there.
And I picked up a couple of those bills and I was spending my analyze on them.
Same old Japanese invasion money that I'd seen ever since we left New Guinea.
And about the time that I decided, well, this is nothing worth anything.
I looked across the grass and I could see these brown, black spoons coming in my direction.
And what was it?
Well, they know I'm out here and they put a mortar fire on me.
I better get the heck out of here.
So I run by that other pile of money and grabbed two bills out of there.
And I failed it out of the grass back in my line.
Well, I took those bills in my pack.
And this was about, what was it, about, something on April.
And then on through the campaign, I didn't report it to nobody.
Because this was an incident that I didn't know what was going on.
That same night, that mortar shell was chasing me, it was chasing me.
It hit right where I was standing and the grass just blazed up everywhere.
And so I didn't have nothing to report because I figured all that money and I still don't know what happened to that money.
But if you people know what anybody that's following, because one to four knows what happened to that money,
I'd like to hear about it because I'm still searching the records to find out if that money was ever discovered or if it was burned.
It was the ground. It was burned into the ground.
And I got to Del Monte Plantation up there north from the back of the water.
I unpacked my pack that I put these bills in and I displayed them out in my cup tent.
I got on the details sometime and I come back to the tent and people laying around there said,
Eddie, you got to get over there and check your tent because we got a bunch of natives standing here just eyeballing your tent.
And I put my head there and they said, I don't know what that was.
So I got in my tent and I said, what's wrong?
And somebody was speaking English and said, money, money.
I said, that's invasion money. Oh, no, no, no.
He pointed to two, he said, yep, invasion money.
I said, good money, good money.
So what it was, it was the old original World War II peso prior to World War II.
And they were worth 50 cents apiece at that time.
After the war, I don't know what they were worth doing when the war started.
He said they were worth 50 cents.
But in a real short estimation, I'd say it was probably more than two footlongs of money in each one of those times.
And I've read through the history of the regiment, the division.
So far, I've found nothing about no money being down on the trail there on that march.
So I'm still searching for that.
But if anybody was down at night, then I'll just quit my search knowing that none of these people does.
So really, I'm happy to be here.
When those mortar shells started there for me, in fact, until I got to the Del Monte plantation there in the north,
and then to now, it was the word for me was not money, but survival.
And that, that has brought me here today.
Thank you.
After the war, there was an article out, what you're talking about, that money was on the bank of Miller.
We just let it go to waste.
That's what, yeah, I'm sure those mortar shells couldn't hear, but it didn't cross my mind.
I couldn't, I spent 30 years in the Army, and I never have mentioned that to the Army, because I have nothing to mention, nothing to show it.
And it was a big haul, I'll put this out of the way.
Thank you, Heiss.
Sure.
Now, for about, oh, practically every year, except maybe one or two, Betty McHara has been with us.
And in this time, she and her cousin, Jake Dud, and her brother, Bill Nose, and their youngest daughter was coming.
But a few weeks back, Bill became very sick. He had heart trouble, he had to have four bypasses.
And so, none of them could come, and Betty called me and she said she's very sad, and she would have liked to come.
But we've got Art here, and Art knows a little bit about a certain thing that Betty told him about.
So I'm going to have Art here come on up and make a presentation.
So, Betty said she was going to send these boys down here for Lee and Fitzpatrick, who she had.
On behalf of her and this organization, and I'll bring it over to you.
And after all, she said, pick them up at the desk.
Okay, this is Lillian's birthday.
Yeah.
You don't have to tell how old you are, but if you want to, you can.
Well, we have some other short talks.
I'm going to have Marian Hess come up here now, and she's going to tell you something about what's going to happen next to all of us down in Orlando.
What's your first name?
Isaac.
Before I get to my business and start how high we were all again, Isaac has asked me to read this for him.
This is a news clipping from the Aberdeen, Mississippi Examiner, 5 July 1945.
It says, Monroe Sergeant in tough fight with Dixie Division in Wingenau, special, for emphasis.
Fighting every few hundred yards, subsisting on the fairest of rations, rations, and blotting on feet that were never dry,
Staff Sergeant Isaac S. Evans of Aberdeen, Mississippi, was one of the few men in his 31st Infantry Division who completed an exhausting 15-day mop-up push into the mountains recently.
This happened before I went up to Salai? Up into the mountains up into Salai?
Yeah.
Up in Detroit.
Yeah. Moving upstream beds and over ridges, the infantrymen fought their way back 15, their way 15 miles back into the mountains against position after position of doggie and jacks.
They destroyed 37 millimeter guns, which the jacks had forced Filipino women, men and women to load piece by piece into the mountains.
One stream bed was littered with jack bodies and 40 more were buried in one 50-foot block.
Supporting artillery, hurling shells over the peaks accounted for many enemy dead.
Among dumps captured was one filled with bright Filipino civilian clothing.
Scouts on the point of the advance were not kept in the lead for more than 15 minutes at a time, and a detail of 10 men was taken daily for companies in the rear of the column to serve as litter bearers.
So slippery were the trails that sometimes as many as 16 men were needed for a single litter patient.
Eight men to carry and eight men to keep the bearers on their feet.
Exhaustion, dysentery or wounds claimed two out of three infantrymen, but hundreds of jacks were killed and most of the GIs have recovered and are back for duty.
I've been in three campaigns, said one platoon sergeant, and that was the roughest thing I've faced yet. Staff sergeant Evans is the son of Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Evans of Route 2, Aberdeen, Mississippi.
I would like to dedicate that article to every member that was in the 124 that made that trip.
I just want to talk at you for a minute. I feel like there's some misunderstanding and this is the only time that we've all been together so that I can talk to you.
The purpose of the reunion in August is to celebrate the victory of Japan. It's 50 years. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the mobilization in 1991, we say August 8.
And I think VJ Day is pretty important to you guys because it meant that you're all here.
It is not being put on by the 31st Division Society or Association. However, we did call it the 31st Division 50th Anniversary VJ Day reunion, sponsored by 124th Infantry Regimental Association.
And I think this is what's causing the confusion. People look at it and think, well, it's the 31st. Well, as you can see, the 31st Association is having their own reunion in May.
The Society will probably have their own in May, some place in Alabama. And I don't really expect a whole lot of support from them.
They, not to be nasty, but they seem to want us to support them, but they don't support me at all.
The room rates are good for three days prior to the 24th and three days after the 26th. So if you want to make a real vacation and bring your family, you can do that.
The rates are exactly the same as this hotel, $55. There will be no pre-planned tours. The hotel can arrange for you.
I think it's taking this long because they haven't gotten a great deal of cooperation.
What they're asking for is for you to fill out the coupon in there that gives your history, where you're from, who you were with, whatever.
And to write 150-word biography of your life, what you've done since you served us, whatever. And 150 words is not much. And sent it to you.
This does not mean you have to buy the book. You may buy the book if you would like to have it. But all this is going to cost you is a 29-cent stamp, and about 20 minutes of your time.
And even if you don't want the book, if you were there, if you were in the 31st Division, you ought to be in that book. And you're the only one that can put yourself in it.
They also want a then and now photograph. So do that. I think it's important.
Also on my table with my urgent sheet, you may have seen, I encourage you to contact your congressmen, your senators, and protest the exhibit at the Smithsonian. Let them know how you feel about it.
The two attached editorials that are attached to that paper will explain to you what they've done. And if I was ever going to pick at anything in my life, I'd be up there with a placard walking up and down in front of that Air and Space Museum.
But I understand through the efforts of the American Legion, they have already revised it four times. And they were up there last week to inspect the latest revision. And I haven't heard or seen yet whether they approved it or not.
But it was banned. I want to thank all those here this time for giving me their treasures, to me their treasures, for the archives at the museum.
And I want to explain to you something I did. Les Chandler, some years ago, wrote about a 35 page, two, both-sized letter to Betty Machar.
It explained and outlined his whole life from the day he went in the Army until the day he got home on Christmas 1945.
And it's wonderful. Well, Betty sent it to me and I typed it up and bound it. And that will go in the archives. And I'd like to invite and plead with any of you who want to sit down and write your history, if you send it to me.
I will type it up and bind it. So it will go in the archives. If any of you would like to re-up, any of you members of the association want to re-up for 95, you can see me in the meeting room after the dinner.
It will save us having to send you a renewal, so that would be 29 cents a day. There are applications on the table for anybody, any new members that would like to join us.
And I hope to see you all in August. Well, I have a whole lot to say this year. I'm glad everybody's made it here and I hope everyone has a good time. And I'd like to know how many of you plan on going to Orlando next year?
We'll work on you. We'll work on you. Joe and I have been writing newsletters all the time. And what we do is we do them. Joe gets his newsletter ready and then sends me a couple copies in mail and I'll see what he's talking about.
And I'll put my views in on another page and send it on out to the 167. We had about 180 names in that roster this year, but I didn't mail it out to all those that weren't participating.
I got out about 100 of them. And one of the answers, one I'm talking about, one that I hear about, will call me or write me a card or something. I know that they're getting the message.
And since last year I got about 50 new members of the 167th industry of different companies, mostly the ones that's in that roster that only had one or two. We got it up to about eight or ten in that company now, some of them.
We got a new roster to be out in February and had about 50 more names than the one in 94 had.
I'm going to like for everyone to support Mary and Pess here in her endeavor on this 50th anniversary reunion with BJ Day next year. And I hope to see all of you in Orlando.
So that's about all I got to say tonight. I want to thank Joe Wolford. He's doing a good job again this year and all the other 11 years before that. So this is his 12th reunion that he's worked with.
There was a school and these two teachers decided they were going to take and check these little boys out and see how they'd react. And they picked out one that was an optimist and one that was a pessimist.
So they got out there and they little pessimist, they put him in a room full of toys and says, him says, please, all these toys he won't do. And the little guy, the little optimist, they put him in a room there with a big, big old pile of horsemen here.
And the little old hymns says, they're saying, here, three hours we'll come back and check on you. So it's not three hours they come back and check on you. And the little boy was sitting down in a chair there that they put in the room with the toys and says, son, how come you're not up there playing with the toys?
Well, he says, they ain't no use to play with the toys because they're not mine and I can't have them and I'm gonna break one since you won't need a three-fold. So this is all right, they pulled him out and they went up there and checked on them little old optimists.
And man, he had horsemen you're just flying everywhere. And they said, son, what you doing? He said, man, as much as horsemen you're in him, said, there gotta be a horse somewhere.
I never thought of this while I was up here.
There's a couple, fairly old couple about our ages, and they're sitting at home there one evening watching television and they weren't quite ready for bed yet. So he said, boy, I know what I'd like to have. He said, I'm just craving a big dish of vanilla ice cream. And he said, vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on it. And she said, that would be good.
And he said, why don't you go to town and get us some ice cream? And he said, oh, okay, I'll do that. He started for the door and she said, write it down. Why you didn't write it down? I said, write it down because you know how your memory is, you might forget.
He said, no, I won't forget vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. I'll remember that. No, she said, you write it down. Make sure that you don't forget what you're supposed to get.
So he took off and he didn't write it down or nothing. About 45 minutes later he came back, two ham sandwiches.
And she took the bag and opened it up and looked in there and opened up the one ham sandwich. She said, you dummy, I told you to get mine with mustard on it.
Now we're going back, we're going back to the room and those of you who had the books and albums.
One of the six engineers that went here, our first reunion. And I've had a wide association with Texas. I served at Tep-Maxxon during the war.
And I worked at Sonora, Texas out west. And I've known a lot of Texans and I like them all.
Your Salem is a little community at St. Paul. They put on a rodeo every July 4th weekend.
And convoys from all over the country come up, including a lot from Texas. One time, their battalion headquarters.
I'd like to ask a question, are we going to have a group such as this when we meet in Orlando? Yes.
167 Camen Company, I'm the only one here from Camen Company.
I'm Leo Bellin, this is my lovely wife Ann. We're from Long Island, New York.
And this is our first experience with a reunion and we're looking forward to the next one.
But certainly hope that God is good enough to let us get there.
I spent my first six months in the company, 167. Then I joined the 124th.
I think the rest of the war and the whole way through. 124th.
This is my friend Pearl, my brother and his wife. And we're from Maydank, Texas. He's from Tyler, Texas.
And all that would be here, hope that that will get a reunion next year.
And what I'd like to say to everybody here, this table.
It's a little bit off in the top.
We're kind of close. This wound up being my platoon sergeant.
This character over here got shot up.
But why?
Sergeant got shot up and Frank, he wouldn't get out of where they shot at.
This is my brother and my brother-in-law, Gene Duncan.
I almost forgot it.
That's a lifetime I'll tell you. People get out here and they think, been confined for a long time.
To the deceased above who died in battle or for wounds or illness overseas or who have been called to their heavenly home over the 50 years since the great struggle.
We ask God's blessing on the loved ones who survived.
Some are our very close buddies during wartime.
Others rejoined in fellowship over the years since and especially from our reunion over the 1983 and 1994 period.
Others are known to us only to correspondence.
So dear Lord, give us strength to fight life's struggles and serve our fellow man in any way we can.
Know our nation.
Keep our nation strong.
Our morals high.
And our hopes and dreams for a better America alive.
Until we meet again, God bless everyone.
I was really lucky. I was really surprised when I came in here and went to pay for the other four nights that I was going to be here.
She said, oh, you've got the honeymoon suite up on the third floor.
Well, I tell you, they said there was going to be a wedding here today and they were going to transfer me down to the second floor.
Just underneath where the bridal party is.
I told Art he could stay with me so he's going to roll away.
I'm on a queen-size bed. It's about as long as so here to the end of the line there.
I'll never roll off of that because I have to turn over about 10 times to get the answer.
I mentioned that, Jeff.
We are going to decide where we go.
We're 96 at our 95th gathering in Orlando.
So here, you know, we've been two years.
I'm not going to go into the details.
I'm going to tell you a little bit about that.
Good enough.
Best job on that island was well, because all you had to do was turn over, say rain today and go back to sleep.
You know, you bet.
What I did when I got over the bull of bull.
This big old boat came out there and he'd come out there for the Colonel and his staff.
And we asked him, what are you doing?
He says, I come back over here to pick up the rest of the staff.
So I looked at Neil, I said, I feel like a staff member myself, don't you?
He says, yeah.
So about that time, I had those of these guys bailed off, got on the boat.
And we went over to the beach over there and everything was going fine.
We were rubbing that until they had pitched us to don't get out there and get the disease called the elephant typhus.
And that was my first encounter with the elephant typhus.
We was going down a path down there and here comes a guy with a club holding up and his leg was about two yards wide and he looked just like an elephant's leg.
Neil and I took off, went back to that boat and said, he goes back out to this ship.
Now I'm a firm believer that the mind can absorb those things.