Parks Inn in Dixburg, Mississippi here where the 31st Sanford Dixie Division Association
is holding their reunion.
And very nice day out here today.
I thought I'd take some pictures of the outside of the hotel.
Let's slip on the inside in just a second.
This is the lobby of the Parks Hotel.
The
I'm not working so don't let that bother you.
I'll let you know when we're going to take up the money.
These things never work.
Have you ever been to a meeting like this where the microphone works?
The first thing we would like to hear from the sergeant in arms.
Sir, where are you?
Yes, sir.
All in Fresno County, boy.
Sir.
Thank you.
Come in there.
And will you please stand and chaplain Fred Lawrence will forgive us the invocation.
Remain standing for Pledge of Allegiance.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this occasion.
Father, it's been wonderful just to sit around and talk about old times.
We thank you for the privilege of living in a country where we can gather together like
this without fear of anything.
So, Father, how we ask you tonight to bless this food to our bodies and us to thy service
and how we pray that you'll continue to bless the fellowship.
Forgive us of our sins, Father, we pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for
which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
And many a time resist the love of Christ and ask for forgiveness for the sin that has
been caused unto us.
Amen.
O say, can you see by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming?
Oh, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Please be seated.
You've already been welcomed quite a few times and I, it has fallen on me to introduce some
of the guests and the first thing I wanted to do tonight was introduce to you one of the
most important persons in the whole Dixie division family.
I don't think this person is recognized very often but she's the one, you know Guy Green
is the guy that's kept this thing, that's made this thing go and kept it going and I
don't know if anybody knows that he does this with the permission of Glen Dean and I thought
that maybe you should get a chance to look at the person who is really responsible for
all the arrangements and all the travel and all the coordination and all the work that's
been done.
Glen Dean.
Thank you.
Thank you Glen Dean.
The next, the next most important person here is the woman that's lived with this, this
person who is speaking for 49 years and about six months and I'd like for you to get a look
at her.
Her name is Tell, T-E-L-L-E.
They.
Thank you.
President Gus Townsend and Bobby.
The honorable mayor of Vicksburg, Joe Lavazza.
Our keynote speaker, Larry Wood.
Now we've got several speakers.
We got a keynote and a guest speaker and a next speaker and a next speaker and Mabel
came tonight and brought the guest speaker.
His name is Charles Mothernagle.
Charles and Mabel.
And our incoming president, Howard Martin.
You can tell it'll be a good year.
In case you don't know, I won't ask him to stand but I'm sure you're wondering where
the Cannon Company members are seated.
And they're right there.
And I'm one of them.
You want to stand?
You'll stand up.
Let him show you.
There's a great bunch of soldiers.
And they're wild.
We have tonight the comm- state commander of the American Legion, Charles Langley and
his wife, Dot, are here.
And Tom Logle, who is the Southern Regional VA Service Officer.
And if you've got anything you want done, if you want your benefits raised or changed,
where is he?
Charles, right there.
Now, this was not on the agenda that Guy gave me and he said, whatever you do, stick to
the agenda.
But I want to introduce you next to Glendine to the most important person in the room.
And these are the men who fought the war, who lived through the battles and who made
it home and who care enough about the Dixitivation to keep coming back to these reunions.
I want every member of the Dixitivation to stand so we can recognize you.
Now, is there anybody else that wants to be introduced?
Okay, now you can eat.
But do it in a hurry.
We've got a lot of work.
Okay, glad to know that.
The important thing is that we welcome you to Vicksburg.
We're proud of you.
You do so much for us.
In my opinion, the reason that we have a free country today is because of the contributions
of people like the Dixitivation.
World War II turned the tide in favor of the United States of America as a worldwide leader.
It proved to me as a school teacher of 30 years of the important contribution that you
people made.
The ladies who stayed home, the children who stayed home were just as important as those
of you who went to war.
I'm proud of you and I'm proud to be your mayor.
You just don't know.
I look at names that I grew up with, household names in my parents' kitchen, Jacobson and
Benanelli and Fable, Parker and Davidson, Land and on and on, local people that we knew
from different walks of life who were willing to volunteer to go into the service and fight
in World War II and again in the Korean conflict.
I later volunteered for the U.S. Navy and served during the Vietnam era, but my father
had been in World War I and my brother in the Korean conflict.
So we were a family that was willing to sacrifice like you men to see that America, especially
the United States of America, stayed strong for our families.
We are benefiting today from what you did many years ago and I thank you personally,
honorably and I'm extremely proud to serve as your mayor and have you in Vicksburg.
Many thanks and welcome to those who are not from Vicksburg.
I'd like for Commander Townsend to come forward please.
Commander Townsend on behalf of the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Mayor
and Alderman of the City of Vicksburg, we'd like to proclaim the following proclamation
to the Dixie Division.
Whereas the Board and Mayor and Alderman and the Warren County Board of Supervisors does
welcome and send its heartfelt best wishes for the 31st Infantry Dixie Division Association's
1994 reunion being held in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
And whereas the Dixie Division comprised of men from the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana
and Mississippi did serve their country during World War I, World War II and the Korean War.
And whereas while serving during World War II, their time was extended for the duration
of the war due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the month of December 1940.
And whereas the 31st Infantry Dixie Division was a highly decorated United States Army
Division which exemplified the true fiber of a Southern gentleman.
And whereas these men of the 31st Division did valiantly, honorably and notably serve
their country in a fateful capacity which did alter the future of the world.
And whereas the City of Vicksburg is honored to have as their special guest the men of
the 31st Infantry Dixie Division and now therefore I, Joel LeVeyer, the Mayor of the City of
Vicksburg do hereby proclaim the days of May 18th, 19th and 20th of 1994 as 31st Infantry
Dixie Division Association reunion days in Vicksburg and Warren County and strongly encourage
all citizens of Vicksburg to remember these men for their past, present and future contribution
to the quality of all American lives throughout this country.
Dunnett City Hall the 16th day of May and the year of our Lord 1994, signed Joel LeVeyer
as Mayor of Vicksburg.
I congratulate you.
Thank you.
Guy Green, please come forward.
Guy, our two local companies, the 106th Engineers and the 155th Infantry, are very enthusiastic
about what you're doing here.
Not only the money that your group is spending in Vicksburg but the friendship and the smiling
faces and the friendly attitude of all people of the United States of America.
In appreciation we want to issue you the key to the City of Vicksburg.
Now this key opens many doors, one of which is the jail.
Jail tonight while you're in Vicksburg.
It's all in it.
This will get you out.
We want this displayed along with other Dixie Division memorabilia remembering the days in
Vicksburg and how proud our city is of your many contributions.
Thank you, Guy.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you look around the room and this may not be a pleasant thought
but sometimes truth is not pleasant.
You're looking at a dying breed because nobody's going to come after us to do what we've done
in the same way at the same time and in the same place.
I think that the quality of loyalty and the quality of patriotism that you have demonstrated
and continue to demonstrate, I hope that's not dying with our generation.
My hope and pray is that it will be born and reborn in the hearts and minds of our children
in years to come.
In this same vein I want to call Chaplain Fred Lawrence forward to conduct our memorial service.
Of all the things that I was going to say they have said every word that I intended to do.
It always happens though when you're not first in line somebody's going to rob you of some
things that you would like to have said.
I'm going to say ditto and I'm glad to be able to be here.
I want to call your attention to something that's happened since we met last year.
Something over 40 men has passed away since we last met a year ago.
I want us to bow our heads for just a moment of silent prayer in honor of those men.
We thank you Father for knowing them and we are grateful for the confidence that many of them
has helped us along with in this life.
We ask it in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Now I'm not going to take you.
Stand please.
Amen.
Please be seated.
Our keynote speaker tonight is Larry Woodard.
Larry is director of the VA regional office in Jackson Mississippi.
I think that in introducing him I want to say that he has paid his dues.
He has three purple hearts, a bronze star, a silver star, and the combat infantryman badge.
I think that qualifies him to speak.
Larry.
Thank you.
Thank you Mr. DeFore.
Mr. President, Mr. Mayor, distinguished platform guests, and ladies and gentlemen,
it certainly is an honor for me to be with all of you here at your annual reunion here in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
To listen to the mayor talk, Mr. Mayor, you probably think you have the best job in the world.
Let me assure you, I think I've got the best job in the world.
I work with 158 hardest working, most dedicated people that I've ever served with in my career in the military and in the VA.
Mr. DeFore introduced one of the people that came with me tonight, Mr. Tom Lullen, who is our veteran services officer.
And the people who are here from Mississippi who attend veterans meetings,
I see a lot of Tom and me and all of the people that work in my office at Jackson.
We serve 237,000 veterans and over 700,000 dependents and survivors in the state of Mississippi.
We think our customers are the most unique and special group of people in this country.
Since the beginning of our nation over 200 years ago, we've answered the call to duty and service.
And I think it's incumbent on all of us veterans to ensure that this service is never forgotten.
We all know that the farther that we get away from any armed conflict, the easier it is for people to forget.
We, America's veterans, we come in many sizes and shapes and ages.
We have collective experience that spans two wars and many conflicts.
We've followed war mules through Flanders fields.
We've dropped landing barges onto the beaches of Normandy and landed on islands in the Pacific.
We trudged through the rice paddies and jungles of Vietnam.
And we raced across the sun-baked sands of the Arabian Peninsula.
All different engagements and different foes.
So we should all be different.
Well, things aren't always what they seem today sometimes.
A couple of weeks ago, Commander Langley was in downtown Jackson.
And he was walking down the street in front of the Governor's mansion.
And he looked across the street and saw a blind man and his dog on the other side of the street.
And all of a sudden the dog jumped out into the track and dropped in the middle of the block with the blind man.
Cars were screeching, came to a halt, and almost killed him.
It was a surprise that nobody got hurt.
So the man and the dog finally made it to the side of the street where the commander was.
Took a rickson into his pocket, the blind man dead, and he brought out a dog vest and he started feeding the dog.
The commander just couldn't stand it.
He said, I can't believe you're rewarding that dog. He almost got you killed.
The blind man turned and said, rewarding him?
So all I was doing was trying to find his head so I could kick his rear end back across the street.
We cleaned it up a little bit.
As I was reading through the history of the 31st Division, I saw where there was some training done in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Are there any of the artillerymen here? The same that you trained at Fort Sill?
In the introduction it mentioned that I had a combat infantryman.
I am an artilleryman. I did my training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, at OCS.
I was an FO in Vietnam.
I still dream about adjusting rounds onto the blockhouse on Signal Mountain.
Is that there when you trained?
When I was in OCS training, there were a lot of things that really didn't appear to be any good or for any purpose.
One of the things that I remember was an exercise where we had to dump all of our bedding, including mattress, out into the middle of the bay where we were to work.
They gave you 45 seconds to make the bunk.
Where you could bounce a quarter off.
I looked at all that stuff out in the middle of the floor and I thought, this is just pure harassment. What's this going to teach us?
I thought, this is impossible. It was impossible for one person to put all of that stuff back together and fix the three and bounce a quarter off the bed.
Then my bunk mate and I discovered that the two of us working together could put both bunks back together in 45 seconds.
I guess from that point forward that I started taking the training of things that we were getting a little more seriously.
Because things aren't always what they seem. Sometimes it takes us a while to see those things.
We're all different individuals and we've had different experiences.
One of the things that we're different in, in the war that I served in, in the war that you served in, is that you train together, you live together, you deploy together, you talk together, and you came home together.
I hope and pray that our leaders in our military and in our country learn the lesson in Vietnam that one of the biggest tragedies that we had in that war was the fact that hardly anyone trained together, lived together, deployed together, and came home together.
As veterans of war, even though we're different, we do share the common bond, collective memory of hard-won wisdom that helps us define our and our nation's character.
We're the first to stand up when the flag goes by and we're the last to sit down.
For we share it in the struggles, blood, and tears that may have parades of all free men and women possible.
We're also quick to realize that those who talk most about war are the ones who really understand the least about the horrors of war.
We know firsthand that no war is good.
More than anything, we love our freedom because we know its value because we pay the price.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you here tonight for your part and your service that protects our democratic ideals.
You've given all of us here in America the right to go to the polls to elect our leaders, the right to worship as we please, the ability to criticize our government openly,
the chance to travel freely, the opportunity to see, hear, and read the news of that government intervention.
And each of these freedoms is in itself a mark of a strong, independent, and secure nation.
Another aspect vital to the preservation of democracy is the manner in which we treat our veterans.
Sonny Montgomery says there's no matter of greater importance to this nation than taking care of those who have responded to aggression and preserved peace.
They should be the first and greatest beneficiaries of freedom's gifts.
Our nation has shown gratitude for our service in many ways.
Next month on the 22nd of June, the GI Bill will be 50 years old.
Since 1944, $67 billion has been spent and 20 million Americans have participated in this program.
Some say that it's the most or one of the most significant programs ever introduced into government.
During this same time, our government has guaranteed over 14 million home loans, totaling $432 million.
And in recent years, the National Guard and Reserve personnel can also participate in these programs.
And entitlement has increased. I think when I used my home loan entitlement, it was $8,500 25 years ago.
It's now $46,000 for a home that costs over $150,000 and $36,000 for those under $150,000.
And there's no expiration date for this benefit.
If you sold your home and paid off the original loan, you may be entitled to getting that entitlement restored.
I work in the Veterans Benefits Administration. That's the benefits side of the VA.
There's not much talk and controversy and all going on about health benefits for veterans in this nation.
And I want to urge all of you to pay close attention to what's going on in our nation with regard to veterans' health benefits.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs supports the President's program because it includes the VA.
I think that probably if my bosses in Washington heard me say this, I'd probably be fired.
But I think that we, all of us, need to be remembered. Things aren't always what they seem.
We've got to talk to our congressmen, to our politicians, and make them understand that commitment and live up to it.
I think in the last freshman class, there were only two veterans out of 100 that went into the conference.
In Mississippi, our office is serving all of these people.
It amazes me sometimes that when we're able to do, the people in our office, what they do without making mistakes.
And we do make mistakes. But when we do, we admit it and we try to set the record straight.
Wherever we have over the last few years made a commitment to go anyplace, anywhere, anytime, talk to veterans groups.
Or to any group that wants to know about veterans' benefits.
Up until the last few weeks, we've been able to honor that commitment.
We're not going to be able to do it in the future. Since the end of November last year, our staff has gone from 177 people to today 159 people in our office.
That's a significant loss of personnel.
And writing a letter to all of the veterans' organizations in Mississippi and the congressional staffs to tell them that they're going to have to bear with us as we hunt for more efficient ways to do the mission that we have here in the state of Mississippi.
We can no longer do the things the way we've always done them. We're going to have to look for shortcuts or more efficient ways to provide the service that we're supposed to.
I thank all of you. It is indeed a great honor for me to be here and be with you.
Mr. Green, thank you very much for asking me. When we go to places, Tom and I, we always say we'll stay until there are no more questions about individual claims or individual concerns or anything.
We'll stay until the last question is answered.
So I hope you've had a good week in your convention this week.
And everybody travel safe and going back home. Thank you very much.
Now I know you have been eagerly awaiting this, but you're going to hear the man now who does most of the work and has given very generously of himself to make this possible.
Guy Green.
Can you hear me at all? Can you hear me better back there?
No, no. I haven't heard anything yet.
How about now? Can you hear me now?
I can hear that you're talking into it.
Next year I'll give you that chance. What's your name?
First of all, I have to say thank you so many people. First, I'd like to recognize Dixie Darlin and all the other people.
First of all, let's go with Dixie Darlin. Would my wife, Lindeen, stand up please?
First of all, I'd like to recognize President Shirley, Seth, Peggy Pryor, Bernie Stout, Ann Johnson, Don Fowler, Polly Beall, Jim Mott. That's our Dixie Darlin.
Next, I'd like to recognize our reunion committees. First, there was Ann Johnson and Demp Johnson, Bynestown and Dotton-Bubba Fowler in registration. Y'all stand up please.
Next, our Marva John-Gar.
Next was our Catfish Supper. That was Ralph Beninelli and the old Company B 106 Engineers. Thank you Ralph.
In the tours of the military park, we can also thank Company B man, Vince Beninelli. Where's Vince? Thank you, Vince.
And the Waterway Experience, the station tour, Ralph, we appreciate you doing that.
The ladies tours, Dickey Jarvis. Dickey, will you stand up?
Yes, sir. We have a lot of good looking ladies on that tour.
The White Law is also here. Ladies and gentlemen, Ann Johnson and Bonnie Stout, will you stand up?
Of course, I want to thank Master Sergeant, John D. Fowler. He's taken over somebody's job. We're going to give you somebody else's name. John, we appreciate you doing what you've been doing.
Next will be our awards chairman, that's James Pryor. James, will you please stand?
I'm not ready for you yet.
Well, you should be.
In all these pretty decorations, y'all, we can thank Mr. Chad White and his wonderful daughter-in-law, Karen. Thank you, Karen.
Translation was Sam Bars. Where's Sam? Appreciate you, Sam.
That's all our committees. Now, if anything was wrong, y'all, it's their fault. Not mine. It's all those people. Y'all seen them, and so you can complain with them.
The next person I want to appreciate and let you know how much we appreciate him is a man that has really kept us in existence this past year.
And he is the agent of the State of Mississippi American Legion, Mr. James Herri. James Herri.
Welcome to American Legion, y'all. I don't know how we can get anything accomplished. James and his staff, Nikki and Connie, just, they are almost on our staff.
And the only trouble is James pays them and I use them. We really appreciate you, James.
At this time, I'd like to give you some good news, and that's on our membership.
As of today, I think I have to add about ten more to this. This was probably last Monday.
This Monday's membership was 300 members, annual members. We had 173 year members, 159 charter life members, 34 life members.
A total of 663 members, paid members, y'all. And I think we've got about ten new ones since we've been here.
So the association is doing a real good membership, and I'm sure our income president will tell you what our goal is for next year.
It's going to be bigger and better. At this time now, we'll have a roll call of units.
If you will, I'm going to try to consolidate them without going down to each company, L company, K company, so forth.
First thing, let's hear it from me now, what I call a roll. Everybody from the headquarters, headquarters, economy, 31st into 6th division.
Everybody here? Let's hear it from me now. How about 31st into 6th division, division, division artillery.
Everybody ready? Sound off. 114th field artillery, all batteries. 114th field artillery and 932 field artillery, World War II.
Thank you, thank you. This is the man I want to hear from on this one. 117th field artillery. Sound off, Mr. Pig.
Got one man here. Now we're going to go over to 31st infantry regiment, the 155th infantry in all the regiments and all the companies.
That's your Mississippi unit, gentlemen. Alright, the 155th infantry talent company.
155th infantry medical detachment. Alright, let's hear it from the floor. 124th infantry, all batteries and battalions, ready?
I know the C Company is here. Let's hear it again. Let's hear it from everybody from 124th infantry.
Y'all hollered louder than that this afternoon. Let's hear it from everybody from 167th infantry.
Let's hear it from everybody from 156th infantry. We got two members, y'all, from 156th infantry. Alright, let's hear it from 198th tank battalion.
106th medical battalion in regiment. 106th engineers. We at home, are we? Okay, let's hear it from this one right here. 31st recard company.
This one, y'all, these fellas, these next ones I'm going to cut out, they came a long, long way. We are honored to have you here. 31st infantry, Dictionary Division, finance section.
I know y'all are old, but you ain't that old. Let's hear it one more time. 31st finance section. I don't believe y'all can hear me.
Mr. Master Ceremony, that is my report. Okay. James, come up here. This is James Pryor, chairman of the board of directors.
Not yet, but I'm acting, acting right now. Acting. Acting. I have some awards. I can get them out on the table and you can get them up here.
Okay, we're going to try to be brief with this, so when I call your name out, come down as quickly as possible and stand in front until all the awards are given.
The first award is the senior member award. The youngest award, I mean the youngest veteran here in the auditorium. We might find out who that is. We don't know this.
So everybody that's 40 years old or older, stand up. All the veterans.
Mr. Gardner. Okay, if you're 40 and over but under 50, sit down. If you're 50 years older or older, remain standing, in other words.
You can't hear me? Can you now? Okay, we'll have to hold this thing right up here. Okay. 50, everybody that's standing should be over 50 years old.
All right, how about 55?
Okay, 55 years old or younger, please be seated.
Okay, 60 years of age or younger, please be seated.
I mean everybody in this room is over 60, except me.
Okay, 65.
If you're
65 or younger, please be seated.
Okay, 66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
I should have started counting, waited a minute to start counting. 71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
Okay, how many we got standing still? Three? 80.
81.
Only one standing. Okay, would you please come up? I can't read your name back right now. Come on up here, quick, quick, quick.
Okay, thank you.
I present you the Senior Member Award for May 1994, presented to John Rue. 82.
The next award we have is the Travel Award, the one that came the furthest to attend the meeting.
And this guy is no stranger to any of you because he won this award last year. Would Dick Arn from Salem, Oregon, please come forward.
Rue Patriot, he will have traveled over 6,000 miles the time he get back to Salem, Oregon because he attended that other group down on the coast that just got through with their meeting.
Brand X, he went to their reunion. So congratulations, Dick.
Thank you very much.
I've complained through five reunions that I have not seen anybody from my own company. Well, that changed this time. I want to introduce John Strode, who was my first sergeant of 106 Engineers.
I'm so happy to be here.
I was with Reverend Nymphs all day and it was great. And after I got to know him real well, I told him that when I knew him overseas for just a brief period of a few months, he was so military and so ambitious, I was really afraid of him.
But he isn't that type. He's a warm-hearted, generous man, very considerate man. I'm so glad to have met him.
Okay, Larry mentioned the story about the dog. And we all heard that parrot in the lobby and it reminded me of something that happened in Salem, a true story.
In my neighborhood, there was a rash of burglaries. Somebody learned how to open these sliding doors. And it's relatively simple, unless you really anchor them. But he opened this one door and heard this voice say, I see you when Jesus sees you.
And he froze and it was repeated. And he pushed the curtain aside, the drapes, and there was a parrot talking. And he kind of chuckled and then he moved into the house and picked up the silver and started out.
And the parrot again said, I see you and Jesus sees you. And he laughed and pushed the drapes back and here was a big black Doverman in the doorway.
And the parrot said, Suck him, Jesus.
You can defend on Bigfoot stories.
But I call that dedication as far as he has come every year. Okay, the next award is the enrollment award. This award is presented to the person who has, you know, concorsed or whatever you have you doing, the most new members in their organization this year.
It goes to Mr. Charles Aubreyland. Come on up, Charles. Charles is from Mitzel, Mississippi, and a veteran of the Korean War, I think. I think. He's Secretary of Treasury of the McComb Chapter.
He and the next awardee, he and the next recipient are both in either KRL or the 150th. They're both in the McComb community, anyway.
But they have taken that chapter from zero to 28 members in a single year. So we owe them a lot. And Charles, we have a blank and a stiffy for you. Thanks very much.
Okay, the next award is the chapter president's award. It goes to James A. Lang, also of McComb. He's the president of the McComb Chapter. Tyler Towne, James lives in Tyler Towne.
He wants to challenge all the other chapters to do as well as they have done. So would Mr. James Lang please come forward.
Thank you, James. Thank you, James. President, I mean, a black and a stiffy. Okay. Before I do this next award, the Association Past President's Award, we have 27 door prizes that we're going to give away tonight.
So if you would feel on the front part of your chair at each table, on the front part of your chair, there's something under there, a circle of big X or red X or honeybees that were stinging here or something.
I don't know what it is, but sign the dot and you get one of these 27 door prizes.
Okay, your prize, the 27 door prizes are the centerpieces and the table that you're sitting in.
When you leave, take those with you. And, Guy, we got a little flashlight. Guy Green has got three flashlights he wants to give away.
All right, look, look at that. One of the Greenville Captain members brought these. Okay, the first flashlight I want to award to the oldest member here.
So you can see how to get home. Okay, the next one goes to the member who came the furthest. Where's Dick? Get back up here, Dick, or you lose your prize.
The third flashlight I want to give to our chaplain so he can find his way to heaven and we can follow.
Okay, the Association President's Award and that goes to, everybody knows, none other than our president tonight and our past president tomorrow, Mr. Gus Townsend. P.A. Gus Townsend. Come on around, Gus.
Mr. President, tomorrow, Mr. Sippitts, you've been the president in 1993 and for the Dictionary Division Association.
An outstanding performance as president and for the time he's given to the juniors this award is betterment and growth of our association during your, his tenure as president.
And Executive Director, Guy Green, Chairman of the Board, and Ambassador. Thank you, Gus. And Gus, you come up and present the next award please.
I've got the best job here tonight.
This is presenting the Montgomery Award and we give this to the member who dedicated most time and effort to get new members and visit our chapters and this goes to Mr. Hal Morton.
Come around, Hal.
Okay, just a minute. Hal, I got something here from Sonny Montgomery we want to read to you. Dear Hal, congratulations on being named the recipient of the 1994 Montgomery Dixie Award.
This is certainly well deserved recognition for your distinguished military career. Your service prior to and during World War II, including commanding officer of Company C, 124th Infantry, is indicated of your love of country and patriotic spirit.
You have been a true credit to the uniform you wore. Again, congratulations on a well deserved honor. I am proud of you sincerely, Sonny Montgomery.
Each of us has learned to love and respect Hal in the last couple of years and times. I've been so very chastened with him and we're real glad to give you this award.
Thank you.
I'm sure we'll have a great year this coming year and we'll see you all next year in Gulfville.
I accept this, and all the responsibility is mine. I've been associated only three years with the base, but I've worked hard.
There are many more in this room that work as hard as I have. You can look around and see the service that most of you fellas have come.
I appreciate it. This next year, my pet is going to be more membership. We've got to have membership.
We're all going to get out. Each one of you can just get one more. I know two or three more. I'm going to go get them. They better run, might as well.
There's a man in this order, Lord, right now that I've been looking for for 50 years. Everybody I ask, well, he did.
I run in town, and he's here tonight.
Stand up.
We all ought to be proud of you. Remember, next year we've got to go. 1005 in 95. Let's make it.
Can you hear now? Okay, this is one part of the program you're going to be able to hear. We guarantee you, because this is where you sing.
And let everybody else do it, too. Here's Freddie. Are you going to lead this?
I better.
Get with it.
I've been planning on this since last year. Last year I started too high, and when I got to the high note, I had to whistle it.
Good singing. So I want you to stand and get your flag in your hands. We're going to sing Dixie.
Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton, Old times ever not forgotten. Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land, in Dixie land where I was born, a very young, ungrossy boy.
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land. I wish I was in Dixie. Hooray, hooray, in Dixie land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie.
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land.
Charles, the guest speaker tonight is named Charles Mullinac.
One of the best things I can say about him is he's a Mississippian, you know, and how much better could it get?
Amen.
But he's learned something about communication, and I'm going to let him tell you everything he wants you to know about himself.
That way he doesn't have to live up to anything. Charles, we're glad you're here.
Thank you, John, and how do you know that I'm here tonight?
Isn't it wonderful to be with the greatest group of folks from way down in Dixie, the 31st Island Street, and all the God-given sayings?
Amen.
Maybe some outside that don't know we're in here. I wonder if this thing will slip in here, John.
Try to make that thing out of the country, and I believe it's making things work. Now then, how we doing?
That's right. Well, it's good to be with you. I tell you, an old preacher one time, John, being a Baptist preacher, and preacher, what are you in?
Baptist.
Baptist. Right. I felt just like Jesus on the cross, there between two thieves.
But I tell you, being between two thieves, I made a leech story to John, and I said, John, I'm from Cedar Hill, out from Guntown, Roy Parker knows where it is.
And I said, we got too many forks, too many spoons. Yeah, I said, what did I do with all of them? John said, just look at me and see what I do with mine.
And John, I'm going to put mine back.
One of them may have had all of our distinguished ones here at the head table and all of you have had a good night. Isn't it good to be right down the middle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where everybody loves one another.
You come together, you walk both together, you work together, and tomorrow is going to be better because you are here tonight, and all we got to do is say a dog. Amen.
I said, you know what, let's get through the three things out in Texas. I know we got some Texans here, even though you may not have been given credit for being here.
John, yeah, water, yeah, all everybody's here. Isn't that wonderful? Mayor, isn't that great? I tell you what, every time I see the grand mayor over there, I tell him, well,
I remember the lady told me one time that a man that's bald in front is a great thinker. Bald in the back is a great lover. Bald in the front and the back, he just thought he was a great lover.
Now, I said, when he won the election about three years ago, the last election, the mayor called his wife and said, honey, I won the election. She said, honestly.
So, honestly, it's good to be back with the 35, with them last year, and down in Greenwood with the local guy, but I got to get John off the hook, you know, out in Texas, and you, Texas, know they do things in a big way.
By the way, I'm not going to tell any jokes, so I know that's all your wives here ever sung to you.
But they do things out in Texas in a big way. Say amen, John. Amen. Texas, say amen. Amen.
Oh, there, that preacher was up there, and he was telling them where they were going if it didn't change their way of living. Whoo!
That preacher, he was getting at them, and he was telling them about that tailor back there in the back of the sanctuary, pulled out a six-shooter, and he began to aim that thing around there, and that preacher got excited, and he began to stammer, and man, he couldn't say a word.
He was just up there with his mouth wide open and wobbling there, and that's how I texted him there with the six-shooter, said, preacher, I want you to stop right where you are.
I want you to know one thing. I wouldn't have a hair on your head. I wouldn't even waste a shot on you, but I am going to shoot the man that got you here.
So Guy Green, not John.
If you want to shoot something, I mean, any preacher can. I can't help but thank what the old fellow, Prey, one time, the third speaker got up, and he said, then the Lord have mercy there, and said, the Lord, bless that push speaker there,
and just give him your blessings, and said, Lord, and give that second speaker just the word you have him to say, and said, Lord, just have mercy on the lie speaker.
So I ask you to have mercy on me.
I may be, if everybody leaves, I may be one left, and you'll be waiting for your turn. Anyway, it's good to be with you.
Been looking forward ever since, Guy Green.
Now we're talking about the Baptist. Now I'm a Methodist here. Do we have any more Methodist here tonight?
Oh, praise the Lord, amen.
Do we have any more Baptist?
Good night.
Why don't you guys just give me a bowl of water, I'll...
Oh my God, we got Prey-Peteers back there. Oh, I know Roy and Parker, they believe what's to be will be.
And that's right, they got to believe something.
I was in this Prey-Peteer's house not long ago, Brother Larry, in this Prey-Peteer's house, and man, the preacher was upstairs and two below,
and I was waiting him on the living room floor, and that preacher run out of that living room, upstairs bedroom in a hurry,
his little boy put a ball back right across the top of the step, that preacher's foot caught that ball back, his feet went straight up, his hip, hip, comes down,
that preacher had ever step as he rolled out on the floor. I knew that preacher did, before I got there, he jumped up, brushed himself off,
and said, I'm so glad to get that over with.
Some of y'all feel like that back in the drive.
Any Catholics here, I know they all got really, really happy. Yeah, there's a player.
And that's a good thing, I like about Catholics, they never get mad.
They're irritated, Mayor, yes.
Never get mad. I called a Catholic friend of mine up, well, I didn't know what they were doing, I called her up, and maybe two or three years ago,
we got an order in for the Loma, got into the biggest mess that ever was there, where I worked, and I called her up, I said, I know you're not a Methodist,
you wouldn't have messed your brother up in no such a way. I said, where you going to church in Methodist, I ain't gonna tell you, you mad.
I said, be proud of your church, I ain't proud of it, get out of it. Brother, I'd tell anybody, you ain't proud of your church, get out of it.
Get in the Methodist church.
Then you might wish you were back in your own church.
She said, why, that's the way you look at it, it's happening now, that's the way you look at it.
I'm a Catholic then, I said, that's all right, be proud of your church, Mayor.
And I was mad, and she was mad, and we wasn't getting anywhere anyway, and I told her about the Catholics in Tupelo,
hasn't the best project of any church or any civic group in the world, the Catholics having it in Tupelo.
She said, tell me quick, what are they doing there, we need to be doing something in our church, we need to be making some money.
I told her they were taking their holy water and freezing it and making Pope's pickles out of it.
That poor lady had never heard that old joke, you know.
That she was getting laughed and laughed and laughed and mad, I didn't care how long she laughed, I called her Collette.
Now that's the best, now she called me back the next day and she called me Payne, that wasn't that good.
She said, I want to know one thing, did you get your order all right today?
I said, we sure did, said, was everything all right?
Said, it was all right, but said, really, brother, I don't care, I didn't care whether you got your order or not.
That concerned me the least, but what I am concerned about, have you had a Pope's pickle today?
My God and I go in the fields together, we walk and talk as good friends shouldn't do, we clap our hands, our voices ring and left off.
My God and I go through the matter of you laughing and loving and caring and sharing,
and if we even during all the sad days and the bad days while we were in service, if we couldn't laugh a little bit, we wouldn't have been here today.
Laughing and loving, you know, you Baptist though, brother, when you got a Baptist preacher, you got him here where you want him or not, say amen.
I mean a Methodist, you got a Methodist preacher, you got him here where you want him or not, and if he's not so good, he come back to second.
But when you got a Baptist preacher and that preacher makes one mistake, the Lord is uncalled for.
He hopes it pays more, he's usually praying while mama's packing.
That preacher's on that trial sermon, you know, a Baptist gotta do their best on the trial sermon, say amen brother, amen.
We do our best on Sunday for annual conference.
I preach on that trial sermon, he memorized that sermon from one to the end of the last, he was so excited, we're living in an exciting world, I think we need to get excited today.
Tell everybody about it, we're living in a exciting world, why you got that good old flag, why you got American flag, put that old red, white and blue out, see the beauty in it there.
That preacher, he's on that, he's so excited, he runs that pulpit making 30 miles an hour, he said my brothers and sisters, I've taken my scripture from that portion of tech where he says, and behold I come to you again.
He forgot Larry, what he was gonna say, and he didn't know what to say, and he thought he tried one more time, he said, I'm gonna be glad to go and he run up that pulpit and he said, and behold I come to you again.
He leaned way over that pulpit, he forgot getting again, knowing the third time was charmed, he ran up that pulpit and he said, and behold I come to you again.
He leaned way over that pulpit, he hit the pulpit and fell right over the big fat woman's lap.
He jumped up and he said, Larry, I'm so sorry when that happens, anything to what you said, that's all right preacher, you warned me three times and I sat there like a fool.
I say all of that to say to you this, we're all working together, all part together, in order that we can have a meeting tonight, looking, working, loving together.
You men went in and bombed the beaches, the sea beach, what I was a member of, went in and pulled those them off, where the Marines could go ashore.
And you know what, the Marines got the credit for it.
Anyway, we're all working together. Now then, first thing in the morning, my time is up, John told me he said that he had to go to Memphis tonight.
He don't have to go tonight, Memphis is going to be there tomorrow.
He can take his time to get there in the morning, I've got to go to all of New York tomorrow now, but anyway, there's no need to get in a hurry, we're moving so fast now, honorable mayor, we need to slow down.
We're moving three or four days in Vicksburg, they want your money here.
You don't have to put it all in them clock machines, put it somewhere else, you know, but you know, we need to see the best in everybody.
Something's good about it, brother, we need to talk about the good things.
Old fellow didn't have but one eye. Whoa, he looked rough. Whoa, he looked bad.
He couldn't mean to get a job as a Baptist preacher. Whoa, he looked rough.
He went to the doctor, said, doctor, can you fix me up with an artificial eye? He said, I sure can. He said, how much will it cost? He said, it'll cost you $500.
Oh, he said, I'm not a salesman, I don't make that kind of money.
I work for Burlumberyard, that's who I worked for 52 years, Roy, I tell you.
Not a lawyer either, they're rich.
He said, in that case, that doctor said, in that case, I can make you take a crooked two foot four, I can whittle the wood out,
and the little black shoe polish around outside, and the little white dot in the center of it, you'll just wear it now on Saturday night, nobody will ever know the difference.
The old man put that new wood on that socket, he went out, wear this hat in the street, dance on Saturday night, everybody's angry but one old girl.
Oh, she looked rough.
Hadn't bathed in months.
She must have been around signing tones, break it up.
Oh, she looked rough.
She sat over on the curb all by herself.
I let her lift on both sides.
Dipping garret snuff on the side.
She had to be a bad discussant, because it doesn't put that much water in it.
She had a big upper lip, but her lower lip covered it up.
So ball day, he looked so good with that new wood out, he went out over and he looked down at that old girl, and he grinned at her, and she looked up, and she grinned at him, that snuff running off each side.
He looked down, he grinned at her, and she looked up, and she grinned at him, and their eyes come together, and he looked at her, and he said to her, would you like to dance?
And all excited, she looked up at him, she said, would I, would I?
He looked down and said, higher lip, higher lip.
Now, now, now, I've known them, brother, guys ranging this way for a long time.
Now, they hadn't always been happy married.
Hadn't always been wealthy.
So there's rain down in the Mississippi Delta.
The only running water they had was in the creek.
Guy moved into Greenwood, got everything under one roof.
Guy said, honey, isn't it wonderful?
Snow on the ground and we can stay inside.
Guy said, it's so good.
Guy, darling, said, darling, there's one thing I'll miss since we moved to town, got everything under one roof.
Said, darling, you tell me what you miss.
I want you to be the happiest man here in Greenwood.
You're going to have to be a happy man.
I said, you got home from the service, you got to be a happy man.
I said, darling, I still miss, Guy told his wife, I said, darling, I still miss that little pot that you used to put beside the bed.
And his dream said, Guy, you always missed that little pot.
And these little things we miss so much, it brings us together.
And that's why we're here today, to bring back rank.
We're getting old now, and we need to do all we can to see one another as often as possible.
When you go back to your room tonight and you're here, pick up your telephone, dial zero, three more numbers plus four more numbers.
It don't matter what you call them.
Because when they don't say hello, you've got somebody somewhere.
And just tell them you've been in Vicksburg, Mississippi and had the time of your lives and hope they've had a good day.
And tomorrow will be better. Hang up and let them stay awake all night, one to six hours.
We're moving so fast now we don't have time for anybody.
Unless there's a couple of complaints somewhere and then they've got plenty of time to talk to you. Amen. Amen.
We need to talk with people and not say be proud of where you are.
Be proud of where you are.
Because we're living in the garden spot of America.
Right in your own home. Call somebody.
Don't ever tell anybody you're sorry you've got the wrong number.
You ain't sorry, you're trying to get rid of them in a hurry.
When anybody calls our house, they talk to us.
That we're not between 12 and 2.
Our own phone is the same number as the fourth floor of the hospital.
That's the only thing I don't use your three number prefix that nobody knows.
The fourth floor is the one that's 445-0 is our phone number at home and we've got the old timey telephone 842.
Room 445-0 in the hospital is the room they carried me in just before the PISON.
That we're not between 12 and 2.
The phone rings there and they say hello there and they say how you getting along?
I said I don't believe we'll live through the night.
If you don't think you ain't going to make it to morning they'll leave you alone.
Americans have got a bad evidence, the lumber yard is up there one morning, run by myself,
one step, one step, fell down another step, rolled out on the floor, hollered,
said I'm sorry I got the wrong number.
I said no you ain't either.
I fell down a step, now you going to talk to me.
I got you then, how much you get for a two foot four, six foot eight foot long?
I said a dollar and sixty five cents, isn't that mighty high?
I said it is, standing straight up.
That damn flat is just inch and a half high.
That's the way you look at things, that's the way you and I look at things today.
If we think we got the best, we living the best, we look with the best, we are the best.
And see the beauty in everything, be proud of who you are.
John and Dave got a poor little boy, he's Baptist minister you know.
He couldn't make a living there and get him another job.
Salesman.
They went to one of these big Baptist conventions one time.
Little Matt was running around there, he was telling everything.
He was Matt, there before son, oh he was so proud of him.
But there he was John DeFore's son, he was so proud of who he was.
He was running around telling everybody he was John DeFore's son, oh how proud he was.
He was proud of who he was.
He was John DeFore's son, he was telling everybody until he got tired of that.
See now listen here man, you're Matt DeFore, you're not John DeFore's son.
You go out there and tell him who you are, you're something special, be proud of who you are.
You're Matt DeFore, you're not John DeFore's son, now you go and tell him who you are.
You're something special.
He was running around the swimming pool, like that in Dallas, Texas, a big Baptist, Southern Baptist convention.
A little Baptist convention board came around and said son who are you?
He said I'm Matt DeFore from down in central Texas.
Oh he said you are John DeFore's son, said mama says I ain't.
They cried, I'm who you are, you're something special, that's what I'm trying to say, my time is up, John got to go to Memphis.
I wish I had another hour.
But I know you're tired and out there, maybe I'll get to come to DeFore's next year or there.
It don't cost much more to go to first class.
But you can get somebody if you pay them first class.
When Guy called me and asked me if I'd come to you, I said Guy you know I'd be delighted to come.
He said how much are you going to charge?
Did I need to talk to three or four others?
I said Guy just to be with that great group of introverts, you know I wouldn't think about charging you one penny.
He said in that case you come on then.
I don't have to talk to nobody else.
But now things have changed since the day we went into service.
Can't you see the day when I left gun down Mississippi and went out into the Cedar Hill community,
we so far out in the sticks, right, that when we went hunting we went towards town.
We landed in Davisville, Rhode Island on the 4th of December, 1942 with snow plumb on up here.
Before we went I went and got my first pair of bald underwear.
They know I'm going to have to send them home.
But I never will forget going into the store up at Baldwin, you know,
ran into Mr. M. Gordon at a department store they used to call him back then, John, you know what I'm talking about.
They said son what do you need? I ain't big to send.
He said I want to get me some bald underwear.
He talked with a little less and said son come on back I'll throw the bald underwear at your department.
I followed him back there all of 19 years old.
He said son what size do you wear? I said I don't know.
I know they need to be a little larger than the light.
He said what size was the light? I said 888.
He said I guess you're going to need some 1313 shirts out there.
Sometimes we fail to see the beauty as we're going along the highway.
I mean if you ever travel on the naturalist trade parkway,
they don't have a highway trooper on them.
They got them rangers.
They got them caddy-conored hats.
Speaking to a culture convention in Jackson a few years ago,
driving down the parkway, John you know how we thank a lot of you,
we thank a lot of times, when we get there, I didn't look at anything on that,
I just drive along there thinking to myself, what am I going to tell those chickens,
I got about to get into the highway place between Chippendale and Jackson,
I looked in my rear-view mirror and there was like a Christmas tree behind me.
There was so many beautiful blue flashing lights and all that.
I thought the man was in a hurry, I rolled out my window, come on by, come on by.
But he wasn't in a hurry, he followed me.
And he come back to the car slowly.
Left his blue lights on.
The same thing that you would do if you tried to help a man in need.
I told my friend, you left your blue lights on.
I'm afraid you're going to run your battery down.
I don't have the jumper cables.
Some fellas don't want any help.
There he looked at me and getting that little yellow paint and filling out all that information,
there was a blue light flashing.
I don't know where you've ever noticed it or not.
You can have a blowout, you can have car trouble, you can run out of gas
and you won't see a soul for hours.
But you get those blue lights on, you never a friend you ever have come by.
And then, did you notice how I freddily out there,
I fall out of the car waving at him.
So I'm turning around and come back and wave at him.
It got back to jubilant before I did.
My buddy in Cave Bain had it on the morning show on TV that morning.
I say all that to tell you this, he said, you can't see the beauty of this parkway.
Going 75 miles an hour.
I said, my friend, I was born in this beauty.
I'm going to Jackson, Larry, I want to see the city.
Some of those rangers don't have a sense of humor.
But when he gave me that ticket for $65,
I saw every cedar tree from there on into Jackson's rock.
We see the beauty when we slow down and enjoy it,
living in the most wonderful country in the world.
I hear, don't ever give up, don't ever get discouraged.
I was out in the country cemetery not long ago
and a man was kneeling down over a grave and he was saying,
oh, why did you die, why did you die, why did you die?
I knelt down by the side of the grave, oh, he said,
why did you die, why did you die, why did you die?
I said, the mother or father down there said, no, why did you die, why did you die?
I said, the sister or brother, he said, no, why did you die, why did you die?
I said, my friend, I can't stand it any longer.
Who do you have down there in that grave?
He said, my wife first told me, but why did you die, why did you die?
You get the performance on that one too.
I didn't fight, I'm old, beautiful, close it, we're all the same.
Every one of you can get a member if you want to.
Old fellow had a bad speech of his brother.
He went to a Bible store brother, wanted to sell a Bible.
He couldn't even, he was worse than we all can.
He said, man, you can't talk, you can't sell a Bible.
He said, all I need is a, I said, more Bibles and all that,
put together, just give me a, man said, here's three Bibles,
go out there, you can find three friends, sell them,
and I'm sure that'll be all you can do.
Come back, back 15 minutes, he told those three Bibles,
give me some more, he gave them six more Bibles,
that Bible's probably getting to the limit, doesn't it?
He come back in a few minutes, said, give me some more,
he gave my aunt rolled a Bible,
he said, give me some more, man said,
fellow, you beat anything I've ever seen in my life.
Here you are, here you are, just been working here two hours
and sold all more Bibles than all the rest of my men
I have all week long, said we gonna have a sale meeting tonight,
and I want you to go out there and tell them how to sell Bibles.
He said, ain't nothing, nothing, nothing to it.
I just go up and I knock, knock, knock on the door,
and when the lady comes to the door,
open up my Bible and say you want to buy a Bible,
you want me to read it to you.
I'm gonna buy it.
I've been working here every day.
I've been working here every day.
Things like that, things like that.
I'm talking about, man, look at him,
I've tried to say tonight,
in the world of life,
see the best in everybody,
talk about the good things,
bring back many memories,
because they'll make it a better part of life.
I'd rather see a salmon
than to hear one every day
I'd rather one would walk with me
there to show the way.
You know, I might misunderstand you
than hide that idea,
but there's no misunderstanding
that we're happy to have with him.
Pray to God, buy for our country,
give all that we've got
in order that we can have a free world tonight.
Right here, right now.
See the best.
I just knew you.
If you knew me, and then the heart could see
the meaning of your heart and mind,
if I just knew you, and you knew me.
You know, life has so many roles,
and rows of things that things would be
if I just knew you, and you.
We close our eyes tonight.
You see, if I make someone sad,
what have I done with the day that I've had?
God gave it to me to do just what we'd learned,
did I do what was good,
or do what was bad, did I do what was good,
did I hand out a bottle, did I give them a friend,
did I lift someone up, did I put someone down,
did I light some lotus, some rock, did I look for a rose,
or just gather a weed,
what did I do with my beautiful day?
God gave it to me, did I.
You know when you and I fail to go with it.
But I'm trying to make somebody's day a bit better.
I'm going to go up here.
Where you going?
The old man going along the highway,
came to the evening, cold and gray clothes,
jazz bass deep and wide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dam.
The sudden stream had no fear of him
when he crossed the dam on the other side.
And he began to build a new dam.
The old man from the dead came back and said,
oh man, why you building this big here?
You ain't going to even live on the coast today.
Why waste your time on building this pretty new dam?
The bridge that you've built,
and the building that you've built,
brother, I'm going to tell you.
Now, I'm going to tell you.
I'll wait until you come.
There comes today that still,
boy or girl, is going down this line.
That little stream of water was an off the old.
I built this old for them.
And I'm building this bridge for him, for her.
And so you did.
Along with so many others,
built that bridge today
that we're crossing and seeing the beauty of the other side.
No other country in the world can play the victory
like the good old U.S.
Only leave you with these words now.
You've been so attentive.
I appreciate that.
I appreciate you staying and enduring this lengthy notice
when you're not hearing nothing.
I can't understand why I didn't send to Washington.
I don't know any of the things about the building
or anything else.
I don't have no water gauge or anything like that.
But I want to leave you with these words.
While Adam lay there and slept,
a rib, he didn't realize he was a loser.
The Lord took from Adam a rib and made him a wife,
and Adam never slept good the rest of his life.
Thank you all.
Thank you all.
Well, you didn't leave a whole lot more to be said.
That was great.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our program
and the reunion, except for one really important thing.
We're going to have the pictures made,
and first the ladies, not to the benediction,
but first the ladies will go into the room right next door,
go out that end door and turn to your left.
If you're not sure which is your left,
look where your wedding ring is.
And you go in that room right there.
As soon as the ladies get through,
for the good part, the men will have their picture made.
Now, will you stand for the benediction.
May the Lord watch between me and thee
while we are absent one from another.
Amen.
Amen.
We're here at the National Military Park
here in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
And this is a museum,
this ship here was in the Civil War,
it was sunk in the Mississippi River.
It's an original ship of the Confederate forces.
This is Joel McGrath of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
He's down here in Vicksburg, Mississippi
with the 31st Division Association reunion.
And I happen to run into him here today.
So after I take a picture,
prove to you people at the Joel Wall reunion
that this man was down here in Vicksburg, Mississippi
on May the 19th, 1994.
It's good to have you here with us this afternoon.
We would have had you earlier if we had known
what pretty weather you were going to bring with you.
It's really nice out there today.
We've got a fairly ambitious schedule for you
as far as taking you around and letting you see some things
here at the War Wave Experimentation.
I'd like to start that process with a quick overview
brief of what the War Wave Experimentation is and does.
And then we'll get back on the bus and fly the
station and see some things around the station.
The War Wave Experimentation is part of the Army Corps of Engineers,
but we're primarily a civilian organization.
We don't have a 10-militare focus on board at West.
Now, we have about 1,500 civilians.
So we are primarily a civilian organization.
You want to be a lot of Army uniform to go around the station.
Most of our facilities are located right here in Vicksburg.
We have 685 acre elevations.
We do civil works, which is design and build and operate
those locks and dams and flood control projects.
We also do what we call the green suit Army thing.
We test tank tracks and protective structures
and those kinds of things as well.
So we're going to go through the slides
and a little video right quick.
And then if you have any questions,
we'll try to answer them at that time.
You know, we've got a lady schoolteacher here in Vicksburg.
It's always a pride in herself in the fact that she can always tell
what little kids are going to hear from the crew.
The last crewman in North Central,
the very came up and gave the teacher a box about six inches long,
about a half-inch thick, wrapped real pretty.
The teacher picked it up and looked at it and said,
well, Mary, thank you. That's a pair of beautiful ladies gloves.
It was sent in 1929 as a result of the 1927 flood on the Mississippi River.
This is our first hydraulic model.
That's in Illinois River.
We've got our island native soil using grapefruit cotton.
We've come a long way since then.
We now have a facility that has literally an international reputation
in many different fields of science and engineering.
Most of our facilities are located here on this 685-acre reservation in the west.
The large metal buildings you see have primarily a hydraulic model.
We've got about 1,500 permanent employees on board,
about 2,000 people on board at any one time with our contract students and IPAs and others.
Currently, 184 of those have their PhDs.
We've got more PhDs, a doctorate degree, and a lot of smaller colleges and universities with that.
So it's a very well-educated and sophisticated workforce.
Our work is fairly equally divided from the previous and earlier.
Civil and military work gives us a strong base because when the administration emphasis changes,
we can change to make the way that needs the nation on it.
We're organizing the six separate laboratories,
Hydraulic, Geotechnical, Industrial, Environmental, Coastal Engineering, and Information Technology.
Those separate laboratories all operate under the Waterways Experiment Center in the west of Bruns.
We're going to talk very briefly about each one of those.
Of course, the Hydraulic Laboratory was how we got our name and our start.
And they used the large physical models to study a different kind of hydraulic problem.
More and more now, we're going to numerical models as well with computers today.
This is a ship and coast simulator, very similar to the old flight simulator you've heard about.
We're a ship's captain and a co-boat captain who come in and sit down at a ship's control
and navigate a proposed navigation change before we ever make it.
We do a lot of work, cooperation with Coast Guard in this area.
We have very unique facilities to support this work.
This is the largest curved riprap test channel anywhere in the world.
Coastal Engineering Research Center, you wouldn't think that this nation's center of expertise in coastal engineering
would be located in a landlocked Vicksburg away from the beach, but we are.
We have this nation's center of expertise in that area right here in Vicksburg.
They use the large physical models also.
This is the model of Long Beach Harbor. You're going to see it, I believe, this afternoon.
They have the added problem of waves and tides and those kind of things.
So we have facilities such as a multi-million dollar directional spectral wave generator
that can make those waves different lengths and heights and frequencies all at the same time
because it's computer operated.
They have large wave tanks where they can actually study wave action.
And we do have a field research facility in Duck, North Carolina,
a field research facility where we can actually get down into the coastal zone and get our feet wet
and through the experimental fens and the salt water if we need to.
The technical laboratory looks at all elements of the Earth's crust, salt and rock.
They are our center of expertise in earthquake engineering, for example.
We have sophisticated equipment to support that.
We're in the process of constructing at this time this nation's largest research center of use
and probably the largest in the world where we take a couple of tons of material
and we're spending it on so many hundred Gs that they can do all kinds of things.
We're very heavily in mobility studies.
We don't look at armor or firepower. We look at strictly mobility.
We're working on how our vehicles go, the enemy's vehicles cannot go,
how do you make the tank treads last longer, those kinds of things.
And we're getting more and more into computer applications of those, too.
We've developed a computer program where the field commander can input different parameters
such as if it rained last night or if it's snowing today,
how those environmental conditions will change the battlefield.
Because where our tanks have the advantage today, we get a free rain fight.
The enemy's tank may have the advantage tomorrow, those kinds of parameters.
The Structural Laboratory looks at all kinds of different things
in construction and building things structurally.
They are, the four engineers, probably this country's center of expertise again,
in concrete, how do you make concrete more effective and more economical
for you over those kinds of things.
And they do a lot of work in the area of blast effects on structure.
We don't blow up things here in Vicksburg.
We go out to White Sands or human-proven ground, Fort Pope, Louisiana,
Fort Knox, Kentucky, and we'll blow up scale model missile silos
or underground bunkers or those kinds of things.
We have tremendous expertise in blast effects.
We can tell you what a 66-volt wagon full of TNT will do to your building
if it goes off 20 feet in front of you.
And we've had those kinds of questions from the State Department
at that area of the kind of problem.
So we have the structural experts in that area, Information Technology Laboratory,
our newest laboratory, and they've brought us into the Information Age.
Of course, we refer to this age as being the Information Age.
More and more we're relying on computers, we're relying on very fast communication methods.
We have the Army's largest, fastest U.S. super computer.
This is the C-9.
We had the Cray YMP before.
We have two super computers.
Tremendous computing capability right here in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Probably the largest research computer facility anywhere in the country.
NASA may have a similar system this size,
a guy with a rocket ship all the way down there.
And of course they get involved in such things as the virtual reality we hear so much about
where they can actually get into an engineering project.
The scientists can input all this data, can actually put on the visors and the gloves
and actually go into the project.
He can look around and make determinations.
All this tremendous amounts of data that are generated,
this super computer, the cycle and the way out, the capability of a 910.
Now I don't think I introduced myself to y'all earlier.
We are proud to have y'all here today.
I'm going to be taking you around, showing you a few different things here on the station.
This is our oldest model on the station.
It's our Niagara Falls model.
And we started this in 1953.
Originally we studied 26 miles of the Niagara River.
In 1953 the model was much larger, going all the way to the back wall of the shelter back there.
In 1957 the model study was finished.
Now we don't necessarily have to keep these models,
and in fact the sponsor, the Buffalo District of the Corps of Engineers,
they came to us and said, look, we don't need that model anymore.
Y'all can do whatever you want to with it.
Well here's what we decided to do.
We had already marched thousands of visitors past.
We said we're going to keep just a small area so we can show our many visitors,
and we did, this little part we're calling the face of the model.
And we let the rest of that area go back there because we needed it then,
as we do now, for other model studies.
Now I'm standing on Goat Island.
That's on the American side of the Niagara River,
with the American Falls over here on the left, or in your post, in case you like,
y'all, over here on the right, or in front of you folks here,
we have Canada with its Horseshoe Falls, that red line down the middle,
represents the international boundary between the two countries.
Now in the early part of 1950, both of these countries signed a treaty,
and that treaty allowed each country to take water from the river
to use in generating electricity through hydroelectric power plants.
And both countries put some intakes on the river as a result of that treaty.
The Americans had one intake over on the American Falls side,
but we didn't include that in our model study.
We did include the three over here on the right for Canada,
and actually these worked quite well.
In fact, they worked so well that in 1953,
both countries decided they wanted to take more water from the river
to generate more electricity to keep up with consumer demand,
so they started looking for other places to put those intakes.
Well, the Americans had looked around and said,
we just don't have enough room over here on the American Falls side of the river.
Now Canada looked around and said, well, we do, right down there on that little green point.
How many of y'all been to Niagara Falls?
Okay, if you've been to the Horseshoe Falls area,
you probably stood right there on that little green point,
and the Canadians knew this, and they said,
if we put an intake there, we're going to take away area from our tourist attractions,
so we really don't want to do that.
So both Canada and the United States said,
we're not going to look around down here anymore.
We don't want to take away from our tourist attractions.
Let's look back upstream.
Well, they got into the upstream portion of the river,
and they started looking around.
They said, it's shallow.
We might not get enough water if we put intakes back in this part of the river.
So both countries went to the Buffalo District of Corps of Engineers and said, can you help us?
And Buffalo District said, well, we really don't know what to do.
Let's go to Waterway.
They can do a model study for us.
They came, and we did several studies.
What we came up with is the gate structure that you see right here.
Now, there are 18 individual gates in this structure.
In nature, each gate is 100 feet wide,
and every night at 10 o'clock, they start lowering those gates about halfway down in the water.
Now, what that does is slows the water down.
The bottom is going to get much deeper back here in these shallow areas,
and we knew that would happen as a result of our model study.
So we recommended to both countries,
look, if you put this gate structure into place, we told them,
you're going to back up enough water, so Canada, you can have two intakes right over here.
United States, you can have two more over here.
And they did start putting all of this into place in 1957.
Now, we told you they didn't want to take away from the tourist attractions,
so they did this tonight.
In fact, at 10 o'clock, when they're lowering these gates,
they turned out the light for Niagara Falls.
And that's still a video of tourists that are still out about midnight,
taking a little midnight stroll.
They don't see the water all that well,
and hopefully they don't notice that we've cut the flow of the falls by about one half.
We've taken from about 100,000 cubic feet per second to about 50,000 cubic feet per second.
Now, all of this water goes into reservoirs,
and the power companies can draw from those reservoirs day and night
if they need to generate more electricity.
Now, how do they turn the falls back on?
Well, at 8 o'clock the next morning, they raise the gates back up,
and this gives water a chance to build back up full speed over the falls
by about 9 o'clock when all the tourist attractions open.
And that's how we solved their problem in 1957.
Does anybody have a question?
Any question? Okay.
What I'm going to do is I'm going to turn the water on so you can see the falls in action.
What I also want you to do is take a few minutes,
look around at some of the other things we've done here,
our lunar wheels that we tested for astral,
also the little lunar rover we tested, steering mechanism.
The only thing we have left about a Mississippi River basin model
is right over there in the corner on the tabletop and all the article and write-up.
So I'm going to turn the water on,
and we'll take about five minutes to look around and get back on the bus,
and then we'll go to another stop.
The mission of the Stand-by Caller Waters to Offload their Catch,
their historic vessels were, well they had a little bit different problem.
They were permanently docked. They couldn't exactly pull up anchor and sail away.
But they were complaining about it.
The Port Authority heard their complaints and said,
okay, we'll get better breakwater out of there.
The Port Authority went to the San Francisco District,
the Port District said, look, we need a better breakwater.
We need something better than the Rock River out of the Wood Pile.
Can you help us with?
And the San Francisco District said, well, let's go to Waterworth.
We really don't know what else it did.
When they came to us, they said, we need a breakwater and we have some requirements.
One requirement came from the Port Authority,
because the Port Authority wanted some wave action at Fisherman's Port for the title of washing.
But the boat owners, they got together and they said,
they found you can have some wave action, but it cannot exceed 18 inches high.
For the man-hide, that's not very much.
They said, okay, any other requirements?
And they said, well, that curvy municipal pier out there has said that we can't do anything to stop their wave action.
They told us that they have fishing and swimming and boating clubs.
This area right here is the National Seashore.
It's kind of like the National Military Park of waves, okay?
And they said, don't bother their wave action.
So we said, okay.
And we did some studies.
We did 90 studies on this model and what we came up with is the curving breakwater that you see out there.
It starts out over here at the end of the high-extreet pier.
It's a total of 30 feet tall from the base of the bay.
Now we curve, go 1,585 feet to the end of Pier 45 where we're 60 feet tall from the base of the bay.
Now really, you don't see but about 8 feet above sea level.
In fact, it was so cute about a month ago.
I had a little couple from San Francisco and they stood about right there where you two were standing
and they were nudging each other, nudging each other.
And the father said, do you have a question?
Well, we lived there and we've never seen it.
So apparently it's not very obvious but it does do a good job taking those 3 and 5 foot waves down to the 18th floor and side.