John Ulmer ’62 sent me a pdf of an article about the West Point Radio Club and Hugh Morgan ’58 who it honored in thanks for a contribution from his estate. Here’s what John wrote, “Hugh and I have been friends for over 50 years, having met while he was a young captain at Ft. Campbell, KY. By some twist of fate, we both ended up in Knoxville, TN after leaving the Army.

When Hugh died back in August, his family asked me to assist them with liquidating and disposing of his ham gear. This has turned out to be a daunting task since he had over 60 years of collected valuable items, together with lots of parts and supplies that only a ham could love. In sorting through all of this, I found boxes and boxes of old QST magazines some going back to 1929. None of these are collectors items and thus do not have much value. I was ready to haul them to the dump, but decided to take a shot at finding them a good home. I got in touch with the West Point Radio Club and got an immediate response. Yes, they were in the process of setting up a new "ham shack" and would welcome the magazines to begin building their library.

Important for your class is the fact that they are proposing to name the library in honor of Hugh. I have 375 pounds of QST magazines sitting on a pallet in my garage awaiting shipment to West Point next week. CPT Matthew Sherburne is the OIC of the club and has asked the family to provide photos of Hugh along with his obituary which they will post above the book case(es). Hugh obtained his ham radio license at age 14 and was assigned the call sign W4VAB. He was vice president of the West Point Radio Club his firstie year. It is fitting that Hugh should be honored this way.” I can’t figure out how to imbed the PDF here.

The highlight of the mini reunion in Carmel was the Symphony performance by the Monterey Symphony Orchestra, particularly its rendering of the West Point Graduation March. Jody LeTowt ’58 not only organized the whole mini reunion with the assistance of his friend, Sherry St. Clair, but he had also sponsored the Symphony performance which was also attended by, and appreciated by, a large number of people from the local community. Jody had found that the West Point Army Band had music scores available for a symphony rendering of the Graduation March which they could email to the Monterey Symphony Orchestra. Their rendering of it was beautiful and memorable.

The Mini included an enjoyable bus trip to the Big Sur with views that are spectacular and a very pleasant picnic lunch. We also had a visit to the Monterrey Aquarium that was extremely interesting, a stop no one should miss if they are visiting the area..

The Tuck Box in the center of Carmel proved to be a great place to get lunch during our stay there. The Tuck Box was started, and owned and operated for many years by Jody LeTowt ’58 who organized the mini.

We, Pete & Lynne Penczer ’58 went to the Kaibo Club at Rum Point in Grand Cayman with Mike & Marcia York ’58 where we said “Happy Birthday” to the wives.

Jody LeTowt ’58 organized a really wonderful Mini Reunion in Carmel, CA. It added to a string of great Mini Reunions for our Class and was reminiscent of the one done by Jody about twenty years ago in Carmel.

Photo Right: Class Dinner

There won’t be one next year, a Class Ex Comm decision, so our next reunion will be the 60th back at West Point. Finally we’ll get to use the Thayer Hotel.

Photo Left: Memorial Service, Singing the Alma Mater

Pete Kusek ’58 sent along a picture with the note “Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein passes the guidon of the Air Force Space Command to newly promoted General John (Jay) Raymond at Peterson AFB on October 25 2016.” John & Barbara Raymond ’58 must be over the top proud.

Photo: Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein and General John (Jay) Raymond

The renovated First Class Club, our class gift originally to our school, is now almost finished with its latest complete renovation necessitated by structural problem found a little while back that closed the club. I won’t try to tell the story of the renovation, but a soft reopening is expected now for next March. The class got a full report following a couple of days with a lot of work by Dale Hruby ’58, Munge Moore ’58, Brad Johnson ’58 and Tony Smith ’58 reviewing progress and helping sort pictures that had been in the Club before it was closed. Tony has been the point man on this, has done a terrific job with it and has kept us well informed.

Chuck & Celia Hansult ’58, got through the annual Charleston Symphony Gala that Celia ran that was a big success. Chuck wrote, “The CSO gala is now history, thank goodness, and we are making plans for the trip north to family weddings...  On the subject of the gala, I am attaching a photo from the event. The CSO Maestro, Ken Lam, Celia and I are posing by the cake celebrating the 80th anniversary season of the orchestra. There is a story about the cake. Ken Lam is the resident conductor for the Brevard NC Music Festival which is held every summer over seven weeks. Students from high school level through college and graduate schools from all over the world compete for slots at the music center. Two or three orchestral performances a day are offered to the public. It is very intense for the students and great for the aficionados of classical music. Celia and I spent three days at the home of one of my high school classmates who lives in Brevard and attend a concert each day.

Photo: Ken Liam, Celia Kramer Hansult & Chuck Hansult

By coincidence, it was also the 80th anniversary of the festival. When we first got there, we saw this cake on the lawn in front of the amphitheater. As co-chair of the CSO gala, Celia immediately said, “We have to have that cake!” So she arranged with the good offices of Ken and our friend who lives there to acquire the cake after the festival closed. It required a considerable amount of refurbishment which was performed in our parlor before we had it ready for the event, but it turned out very well.”

Dick Buckalew ’58 sent me this picture from the Army Notre Dame Tailgate party.

Photo: L-R John  Willauer ’60, Chuck Densford ’58, Phil Regan ’58 and Dick Buckalew ’58

Herb Johnson ’58 sent me this old picture of not so old people from after the 2008 Mini.

Paul Ruud ’58 sent me this picture of the D-2 contingent at the Carmel Mini.

Photo: L-R Bill and Nancy Gillette ’58, Patty and Paul Ruud ’58 and Stew Willis ’58

Jack May ’58 and Iris were in Paris in October. Here they are at the Club Cercle.

Chuck Densford ’58 took this very good picture of Pete & Lana Bahnsen ’58 at the Carmel Mini. C-2 was well represented.

Chuck and Celia Hansult ’58 visited us, Pete and Lynne Penczer ’58, here in Fairfield, CT, shortly after the Carmel Mini Reunion and between family weddings here in the Northeast. Shortly before that they had had storm and flooding in Charleston with evacuation being in order. Chuck wrote: “Celia and I evacuated to Charlotte where the weather was fine with the exception of one day of heavy rain. We headed back to Charleston on Monday to find that everything was fine there too. We had no damage. The power did not go off in our neighborhood.

Photo: L-R l. Chuck Hansult, Sally Tilley, Celia Hansult and Jim Tilley

There were lots of leaves and small branches on the ground that took a day of clean up, but we were really lucky. as it turned out, the upstate in SC and NC fared worse later on as the rivers began to overflow because of the heavy rains inland. Most of the damage on the coast was caused by wind and the storm surge. By the time it got to Charleston the storm was a category one so the winds were not too severe and the surge was reduced from what it might have been. Water on our street did not come up over the curb. Just a few hundred feet away it was over 3 feet deep.” They also visited with Jim Tilly and Sally ’58 during that time.

Frank Waskowicz ’58 sent me a picture taken at the Annual Gathering of Washington, D.C., Contingent hosted by Alan & Florence Salisbury ’58 and provided by Chuck Toftoy ’58

CA Jerry & Barbara Lewis ’58 met Harry & Karolyn Kramp ’58 for a visit and lunch by thr lagoon in San Mateo.

Photo: Karolyn Kramp, Barbara & Jerry Lewis ’58, & Harry Kramp ’58

Bill Serchak ’58 sent another old picture of not so old people, the K-1 company reunion in San Diego in 1999.

Dick Schonberger ’58 sent me a very interesting story of his recent trip to Normandy and to Bastogne. He wrote, “Have been to Normandy several times highlighted by leading the 101st Abn Div contingent for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day. A group of about 140 pax from the staging areas and departure airfields in England, then Normandy for the D-Day activities, to Holland and Market Garden AOR with the Dutch, to Bastogne and the Mardasson Monument where they dedicated the Boix de Paix, highlighted by a tree planting ceremony where a tree was dedicated to each veteran.

A few weeks before our departure, I was contacted by the Bastogne people who asked that we provide a brass plaque for each of our veterans that would eventually be placed on their tree (then a sapling) in the Forest of Peace. Although most of our vets were WW II, we had a few VN vets on the tour. When I asked about them, I was told they are vets too, so they said to make plaques for them. Working with our Assn Secretary, it was real scramble, but we got the job done in time.

Some time ago, I was surprised to receive the photo collage from Bastogne. I was back again in 2004 and pleased to see my tree, a birch (I believe) was thriving after several years of drought. The forest design is supposed to be modeled after the UNESCO Mother and Child symbol.

As you can imagine I am pleased and humbled to have my name among the 101 vets in that hallowed ground of Bastogne.”