Class Poop

Lt. James F. Hennessee
214 Grimes Street
Fort Bragg, N.C. 28307


Class Notes 1967v26n1Apr

It is my sad task to pass on news of the deaths of 2 classmates, Chet Myers and Spots DeWitt. Both were killed in action in Vietnam, Spots on 21 Dec 1966 and Chet on 10 March 1967.

A composite letter arrived last week from Frankfurt, Germany. It had been passed around at the Founders Day dinner and was forwarded by Chuck and Tamera Wuertenberger who, incidentally, are comparative newlyweds, having been married in Dec 66 I'll attempt to reproduce the short summary of events each of the contributors included.

Tom White: was married in June 65, has a daughter Elizabeth Victoria born in Dec 66, is CO Btry A, 2/5th Arty, awaiting formation of a new 175 Bn for RVN. Kala Kukea: was married in Dec 66 (wife Carol), had just returned from a year in Far East, had also been a Tac Officer, Fort Benning. Denny Coll: was married in June 66, currently with 3/12th Cav, 3d Armd Div, CO Trp C, was awaiting a levy in May for 6th Cav, RVN. Wayne Scholl: CO B Co., 317th Engr Bn, Frankfurt, since September, 1049 to leave in Sept 67. Ralph Locurcio: CO HHC, 23d Engr Bde, Hanau, has had 6-1/2 mos. field duty, 8 days leave, is unmarried, morale-high? Larry and Sharon Strassner and Larry Jr.: CO Btry A, 2/73d Arty, Hanau, is playing lacrosse for European Int'l All-Stars. Jim and Mary Lou Tillman plus one due in July: CO A Co., 143d Sig Bn, Frankfurt, they are awaiting curtailment. Kenneth (Pete) McArthur was stationed until December at Gelnhausen with Svc Btry, 2/6th Arty, is now BC, HHB 3d Armd Divarty, Hanau, has one little boy, Ken Jr., 8 months. Roy Garms at Hanau with 23d Engr Bn S1, still single. Frank Koleszar: married Oct 67 (?), wife Gisela Lorene, Bad Hersfeld, is CO 3d Sqdn, 14th Cav. Ed Evans: was married in July 65, first stationed with Btry B, 4/6th Arty, then reassigned as ADC 32d AADC. Mike Drinkwater was married in June 66, is now BC, Btry D, 5/1st Arty, Dichtelbach. Dan Benton is still single, his plans for the future a strong "maybe," at Hanau with 6/40th Arty, is spending lots of spare time in tl1c field. Tom Powers: was married in June 65, is currently with l/32d Armor, Friedberg, was expecting a little addition to the family in March. Steve Kempf: was married in June 65, was assigned to B Htry 6/52d Arty (HAWK) until recently, is now CO, Btry D, 3/7th Arty (HAWK) at Bad Kissingen, the resort area, APO 09330. John Longhouser was married in June 65, is ADC to V Corps Comdr in Frankfurt, prior to that was CO, Co. A, l/33d Armor and S3 l/33d, has one little girl, Kimberly Sue, 6 months old, still bouncing. Tim Thames is married (wife Sandy), has a year-old babe, Kimberly Louise, was stationed in LA for 13 months, picked up an ACM in LA for work on forest fire in November. Ben Whitehouse: was married in June 65 to Gladys, now stationed at Hoechst, CO, Co. B, 32d Sig Bn, has one baby girl, Andrea Lynn. Paul Singelyn: still single, is at Hanau with 23d Engr Bn, spends most of his time in field. Jim Woodard was married in June 65, now at Frankfurt with 143d Sig Bn as S4 and PBO. John DeVitto: is married, has a daughter Jean Marie, on duty in Rotterdam with The Netherlands Transportation Corps, 11th Terminal Comd, is deputy chief. Ross Wollen: still single, Team Comdr, Team B, 66th USA Arty Det, is the only bachelor within 100 miles of Dortmund, Germany; just returned from Miami where Fred Shapiro and Bo Forrest were stationed.

From RVN came good news. Tom Carll received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with gold star and the U.S. Silver Star for "exposing himself to enemy fire" and ''unhesitatingly rushing the enemy position and annihilating it with a grenade." Tom was with HHC, 1/35th Inf, 3d Bde, 25th Div, at the time.

Also in RVN, Joe Anderson's platoon was followed in combat by French journalist Pierre Schoerndoeffer, who filmed a 90-minute documentary of "The Anderson Platoon." Joe must have done a good job: Pierre's still alive, and the film which will eventually be seen on network TV is said to be one of the best to come out of the war.

Received a letter from Kathy Kulbacki who is staying in Huntsville, Ala., while Walt is in RVN. Walt is a company CO in the 41st Sig Bn. Fred Ammerman wrote from the l/44th Arty in Vietnam. His unit has set two precedents being the only twin-duster (M-42) unit in the country and the Army unit farthest north in S. Vietnam.

From Korea came a slightly outdated, but certainly newsworthy item. Ron Bailey received USARPA C's Outstanding Leader Award for his work as CO, Co. B, l/38th Inf. Congratulations, Ron!

Switching back to Germany, Steve Harman wrote from Augsburg and the 24th Sig Bn. Steve spent last summer coaching and playing on the baseball team of the 2d Bde, 24th Div, which won the unofficial USAREUR championship. At the time of the letter, 12 Jan, the 24th had not lost many people, but, Steve says, the handwriting is on the wall. Excerpts from Steve's letter: Mark and Linda Sheridan left in February with Mark headed for RVN; Dave and Patty Jones, Bob and Nancy Johnson, and Dianne and Joe Barkley were all taken off the same levy because all three men are Inf Co. Comdrs. In the 41st Sig Bn are Jim and Jeanie Peters, Bernie and Ellen Ziegler, and Steve and Anne (Harman). Jim commands A Co., Bernie is Div Radio Officer, and Steve is S4 and PBO. Both Steve and Bernie probably have companies by now. Bernie and Ellen have a daughter Christine Lee, born 5 Jan 67, and Anne and Steve have a son Steven Scott, born 25 March 66. Anne is expecting again; Steve says he'll raise his own baseball team. Connie and Jim Mirando are in the 123d Sig Bn in Wurzburg; they have a daughter Jeanne Marie. Don Phillpotts wrote from Korea; he got married over there to a California girl.

Here in the States, Barre Bernier wrote from El Paso and the language school. With him there are: Leo Kennedy, Joe Zurlo, Bob Coto, Bruce Marshall, Orlin Mullen, John Olson, Wes Taylor, and Bob Zonne. On post at Fort Bliss, but not in the language school, are Phil Olmsted and Jim Kelly, newly returned from Korea.

Here at Bragg I've seen so many people that come for a few weeks while they attend the MATA course prior to advisory duty in RVN that I can't begin to list them all. A representation of the number here at one time is reflected in the list of classmates who at­ tended a class get-together organized by Don and Sue Erbes: Curt Adams, Pat O'Connor, Dave Gabel, Grant Fredricks, Joe and Lynn DeFrancisco, Step and Joanne Tyner, Bob and Lynnesse Arvin, Doug and Jan Gibson, Ron and Judy Williams, Don Rowe, Sonny and Judy Arkangel, Lance and Ann Stewart, Tom and Marilyn Kovach, Bill and Betty Zadel, Ed and Judy Klink, John and Martha Alger, John and Dee Dee Malpass, and Cam and me.

I want to thank those of you who wrote letters and provided all the news. Keep up the good work. As for the others, remember this column is only what you, individually and collectively, make of it.