After Action Report LZDC
#2
Arlington VA
10-13 November
2010
During our recent reunion in Arlington
VA many items of interest were discussed during the business meeting. The top of
the list was more frequent communication to our members in several venues. This
information will be forthcoming in the days ahead. The reunion after action
report is below.
Alpha Company held
it's 2010 reunion in Washington, DC from November10th to 14th.
Approximately 50 members and wives met at the Best Western Hotel in Arlington,
Virginia, just a short walk to the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial and Arlington
National Cemetery.
On November 10th, many of the group attended a
Marine Corps Birthday observance at the Iwo Jima Memorial. The new
Commandant, General Amos, addressed the audience on the Marine Corp’s numerous
accomplishments in it's 235 years of service to our nation. General Amos
also honored retired Senator John Glenn for his service to the United States and
Marine Corps. The ceremony lasted almost two hours with the Eighth and I
Band and drill team performing for the large crowd in attendance.
After this ceremony, a number of the Alpha Company group went to the
Vietnam Memorial. Pop-a-Smoke, “USMC Combat Helicopter Association”,
held a cake cutting ceremony. Jeff Savelkoul was chosen to help lay a
memorial wreath at “The Wall” to honor our fallen brothers; those
killed-in-action as well as those who have died since their service in the
Republic of Vietnam.
Thursday, November 11th was Veterans Day and
Washington was crowded with veterans and their families.
A number of our
group went to Arlington National Cemetery to visit some of our fallen
brothers-in-arms grave sites. The graves of four members of the "Breaker"
patrol, buried on May 10, 2005, as well as the grave of Bill Muter were of
special interest. Vice President Biden laid a wreath at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldiers. His presence there delayed our visiting the tomb due to all
the security measures that had been put in place for his visit.
Friday,
November 12th was our day to visit the Marine Corps Museum and Marine Corps Base
Quantico.
Quantico is a 35 mile trip from the hotel and proved to be a
challenge to some of our group who are no longer as proficient as they were in
map reading. The Museum provided our group with a tour guide and this
really gave a better insight into many of the important exhibits. It was
amazing to see how many items of historical interest the Marine Corps
accumulated in it's warehouses over the last 235 years. The Museum has two
very good restaurants which helped break-up our tour into two segments. A
meaningful tour of this museum will take 4 to 5 hours depending on the stamina
of the visitor. This tour gave a new meaning to "Old Corps" to many in our
group!
After visiting the Museum, we drove our private vehicles to
The Basic School to visit Reasoner Hall.
Reasoner Hall was rededicated in
2005 and serves as a theater for The Basic School. A number of photos of
Frank Reasoner and members of his now famous patrol are displayed in the lobby
as are duplicates of the medals awarded to members of the patrol (i.e. Medal of
Honor, Navy Cross, 3 Silver Stars and 4 Purple Hearts).
After our tour
of Reasoner Hall we moved to the Dining Hall and enjoyed an excellent meal. We
were surprised to learn the Marine Corps has out sourced food preparation
to a third party. “No more mess duty!” For many in the group,
it was their first meal in a mess hall in over 40 years.
Alpha Company
held a business meeting on Saturday, November 13th. Ray Raymond called the
meeting to order at 9:00 AM. The minutes of the last meeting were read by
Jeff Savelkoul and were duly approved. Don Schwinn gave the Treasurer's
report and Tom Boland gave a brief overview of the Battalion's reunion in
Deadwood as well as a number of recent developments by the Veterans
Administration. After due discussion, the slate of Company Officers were
re-elected.
Lastly, the members voted to have the next Alpha
Company reunion in Reno, Nevada in the May, 2012 time frame. This site was
selected to allow our Western US members to attend and because of the good time
had in Reno at the 2004 reunion. Hotel and airline costs are
expected to be very competitive in the Reno area.
Further details on the
Reno reunion will be published in the coming months on the Alpha Company web
site, alphareconassociation.org
The Alpha Company members are highly
encouraged to attend the next Battalion reunion that is to be held in
Williamsburg, Virginia in the Fall of 2012.
Most of the group departed
Washington, DC on Sunday morning with very tired legs from visiting all the
great sites in our Capital.
Tom Vennemeyer-Vice President
Alpha Recon
Association
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