5th Maintenance Battalion (DS) Reunions
2005
November 8-11, 2005, a group of old 5th Maintenance Battalion (DS) Vietnam Veterans met in Las Vegas, Nevada, in conjunction with the Las Vegas Veitnam Veterans Welcome Home Celebration. We headquartered at the Golden Nugget Hotel, which was in the center of the Welcome Home Celebration. The activities began on Friday morning with a parade of Vietnam Veterans through downtown Las Vegas. The 5th Maintenance Battalion was the only veterans in the parade that marched as a unit. John Brown brought the guideon from Headquarters and Main Support Company and Greg Chew acted as the guide-on bearer. Several hundred thousand people lined the parade route and cheered us on. At the end of the parade the mayor of Las Vegas thanked each of us personally for our service. On Friday and Saturday evenings there was a special veterans' light show in downtown Las Vegas with live music and entertainment. We all met for dinner on Friday. On Saturday there was a special program at Ellis Air Force Base but the time required to get there and back was so great that we gave up. However, on Saturday, Joe Fraccola made the effort and reported that it was well worth the trouble to get there. By Sunday we were all exhausted from all of the activities and the great fellowship and we gradually went our own way during the day.
Attending this first reunion was John T Brown III, Greg Chew, Roger Bland, Dick Sheppard, Larry Ward, Bob Barnes, Ken Hamblin, Tom Lechowitz and Fiorendo Seclayan,
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2006
Our second reunion was held at St Louis, Missouri, on August 3 -6, 2006. Bob Barnes and Roger Bland arrived on Thursday and spent a number of hours at the military archives researching the 526th CC&S Company history. After several unsuccessful hours they discovered that the company had eventually been transferred to depot operations. They were able to obtain copies of a few choice records. By itself, this work made the reunion a success. All who arrived before Friday evening gathered for burgers for dinner. During the day some of the attendees went to the top of the Arch and all managed to do some sightseeing. After dinner all met in the bar of the Renaissance Grand Hotel to socialize and trade stories. We met for for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday at the hotel. On Saturday most of the group went to a carnival/volkswagen car show where we cooled off with some Miller Light and we eventually made it to the Budweiser Brewery in hopes of getting a free beer as respite from the hot weather. On arrival we encountered a 1 1/2 hour wait to catch a tour that lasted an hour before we could get to the free beer. But we finally made it and managed to sample several of the brand beers. After the Budweiser tour we decided we needed to find someplace to soak up the beer and drove to Euclid Street which we were told was the entertainment section of St Louis. We managed to find a very good restaurant and settled in for a great dinner. That evening we met again in the Renaissance Grand bar for more conversation.
During the course of our conversations we agreed to hold the next reunion the second weekend in August, 2007, in Colorado Springs.
Attending our second annual reunion was John T Brown III, Greg Chew, Bob Barnes, Roger Bland, Ken Hamblin, Dennis Lynk, Billy Smith and Ed Kaminsky.
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