Memo To: All The Happy Irishmen

NOTES FROM MEMBERS

One after noon I was reviewing our Roster and stopped at Fox Hole Barnett's name and began wondered what happened to him.  Then the phone rang and it was Bob Chrisman calling.  His first question was, have we ever heard from Fox Hole Barnett?  I told him that I was just on the same subject and couldn't find any notes re: his moving etc. 

Bob gave me the name of a small town in Florida where Foxhole used to go so I checked it out on the Computer but didn't have any success in locating him.

If any members have any mental notes on Foxhole let us know so that we can try to locate him.

Cal Russell says hello and regards to all.  He hopes that the weather will return to its former calm attitude not only in Florida but in other parts of the country as well.

Tracie Bell sends his regards to all.  Of course the weather does give them some problems so they have to watch it rather than try and do some thing about it.

Arden Gehris sends his regards to all.  He reports that all is well in the desert country.  No hurricanes or ferocious rain storms have found their area to harass the residents.

Bob Grice reports that so far the weather hasn't tried to spoil what remains of their winter season and he hopes that it doesn't try to.  He says hello and greetings to all.

Jim and Evelyn Nelson send their best to all.  So far this season they have been able to get out on the range without any storms in the area.

Warren Ritter sends his regards to all.  Whenever I see Wilmington, NC in his return address it reminds me of the many times I was at Camp LeJeune and Cherry Point and never remembered that Warren lived close by in Wilmington, N.C.

All I had to do was make a column left off of the main state highway  and probably would have ended up on his farm.

Bob Akerman says hello to all.  He reported that his health is the best that he can remember. Of course he did add that at this stage of the game he could forget a lot.

Stan Inman sends his best to all the gyrenes from VMB 613.  He is still chugging along, no aches or pains.

John Gavin sends his best to all.  He said that he is living in the cold northeast where temperatures have been very frigid, but no appreciable snow, just a few 1-2 inch snow falls.

Vern Beggs says hello and regards to all.  In respect to the weather they did have a severe squall line pass through their area one night no damage from it though.  They were fortunate that several tornados which appeared far to the east of them, 50, 60,70 miles East continued on their planned route.  Their outside air temp was 60 degrees and the air was calm.

Bob Brueggestrass sends his regards to all.  He did find an error in the E Mail Directory and it got corrected.  All is going well in the High Plains of Texas he reported.  He also said that all seems well on the High Plains of Texas since they have survived another year.

He also sent this quote from Andrew Greely, the Priest author: "The ultimate in ego is a Marine from Texas who has graduated from Notre Dame."

Jack Barton sent a short note to let us know that they were really suffering in Phoenix!  First freeze since 1979, and this is the coldest January since 1937, the temp was down to 28 degrees, Casa Grande was down to 17 degrees.  Snow came down a few miles north of town.  Sky Harbor has only had 3 inches of snow in the last 100 years.

He knows what the weather is like in Santa Fe and he knew I would appreciate how tough this has been for them this year.

Jim Brotherton says hello and best wishes to all.  He said that over the past five years he has been on a health watch and has been fortunate to keep ahead of the sick bay routine.

Carmine Nasta sends his best to all and hopes that all are in good health.  He equated their weather pattern to New Mew Mexico's and was happy that they didn't get the ice and snow.  They were just starting to get the cold part of winter.

A week previous the temperatures were in the 70's but he had the premonition that since February and March were still ahead of them they would have to contend with their snow problems then.

Carmine did some mental history re: VMB 613 and said that it has been 62 years since we were terminated as a Combat War Squadron (1945-2007) and it also reminded him of our dumping the aircraft into the Lagoon on Kwajalein.                                                         

From that date on we went back to the states for reassignment and discharge.  Several members left Kwajalein early and the remainder went back on the George W. Julian. 

Members were given their orders at Miramar for leave and reassignment to various Marine Corps Bases.  After a few weeks and even months in some instances most personnel were either discharged or transferred to the Inactive Reserve.

Carmine's daughter gave him a book entitle "Semper Fi" The Definitive History of the Marine Corps.  It weighs a ton, has numerous pictures and history of the Marine Corps.

It is a great book he said, outstanding pictures and history of the Corps since John Paul Jones to the present.  He hopes that we can preserve out stature as a world power.

Cliff Dotson sends Best Wishes to all who have survived the sixty or so years since our Marine Corps days.  They have had a lot of rain, but no snow or high winds.

During the holidays they were busy with family, church and friends but they are now getting back to a normal schedule which will allow him to get back to his daily  early morning tennis followed by early morning work outs at the Fitness Center of their club at least three week days.

He mentioned that former morning tennis players from his group continue to show up.  Although they can no longer play they do manage to get together for a Christmas Breakfast after tennis each year at their club.

One of the members who attends is 97 and drove himself to the event.  Another who is 94 (former President of Tulane) also drove to the event.  He said that both of them are physically in remarkable shape for their age and mentally alert.

Cliff said that his metallurgical consulting activity is gradually diminishing although he still is involved in several cases, both in his home area and elsewhere, that he has worked on in recent months and even years.

Jim Garls reports that the weather is also very uncomfortable in Pekin, IL.  In addition to the cold they have about three inches of snow.  Hence the warm house remains as his defense against the weather.

Foster Cummings says hello and regards to all.  They are in the middle of a fierce winter season, extreme cold, snow and rain, which makes for very icy roads.  This means that the roads are covered with 4" of frozen slop.  Very dangerous driving.

Joe Yakawich sends his regards to all.  As you may recall Joe was the Featured Artist in the Year 2006 Montana Fair and he sent along a picture of himself under the Banner of the 2006 Montana Fair.  It will be part of this newsletter for all to cut out and frame.

He said that he has been doing a lot of Envelope Painting for his new found fans that he got while in Billings at their August 2006 Fair.

Their weather has turned pleasant again and for a change no sub-zero temperatures which they had been experiencing.  He is waiting for the fishing season to start and that is just around the corner.

He has to go to the VA next month (March)for a cataract operation on the left eye.

His son the LtCol US Army has been assigned to an overseas assignment for one year.

Joe sent along a picture of a home that his son Jim was giving away providing the purchaser moved the home from the property to make way for an addition to the parking lot at his store. 

A lot of interest was shown but no one could make a firm decision so the home was demolished leaving a bare brown lot.  A lot of interest from across the country in the various news services helped to make the local geographic area known to the public.  Jim Yakawich is already seeking bids for a new parking lot.

Norb Gibbs says hello to all and reports that everything is OK with them right now.

Betty had a Pacemaker put in the first part of December and has been 911'd twice since then.  She was OK before they put it in. 

Their weather has been very spring like with plants blooming very early.  He is still working part time and helping the kids do maintenance work around their houses.