United States Army Infantry
Officer Candidate School
Class 14-67; 52nd
Company
50th
Anniversary Reunion and
Memorial Re-Dedication Ceremony
Fort Benning,
GA
5-8 March 2017
After Action Report
During
the period 5 thru 8 March 2017, 43 of our classmates, 2 Tactical
Officers and
44 spouses, guests and relatives (see Attachment 2) of our classmates
Killed In
Action, gathered at the Hilton Garden Inn in Columbus, GA to celebrate
the 50th
(Golden) Anniversary of our commissioning and to again honor those
brothers who
made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
All
this reunion business started in October 2000 with a visit to the
traveling
Vietnam Wall in Huntsville AL. "Miss
Fox", CPT Ballou's
Company Clerk and Mrs. Bob
Usher (for 50 years 30 Mar), went home and proceeded to look up the
Wall on the
internet and discovered a note from Candidate Brian Smith on Bill
Zimmerman's
(6th Platoon) memorial page on the wall.
Bob and Brian were roommates in OCS. Contact
was made and the very first
reunion plans were put into motion.
This
50th reunion was our eighth and according to many, our best reunion yet. The best maybe because it
was 50 years
ago we graduated, or the best because it was at the very location and
exact
date as our graduation or maybe it was the best because of an extremely
moving
re-dedication of our Memorial Plaque honoring our ten brothers and two
Tactical
Officers Killed in Action in Vietnam.
Whatever the reason, it was a very solemn occasion and one
which will be
long remembered by those in attendance.
This
year we had three classmates who attended for the first time - -
Charles Franges (2nd
Platoon) and his daughter Callie who joined us
Tuesday the 7th for the festivities and banquet; Charles Johnson (3rd
Platoon)
and Philip Lawler (4th Platoon) and his wife, Charlene.
Reunion "Perfect Attendance"
is down to four brothers now: Doug Bulthaus
(1st Pltn), George Hunsaker (3rd Pltn), Bob Usher (6th Pltn) and
Rick White (6th Pltn).
Registration
started early Sunday morning with the last ones arriving for the day at
10:00
PM. Several more
came in
Monday. Festivities
began Sunday
with our traditional "Meet and Greet" at the hotel where we
"grazed" on enough Hors D'oeuvres to feed the entire 52nd Company
from 1967 along with soft and not so soft drinks.
The last stragglers left the hospitality
suite after 1:00 AM in time to catch a few Z's and get ready for
Monday's trip
to Warm Springs, GA to tour Roosevelt's Little White House. The Little White House was
very
interesting. It was
FDR's retreat
and "Health Spa". He
soaked and swam in the local hot springs to relieve the effects of his
polio. After that
we went to the
Bullock House restaurant in downtown Warm Springs taking care to avoid
the
traffic jams. The
food and service
were excellent. We
also visited one
of the warm springs
sites and then returned to the
hotel, had supper and relaxed in the hospitality suite till late
evening.
The
hospitality suite again displayed many pictures and other memories of
our OCS
days. Pictures of
various OCs from
back in the day, a picture of Candidate Longgrear
in
his OC days in the 61st OCS Company (graduated in May 1966) and the
famous
picture, "Rack-a-Tac"
(2LT Chester Husband
asleep in a chair out in the field).
In addition there were the books of memories, classmate
autobiographies,
and two books memorializing our brothers killed in action.
Name
tags with our original Class Book pictures were again provided by
Our
official program began Tuesday morning the 7th with a welcome and
orientation
on the state of OCS (Past, Present and Future) by LTC Mark C. Andres,
Commander,
3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment (OCS), 199th
Infantry Brigade in Nett Hall on Fort Benning. LTC Andres provided all
the facts and
figures on today's OCS program which is considerably shorter than our
course in
1966-67. However,
after today's 11
week course at Fort Benning,
the newly commissioned
2nd Lieutenants then go to a branch qualifying course at one of the
different
military posts.
Following
his talk, all "Candidates" present rose, raised our right hands and
repeated after LTC Andres, "I (state your full name), do solemnly swear
……………….., so help me God" and we were
again swelling with pride and feeling like 19-27 year old, brand new
2LTs. Out the door
we went to a bunch of
waiting present day OCS candidates who rendered the traditional 1st
salute to
the newly commissioned officers and received their shiny new silver
dollars. After
hundreds of pictures
by wives and friends, we proceeded by "route step" to the
"Memorial Walk" (or "OCS Walk of Heroes" as we call it) in the
current OCS area for our rededication ceremony.
Our
ceremony began with an invocation by Reverend George Hunsaker
(3rd Pltn) followed by
the Posting of the Colors by
the OCS Honor Guard. After
a few
opening remarks by Bob Usher, he introduced his better half who gave a
short
unexpected, yet heartwarming talk of her memories of the "sights and
sounds" of the OC 14-67 cycle after which she led the group in the
singing
of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA".
Following that, Rick White read Brian
Smith's remarks (Brian remained at the hotel with Janet, who was sick
most of
the 7th). Rick
covered Brian's
remarks remarkably and reminded us that soldiers (Enlisted and Officer
and
Candidates) DO NOT CRY, however many experience and are authorized
"sweaty
eyeballs" of which there were many in the crowd.
Next, Bob Usher read the roll of the
Brothers Killed in Action in Vietnam while each relative present or a
platoon
mate came forward and placed a stone on the edge of the plaque (in the
Jewish
tradition). It was
extremely moving
and produced more sweaty eyeballs.
The remainder of the group then placed stones around the
plaque. Next, Bob
Holt rededicated our plaque by
resurrecting and updating his wonderful comments from the 40th reunion
about an
American who went to Australia to avoid the Vietnam War and the Aussies
asked
him why he was not in Vietnam and proceeded to tell him "But They Are
Your
Mates". The
rededication was
followed by Paul Longgrear
offering the Benediction
and the playing of TAPS (even more sweaty eyeballs) by a Fort Benning bugler.
We
then boarded the buses and went down to the old OCS area and visited
our 52nd
building where we "existed' for 6 months.
The building is in deplorable condition
(scheduled for renovation or destruction in the near future), but most
of us
found our old rooms and the Company Commanders and TACs offices. The floors needed a good
"Spit
Shine" and LT Longgrear
looked for a room to run
his famous tornado through, but time and age beat him to it. The entire building looked
like a
tornado had hit it.
We
boarded the buses and proceeded to the OCS Dining Facility to eat and
talk with
current OCs. After
discussions with
the OCs, we unanimously determined that the future of our officer corps
is in
good hands.
Next
on the agenda was a trip to the National Infantry Museum (NIM) for a
special
OCS Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony honoring our own Hector E. Colon
(2nd Pltn) who was
awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (2nd
highest Award for Valor) for his heroic actions in Vietnam on 5 January
1968. Hector was
unable to be with
us due to a serious ongoing illness, but his son Michael was present to
represent his father and accept the certificate of induction. (See Attachment 1 below)
Following
Hector's Induction ceremony, we took a brief tour of the NIM (another
visit is
required to view the NIM in its entirety).
We then boarded the buses and returned to the hotel to
rest briefly and
change into dinner attire. Many
of
our brothers wore our military awards on our civilian suits and three
(Retired Colonels
Preston Funkhouser,
Rick White and
Paul Longgrear)
wore their Dress Blues with full regalia (very impressive).
After
a short "tea time", we again had the OCS Honor Guard post the colors
and Reverend Howard Renker
offered the
invocation. The
Officer's Club
provided us with the appropriately set "Missing man" table and Brian
Smith conducted the recitation and toast in remembrance of all those
fallen and
missing in action who could not be with us.
After welcoming all the brothers, wives
and guests (including LTC Andres and his staff), a delicious dinner
buffet was
served along with good conversation and more memories.
After dinner, Rick White introduced our
guest speaker, CPT (Ret) and Olympic Gold Medalist, Mel Pender. Mel talked about his life
growing up in
near poverty to achieving his dream to "be somebody".
He became an Army Officer (OCS 1966) a decorated
Vietnam veteran and won an Olympic Gold medal on the US 4 by 100 meter
relay
team.
After
Mr. Pender's presentation, Rick White presented a Certificate of
Appreciation
and a gift to Bob and Jean Usher for their part in keeping the 52nd OCS
Class
together and orchestrating the reunions.
After
the official festivities were over, we danced to 50's, 60's and 70's
music
provided by a DJ. It
was a very
long day and many returned to the hotel early with the rest not far
behind. Many of us
met in the
hospitality room to tell more war stories and listen to brother
Bob Holt play and sing some Country Music.
Wednesday
morning we had our farewell breakfast and a short business meeting. It was decided to have
another reunion
in 2020. A location
was proposed,
however a full vote of the entire company will be conducted in the near
future
to determine the location for sure.
As mentioned earlier, we believe this 50th reunion to be
the best
yet. The only thing
that could have
made it better would be for all of our living brothers to have attended. The hotel and staff were
exceptional. We
could not have
asked for better facilities or service.
We sincerely appreciate all
brothers and guests who attended and those who did not attend that
contributed
extra money toward the reunion expenses.
Finally, we wish to thank
the relatives of our brothers killed in action for attending the
reunion and
helping keep their memories alive.
Respectfully
submitted:
Bob
Usher
Howard
Renker
Bob
Usher
Brian Smith
Outgoing
Incoming
1SG
Treasurer
CO
CDR
CO
CDR
2017 REUNION ATTENDEES
Those
attending the 2017 Reunion of Infantry OCS Class
14-67 (52nd Company) were as follows (first time
reunion attendees
are noted in “blue”):
Attachment 2