Hellcat News, (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 2-3, Ed. 1, October-November 2007 Page: 4 of 28
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Page 4
HELLCAT NEWS
Oct.-Nov. 2007
of the program, how it came about, where the different schools
were located and then asked each member to designate the college
that he was attending when the program was in the process of
standing down. (This is the method the Army utilizes when a unit
is no longer needed or has any useful designation.) This is the
identical plan that I and several other members agree on whereby
the association would be following the constitution and bylaws of
the association. This plan could be incorporated into the bylaws
and the constitution ready to be used at any time the majority of
the full association would decide to set it in motion. It would be
like a good insurance policy - you hope that you will have it if
needed.
At the ASTP luncheon I met a fellow Hellcat that agreed to
send me some copies of the unit that I was in at Las Cruces,
NM. Charlie, thanks for a super job, the information was real
interesting.
The decision to hold our annual Div/Arty meeting at the national
reunion turned out to be the right one. We had a right reasonable
turnout, considering the small size of our battery. Those attending
from our battery were Pete and Fran Higbie. Pete has been a big
help to me by reading the names of our departed members at the
memorial service on Friday morning. He reads then off like Tom
Brokaw and still maintains the serious dedication to our fallen
comrades. Pete presented to the association a beautiful plaque
commemorating the Holocaust and the Jewish prison camp the
12th liberated. Phil Minsky [Div/Arty] was mainly responsible
for making the plaque become a reality. I plan to gather some
more information on this and would welcome help from anyone.
Attending also was Len and Trudy Owen. Trudy brought
all kinds of goodies from Florida and a lot of that 'homemade'
candy and cookies, A nice surprise and pleasure to our group was
to have Corinne Strianese, wife of deceased battery member
Ed Strianese, and their daughter Nancy. I believe they enjoyed
the friendship and all of the laughing and noise with a 12th ADA
reunion hospitality room. We were glad to have them and hope
they are able to attend our next Div/Arty reunion.
We have discussed plans to hold a reunion in 2008. The firm
decision was made at one of our hospitality room sessions that we
attend the 62nd national reunion in Abilene, TX, next year. There
are many reasons that we made this decision. One is the hassle
and expense of getting there, second is that we have been there
before (the museum claims to have many new interests - that's fine
with us), we can live with a report on them (they normally have
many pages of news about the museum in the Hellcat News). As
one member put it - we have been there and done that!
Ramond Sacharski [Div/Arty] was front and center at the
reunion. Sach, as he is known to us, has been coming to the
reunion for many years. In fact Sach and his wife Jean, Betty and
I were the only members of Div/Arty that attended some of the
national reunions years ago. Sach's wife, Jean, sadly passed away
several years ago, however Sach has continued to faithfully attend
all of the reunions and we look forward to his presence for many
years to come.
At the association banquet at the Drawbridge Inn in Fort
Mitchell, KY our group expressed concern that the dinner was
about to be served and Sach was not present. A couple of us
had just started to send out a search party when he walked in all
dressed up ready to party! His excuse was that he had 'laid down
for a short nap,' however rest assured he made it in time for the
meal! Fran and Pete Higbie told me they had knocked hard on his
door but to no avail. Sach has been a great source of information
and pictures for the Div/Arty column and I sure appreciate that.
Herbert Luzader and Ginny [Div/Arty], mere words written
on paper fail to express our gratitude and appreciation to these two
wonderful people who work so very hard to make everyone happy
and pleased. They spend hours, days and yes, money to make
certain that our Div/Arty group had a relaxed, enjoyable time at
our reunions. Why, they even reserved a suite at the Drawbridge
Inn to enable our group a private place to meet. Ginny makes all
kinds of cookies and candy which she brings, and naturally we all
eat too much. They are too good to pass up. Thanks Ginny.
Herb and Ginny invited their three sons and their wives to
the Saturday night banquet: Kim and wife Christine; Keith and
wife Teresa and Kevin (Kevin's wife couldn't make it). Herb and
Ginny, I know you both are, and you should be, mighty proud of
such a fine group of young people, they added a lot to our bunch.
John Lies and Pat [Div/Arty]. They live and work in the
Cincinnati area. John is and has been a longtime veterinarian and
Pat also is very involved in the business (John calls her the boss).
They have an extensive operation with about 40 or 50 vets and
staff. We toured their operation when we were in Cincinnati at the
last reunion there and it was quite impressive. John and Pat have
seven children and five of them were able to attend the Saturday
night banquet. Son, Jim Lies, not married; son, Mike Lies, a vet,
and his friend, Barbara. They set next to Betty and I at the banquet,
we had an interesting conversation going talking about a lot of
subjects, we enjoyed them. Daughter Barb and husband Glen;
daughter, Jeanne; and daughter Sara and husband, John.
I personally was really proud of this group of young people,
perhaps just as much as Herb and Ginny, John and Pat. It is a
real tribute to the parents to have the kids think and respect them
enough to take time to come and share their father's and mother's
friends and their father's old Army outfit. They all came up to our
hospitality room after the banquet and then the real reunion turned
on and then we really pulled the rug out and some wild stories
were told! I wish we could have them at every reunion. How about
it, John and Pat, Herb and Ginny?
The consensus of our group was that we have had two great
reunions in a row: Ward McGill's bash up in Minneapolis and
Bob Hoeweler's clambake in Fort Mitchell, KY. They are two to
put in the record books.
I was very happy to see several members of the Div/Hq members
at the reunion: rep. Mary Anne Delker, daughter of Samuel
Tessler [C/17]. Mary Anne is helping Gene Curry [A/119] write
the HCN column, and with the hospitality room at the reunion in
Fort Mitchell, KY.
Mary Anne is now writing the HCN column and I must say that
she is doing a great job and Gene, you should be proud of her,
she jumped right in there with the old Reps and you would have
thought she had been there all along. Mary Anne told me that her
Dad and Mom could not travel to the reunion so she just packed
up her car and drove out. That's the spirit we like, Mary Anne.
Mary Anne lives in St. Peters, MO and I live about 90 miles west
on Interstate 70. That makes us "Show Me" state tax payers!
The 119 and Div/Arty and Div/Hq shared a hospitality room.
Due to the fact that John Lies [Div/Arty], one of our members,
lives right in Cincinnati, and Herb Luzader [Div/Arty] has a son
and his wife also living there, we spent our time doing things in
the area (which was a lot of fun). However we did not have much
time to spend in the hospitality room. Perhaps we can remedy that
in 2009 at the reunion in whatever city that may be.
Division Headquarters was represented at the reunion by Edythe
Nichols, widow of Earl Nichols [CCA], and Nicholas Kepf [MP],
and Billie Adams. We certainly welcome them and hope they all
had a very nice time. Perhaps they can return to another reunion
and bring many other members of the Headquarters Company and
the MP units.
This last Hellcat reunion, held in Fort Mitchell, KY, September
2007, will live in my memory for the rest of my life as the
reunion where all of the members of the 12th Armored Division
Association granted me the honor and privilege of receiving the
Most Distinguished Member award. None of the awards are given
lightly. The presentation of my Blue Ribbon award was by my long
and faithful friend, Paul Hempling Sr. [Div/Trns] (deceased), a
truly dedicated, extremely hard working member who put years of
time into the 12th ADA and loved every moment of it. The MR.
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Twelfth Armored Division Association (U.S.). Hellcat News, (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 2-3, Ed. 1, October-November 2007, newspaper, October 2007; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth410412/m1/4/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.