E-News – September 2015

Our recent eBlast highlighted the superb rededication of the 11th Cavalry Memorial at Fort Benning, Georgia. The 11th Armored Cavalry’s Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia held their annual reunion in Columbus in conjunction with the ceremony – their attendance of 1,265 was the largest veterans gathering ever in Columbus or Fort Benning.

At this link is a great video of the ceremony: opens in a new windowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRbBtpaXTx0

As a reminder, pictures of the ceremony can be found at: opens in a new windowwww.Blackhorse.org

We invite everyone to go see the memorial at Fort Benning, and we believe you will be very proud of the final product. Our memorial has the names of all Blackhorse troopers who died in combat while in service to our regiment. It also has nearly 1600 granite pavers donated by hundreds of contributors who helped create it.

A Superb Resource on the History of the Vietnam War

The following note was provided by former Eaglehorse Trooper, Steve Edwards:

I am a former Eaglehorse trooper who was stationed in Bad Kissingen and Wildflicken from 90-92. This month after completion of an internship I will receive my Masters in Library Science with a specialization in Archives and Records Management from Indiana University. I am completing my internship at the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University. I chose this internship because of the time I have spent on their website researching the Vietnam Conflict/War and learning about the sacrifices made during this period of our nations history…. I have been at the Vietnam Center and Archive for two months now and I am not disappointed. The staff here at the archive are dedicated to preserving the history of Vietnam. One part that I am impressed with here is they want to preserve the soldier’s side of the story. It is their goal to put as many collections and as much information online as possible.

By doing so it allows people to be able to research the collections without the time and expense of having to travel to the repository. While I am processing a collection that is unrelated to the Blackhorse Regiment I still find time to browse through the repository. I like finding material about the Blackhorse Regiment because the way I see it they set the standard for my generation of soldiers. While in Germany our Senior NCO’s were Vietnam Veterans and they trained us to that same high standard.

There are two display cases in the hallway before you walk in. One is titled “The Archive of the Vietnam Conflict” and the other is ” A Living Memorial”. In the first display there is a photograph of a Blackhorse soldier that is looking away. Some may say it’s only a photograph but my interpretation is this photograph is a story in its self.

Contact information for the archive is provided below for those

interested in following up.

The Vietnam Center and Archive opens in a new windowhttp://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/

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A Student’s Report of a Visit to Fulda

This year we had a last-minute opportunity to send a student to Fulda at the invitation of The German American Wives Club. Chandler Hallmark (daughter of Greg Hallmark, our website manager) was selected and sent the following note about her experience.

“I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news” -John Muir

This quote from Muir speaks to me in ways that only some people understand. My biggest fear in life is getting stuck in a bubble. A bubble filled with a mundane tasks and habits. This bubble would never make me feel at all uncomfortable in my life which is an important aspect in growing. When I travel to a foreign land all I can think of is how I am going to be able to see and do everything I can in the amount of time I am there for. It seems as though I never have enough time to do what I want in new places. Yes, I am not able to achieve everything I want during my travels, but that keeps the bug alive in me- the travel bug.

After a normal night closing the restaurant I work at to make some extra spending money I received a phone call from my father. He excitedly told me I had received a scholarship to Fulda University of Applied Science through the Blackhorse Association. After screaming and doing my happy dance, I had the thought where: is Fulda? Yes, I had traveled to Europe before but this tiny town nestled in between Frankfurt and Leipzig, Germany had never crossed my radar, other than hearing about it from my Dad, a Blackhorse veteran of the Cold War Era who was stationed nearby in Bad Kissingen. Nevertheless, I am not one to turn down an opportunity to study abroad in Germany for a month.

After flying into Frankfurt and having just slight knowledge of how public transportation works and no German speaking abilities I was pretty much winging it to get to Fulda on my first solo abroad trip. No one to tell me where to go and which train ticket to purchase. After an hour train ride to what I was hoping to be Fulda, I had arrived!

Once I received all the information from the school and a nice goodie bag I was told I would be living with three guys… But I am a girl I thought. Is that normal here? There was a slight mistake in the rooming situation and they thought because my name was Chandler I was a boy. Little did they know. I had accepted another challenge. The boys, of course, turned out more than hospitable. Everything worked out in the end.

The tutors at the university at Fulda keep the students busy from early hours in the morning that leak into the next day sometimes. This is the way I like to travel, as I stated before. I want to see as much as possible. In addition to the German language course and Seminar course, of your choosing, you also get to sign up for weekly Salsa classes, canoeing, cooking and weekend trips. I automatically signed up for as much as possible! I told myself I would do everything I could while I was abroad. From cooking traditional German dinners every Monday to canoeing down a lazy river, I had a blast! Even the seminar and German classes were fun! Our teachers loved to mix it up a bit and would sometimes have our classes in their favorite cafes or even go to the local blueberry field and wander through the vines all day. Life is great in Fulda and the last thing I want to do is leave. Because of the Blackhorse Association I was able to see a town which I had only heard about from my Dad. I couldn’t be more grateful towards Hochschule Fulda, the German-American Women’s Club, or the Blackhorse Association.

Below are two pictures of Chandler in Germany

1100 – ???
Slidehill Park
2850 Temple Drive
Davis, CA. 95618

Everyone is welcome to join us for a casual picnic in the park. Bring something to BBQ, something to share (salad, dessert, or munchies) and your beverage of choice.

Directions:

I-80 to Davis. Take the Mace Blvd exit. Go North, around bend (Mace becomes Covell Blvd) Turn Left on Monarch Ln. Take1st right onto Temple. Park is one block ahead on left.

——-OR——–

I-5 to Woodland, exit at Road 102 to Davis. Proceed South to Davis, approx. 8 miles. Turn left at the 1st major intersection – Covell Blvd. Go about 1 mile to Monarch Blvd, turn right, go 1 block. Turn right on Temple. Park is 1 block ahead on left.

RSVP: Ron Krueger: 530-758-0351/cell 530-304-4249 ronkrue@nullhotmail.com

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This gathering will be held on Saturday, October 17th in Jacksonville, Florida. Arrangements have been made with the Seahorse Oceanfront Inn to provide discounted rooms rates for the event. These rates will be honored through September 1st. When calling to make reservations, just tell them you are attending the 11th Cavalry Reunion. They can be reached at 120 Atlantic Blvd, Neptune Beach, FL 32266 or (904) 246 – 2175 or seahorseresort@nullyahoo.com Better hurry, they are filling up fast.

We have also been able to secure a tour of the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Blount Island which is located in Jacksonville, Florida. This tour will start at 0900 Saturday morning, October 17th, and should last until 1200hours. We will be given a bus tour of the base and they will have several pieces of heavy equipment for us to climb in and on and relive our glory days. They have promised at least one tank!! Space is limited to the first thirty (30) individuals to sign up due to access restrictions on the base.

The main event will be a supper held at the German Schnitzel Haus which is located at 13475 Atlantic Blvd, Jacksonville, Florida, 32225, (904) 221 – 9700. A special menu of German dishes is being prepared for our event for us to choose from. They are also providing an “oompah band” and an outside “BierGarten” or “Octoberfest” type of area under a tent for us. Yes, they will probably have bier for us too.

Please plan to join us if you’re able. Thanks – Steve Jones (Jonesy)

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Jim Bennett at 210-275-2028 or email devine78016@nullyahoo.com, or Bob Akam at 520-678-1106 or email akambob@nullaol.com___________________________________________________

The following note was sent to us by D. J. Nader:

I was on border patrol when they opened the East-West German border. I was with 1st platoon, Killer Troop, 3/11th ACR. I went to the 25 year ceremony, and was the only one there that I know of, that was on border patrol when they opened it.

So after some radio and TV interviews, one TV station decided to follow me for the day, and do a special.. wanted to share it with you, and I hope I did my Blackhorse brothers proud…

Allons! Sniper out.
D.J. Nader

D. J. Nader, then and now!

See the interview at the following link: opens in a new windowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FXtKusNACg&feature=youtu.be

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I just returned from a wonderful week in Columbus and Fort Benning, GA. The Armored Cavalry’s Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia celebrated their 30th annual reunion with 1,265 attendees – another great time for those of us who served in Vietnam.

The main highlight was the dedication of our newly constructed memorial (see the pictures and story elsewhere in this eblast). Thanks to hundreds of you who bought pavers or made other donations, our new memorial is a reality and it is something we will be proud of for generations to come. I urge everyone to go see it in person sometime.

We also had the opportunity to watch a graduation ceremony of new tankers – 120 or so of America’s finest new soldiers passed in review. The graduation speaker was, appropriately, a Blackhorse veteran who served in Iraq, CSM (ret) Sam Rhodes. Without notes he fired up the crowd and challenged the new OSUT graduates. As always, he had on a Blackhorse hat!! Sam has been on Bob Hurt’s scholarship evaluation committee for a couple of years, but he has been very busy doing other important things – (1) his “day/full time” job is as Senior Advisor to the CG, of the Maneuver Center of Excellence, (2) but each evening and weekend he is doing something on his 21-acre ranch to support veterans. His Warrior Outreach project continues to grow. Sam invited me to his ranch just north of Columbus where I saw firsthand his “center” and pavilion and new stables for 8 horses (with another 6 nearby) with all the riding trails and equipment he uses to teach horsemanship to veterans and families. He puts on shows with live music groups at no cost to the attendees. He receives donated goods from dozens of local retailers (like Home Depot) and ordinary people. He and his volunteer teams fix up homes of veterans who are unable to do the work themselves – last year 17 homes, with plans to do 36 this year. Go to his website at ( opens in a new windowwww.warrioroutreach.org) to get a better idea of all the things he does – and you will always find him wearing one of his Blackhorse hats.