Winter - 70th Infantry Division Association

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St. Louis: 1994 Reunion will be under the Arch Alex Johnson, H/274, of Arlington Heights, Illinois, who took over the presidency in July, 1991, when Neal Gibbs died, began the twoyear term to which he was elected in Las Vegas. He re-appointed Edmund Arnold, 70 HQ, of Richmond, Virginia, as editor of the "Trailblazer" and he remains an ex officio member of the Executive Board, the longest in service in that body. He has served lO years. Johnson also reappointed two men who had served together in C/275 during combat and then went on to study for the ministry. The Rev. Don Docken, of St. Paul, Minnesota, continues as Chaplain and the Rev. Harry Durkee, of Hollywood, California, as Assistant Chaplain. Marshall will head the Long-Range Planning Committee which Thirion had lead the past two years. New plan adopted for Reunion site Then came several major actions by the assembly: 1. Reunion site. In the past, the assembly voted on the state in which the following Reunion would be held and instructed the Time and Place Committee to search for the most advantageous city in that state. This time the committee, chaired by Floyd Freeman, 1/275, recommended both the state and the city for 1994- in fact, the hotel itself. The assembly ratified it by a whooping voice vote. St. Louis, Missouri! The Clarion Hotel, at the south foot of the famous Arch. Now being completely renovated, by September, 1994, it will be virtually brand-new and with the brand-new name of Riverview Plaza. Fort Leonard Wood chosen for monument 2. The monument. Theodore Mataxis, HQ 2nd Bn/276, gave a report on the committee that studied the possibility of a monument to the Division 's wartime achievements. The topic had first been raised by an article in the "Trailblazer" magazine in the Spring, 1990, issue. The question was tabled at the Las Vegas Reunion in '90. A committee, headed by Mataxis, was appointed there and has been studying possible sites since then. For several months it had seemed that Spicheren Heights, in France, was the favored spot. Mataxis had worked with the United States Battlefield Monuments Commission and had found a possible site in an area owned by the French war veterans association which would make a place available. Paul Thirion had studied the Camp Adair 4 area, where the Division was activated in 1943, and Portland, Oregon. Or ville Ellis had looked at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Because there were so many options, a written ballot had been prepared. First: Should the Association erect a monument? Second: Where should it be? Third: How should it be financed? Counting took long because of the many options and results could not be announced until Friday afternoon. The voting produced a surprise! It was not surprising that the Association chose, 384 to 40, to erect a monument. Nor, by roughly the same margin, the vote to pay for the monument from the Association treasury. Should some unexpected financial situation arise, contributions will be sought from members. The surprise: By a much slimmer margin, Fort Leonard Wood was chosen as the site. The second home of the Division, in the summer and early fall of 1944, received 160 votes. Spicheren, on the hills above Saarbrucken, got 148. Camp Adair got 40 and 56 ballots were spoiled, most of them because every box was checked. Plaque in Oregon voted by cheers 3. Commemorative plaques Before the results could be known, the assembly voted two other memorials. In case the monument would not be located at Adair or Wood, a plaque would be erected at each site. The result now, of course, is that a plaque will be mounted somewhere in the Adair/Corvallis area. The Benton County Historical museum at Philomath, Oregon, which has an excellent display on the Camp and the 70th Division, has been proposed. The cost is estimated at no more than $1,500. A committee is to be appointed to determined specifics. Who dat?! When you send in any written information or photographs, be sure your name, address and date are clearly written on them. There is a quantity of unidentified material, or that with illegible handwriting, on the editor's desk that just can't be used- or returned to the sender. Be especially sure that your own name is written clearly. We all tend to scrawl when it comes to autographs. Another History to be published 4. History Book No. 2. At the Las Vegas Reunion, the meeting had tabled a decision on whether to publish a second History Book. Also by written ballot, the assembly voted to allot $33,000 for the book which will be given to each member. Details of the book-which will actually be written by members and edited by Edmund Arnold-are given elsewhere in this magazine. Changes voted for Constitution 5. Reunion selection changes. Arnold presented a package of amendments to Constitution and by-laws. The first was a revision of the method of selecting a Reunion site. In effect, it specifies what the meeting had already done in selecting St. Louis for the next Reunion. In the future the Time and Place Committee will work four years in advance. It will recommend the place for ratification by the assembly. That means that at the St. Louis Reunion, in 1994, the sites for the 1996 Reunion, east of the Mississippi River, and the 1998, west of that stream, will be chosen. The new process is required because only a few hotels can handle a group as large as ours under one roof and at a reasonable price. Hotels like that are booked far in advance. So the generous lead time is a necessity. The search committee is instructed to ask for recommendations from members-at-large and to consult with the Executive Board. 6. Constitutional changes. Several amendments and by-laws that had been printed in the Spring, 1992, "Trailblazer", were presented as a single proposition. Most important was defining succession to the presidency in case of death or resignation. When Neal Gibbs became the first president to die in office, it was found that the provisions for replacement were not clearly defined. The new provision also designates a successor in case a president-elect who has taken over the presidency should vacate the office. Then the vice-president from the same geographic area-eastor west of the Mississippi -will fill the vacancy. It is to provide continuity of leadership that the vice-president who assumes the presidency be from the same side of the Mississippi as the man he succeeds. Customarily the president has consultative meetings in his area, with other officers and committee chairmen who live within a reasonable travel distance. 70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER
NEW FACES, OLD FACES- Three new officers took their place on the Executive Board following their election at Louisville. They are George Marshall, Vice-President/West, top left, and Byron McNeely, VP/East. at his right. President-Elect Dale Bowlin is seated at the center. Re-elected are Calvin Jones, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, (standing, second from right) and Louis Hoger, Secretary-Treasurer, at his side. Alex Johnson, (seated, left) assumed the President's post to which he had been elected at Las Vegas. Ex officio member is Edmund Arnold, (seated right), re-appointed editor of the "Trailblazer". Several of the new provisions are simply clarifying previous practices. Three types of memberships are defined. The Executive Committee is empowered to name women as Honorary Members as well as men who did not serve with the 70th Division. It also clarifies that members of the 70th Training Division are eligible for and welcomed to Associate Membership. Members may vote with mail ballots 6. Voting by mail. Most important in broadening the base of Association decision making are procedures to conduct voting by mail. It was pointed out that only a third of the members attend any given Reunion and it is there that all major decisions have been made. By the new procedures, all members can have a vote on important issues. A separate provision -also approved resoundingly- allows for 25 members to propose an initiative for a mail ballot so important matters may be presented to the whole membership between Reunions. This provision means that important decisions need not be postponed as much as two years until the next Reunion. To be a valid election, mailed-in ballots must number at least 10% ofthe active membership at the time. Winter, 1993 7. Dissolution rejection. Two proposed by-laws in the package were rejected by the assembly. They addressed the dissolution of the Association of property at such a time. The Constitution is printed in full elsewhere in this magazine. As usual, the men gathered for the group picture immediately after meeting adjourned. As usual, SNAFU was the descriptive term. The site was The Belvedere, the handsome park and promenade overlooking the Ohio. Chester Garstki, the 70th's official phographer and associate editor of the "Trailblazer", along with the president and the editor, had scouted the territory the day before and decided where the 600-some men could be best pictured. But the meeting ran late and by the time the gang had assembled the area was sharply divided into deep shadow and blinding sunshine. So the planned arrangement wouldn't work. The group had to be shot in two separate photos. The corrective movement was not one of the most brilliantly executed military maneuvers in history! 70th color guard performs smartly The color guard of the "new" 70th made one of its several appearances at the men's luncheon Friday noon. They presented the colors smartly, in a precision best appreciated by Infantrymen who had spent many hours in close-order drill. And it emphasized that it is patriotism and military duty that tie together this "band of brothers", the Trailblazers Association. Pocock reports on 70th Training's part in Desert Stonn BrigadierGeneral James Pocock, commander of the 70th, was the luncheon speaker. The general began by recalling the military history of Louisville. It was a starting point for the Lewis and Clark Expedition 139 years ago and the original Galt House site was headquarters for the Union forces during the Civil War. Louisville now is HQ for the lOOth Infantry Division. "The Reserves have played an important part in national defense since they were organized in 1900." The 70th Division (Training) did its job well and contributed to the great success of Desert Storm." When preparations began for the desert war, Trailblazers were sent to Fort Benning, Georgia. There their assignment was to prepare Infantry units for front-line duty. Half of the 70th's personnel, 824 of them, are drill sergeants. (As a mark of that unique position, they wear the Smokey-the-bear brimmed campaign hats.) He told the "old" Trailblazers that the men who now wear the axe-head shoulder patch do 5
Page 2 and 3: Louisville: Kaleidoscope of Reunion
Page 6 and 7: HAIL TO BOTH- Gen. James Pocock, co
Page 8 and 9: OUTSTANDING TRAILBLAZERS - The high
Page 10 and 11: D \71510 ~ssn.., lot.it S\Jl LL
Page 12 and 13: Constitution and By-laws ARTICLE I.
Page 14 and 15: ALLMAN, Gerald C. C/276 *** AMERINE
Page 16 and 17: THE HOMILY He ought to be sitting r
Page 18 and 19: The Editor's Barracks Bag Every Tra
Page 20 and 21: * 5th Annual Western States Mini Re
Page 22 and 23: New Members AMUNDSON, Vernon Box 26
Page 24: The flags have been furled, the ban

Winter - 70th Infantry Division Association

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