The Boxcar

I78th ASHC Newsletter Volume XXVII, Autumn 1998

The Eighth BOXCAR REUNION convened in Dothan, Alabama on 30-31 July and 1 August, 1998. Including Veterans of the 178th ASHC and 400th TC, Associates, Veteran Guests, and one post-reunion visit, forty-five men took part; plus many supportive wives significant others, children, adult children, and grandchildren. The Comfort Inn in Dothan, and our hosts at Fort Rucker made us all feel welcome. We spent the entire day Friday, 31 July, touring Fort Rucker, hosted by our very capable guide, Specialist Patricia Douglas, a Birmingham, Alabama native who is about to return to civilian life. We saw the latest improvements in night vision goggles, ballistic helmets, sound-attenuating headsets, body armor, high-G pilots' seats; got seat-time in simulators for OH-58 Kiowas, UH-1 Hueys, UH-60 Blackhawks, CH-47D Chinooks, and AH-64 Apaches; inspected close-up on the ramp a D-model Chinook and an Apache; and took a group picture under the street sign of our namesake -Boxcar Street- at Rucker.

The Annual Boxcar Association Meeting was called-to-order at 20:00 on 31 July by President Bell Sly. There were introductions all around, followed by a Moment of Silence for our KIA's. Major points of discussion were:

1. Maintaining a working budget (pass the hat at reunions, and appeal for contributions in each Newsletter .... no membership fees)
2. Election of Officers for 1998-1999
3. Choice of a Reunion site for 1999.

Elected Officers for 1998-1999 are: President Al Stratton, Vice President Dennis Pullen, Treasurer John LeCates, Secretary-Newsletter Editor Dean Nelson. After much discussion we settled on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Reunion 1999, with Co-Site Coordinators Eddie Monroe and Josh Logan. Don Reck (Enterprise, Alabama) made an appeal for Association Members to send him pop-top tabs from cans, which will go for charity to aid kidney dialysis patients in Greenville, South Carolina; write or call Major Reck for details. Tentative site for 2000 Reunion was left open, except for the likelihood of a Central or Western location.

Newest update of our Association Roster now includes 212 current addresses of 178th and 400th Veterans, and twenty-four other addresses of Associates, Friends, and Veteran Organizations. Reunion Participants in 1998 included:

Roy Austin 67-68
Jim Bennett 66-67
Joe Boylan 65-67
William Brock 73-74 (at Sill)
Larry Busbee 67-68
Gene Childress Jr. (9Th Inf)
Tom Chism 69-70
Conrad Davis 67-68
Chuck Dinges 67-68
Gary Driskell 66-67
Bill Elliott 65-67
Elton Gordon 65-67
Bill Gault 66-67
Joe Hawkins 65-67
Jim Huff (1st Inf)
Lynn Johnson 69-70
Ron Johnson 68-69
Jack Knotts 65-66
Don Kroger 65-66
John LeCates 68-69
Josh Logan 65-67
George Miller (147th)
Eddie Monroe 65-67
Andy Moore 65-67
Dean Nelson 66-67
Steve Niedbala 65-67
Jim Page 68-69
Clinton Poston 69-70
Dennis Pullen 65-67
Bob Quearry 65-67
Don Reck 66-67
Eric Reid 69-70
Dennis Rogers 67-68
Dennis Rowe 66-67
Joseph Rutkowski 67-68
Mark Seeley (son of John Seeley)
Dan Shoplock 68
Kenneth Sines 69-70
Bob Siravo 66-67
Bill Sly 67-68
Lee Smith (Boeing Rep)
Mickey Stanley 67-68
Al Stratton 66-67
Joe Sturdevant 67-68
Tom Tocco 65-67

Lt. Col. Rutkowski and Major Sines are former Boxcar Sixes, and Major Moroe was 400th CO.

As has become normal for us, pilots, crew, maintenance and suport personnel were all well represented.

Dean Nelson - Secretary