President's Corner

Hi fellow 44th brothers and sisters, Deborah and I hope this newsletter finds you all doing well.

Well another reunion has come and gone, and I think it was very successful. We all wish more members could attend and perhaps next year will be the year that we all show up. In this situation the more is very much the merrier. The committee did a great job, so a big thank you to Johnny Davis, Johnny Hicks, and Hal Ruff.

On our Thursday’s tour we went to the Polaris factory and show room. We had two fantastic tour guides that gave us a very complete visit. Then we had a great lunch and returned to the hotel for a presentation from a Red Cross volunteer representative, who was informative and fun. Friday we had our memorial and business meetings, followed by the banquet and return to hospitality room for auction and esprit de corps.

At the banquet reception three “Knights of the Broken Heart” awards were given out. In no particular order; Johnny Hicks whom not only served on the reunion committee for the last two years is our Chaplain and has dedicated a lot of his personal time to this position. Next we have Johnny Davis who has served as reunion chairman for the last two reunions anyone that has ever hosted an event like this knows the challenges that come with it, and has put up with untold number of phone calls from me. Last but not least Hal Ruff received a Knights award for his dedication to making the last two reunions a success by being on the committee and doing a lot of leg work making sure members were comfortable and taken care of, this is a job that should not be undervalued and is sometimes taken for granted but is almost the first thing you see at a reunion. Congratulations to these three colleagues and a big thank you from the association.

Now an important note on the “Knights of the Broken Heart” award; these were the last three of the original awards we had in our possession. If anyone knows where these awards were made please let us know, otherwise we will have to come up with a new design for future recipients.

One point of great fun at the reunion for me is the auction. Members brought some really nice and unique items to offer, and it was enjoyable to be allowed to act as auctioneer and coax money out of their pockets. I think this is going to be a staple at the reunions for a while. So when you come to the reunion bring an item(s) to donate for the sale and cash to purchase other things to bring home with you...what better cause than to support our association. I would like to thank Deborah (my wife) for clerking the auction, with me auctioneering, this is not an easy job.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the spouses for doing most of the set-up, take-down, and heavy lifting. What a great job! This allowed members like me an opportunity to sit and watch and of course visit with other observing associates.

It was decided that we will go to Fort Leonard Wood, MO next year; the dates are September 10th, 11th, and 12th, 2025. Of course there has been no arrangements made as of yet so stay tuned for upcoming details. One of the big reasons Fort Leonard Wood was selected was due to the fact that the association has several members that live in this region and with the passing of time it is hard for some of them who used to attend reunions regularly to continue to do so. I know this statement about getting harder and harder to attend applies to many of us, but this was a bow to the number of members in the area that were very active in the association. So let’s all, or as many as possibly can, come next year and have a great fellowship with some incredible brothers and sisters.

At the business meeting (you will find minutes in this newsletter) a very good thing came up to assist a member that may have financial issues and need assistance to attend reunion. Please read all of the minutes carefully but do pay attention to this part.

Hope to see you all at Fort Leonard Wood, MO.

Sincerely,

Rex Hurd

President

44th Engineers Battalion Association

r_and_d100@hotmail.com

Welcome to visitors below.

Welcome to Visitors from the Association's President

I hope you will find this website entertaining as well as informative. Make sure you view all the pages and hopefully you will find something to appreciate.

A special note to those who are alumni of the 44th but are not members of the association. I understand that many of you were attached to the 2nd Infantry Division and I understand your connection to that unit. What you may not know is that the 44th has a rich and glorious history that is second to none and you can be proud to have served with it regardless of when that was. The Korean War veterans that started this association wanted to preserve the traditions, and with the more recent history of the deployment to Iraq has just added to this storied past. What the 44th did in Iraq was arguably no less valiant than when it landed in Inchon with Gen. Douglas MacArthur and its involvement at the Chosin Reservoir. Please understand that the landing in Inchon & the Chosin Reservoir is as much part of our shared history as what was done in Iraq and it is up to us, those that served with the 44th to keep the memories of it alive and to pass them on to the future generations for as long as we can. You can read more on our History page within this website.

A personal note: I was too young to have served with the 44th during the Korean War and too old to have been deployed to Iraq, but as an alumni of the 44th I feel that the soldiers that were there in these campaigns (and others) were my brothers. I feel this way about all that have served with it regardless of when or where. For the 44th always did what it was ordered to do and did it with its own distinctive style.