President's Corner

Hi everyone.

I wish instead of just writing this newsletter from home that I was writing it after returning from our reunion. Hopefully next year we can all get together and enjoy it without having to worry about becoming sick…of course this doesn’t eliminate those who stay in the hospitality room with me until 2 or 3 in the morning imbibing a wee bit (different kind of ailment), those will just have to soldier through it.

I hope everyone is staying safe and I know this has not been easy on many folks. Deborah and I have been doing just fine, but we haven’t been on any extended motorcycle trips as we would have liked this summer. Perhaps we will get in one this fall.

It was Deborah’s and my pleasure to have Tom and Karen Beukema visit us from Iowa this past August. We had a grand time talking about friends, family, and of course our times in the 44th. They asked for me to pass along their greetings and salutations to all and that they are looking forward to seeing everyone next September in St Charles.

This brings up a point that was suggested to me, especially for a year like this. We tried to make sure everyone has a membership list, so if you could, when you have the time, pick up the phone and call a Brother/Sister of the 44th and just see how they are doing. You don’t have to call everyone on the list or call them all in one day, just pick out a half dozen or so and give them a call. I think this gesture would do a lot in preserving a tight-knit association. You don’t have to know the fellow associate at the time of the call, but I will bet you will know them well, after the call.

Our plan is to have the reunion next year at the same location. Ron Powell is already working on the details for next year. Hope to see you all in St Charles, MO, September 15th – 17th, 2021.

There will be more information in the Newsletter section.

One of the big things we were going to discuss was proposed changes to the Constitution and By-Laws. I would like each of you to go take a look at the; CONSTITUTION OF THE 44TH ENGINEER BATTALION section under "MORE". There are some proposed changes to the constitution that have been indicated with an * (asterisk) and underlined, and we can make more proposed changes. This is very important to the future of the association and its well-being. So please give me your thoughts and/or ideas on it.

A reminder that we now have a Facebook page “44th Engineers Battalion Association” along with our Website “44th-engineers.com”. The Facebook page was established for our membership to stay in contact with each other and to easily share items of interest. Also hopefully it will guide others to our association so we may gain membership and lets all stay proactive in the membership drive. We have already received several requests to join the Facebook page and hopefully this will entice them to join the association. Please let’s all reach out to these new folks and welcome them. It is a closed site for us but is very easy to join. Our website use is to disseminate information to our membership more readily and to also give perspective members a point of contact and to provide material about us. Please use both of these freely and frequently they belong to you.

Sincerely,

Rex Hurd

President

44th Engineers Battalion Association

r_and_d100@hotmail.com

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.