President's Corner

Man in leather jacket standing beside a black motorcycle on a sunny street.

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

Well, another successful reunion is in the books. We didn’t have as many participants as I had hoped for, but it still was enjoyable and I believe all had a good time. Ron took the group to the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery and Conservation Education Center, then to the Museum at The College of the Ozarks and lunch at Bricktown Brewery. After that there was enough free time to explore Branson on their own.

There was a hotel representative who came on Wednesday evening to inform the membership of the history of Branson and what might be of interest for them to see or do. Then we had a local entertainer put on a show at the banquet. Along with jokes he did a comedy skit with him being Barney Fife and yours truly playing the straight man. That was fun and I found out that acting may not be my forte.

The association was able to hold down the cost by subsidizing some of the expenses. You can see the amount in the Reunion Dues, Fees, and Cost portion of this newsletter. I hope we can continue to do this; the Board of Directors will assess what was done and this will be addressed in a future newsletter.

As in the past, the auction was successful and helped support the reunion financially.

We’re heading back to Branson, MO and September 15, 16, 17, 2027 are the dates. We are also working with the hotel representative we had on perhaps using a different facility (hotel) that has a larger hospitality room because I am sure more folks will be attending next year!! We will let you know what we work out.

Make sure you read the minutes of the business meeting, because there is some important information in them about dues and other need to know items.

Hope to see you all at Brason, MO in 2027

Sincerely,

Rex Hurd

President

44th Engineers Battalion Association

r_and_d100@hotmail.com

When you have a chance check out Members Forum, there is a lot of folks wanting to make contact with old buddies and such. Take your time, there are a bunch, and they are listed from latest received to oldest.

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.