President's Corner

Hi Everyone.

Deborah and I hope everyone is staying safe and we know this has not been easy on many folks. Like most everyone else we have been staying close to home and have been doing just fine even though we did have record low temperatures during the month of February. It reminded us of when we lived in South Dakota. Now don’t get us wrong, we love the state just not so much the winters there.

One thing I do want to bring to your attention is that two of our members had received an email allegedly from me requesting a discreet email response and of course no phone contact because “I am in a meeting”. Then this person requested the members buy 5 - $100.00 gift cards and before mailing send him/her a picture of them in a return email. His/hers intention was, by having a picture sent to them he/she would have the numbers without needing the actual card to cash them in. Fortunately for us and un-fortunately for this person we are/were military and we know how to verify orders…. and calls were immediately made and scam was averted.

It is my belief that this person got the email addresses from our Website to perpetrate this scam. It is important that fellow 44th Alumni and those wishing to legitimately contact the Association can and we as officers will remain available to them. Please understand no one from our Association will ever make any such request and all funds required for its function will be approved by the Officers and Board of Directors before being issued.

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 this year at the same location. Ron Powell is working on the details. Hope to see you all in St Charles, MO, September 15th – 17th, 2021. There will be more information in the News 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 on our webpage 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.

Feel free to explore our 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. It has guided others to be aware of our association so we may gain membership and lets all stay proactive in the membership drive. 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.