President's Corner

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

With the holidays behind us it is time to look to the New Year and to get ready for our next reunion this coming September 10th with check out date of the 13th. There had been a couple of things we as an association decided to try to make the reunions more affordable to membership. We will decide at the business meeting if we want to do it again for the next gathering in 2026.

First; there will be no organized tour on Thursday, but we will have pamphlets and brochures with suggestions on what to see in the area. Perhaps organize your own group to go site seeing. Fort Leonard Wood is open for visitors as long as you have a Real ID or a Veterans ID. This eliminates the need to set up transportation for the outing and to collect the fee covering certain venues. Instead the hospitality room will be open and stocked with refreshments and perhaps we will look into having a guest speaker or some other entertainment for us that day. We will let you know.

Second; with there being no organized tour Thursday, a member may decide to check into the hotel that day (Thursday) instead of the usual Wednesday, this would save one night’s hotel rate. Now don’t let this discourage you from coming in on Wednesday if you like, Deborah and I will be there to greet you and help to get the festivities going. You wouldn’t want to miss that!

Third; Friday will be our usual memorial and business meeting day, with the banquet to follow that night. Not sure when we will hold our auction but rest assured we will have one….I have had a blast auctioneering (if you can call it that) the last few reunions, so start thinking on what you might want to contribute to the sale. Remember all proceeds stay with the 44thAssociation. Now you folks that cannot go to the reunion if you wish to donate items to be auctioned off, please feel free to do so. The suggestion is to keep item(s) under $50.00 but that is up to you. Just understand some items may bring less than the purchase price, that is how auctions go, and it is for a good cause (us). You can send items to me or any member going….just make sure they are going before you send your items to them.

It was decided by association that if a member has financial issues and cannot attend reunion because of it, that on a case by case basis this situation can be brought to the Board of Directors for consideration on how to assist the member. This was mainly directed at assistance with the reunion fees. It will be encouraged that a member who receives such assistance, when possible, reimburse the association. Reunion fees will be shared equally among all attendees. The more that come the more the expenses can be shared.

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.