 |
"An Association Of Life Savers And Care Givers That Served In Post world War II Japan" |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
Sgt. Stanley Banyyas, HQ 141st Gen. Hosp.Camp Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan 1950
|
||||||||||
|
Reunions For 141st General Hospital BATON ROUGE, LA October 1993
On Thursday, 21 October 1993, the 8th meeting of the 141st General Hospital Association was convened at the Sheraton Hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Stawickis and their friends, Max and Marilyn Shoedel arrived early enough to spend Thursday afternoon seeing New Orleans. The rest of the Attendees arrived at the hotel at various times during the day from seventeen States. ABJ@ and Fritz Frey traveled the longest distance by car from Tucson, AZ, while Bruce Rathbun traveled the farthest from Stockton, CA.
During much of the day and long into Thursday night the Attendees visited in the >hospitality room= on the 4th floor catching up on the two years since our last meeting in Omaha. During this time Correna Horne passed out tiny pairs of pants to all who were there. It turned out that the Alittle pants@ were shoe carriers. On Friday morning most of the group met again in the >hospitality room= at 8:00 a.m. for a little breakfast to begin the day=s activities.
At about 8:40 the group boarded a bus provided by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff, Elmer Litchfield, and driven by Deputy Sheriff Carroll Landry. Our first stop on the tour was the Louisiana War Memorial and Nautical Historical Center. Behind the Memorial building we were given a tour of the USS KIDD, a light destroyer that saw action in the South Pacific during WWII, which was in anchorage in the Mississippi River. The tour was conducted by Mr. Al Weimers.
Our next stop was at the Governor=s Mansion. We were given a tour of the lower level of the Mansion by a very pretty young lady, Desiree Worsly. Our next stop was appropriately the State Capitol Building. The 34 story structure makes it the tallest State Capitol Building in the United States. Since our lunch was not scheduled until around 3:00 p.m. many took advantage of the cafeteria in the basement to get a little bit of nourishment.
From the State Capitol we made a bus tour of Southern University, an old plantation home, and Louisiana State University(LSU). We made our final stop at the Pennington Research Center where we were conducted through the facility in three groups by several very knowledgeable ladies.
At last we made it to Mulate=s Cajun Restaurant where we had Alunch.@ The menu gave three entrees which included a roast chicken breast. However, when we arrived we were told that the chicken was not available which left only fish dishes. Since Bruce does not eat fish (unless, as he put it, the fish is raw) he was served roast chicken breast.
Back at Suite 434 in the Sheraton a great deal of visiting with good friends and a little imbibing continued. The next day, Saturday, was open until the 7:30 p.m. banquet. A group in three cars (actually one car, and the Hamilton=s Towncar, and Amy McConnell=s motorhome) went to New Orleans for a visit to the French Quarter. Others looked around Baton Rouge while some just sort of relaxed around the pool. The banquet was held in the Davy Crockett Room and was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, singing of America the Beautiful and recitation of the 23rd Psalm. The group was then officially greeted by Evelyn Robinson for the Chief of Police of Baton Rouge where Evelyn works. We were then officially welcomed to the State of Louisiana with a reading of Governor Edwin W. Edwards= letter to the group by Erica Prelow Roberts, Special Assistant to the Governor=s Chief of Staff.
Our special Guest Speaker was Dr. Michael Moody, PhD, Professor of Seafood Processing Technology at LSU. Dr. Moody gave a very interesting talk and color slide presentation on the Seafood Industry of Louisiana followed by a comparison talk of the Army as it was during our days of Active Duty and as it is today. He then presented special seafood posters to those whose chairs had a special sticker on them.
For the final event of the evening Evelyn passed out gifts for the 1st person who registered at the hotel. That was Mel Roberts. A special award was presented to the Historian. Then gifts went to ABJ@ and Fritz Frey for having traveled farthest by car and to Bruce Rathbun for having traveled farthest overall. Awards were also presented to Phil Deffer, Boyce Horne, Chris Karamichael, Mel Roberts, Lester Bruns, Amy McConnell, Rosemary Mahoney, Ivy Welge and Bruce Rathbun. Correna Horne presented her special Host Plaque to the Robinsons and Millie Garrett.
Attendees at the 8th Reunion were:
Boyce ASarge@ & Correna Horne; General & AGabe@ Deffer; Ivy Welge; Lester & Doris Bruns; Eugene & Dorothy Stawicki; Max & Marilyn Schoedel (Who due to their many attendances have been given Associate Member status); Jesie & Fannie Forrest; Betty & Fritz Frey; William & Margaret Hamilton; Chris & Reiko Karamichael; Dale & Ruth Kasiska; Gene & Connie Knorr; Bruce Rathbun; Rudy & Ethel Rivera; Margaret & Starling Meahl; APat@ & Carolyn Paduano; Marvin & Kathleen Maher; Ron & Betty Pettit; Millie Garrett; Hilda Phelps; Melvin Roberts; Rosemarie Mahoney; Leroy & Evelyn Robinson; Glenn Hammett; Amy McConnell; Evelyn AMobile@ Berner; and Erma ASnowball@ Knox.
Nellie Ellers, who joined us in the three day event, was a guest of Erma Knox.
Also in attendance at the banquet dinner was Detrator Roberts, husband of the Governor=s Special Representati
|
| AUGUSTA, GA - Reunion 1997 October 1997
Something old! Something new! That=s the way it was when the 141st General Hospital Association met for its 10th Reunion at the Holiday Inn West in Augusta, Georgia. Five members came for the first time as a result of Kelly Brewer=s computer search campaign. Kelly and Dee Brewer were two of the five. Dee Brewer is the former Deralee Koob, a nurse in the Surgical Service of the 141st at Camp Hakata.
The other new attendees were David Rach and his companion, Verdie Guthrie, Evan Gibson and his wife Kaneko(Connie), and, Linnie Finley and his wife Edith. Dave was the Personnel Sergeant. Evan worked in the Laboratory Service. And, Linnie spent his time in Surgery. At least Linnie says he worked in Surgery. From the number of pictures he brought one might wonder where he spent his time.
Most of Thursday was spent getting checked in for those who arrived that day. A few actually showed up on Wednesday. After getting settled in there was a whole lot of visiting and, of course, reminiscing. For some it was getting caught up on what has been happening over the years after leaving the 141st. And, there was a whole lot to get caught up on.
On Friday morning after a nice breakfast in the hotel dining room the members boarded a bus driven by Henry Sims for a sightseeing tour around Augusta. Henry said he was an off duty police officer for the city of Augusta. He would be the second police officer to drive a sightseeing bus for us as the one in Baton Rouge was driven by a deputy sheriff. Our first stop was at the Augusta Tourist Bureau office which was in the Cotton Exchange building to pick up our tour guide, Ann McKnight. Ann guided Henry and the rest of us on a very interesting tour of several historical sites. The first stop on the tour was at a Catholic church built in the mid 19th century. Along the tour we passed by a cotton mill where denim was produced. Ann said that about 85% of it was used by the Levi Strauss company.
The tour ended when we dropped Ann off at the Cotton Exchange building. As we were all very hungry, we were looking forward to a nice lunch in some Afew minutes.@ A very long time later Henry finally found our destination at a restaurant on the outskirts of town. Which town we were not really sure about as it seemed we were on the road headed for Atlanta for a pretty good stretch. However, the restaurant was ready for us and in short order we had our dishes of great food sitting in front of us. There were three different varieties of the same dish; beef, pork or chicken. Only the chef knew the name of it but it was very tasty.
Somewhere around 3:00 p.m. we left the restaurant to return to the hotel for a period of recovery. At 6:30 p.m. we lined up a convoy to go to the home of our host and hostess, Chris and Reiko ASmoochy@ Karamichael for a Sukiyaki dinner. It was superb. For those of you who are not familiar with this traditional Japanese dish it takes many hours of preparing the meat and vegetables that go into it. Our hats off to Reiko and her friend, Asako, for a wonderful dinner. It was a very pleasant evening away from the confines of the hotel and in a lovely home. Around >elevenish= some expressed the desire to return to the hotel. We were at the mercy of Chris as there was no way any of us would be able to find our way out of his community, let alone to our hotel as somehow we forgot to blaze the trail on our way out. So we all loaded up and played >follow the leader= once more.
Saturday was more-or-less a Afree day@ as it usually is prior to our Saturday evening banquet. Some went shopping, some to church and others just sort of lounged around their rooms or the hospitality room. Around 7:00 p.m. we began to assemble in the Magnolia room for our banquet. Earlier in the day Chris had a survey of who wanted Aflounder@ or Prime Rib. All but Gene Knorr opted for the Prime Rib. The only beef Gene usually eats are hamburgers so he went for the fish right away. It turned out the Aflounder@ was a Salmon steak. Quite a few were somewhat disappointed but accepted the loss with an >Oh, well!=
A >DJ= was on hand to entertain us both during and after dinner. During dinner it was soft dinner music but after dinner he sang a number of songs appropriate for the age group. At one point Rosemary went up to give him a helping hand and sang a few numbers with him. A little later Ron Pettit joined him and Ron was so good the >DJ= left momentarily. Ron=s rendition of Danny Boy was especially enjoyed by all. After some persuasion and, perhaps, a little coercion, Bruce Rathbun took the mike and sang a couple of songs; the first in Spanish was Quiere me mucho. The group asked him to do one in Japanese so he sang Shina no yoru (China Night) which was popular at the time we were in Japan.
Besides our Host and Hostess the following attended this Reunion: Boyce ASarge@ and Correna Horne; Ron and Betty Pettit; Kelly and Dee Brewer; Fritz and Betty ABJ@ Frey; Howell and Bobbie Watson; Evan and Kaneko AConnie@ Gibson; Manuel AManny@ and Peggy Souza; William and Margaret Hamilton; Gene and Hisako AConnie@ Knorr; Bruce and Suzie Rathbun; Anna Schelper; Lester Bruns; Esther Cruz; Dave Rach and Verdie Guthrie; Starling Meahl; Leroy and Evelyn Robinson; Melvin Roberts and Rose Marie ARosemary@ Mahoney. Linnie Finley and his wife, Edith, had to leave Saturday morning for a prior commitment.
In addition were two sons of Starling Meahl and the late Margaret (Kelly) Meahl: Staff Sergeant Patrick Meahl (Active Duty USAF), and, Sergeant Terry Meahl (Active Duty U.S. Army) with his friend, Betsy Martin.
|
|
Reunion Branson, MO Reunion, 2003 October 2003
On 15 October, 2003 thirty-three members and their guests met for the Thirteenth semiannual meeting of the 141st General Hospital Association.
The meeting was held at the Honeysuckle Inn of Branson, MO, beginning on 15 October and ending on 19 October of year 2003. The first day was spent settling in and meeting in the Cardinal Room which was adjacent to the block of rooms set aside for the 141st members.
Thursday was pretty much a free day and many of the members went to a variety of shows of which there are a great many to choose from. One of the big attractions was at the Moon River Theater where Andy Williams and Glenn Campbell were performing together.
At 9:30 on Friday morning most of the group caravanned to the Veteran=s Memorial Museum. This museum contains memorabilia from WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. There were weapons, field surgical packs, uniforms of every kind and many, many pictures. Just about in the middle of the building was a sculpture of fifty soldiers mostly from WWII and Korea. Each sculpture was of a real person taken from a picture and represented all fifty States of the Union. The one from Kansas was of a very well known and highly decorated man; Robert Dole.
At 6:00 p.m. we again convoyed to the Shoji Tabuchi Theater where we witnessed a fantastic talent for the violin. What Shoji Tabuchi did with the violin probably cannot be done by any other person. The show was approximately two hours and forty-five minutes long with one intermission. The intermission was for the obvious reason since most of the audience were senior citizens but also an opportunity to make purchases in the shop and snack bar. After the intermission Mr. Tabuchi recognized the members of the 141st General Hospital as veterans of the Korean War. He then recognized all veterans.
Saturday night was banquet night as usual. Following the banquet and business meeting we were entertained by Ken ACatfish@ Woolston. I strongly emphasize that we were entertained because ACatfish@ is a very entertaining person. He is colorful and a talented musician with a full beard. He was dressed as he normally dresses when entertaining in various parts of Branson and Silver Dollar City. On his head was a floppy hat with the brim pinned to the crown with a catfish pin. His Ashirt@ was a longjohn top, loose blue jeans held up with suspenders and the left pant leg tucked into a stocking. He wore some kind of boots on his feet. You might think this person is similar to AGoober@ on the Andy Griffith Show. However, he has a degree in music from the University of Arkansas. Believe it or not, the man can play most musical instruments known to man. Two instruments are very old types. One was from Hungary and looks similar to a banjo but has only three strings. The other is a Japanese koto. He actually played AMy Darling Clementine@ on the koto. Since he cannot wear the picks used by koto players (they are too small for his fingers) he lets the finger nail on his right index finger to grow out so that he can pluck the strings. One other instrument he played was the Saw, a plain ols crosscut saw. Prior to ending the business meeting a surprise was forthcoming. Bill Welge, son of member, Ivy Welge, announced that he would host a meeting in Oklahoma City in 2005. See you then!
The following attended the meeting this year:
Billy Wayne and Helen Dixon Lester Bruns and his sister, Annie Jesie and Fanny Forrest with two daughters William and Margaret Hamilton Chris and Reiko Karamichael Amy McConnell with niece Henry L. Morrison Ron and Betty Pettit Julia B. Phillips Bruce M. Rathbun Melvin L. Roberts Kenneth Sackett and Diana Swanson Ivy Welge and son, Bill Leland and Dee Wheaton
Mel Roberts brought two couples with him.
|
