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 Reunion (currently 1 views) |
| Frenchie |
| Posted on: October 5th, 2015, 3:29pm |
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Maximum Member2 LIke to hear from anyone that was Co C 4/31
Posts: 407
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Guys, the reunion went VERY well. I should change that to -- it was EXCELLENT. The brotherhood is alive and well.
The hotel offered free shuttle service from the airport to the hotel....we got in from California very late due to the time difference primarily.....so we had to take a cab to the hotel....but we took the shuttle on the way out.
This was my second reunion and it is simply amazing how fast the time went.. The Hilton hotel is real nice......right on the water...The first thing we did was register and they gave us an envelope full of stuff which included our tickets, a 196th toy car....and a name tag.
In our case my name on the tag was my legal name....GILBERT MANASSELIAN......i looked at the girl, smiled and informed her that NO ONE at the Reunion would know that person and i would have to "pencil in" FRENCHIE...she said NO Problem we will make a new name tag for you...and presto in less than 30 seconds she had one....sure enough it worked!!! after we registered at the hotel etc we came down and STEVE TANNER saw FRENCHIE and came up to shake my hand....thank you Steve! it was great meeting you too. That scene was repeated a few times over the next few days. You should know that if money is an issue you do not need to do the tours...i guarantee you will not be bored.
There is a boardwalk and carnival rides available right by the hotel. The hotel is located at the waters edge....multiples restaurants and fast food places within a short distance and of course the hotel has several food places as well....very nice ones. Mike Ruane was there with his RTO Greg...what a great bunch of men!!! Our boss Gen Wetzell and Mrs Wetzell were there as well. Gen Wetzell is amazing. As far as i know he goes to all the reunions. I got in touch with him a few months ago and i was very happy to know he would attending the reunion....we successfully got the tables for the banquet for our groups in the same area...the banquet was excellent, the meal was very good.....the entertainment was great....there was a live band that played music from that era..CCR, The Animals (Eric Burdon)etc.
The hotel is HUGE. Our room was 120 steps from the elevator (Mrs Frenchie did the counting :).. so going or coming was a marathon...the room itself was plenty big......it had a balcony if you want to call it that.....sliding door but not much more...the balcony was about a foot wide.....right by the hospitality room there were plenty of 196TH souvenirs available. Most of the time I was in the Hospitality room. We had a good size room at our disposal and it got so packed they had to make ANOTHER one available....nice..Thank you Hilton Hotel. the only thing Mrs Frenchie (Sue) and i "did" was go to the Kennedy Space center. To put it simply it was a show and tell for the space program with displays of various space missiles and the space shuttle and Mars program. The rest of the time we were downstairs with the guys.
we checked the weather reports before leaving and it mentioned rain so we took our umbrellas and you guessed it....no umbrellas needed even tho there was talk of a hurricane....very few people were in the water...im told the hotel had TWO swimming pools...i kept my hearing aid enhanced ears listening for some southern accent and none was heard in Charlotte Airport or Daytona Beach...oh, something interesting....in the south the airports have many white rocking chairs available for the travelers.....cute...i am not a serious traveler but ive never seen terminals so far apart...Mrs Frenchie didnt want a LONG layover between flights sooooooo on a couple occasion we had to hurry due to distance between terminals ..even tho we had plenty of time (Hour)...we did learn at the end that they have electric shuttles INSIDE the airport for transportation...we used it at the end (yea, we are rookies traveling)...
Frenchie
Every Day is a great day!!! |
Frenchie - Gilbert E Manasselian
C 4/31 Feb 68 to Feb 69
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| stancan |
| Posted on: October 5th, 2015, 10:00pm |
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| Ditto on what Frenchie posted. Lyn and I drove in from Louisiana and encountered very little construction highway problems. The drive was a bit long, but we did enjoy it. The prize was seeing everyone after so long. Time was kind to us all. Hoping to see all once more and possibly more friends at the next reunion. Stan |
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Stan26Can |
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| Watchdog |
| Posted on: January 23rd, 2016, 12:03am |
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| I also want to commend the organizers. I was in 3/21 47 years ago, yet this was the first reunion I had ever attended. I'm kicking myself. I should have been going every time. I met so many guys from my old platoon, and it was so good! Don't stall, because I can guarantee that none of us will be getting any younger. I was on an emotional high for two months! |
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| Frenchie |
| Posted on: January 23rd, 2016, 12:37am |
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Maximum Member2 LIke to hear from anyone that was Co C 4/31
Posts: 407
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we had over 800 in attendance including guests...i have been to two reunions and they should be easily be MUCH bigger.....and yes we are not getting younger consider going to the next one in KY.
The reunion experience cannot be under estimated......and lets not forget the learning that goes on......that is something you cant help ....its a non stop chat fest....a couple of the guys from my platoon i had been in touch with bu t had not seen since 68 and it was awesome.... |
Frenchie - Gilbert E Manasselian
C 4/31 Feb 68 to Feb 69
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