Memo To: All The Late Season Snow Shovellers

Many thanks for the Holiday Greeting cards that were received during the Christmas Season.

NOTES FROM MEMBERS

Doc Protheroe says hello to all.  He gave Lester "Robbie" Robinson a call in December and reported that he sounded much improved compared to the time he spoke with him several months ago.  A year ago January he had a two week stay in the hospital and then two weeks of therapy.  At present he is slow getting around but much improved physically.

Doc also offered some data on the Parris Island platoon photos.  Many years ago countless recruit photos were destroyed in a fire on the island.  Although he did check several times to confirm dates that were missing he cannot at this time remember them.  So if anyone endeavors to get a platoon picture and they tell you that they don't have it, the fire probably took care of it.

Doc also mentioned that thanks to the good work of Robert Yanacek, Bill Semple's son and daughter were able to find a picture of their father's air crew which they had never seen before.  Will Semple, the son, followed the photo back to our Web Site and he had the thrill to find the squadron's history.

Bill Barber sends his Christmas Greetings to all.  All is going well with him and he sent along his e mail address which has been added to our list that appears in the newsletter.

Homer Anderson reports that all is well in the Anderson household and he sent greetings to the gang.

Frank Carthey sends his best wishes for a great '07!  They had a Marine Corps Birthday event in his area which was the first one they have had in many years.

They did have a decent turnout of 23 Marines but only two of World War II vintage.  Some of the attendees were active duty Marines (3), plus two fathers whose sons are fighting in Iraq.

The local Recruiters from a nearby town contributed a box of favors, including t-shirts, lanyard and traveling mugs all with the Marine Corps emblem.

The County Veteran's Service Officer gave them a list of 30 names of Marines that no one on the current committee knew about.  They will be invited to the affair next year.

Frank said that a good time was had by all and plans are to make sure that it develops into a yearly party.

Received a letter from Joel and Eric York who reported that they had made the move to Salt Lake City.  This move allows them to be closer to their two sons.  They are now living in a Senior Citizen complex which they enjoy.

After living in their home in Napa, CA for over 47 seven years they found that they had a lot of furniture plus miscellaneous household and gardening items that they had to dispose of.  This took some time and they were able to dispose of it by sale and outright gifts to neighbors.  Then they made their move.  They send their best regards to all.

Tom Honan sent a Happy New Year to all of the VMB 613'ers.  He reported that all is well with the Honan family.  He said that he was sorry that he was unable to attend the recent reunion but he hopes to make the next one.  Their oldest grandson got married and they had to attend the ceremonies.

John and Dotti Roberson send their regards to all.

Bob Longenberger sends greetings to all 613'ers.  Things have been going well with him especially since the weather has been in the 50/60 degree range, an early spring for a few weeks anyway.

Rose Marie has been having some medical problems which has caused a few hospital trips.  She is again starting to feel up beat so they hope that all that has been bothering her system has been medically overcome.

Received a call from Carmine Nasta who sends his best to all.  He called because he heard that we had some snow in my area and he wanted to know how much came down.  I gave him the varied depths in the neighborhood which averaged out to be about 31 inches.

He said that he had just returned from making a blood donation which he does on a scheduled basis on Staten Island.  He prefers that location rather than going mainland into the city, less confusion.

His area of Staten Island is presently in a heat wave which is really unusual for his area.  So unusual that wild turkeys have made it from the wilderness into civilization.  Not to be undone,  deer, raccoons and even black bears have made it into civilization all looking for food.

He reported that he saw some animals that he never saw before and was going to have check some animal books to endeavor to identify them.

From the wild animals we went on to 613 members whose names just came forth like a computer turned loose.  His memory was really outstanding as he recalled where they worked and then meeting a lot of them at the different reunions.

I received an e mail from my daughter in Rhode Island and she was perplexed about the early summer they were having, temperatures in the 70's, flowers blooming et al.  That reminded me of Doc Protheroe at the other end of the east coast in Florida and his past weather problems.

I called him to see how they were doing and if they anticipated any severe  weather problems this year.  He said that all was well with them and the weather bureau hadn't come out with any hurricane predictions for them to review.

Doc says hello and regards to all.

Foster Cummings sends his regards to all.  He contacted DC Clay after the reunion and found out he had returned home safe and sound.  DC did have some automotive problems on the way home.  He went to the correct dealership and they fixed the problem only to have it reoccur a few hundred miles later.  The second dealer determined that the first dealer didn't complete the repair properly which necessitated the second repair.  The second repair was completed properly and this dealer was going to bill the first dealership for improperly repairing, left a part out, in his haste to complete.

DC's family were happy to see him show up safe and sound after a short delay on the way home.

Foster has also heard from Joe McDonald and Rita and they are both moving about OK.  Rita has been able to get out which makes them extra happy.

Cliff Willis called and said regards to all.  His area of Iowa hasn't had any snow but a lot of severe cold weather.

In the last news letter we had some pictures of El Toro activities which brought memories to him.  His destination after we returned from Kwaj was El Toro where he spent three months on special assignments.

One of the assignments was at the Link Trainer facility where he had to monitor the activities of the students to make sure that they properly performed the assignments.  He did find some deviations and had to report them, but most of the students performed as required.

Heard from John Aymen who sends his regards to all.  He was recently released from the hospital again and is endeavoring to regain a full recovery.  At present he has trouble walking so things go slowly.  He is fighting an infection that doesn't want to go away.

Joe Yakawich says hello and regards to all.  He said he is still hanging in there and has been out walking the dog for some exercise.

He has deferred some of his winter ice fishing due to slipping and falling and injuring his shoulder which is another reason for walking the dog.

His art show is Billings, MT was a great success.  Visitors came from other states such as North Dakota and Wyoming to review his works of art.

He has been to two of his grandsons weddings in fact he had just returned from one when we talked.

New people who saw and liked his artwork, and requested that he paint certain pictures for them which he now does on a scheduled basis so as to maintain the required quality they are looking for.

He also finds time to work on his model airplanes.  He has finished fourteen and still has plans to continue on some new models that he hasn't made before.

The family is OK and doing well, but the weather isn't cooperating.  The temperature keeps falling and they have been warned that it will be 15- 20 degrees below zero the night of the day we spoke.  This means a higher gas bill he said.  Other than that every thing is fine.

Willie Roose send his best to all.  He sent me a picture of Waxie Prankard in full color and I will have to get it touched up for reproduction to all hands in the newsletter.

Willie says that he remains in touch with John Peterson as well as Waxie.  An opportunity to go back a few years on different events that they still remember.

Heard from Jim Packard who says hello and regards to all.  Jim remembered that I was looking for the name of a squadron member and he finally remembered it and sent it along.  The name of the squadron member was Horvath, a squadron Cook, who used to serve them special delicacies (at least when on the island) when  they were assigned to the last Duty Shift of the day.  Just like eating up town he said.

IN MEMORIAM

Condolences from squadron members:

To the family of James Lewis who died on Tuesday, December 12, 2006.  Jim had been recovering from surgery for several months and appeared to be making some headway in recovering but just couldn't hold on long enough to make the complete recovery.

To the family of Harlan Jason who died on Thursday January 4, 2007.  Harlan had suffered from different ailments during the last ten years, but he spent a very happy last year at the MN Veterans Home in Minneapolis where he passed away peacefully in his sleep.

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HEALTH REPORT

Received an update on Stan Richardson who continues in rehab due to his health problems.  He is continuing to hold his own and remains alert which means that he doing pretty good. 

Stan is still physically limited to how far he can walk and really has to watch it so that he can maintain his breath.