Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 40, No. 7, Ed. 1, April 1987 Page: 3 of 34
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^ "I
April 1987
HELLCAT NEWS
Page 3
17th AIB group in attendance at the 1986 in Emporia,
Kansas. L to R (front) Lola Funke; Vi Ruma; Ailene and
(the late) Harold Durst, (rear) Bill Funke; George Hatt;
Jacque Hatt; Charlie Ruma; and Ruth and Ken Bradstreet.
son in Arizona. Then to Texas
again. Love it there. Our retire-
ment present was a week in
Aruba on the beach. Swam
every day and soaked up the
sunshine. In November, went
to Myrtle Beach, S. C., staying
on the ocean. Arrived home
Dec. 5th to get ready for some
of the family to come home for
Christmas. Best part of '86 for
us was becoming grand parents
for the first time. Our precious
grand-daughter has enriched
our lives. We are lucky that our
youngest daughter, her hus-
band and baby live only 45
minutes drive from us so we
see them often. We have a
small boat we use almost every
day all summer for swimming,
fishing, clamming and to take
us to the ocean. We have been
blessed with good health (of
course, we've got lotsa aches
and pains we didn't usta have!)
While we can still get around,
we want to travel as much as
possible. Hope to start making
reunions in '87. Most of our
friends have retired to warmer
places, mostly Florida, and we
may do the same. Not ready to
make a move yet. Just want to
relax and enjoy." Gerald closes
conveying a Happy & Healthy
New Year to all Hellcats and
Hellkittens.
Earl Nichols (Div Hq/CCA)
with dues and a short and
sweet. . . "C U at Convention"
Paul Burkit (Div Sv Co) drops
a line informing us that he had
left Indiana and will make his
home in Harlingen, Texas for
the months of Febraury and
March, thus his change of
address. Paul writes that he
keeps a small travel trailer on
a spot at this location year
round and winters here normal-
ly. This winter he had a so-so
operation, removal of a small
tumor, the reason for late arri-
val and is doing fine. He further
adds . . . "This type of place is
a glorified convalesent joint,
but when the weather is good,
it's enjoyable. We wear dog tags
because we forget who we are.
Admire and enjoy your work of
keeping the old gang together
and informed. God Bless All
and Thanks . . ."
We welcome a new member
to the group. He is James J.
Lahey who served with Divis-
ion Headquarters Combat Com-
mand "B". We give Jim a big
hearty Hellcat welcome and
hope he remains with us for
many years to come. His where-
abouts will be noted elsewhere
in the HCN.
We are also expecting another
new member momentarily. He
is Lt Col James H. Tirey who
also served in Division Head-
quarters. The association came
to his attention when he noted
the announcement of the Louis-
ville reunion in the February
issue of "The American Legion"
magazine. Paul Hempfling was
listed in the notice as the con-
tact man. Jim immediately re-
sponded to Paul asking for
dates, places, costs, etc. as he
would like to attend. He also
includes in his note . . . We live
about 100 miles from Louisville.
In combat WW II, I was "Dick"
Gordon's right-hand man in
Combat Command "R". Hope
to see you there, also hope you
and yours are all fine. Paul,
being our new Membership
17th
Armored
Infantry
Battalion
WILLIAM "Bill" FUNKE
1312 ALFORD STREET
FT. COLLINS, CO 80524
Phone (303) 482-0255
BOOSTER
Sauerio "Sal" Ignatti - B
Greetings from the land of
sun and fun. At least it is sun
now. Arizona has been cold but
Lola and I are now basking in
some lovely weather. We hope
that when we head home to
Colorado in a few weeks that
spring will be there. If spring
is here can summer be far be-
hind and summer means
another gathering of the Hel-
lcats and Hellkittens. Now is
the time to get ready to be in
Louisville for all the excite-
ment.
Again we appreciate the
cards and letters we get. Maue
Chairman, has thrown his
lasso out via letter regarding
the association, its activities,
reunions, etc. and hopes to rope
this "long-lost-critter".
Dues with a change of ad-
dress with no further news
comes from Ray Dodge (Div
Hq/CCA). Also dues plus boos-
ter but no news received from
Col. Charles Gildart (Divarty)
and Morris Choyke (Div Hq/
QM).
FURTHERMORE: ... As of
21 February we have 38 mem-
bers of our group who have not
signed up and some 15 who did
not join last year and were
boosted through the genorosity
of our fund. If those of you who
have not sent in dues yet and
are reading this issue of the
HCN, it could be your last as
you will be dropped from the
ranks if there is no response.
Unfortunately, you are the los-
ers. Not the association.
The Midway and Midwest
Chapter Meetings have bit the
dust. At this reading, the South-
east has barely eked by. How-
ever, the North Central this
month and the Eastern and the
Western in May plus the big
one in Louisville are still alive.
So get with it. Make plans now
and be there. "IT'S GREAT TO
BE A HELLCAT!" ...
has sent on a lot of the infor-
mation from his collection of
trivia.
Here we go again, more and
more Hellcats reaching that
coveted occupation retirement.
Among those no\ft are Andy
and Mary Ann Felix - Sv.
Andy, of course, is busy with
the "Honey Do's." Sorry to hear
that Mary Ann broke a hip but
it is mending slowly and they
expect it to be in fine shape in
time for Louisville. One sug-
gestion Mary Ann, hang on to
that walker for a while so that
Andy becomes more efficient
with the household chores.
The Mummerts have been on
the go. After the Long Beach
bash they spent four weeks
exploring California and now
their travel record includes
forty some states. Say Clair
sorry about your disasterous
elk hunt in Colorado, but you've
got to realize that the elk in
Colorado are smarter than the
hunters. Maue wants to know
if you were mad because you
had to carry your own gun or
forgot to put film in the camera.
What an excuse Ken Hewitt
sent for not being in Califor-
nia. Really now Ken, reroofing
a house is a pretty lame rea-
son. All you have to do is stay
out of the house while it is
raining. Now I'm beginning to
sound like Collier.
Jim Semprini, you have a
nice bunch of buddies. Can you
believe that they wanted to
stamp on your sore foot just to
see if it hurt. How did you guys
manage to stay sane in that
mortar squad?
Vern Sylvester has finally
gotten smart and took along
enough grub on a hunting trip
so that the snowed-in crew had
no worries. Reminds me of the
time in Texas that my squad
"requistioned" a week's worth
of sandwiches (midnight requis-
tion) from the mess truck before
a short ration problem. We
didn't care about you guys but
we weren't going hungry.
Peter Frank - A, is till tend-
ing bar. He writes that he had
a "slight" heart attack. Slight,
Peter? Isn't that like being a
"little bit" pregnant? I have a
suggestion for buddy Pete. You
know that the 17 CP in Louis-
ville needs a bar tender so you
are it. See ya there.
Now look here Bob and
Kathryn Clement; missing all
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Twelfth Armored Division Association (U.S.). Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 40, No. 7, Ed. 1, April 1987, newspaper, April 1987; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth410516/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.