Our 2004 reunion was held at the Holiday Inn-Downtown in Louisville, Kentucky. It was well attended with at least 85 DQS Vets attending and around 140 total in attendance. While in Louisville, some of our membership attended a Triple-A baseball game or 2. Other sites visited would be Churchhill Downs & the Kentucky Derby Museum located there, riverfront restaurants & sites, the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum and more. Our group enjoyed a pleasant cruise on the Ohio River and even had a guest from the world of Movies & TV along.

We had many wonderful items donated for the Chinese Auction and for an auction to support Operation Gold Star. Bob Lauver successfully captured the beautiful quilt (yet another excellent effort by Vicki Haffele) with a very generous bid in the OGS Auction and donated the quilt to the Gold Star Mothers for use at their Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Thanks, Bob! Thanks to the ladies who run the Auctions for us, to all who donate items and to all who bid! DQS enjoyed a very nice donation to our Treasury as a result of the Chinese Auction!

Following in this newsletter is a nice article on our Memorial Service for our fallen brothers, which appeared 'in the Dec2OO4/Jan2OO5 Issue of REUNIONS Magazine. Those participating in this service certainly did a wonderful job in helping us remember those who can never attend our reunions in the flesh, but who are definitely 'with' us each and every year! Thanks!

Of course, the time we get to spend together is the most important part of and reason for our reunions. A 'tip of the hat' to all who helped out before and during the reunion! Your efforts and the gift of your time is much appreciated.

We will use 2 items to illustrate the success of this (and others in the past) reunion. We had what is the largest group of DQS Vets that served at one place at the same time in attendance this year! (You know, of course, that we served so split up and spread out that it isn't unusual for a DQS Vet to not to have known, or even seen, all of his Battery mates in Vietnam.) We had a group from the Nickel-Deuce (5/2) who served on 4 Dusters that were located at the same site for a period of time. According to Dave Zimmerman, Billy Jack Milsaps, Van Johnson, Barry Mercer, Bobby Soileau, Condon Payne and others, we had 11 out of the 16 guys who were at this location 'alive & kicking' in Louisville! This was great! We've had a crew or crew plus together before (Joe Belardo and Don Wolfe come to mind), but never 11. Seeing these guys meet and greet each other, spending some time sitting and listening to them and just standing back and observing them was great! It makes the work and effort well worthwhile!

The second item (related to the above) concerns a gentleman (forgive us for not being sure of your name) from Oklahoma came in with his wife and daughter. He had never been to a reunion or any other function before and, as we can understand, was a bit nervous. As they were signing in and checking out what we were and what we were doing, I approached him and asked him his name and who he served with. He told me and asked if a fellow named Van Johnson was there. I said yes and pointed out where Van was sitting. He then asked about one more DQS Vet (the name slips my mind night now). When I said yes and pointed out that this fellow vet was 2 seats over -from Van, my Oklahoma friend was GONE! He bee-lined for these guys leaving his wife and daughter to finish signing in and etc. Fantastic! But there's more. The next day his wife and daughter approached me and asked what all we would be doing the rest of the reunion. They shared that they had been on vacation and had stopped by on their way home to check the reunion out. They didn't know what to expect and he was nervous about coming and didn't know how he'd react. They had only planned to stay one night then leave the next day. Our Oklahoma friend was concerned about the wheat that was waiting on him back home wasn't sure they should stay. After we talked for a bit, these (I love these type of Vet family members) ladies