VP-4 Dallas/Fort Worth Reunion 2009
We opened the Ready Room on Wednesday evening and our weekend great- get-together started with a few early arrivals and numbers grew from there. Our registered veterans were 133 and a total for the weekend was 225. We had many first time attendees and many were heard to say that it was not going to be their last. Old friendships were renewed and many sea stories were shared. Registration was handled by Steve and Larry during the day and another great job by the both of them. Friday noon brought a visit from one of our senior vets by the name of Talmage Morrison. He entertained us with many interesting sea stories and also sang a few Hawaiian songs. His VPB-144 service dates back to 1943-44.
Friday evening brought on Billy Bob’s Texas for a western style dinner, followed by a country and western band and dancing. The bull riding near the end of the evening was enjoyed by all and a few spouses thought their husbands would have looked good riding one of the bulls. (Names omitted)
Saturday morning started out with a tour of Ft Worth and the stockyards where the long cattle drives started north. While the Ft Worth tour was going on, there were 13 able bodied players playing a modified scramble, ending up with a two way tie for first place. The area was enjoying cooler than normal weather but the play was on par at Bearskin Golf Course
We enjoyed the company of 215 veterans and guests for an evening banquet with a talk about the early days of our squadron by Skipper Barnett, CO 62-63. Max Koontz brought us up to date on the dedication ceremony of our Navy memorial plaque. Our DJ got things moving at a fast pace after we had our raffle drawing.
The hotel provided great service, good rooms and a great Ready Room set-up. They served a fabulous breakfast each morning and outstanding dinner Saturday night.
Our banner hung in the lobby for all to see and was donated by Steve and Cheryl Dunn. You will see it at future reunions.
Our reunion rolls grew thanks to the tireless efforts of Ron Buchnat and Kevin Brooks and look out for more calls from these gents. They get the top recruiter award. Don’t stop.
The Board of Directors and the All-Hands meeting was held Saturday afternoon and the following items were discussed and approved:
- Election of the Board of Directors for 2010-2011.
- Our 2011 reunion will be in Jacksonville, FL.
- Retain Military Reunion Planners to assist in planning our Jax reunion.
- Maintain communication with the active duty VP-4
- Rotate reunions between the East, West and Central part of the US. Seattle was discussed as a possible site in 2013.