Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 62 Alumni Group

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Roman Hnatowski has asked me, Secretary Norm to post this on our "Guest Book Page" in case others also want to do this. The following is his email:

Hope this email finds all Good Health and Happiness!

I'm sure most, if not all, have received information on CBC Gulfport Navy Seabee Historical Society Memorial Brick Campaign and the "EA" initiative spearheaded by Frank Pirrello.

Just wanted to bring everyone up to date and let you know if anyone's changed their mind and would still like to participate, just contact Frank and he'll provide the proper guidance.

SITREP as of June 14th (Flag Day and the Army's 244th Birthday):

20 "EA"s from the 1st two deployments to Nam have either purchased, or committed to purchasing their own Memorial Brick, and in addition, also sponsored 10 additional bricks of our "EA" team that had passed since returning home. We have also sponsored 1 Memorial Brick for one of our troops that is on Home Hospice and, I'm sure you'll all agree, he and his family shouldn't be asked for a donation during this tough time in their lives. In addition we have also sponsored 7 Memorial Bricks for the 7 KIAs our battalion suffered during the 1st two deployments
to Nam. There are also 2 Memorial "EA" Bricks that will start the "EA" brick section which will be placed all together. Our individual "EA" bricks will be listed by the 1st Nam deployment we were on.
In addition 2 dynamic "PN" Brothers, Richard and Raymond Ruiz, AKA Chico and Rocky, have also chosen to be listed in our group while sponsoring a KIA. We welcome them with open arms!

Frank won't bring this to anyone's attention, but he and his family have donated somewhere in the vicinity of 6 or 7 Memorial Bricks. Pete Medeguari is also sponsoring 2 bricks for 2 of his brothers.
Pete's Brother, Marine Private Rene Medeguari was killed on May 2, 1969 while a member of Marine Force Recon in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.

A copy of this letter is being sent to Norm Hahn, the HMFIC of the NMCB 62 Alumni Association. I hope Norm sees fit to post/email our accomplishment to to the rest of our battalion, and challenge them to follow. There were 15 of our Brothers who didn't make it back from Nam. When asked why there were no bricks planned for them in Gulfport, we were told that their names were listed at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Ocean Springs. MS. That is very nice, but Ocean Springs isn't where they helped open the base at Gulfport in 1966, deploy from Gulfport with NMCB 62 to Vietnam, nor the last stateside Military Base at Gulfport that they were attached to before they went to Vietnam and made the ultimate sacrifice. Our "EA"s covered the 1st 7 KIAs from the 1st two Nam deployments, I'd like to see the last 8 from the 3rd and 4th deployments listed with their Brothers for all to see in the decades to come. Norm, make it happen. As usual, the "EA"s lead the way, now send in the "EO"s and so on!

V/r, Roman

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HERE IS THE GULFPORT SEABEE REUNION COMMITTEE "OFFICIAL" REUNION PAGE. THEY WILL PUT ALL THEIR INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEXT REUNION IN APRIL 2020 ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE FIRST.

DON'T BE LEFT OUT AND GET THE INFO TO LATE. JOIN NOW.

2020 All Seabee Reunion-Gulfport, MS <<<< this is their official Facebook reunion page. Go to Facebook, type in the address and ask to join. This will keep you up to date on all the 2020 reunion info. Very Important !!

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I found a Metal Zippo Seebee lighter with the initials
D. H. L. Engraved on the back Guam Jan. Sep 83 a long time ago. I was wondering if anyone there knew the person who dropped it to mail it to them or if anyone there would like me to mail it to someone there? I have had it a while and am clearing out things and would like to get it back to where it belongs if they had any desire to have it. Thanks. David Yohe Evansville IN.

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Roman Hnatowski, EAC, Retired sends Secretary Norm this update from the EA Nation, a group of guys and their wives who have been meeting together since the first three deployments.

Hope this finds all in Good Health & Happiness!
Latest update with a bit more than 3 weeks until the (April 2019) reunion.
Update as of 03/31/19, the following EAs & close friends have expressed an interest in attending:

Art "Army" & Lynn Collins - OH
Donato 'Danny' & Joanne DeSantis - NY
Frank & Mary Pirrello - MA
Gary Mangan - OH
Hugh McIlroy - PA
James 'Jimbo' Millar - CA
Jerry & Barbara Hilbert - OH
Larry Surber - GA
Pat "Pussy" Barnett
Rawlins "Ron" & Rocio Riley - SC
Raymond 'Rocky' & Cynthia Ruiz - TX
Richard 'Chico' Ruiz - TX
Roman Hnatowski - NJ
Sam "The Man" Roth - OH

Unable to Attend:

Dave LaPoint - NJ
Jim & Betty Catron - MD
Jack Fichter - VA
Larry Siebold - OK (Very Ill)
Pete & Shelby Medeguari - TX
Pete Scolaro - NY
Rich Hochrein - PA
Vern & Betty Abbott - VA

Intentions Unbeknownst:

Bobby Jones - FL
Donald Dwight Thompson III - NY
Earle (Still Kickin) Walke - NY
James
James Alley - OR
Jerry Crotts - NC
John Hood - GA
Robert Van Winkle - IN
Willard Howe - NY

Whereabouts Unknown:

David Stelly - LA (2nd Deployment)
E.D. Taylor - ? (1st Deployment)

Deceased:

Bruce Clay - FL
Conrado Cajulis - CA
Dennis Fink - PA
James Layton - NY
Michael Brown - CA
Ralphord Hight - OK
Ray Lade - PA
Richard Weber - OH
Tom Schell - GA
William Kinney - CA

Looking forward to seeing those that are going and missing those that can not make the reunion.
Not sure how many other reunions are in our future!
V/r, Roman.

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Especially looking forward to reconnecting with the teams from Dong Ha '69 and Da Nang '70.

Happy Trails, Randy Beal

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served in 62 from 84 to 87 BU2 Charlie company

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I operated the MARS station on Guam from 1973-74, as an ET-1. Black-Shoe Navy to be sure, but treasure my time with USNMCB-62. Retired in 1989.

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(Robert Ament emails Norm Hahn, 5 Jan 2019: I am planning to go to the (2019 April) Gulfport reunion. I don't know how to post that, can you post it? Norm says "yes".)

I want to inform everyone that made the initial cruise to Vietnam. We spent 8 weeks in Camp Lejeune. This qualifies us for "service related" status in the water contamination "presumptive diseases"
Adult leukemia
Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
Bladder cancer
Kidney cancer
Liver cancer
Multiple myeloma
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Parkinson's disease
The proof is in our cruise books. Cruise book 1 page 14 and cruise book 2 page 15 talks about the four weeks we spent in Camp Lejeune prior to each deployment. You must file with the VA.

(If anyone has questions, Bob's email address is in the header above.)

Thanks Bob for this very important information.

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The 2019 Gulfport All Seabee Reunion, which includes NMCB 62, forms have been emailed to all on their list.

If you did not get these forms and would like to come to the reunion email me and I'll email them to you.

The guest speaker at the Saturday night banquet and at our Minuteman Sunday morning annual meeting will be none other than our own Captain Chuck Fegley, the XO and CO of the Minutemen.

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I've lost track of two of our NMCB 62 alumni members and the thirds cruise book and promotion papers were found in a garbage dump.
CULLUM, Joseph Ernest, Island S-4, Orlando, FL. UT1, retired.
TRAMMELL, Lonnie David, Not in NSVA. ET1, retired. Last known city address is Tecumseh, OK.
NICHOLSON, James Leonard, Not in NSVA. CE3, He was on our 1970 deployment to Danang. Probably not a lifer. Whereabouts unknown. His cruisebook and promotion papers were found in a garbage dump by NSVA member Peter Dowd, who contacted me.
If anyone has info that they are alive, please give me their contact info. If they have passed away, any info you have will be helpful. Thanks, Norm.