Happy Holidays!
As winter sets in, I hope that you and your family are blessed with health and happiness. In the history of our division, we have fought some of the hardest and most cruel battles during the winter. In WWII, the Marne division pushed through the Colmar pocket in one of the coldest winters on record. In November of 1950, the Chinese Army infiltrated North Korea and began to engage our Soldiers in the Chosin reservoir area, beginning a 17-day battle in freezing conditions. In Germany, thousands of Dogface Soldiers trained and operated in the freezing winters to defend Europe from Russian aggression. So, we are no strangers to the cold.
Now to business.
Our editor, Henry Bodden, has had to step down due to an extreme family situation. This edition of the WOTR will be his last as our editor. Henry has served in this position since April of 2018 and has made numerous improvements that has led to this magazine being a world-class publication. He has taken us on numerous journeys through history, geography, battles and personal experiences of members of our great division. He has displayed a sapient knowledge of 3rd ID past exploits that have, at times, made me wonder if he was actually there! Henry has this detective-like mind that has brought incredible stories to our membership. From his personal experience at the shooting of JFK in Dallas, to the mobsters in Las Vegas and the unique experiences of 3rd ID soldiers both during and after wartime service, Henry has supplied a wealth of knowledge and content that our members have come to love and enjoy reading. It has made our magazine special! We are indebted to Henry for his hard work, diligence and love of our division. He is a talented and gifted storyteller of which we have been the benefactors. The good news is that Henry is not going far. He will continue to supply us with great content for our magazine as a contributing reporter and writer. Thank you, Henry, for what you have done for our Society and for our members. You have made the Society a much better place and we are eternally grateful to you.
Our new editor, pro-teem, will be Outpost 15 President and Western Region Committeeman, Bill Blissett. Bill comes to us with a lifetime of experience and knowledge. He has graciously “stepped up” to be our temporary editor until a permanent replacement can be found. Thank you, Bill.
As you all know, our Reunion was supposed to be in November of 2024 in Savannah, GA. Due to an extremely low registration rate, I decided to cancel this reunion. The Society incurs a financial obligation with the hotels and venues we contract with to hold our reunions. If we do NOT have a minimum amount of registrations, we lose money. I can not allow this. As a Society, we need to decide on the future of our reunions. If the membership will NOT support these events, then we need to discontinue them. We can’t continue to lose money on our reunions. If you have an idea or solution to this challenge, please let me know.
The donation cards were supposed to go out in August. Unfortunately, this did not happen. They have now been sent out. Please donate to one or more of our funds. This initiative is one of our biggest sources of revenue and it helps to keep our Society financially solvent. Thank you!
The Society awards for 2023 and 2024 have been awarded. See the article in this edition for those outstanding members who have been recognized for their dedication and service to our Society.
As of the publishing of this edition, we have not had the drawing of our 2024 raffle prize winners. We will announce them in the February Edition. Many thanks to all of our members who bought raffle tickets. This is another important source of revenue for our Society.
If you are interested in serving on the Executive Board, we are taking nominations for officers. Many of our officers have been serving for a long time and we need new members to step up and bring in new ideas and energy. The call for nominations is included in this edition.
If you would like to submit an article to be published in our magazine, please do! We need your submissions to keep interesting material available for our members. So please, don’t hesitate to write about your service in our division or anything else that would be of interest to our readership. All submissions must be sent to our Editor, Blissett, via email in Microsoft word format and all pictures must be submitted separate from the document. Although not desired, you can mail your article to Bill for submission also. Please see his contact information on page 2.
Lastly, I wish the happiest of holidays to you and your family. I hope the very best in the new year also. May we find comfort in this season and open our hearts to those less fortunate. Please keep all of our deployed Soldiers in your thoughts and prayers.
Rock of the Marne!
Toby Knight