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.
A lot is going on with our magazine, so let me bring you up to speed. This edition of our magazine marks one year since Bill Blissett has been our Editor. Bill has been doing an outstanding job and has really “kicked it up a notch” and we are grateful to him for all of his hard work. Thank you, Bill!
Our longtime magazine publisher, Jerry Wadley, who owns Finisterre Publications, has informed us that he will be retiring and will no longer provide the printing and publishing services we have been so accustomed to. Jerry has been publishing our magazine for more than a decade!
We have found a new publisher who will deliver the same services as Jerry. Right Images, Inc., is located in San Antonio, Texas, and is a family-owned business run by Tom Vaello. We have met with him and they are going to provide the layout services, printing, and mailing that we have come to rely on. They provide this service to a number of large businesses, school districts, and government clients in the San Antonio area, and we believe you will not notice any negative difference in the quality of our beloved Watch on the Rhine Magazine.
Our Reunion was held on Fort Stewart this past November. As this edition went to press, we didn’t have the report, so look for it in the February edition.
The donation cards went out in August and we have been receiving donations from our members. If you have not sent in your donation, please do. This initiative is one of our biggest sources of revenue and it helps to keep our Society financially solvent. Thank you!
As of the publishing of this edition, we have not had the drawing of our 2025 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, Bill Blissett, via email in Microsoft Word format, and all pictures should be submitted separate from the document (i.e., as separate attachments to your transmittal email message). Although not preferred, 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