[COMPANY NAME]

Combined Action Veterans Association

Phil Ovelman, 299 Country Club = Rd. Coatesville, Pa. 19320

= &nb= sp; 23 Januar= y 2010

Hello to a= ll my fellow CAP members;

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To those o= f you who were able to attend this latest reunion in DC, it was good to see all of you and for those who couldn’t attend, sorry we missed you. As for those who simply decided no= t to come well, what can I say? We’re all getting older and we have no way of knowing how many more of these we’ll have. So, if you’re holding out for some special reunion well, you’re run= ning out of time damn it!

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For those = who could not attend well, you missed a wonderful experience. Among the many activities enjoyed = was a trip to the Marine Museum at Quantico. I personally was amazed at the ext= ent of CAP issues presented. In addi= tion to a complete window display of CAP memorabilia there were many references = made to ‘combined action’ and ‘counterpart’ interaction = of marines and popular forces troops! I would recommend the museum to anyone when in the DC area.

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On another= day many members enjoyed the raising of the flag ceremony at the Iwo Jima Monument, the banquet of the Heritage Foundation where Gen. Christmas himself spoke a= nd gave specific recognition of our CAP members present and the Pentagon tour!=

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There was = also of course the Marine Corp Birthday Ball where our host at Headquarters Battali= on, gave special mention to the CAP Marines in attendance.

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At our Gen= eral Meeting, our group was presented with the flag that flew over the Army Unit= ’s, 444 Reg., 100 Btn. in Iraq and Kuwait. This gesture of honor was presente= d by Ron and Ray Schaedel’s son Jamie who served with the unit since he was too drunk on the day of his enlistment to go to the proper [Marine] recruit= er.

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I want to = give a special shout out and heartfelt thanks to our Marine Brother, Ted Johnston = and his wife, Dottie who worked tireless before, during and after the reunion to insure that everyone had a pleasant time.&= nbsp; Thanks to Ted, we enjoyed a hotel that allowed us to sneak, oops, I = mean bring in our own booze and, keep the hospitality room all to ourselves throughout the reunion. Thus,= the liquor and beer flowed like buttermilk for days and everyone seemed to enjoy it!

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On old bus= iness, Fred Calaffe has agreed to pick up the gauntlet of the life membership identification cards and will have them ready for issue ASAP.

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As for New Business, the financial report was read and accepted. It looks healthy by the way. Additionally, reunion sites consid= ered for 2011 were Hawaii, San Francisco and San Diego with <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Hawaii being the= clear winner. The reunion for 2010 = in San Antonio, TX was also confirmed.

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In attenda= nce was Joe Molina, Ron Schaedel, Paul Kaupas, Ken Scoggins, Fred Caleffie and myse= lf.

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The Board = meeting convened early for which I would like to take this moment to personally apologize to both the members and board members who were denied the opportu= nity to attend due to this schedule adjustment.= However, the meeting itself simply confirmed those choices made at t= he general meeting.

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On a sad n= ote, we must give our condolence to Bill Bennington of Florida for the loss of his wife Jacki= e who died suddenly this month. Han= g in there Bill; we’re all pulling for you.

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I need to = wrap this up as my editor, Charlie McMahon is anxious to get the newsletter out = in a timely fashion for a change and I certainly wish to cooperate.

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I hope to = see as many of you as possible in San= Antonio in November of 2010 and till then, Semper Fi.

= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = Phil Ovelman, Chairman