BOXCAR VETERANS,

This is our annual ROSTER issue of The BOXCAR NEWS LETTER...our sixtieth Newsletter since the Boxcar Association was founded, in 1991.

At that first Reunion, I was the oldest 178th Veteran present, at age forty-eight. The next year I was relegated to "youngster" status, with the arrival of "mature" Vets like Granvil Thurmond, Al Stratton, Bill Dillonaire, and Andy Moore; Granny was the "Ancient One" at sixty-two. He left us only a year later, after a stroke, our first Association member to "Fly West".

Since then, we have lost quite a few, some who have attended Reunions, others who never got to one. Josh Logan, listed in this issue's Taps section attended eleven Reunions between 1995 at Ft. Benning and 2006 at Fresno, missing only the 1996 Reno Reunion. We now average one lost Veteran in each Newsletter's Taps section. Of the four Vets listed over the past year. Josh was seventy-eight; the other three (Bill Heer, Larry Peterson, and Clarke Smiley) were in their fifties; all four died of cancer.

We are an aging group, with the added Vietnam-era problems of untreated PTSD and Agent Orange exposure. Still, we keep on keepin' on, and we owe each other our support. So.... USE this ROSTER!!! Make phone calls...exchange e-mails...write letters.. Visit one another...cancel other plans in order to attend the next Reunion, especially if you have never attended before.

This former "youngster" is now sixty-four and retired. People tell me, "Hey, you're only as old as you feel"... and I say, "Hey, what makes you think that is good news!?" Don't put off getting in touch with your old buddies, and then being sorry you missed them.

Keep the Faith,
DC Nelson, Secretary
178th 1966-67