Hello 36th Engineers and family,
I’m sorry that numerous emails from multiple people about the plans under discussion for our next reunion have been a so confusing.
Even more importantly, I’m sorry that some feelings of people very dear to me have been hurt in this process.
Here is my summary of how this story has evolved and what is going on:
From discussions last September and since, it appeared that the majority of participants at last year’s reunion in Lebanon felt that the quality of the hotel that had served us so well and for so many years had declined (rooms, service and food) so terribly much (you do know that most of the rooms in the main building were occupied by public assistance families last year?) that it was no longer a clean and comfortable place to get together.
As such, a number of us felt it was time to find an alternative site and several of us volunteered to investigate for an alternative site for 2013.
We strongly felt that an alternative site that might be easier to travel to for many us (those family members flying in from across the country particularly) than Lebanon is currently, would also be a big plus for most of us as well.
When John Fallon sent us all the information about the "Operation Dragoon - The "Forgotten D-Day" event in Washington D.C. in August, it immediately appeared to be a good alternative date & time for the 36th meeting for 2013.
The meeting location afforded us a better (and still affordable) hotel, an easier to get to location (with hotel shuttle from the airport), the opportunity to be part of a bigger WWII event with more people, the ability to have our own hospitality suite and finally, having nearby national memorials (the WWII Memorial is a must!) and museums that will be easy to get to and visit.
A very nice added bonus to this event is that all the heavy lifting/planning of our reunion is done and as a result, our members just get to go and enjoy each other’s company.
As a result, Marion and several others, as well as I got very excited that this was the type of alternative site that would be perfect.
We then initiated a survey (emails to those of us who use them and mailed letters to the rest) of our group to inquire what everyone would prefer.
The goals of the survey were to ask if the majority of our group thought this might be a good idea or not and MOST IMPORTANTLY make sure that no one thought they didn’t have a say!
As of today’s mailing, our survey has resulted in 17 YES, 10 MAYBE and 1 NO for D.C. in August.
Again, this would be a vote on our only reunion event for 2013 as the great majority of us cannot possibly attend two events, D.C. & Lebanon.
Unfortunately, a very small minority within our group is adamant that Lebanon is the ONLY place the 36th should go, want nothing to do with D.C. and appear very hurt that such a thing would be proposed and considered.
Even more unfortunately that small minority sent a very hurtful, accusatory email/letter to me that Marion was trying to take over the reunion and that it wasn’t her place to do so.
I was shocked and disturbed by this email/letter as I know that ever since Marion has been involved with our group, she has only ever had the best interests of the 36th in mind, wanting us to have the best reunion possible, attended by as many people as possible.
I strongly believe that combining our 2013 36th Combat Engineer’s Reunion with that of the Dragoon event in D.C. in August is the best choice for us.
I know as members of the US Army during WWII, we didn’t operate as a democracy, but I am hoping that we decide together on this one!
I hope that even those few of us who may shudder at the thought of breaking tradition by leaving Lebanon, come to realize that we will not have that many more opportunities to come together as the special group we are and that we should all be united on this.
Finally and most importantly, I hope that we all fully understand that it is the collective spirit of the WWII 36th Combat Engineers (comprised of those of us who are still fortunate to be here, along with those who no longer are), is what is so very important to us at our reunions, not the location.
Carl Furtado
36th Combat Engineer
:pdt12: