70+ and doin' stuff

The 589th Engineer Battalion was organized, manned, armed and equipped from scratch at Fort Hood, TX in July 1966. We deployed on three ships to Qui Nhon, Vietnam in April 1967 for further inland movement to An Khe. I served in the 589th for 22 months from Day 1. We lost 25 brothers in Vietnam, interred in cemeteries across the US.

Sergeant Raymond Gray is the only 589th casualty at Arlington National Cemetery. SGT Gray has no living family to remember him. A group of local 589th veterans 'adopted' him and has been honoring his grave over the years.

Bill Brumbaugh, Don Hazen and I are the only ones left in the area, but the tradition will be continued this year.

Join us for a brief memorial service and the annual placement of flowers on SGT Gray's grave site. A uniformed US Army Bugler from the US Army Band will sound a stirring rendition of Taps.

We will stop afterward at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier for the moving ceremony of the Changing of the Guard.

Lunch afterward at Matchbox Restaurant, 1100 S Hayes St, Arlington, VA 22202, nearby.