The Free Newsletter of the 314^th Infantry Association of WWII
By Joseph Piekunka, 314^th WWII webmaster & 2019 Reunion Chairman
February 2019   http://314usa.org/

Articles:

1.  2019 Annual Reunion
2.  Preliminary Reunion Program
3.  About Fort Dix
4.  Broadening Invitee Participation
5.  Pre-Registration Survey – June 30 Deadline
6.  About This Free Newsletter
7.  Our Next Newsletter

 
1.  2019 Annual Reunion

       This year's reunion will, for the first time, be a combined reunion of the WWII 314^th and 315^th Regiments. It will be the 73^rd annual reunion for the 314^th and the 72^nd for the 315^th to be held the weekend of October 10-13 (Columbus Day weekend) inside Fort Dix in southern NJ.  Those who register for the reunion through the 314^th association will be allowed on base.  We must submit your full name and other information to the gate security command. Those who miss the registration deadline, will not be allowed on base for any of our events.  The base has two hotels each with a room rate of $70/night.  We will be staying at the modern Air Force Inn, which is closest to the conference center (aka Tommy B’s) – just a hundred feet or more from the Air Force Inn.

       Again, this reunion will be the first combined meeting of the 314^th and the 315^th Infantry Regiment Association (hereafter the “315^th”).  It is intended that next year, the 315^th will host the reunion and we will be joining their reunion.  As our associations shrink in memberships, it makes sense for us to combine efforts to keep our associations alive and well.  While the 313^th association was officially disbanded, the 314^th invites anyone associated with the 313^th Infantry Regiment, veterans and descendants alike, to our reunion.  In fact, we are broadening invitee participation to anyone loosely associated with the 79^th Division of either World Wars as well as the 79^th Division and the 174^th Infantry Brigade of today.  More on this below.

 
2.  Preliminary Reunion Program

           The purpose of holding our reunion on a military base – a first for our association – is twofold.  First, we intend to provide attendees with a unique and interesting reunion venue.  Second, and more important, we want to encourage interaction between veterans, their descendants, and the active duty military.  There will be several venues to foster interaction between us and the active military.  While the itinerary may change, we are planning on the following events:  On Thursday evening we will hold an informal meet-and-greet for the multiple association members and active military.  

           Friday evening, there will be a banquet with a discounted cost for active/ uniformed military.  Saturday morning, when most active military are off duty, we will show the movie Patton with George C. Scott.  After the movie, we will ask veterans, and possibly immediate descendants of veterans, to come to the front of the theatre to answer questions from uniformed personnel. If plenty of veterans attend, we may restrict questions between only the active military and veterans.  Saturday afternoon, the 315^th will hold a memorial service.

           Sunday morning, the 314^th will hold a similar inter-faith memorial service to remember those who fell during or after the World Wars.  These are the most solemn events of the weekend.  At the end of each service, we will ask anyone who wants to stand to remember a late veteran, to do so.  Anyone attending the reunion and especially active military are invited to attend both or either of these memorial services on Saturday or Sunday, and to opt to stand and remember any American who died in the line of duty.  We hope our services might have a small therapeutic affect for those who stand and remember a late warrior.  Immediately after each service, we are hoping to arrange a 21-gun salute outside the chapels.  We may also have a bugler to play taps and perhaps a flag folding ceremony.

 3.  About Fort Dix

           Some veterans did their basic training at Fort Dix and remember the base name as “Fort Dix.”  Fort Dix has a new name as it is now attached to an Air Force base – McGuire, and a Navy base – Lakehurst.  The formal name of this unique base is Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst or JB MDL.  This is the only American “Tri-Service” base in the world - where all three branches of the DoD are housed and share common base resources.  The Marine Corps and the Coast Guard are also located here.  

           It is also a Tri-Department base.  The Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security (Coast Guard), and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs all have operations on this joint base. 

           We will be given a presentation about the Tri-Service base and a bus tour of the Tri-Service base.  It can take close to one hour to go from one end of JB MDL to the other.  Lakehurst is the location of the crash of the Hindenburg in 1937.  There is a large museum in the huge hanger which use to house the Hindenburg when it was on our side of the Atlantic.  We may arrange a separate bus tour or at least a carpool to Lakehurst.  For more information on the base https://www.jointbasemdl.af.mil/ and/or https://gomdl.com/

 4.  Broadening Invitee Participation

            The base hotels have excess capacity in early October as travel budgets are usually not allocated until later in October. (Our federal government’s fiscal year begins October 1^st and there are often Congressional or other budget delays.) Therefore, we may be able to have an enormous number of rooms set aside for our event.  Since WWII associations are shrinking in memberships, it makes sense for us to invite as many units as feasible to this very special reunion.  Anyone and any unit, past or present, associated with the world wars are invited to our reunion – providing everyone completes a Pre-Registration Survey.  By bringing people from multiple veteran’s organizations together at one reunion, other associations may begin a process of collaboration just as the 314^th and 315^th WWII associations have begun this year collaborating.  We hope to hold a brief session on association collaborations and holding reunions on military bases.

           All Americans interested in the world wars are also invited.  Veterans and their families within driving distance to JB MDL from any U.S. WWI or WWII Army, Air Corps, Navy, Marine Corps, & Coast Guard units are especially invited.

 5.  Pre-Registration Survey – June 30 Deadline

           To help us predict numbers of attendees and reserve the appropriate spaces for this larger reunion, we will ask you to complete a Pre-Registration Survey available in May and submit it no later than June 30.  This survey will not require a payment nor obligate you to attend, yet it will ensure that you receive a formal registration packet in July.  It will help us to better prepare for and plan the reunion.

           If hotel or meeting space becomes an issue, those who complete the Pre-Registration Survey will have priority over those who do not complete and submit it by the June 30 deadline.  Again, all reunion attendees must formally register through the 314^th WWII association or you will not be allowed through gate security. 

           The best way to get updates on the reunion is to subscribe to our free newsletter -see below.  Everyone subscribed to our newsletter will receive all updates and registration forms for the upcoming reunion.


6.  About This Free Newsletter

            This newsletter is sent as a free service to the members of the 314^th Infantry Regiment Association of WWII. It is also sent to anyone who is interested in attending our reunions or just keeping abreast of our activities. We intend to send it less than six times each year. You do not need to be a veteran to subscribe to our newsletter.  We encourage you to send this free newsletter to any of your WWII buddies and their family members. If you have a friend’s phone number or postal address but not their email address, please, on our behalf, call or write to them and ask them if they or a child of theirs has an email address. 

            If you received this newsletter from a friend and wish to subscribe to the newsletter, please click on http://314usa.org/contact/   Please tell us how you are associated with the 79^th Division.  You may unsubscribe from this newsletter anytime; your name and address will never be sold, rented, or given to another party.  If you do not write a short message in the message box, we will assume you want to subscribe to the free newsletter.  Please help us spread the word about our expanded 2019 reunion by posting links to this newsletter on social media, forwarding this newsletter to friends, and calling or writing to friends who may not have email.

         
7.  Our Next Newsletter

           Our next newsletter will be sent probably in April.  Some of the topics will include:       

Additional Resources

           Again, please help spread the word about our expanded and unique reunion by phone, email, postal notes to a friend and especially through social media.  Please direct newcomers to http://314usa.org/free-newsletter