2007 Committee to review Division Association Future

[Jim West - Indiana Military Or]

HERE IS A BIT OF DIVISION ASSOCIATION HISTORY PRESERVED as a discussion here...

NOTE: The discussion below began on an earlier site that initially hosted the discussion board.
Jim West transferred the messages over.
This is the reason his name appears beside some of the initial posts signed by others.
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My Brothers,
As president of the 106th Assoc.,I established a Comm. To
Review the "future of our 106th" At the present time. Mr. John
Schaffner is chairing that comm. I would like to hear from
Members of the 106th, as to their thoughts on our future.
As for myself ,. I am in favor of continuing for as long as we
Can. Make every effort to attend our reunion in Kansas City,Mo.
Sept.5 -9,2007.
We will have an opportunity to discuss the Comm. Report,
And hopefully come to a meaningful decision!
Hope all is well
Murray Stein
Co.I 423rd

[Jim West - Indiana Military Or]

To Murray & our band of brothers,
I concur and suggest that the committee you appointed consider a
schedule for downsizing based on the number of members surviving and
reported at the annual conventions.
1. When a designated number is reached bi-annually full conventions be
held and in the alternate years regional meetings be organized.
Locations for the full convention to be alternated at the regional
sites.
2. When membership numbers reach a relative low point (to be
determined by your committee) that annual meetings be held exclusively
either at Indianapolis (the heart of our division) or Jackson, SC (the
birth of our division). And at some point a half gallon jug of the
very best whiskey be purchased and held for the last surviving member
of our glorious division. And like the major battle we served in we
pass on into the realms of history.

On Feb 27, 1:05 pm, "MURRAYS" <[e-mail]> wrote:

[Jim West - Indiana Military Or]

I would like to put a question out to all the members of this group.

What do you think of Adjutant Marion Ray's question that was presented
in the latest issue of the Cub? He asked whether or not the
association should be closed down or continued as it is. This is a
very important question that affects every association member at a
very core level. His reasoning is sound and his question very clear.

Yes or no? What do you think?

[Jim West - Indiana Military Or]

I think Adjutant Ray's suggestions have a lot of merit. HIs
explanation of a "veteran's organization as seen by the IRS" is
probably the last straw that would put an end to the original 106th
Association. Along with that, I doubt there could be found anyone
with the dedication & tenacity of John Kline to put out a printed
quarterly publication of the quality we expect.

With that above opinion tendered, I think it should be possible to put
together an auxiliary organization that could meet the needs of the
descendants & unconnected associates that have an earnest interest in
the 106th Division's history in WWII. In the absence of an official
non-profit organization, in our current world-wide-web society
something should be available to make it possible. An example being;
one of my wife's favorite pastimes is watching foals on webcam at
horsestables, some of which charge subscription fees to watch. Along
that line it should be possible to open a subscription based website
which would substitute for the current Cub and still be as
informative, and probably more accessible. I don't know the in's &
outs of such things, so it would take some investigation to see what
is available and applicable to those surviving veterans who could
still enjoy it (my father included at this time) as well as current
106th associate members and anyone else interested in joining. It is
possible this very Google-group could grow into that very thing
without subscriptions.

My opinion, for what it's worth,

Jim McCary

[Jim West - Indiana Military Or]

From: [e-mail]
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 12:51:39 EST


CONTINUE

[wijers]

Can I reply? In a different situation I would like to write the following. In 2004 the veterans organisation of the Stalingrad fighters choose to stop. Now last week, there came a call from one of the veterans, sho said that they wanted to try to restart a organisation, because though these men, most 85 and older are not able to go out, but do miss the contact due to a Newsletter. Still over 150 veterans of this group are alive, but now family and younger people are interested to keep it going.

I think as long as we have veterans who can share their memoires of what happened and we have people who can keep up the hard work, please continue. We still learn a lot of you, and there are still 'youngsters' who now start asking.

[josephpmaloney]

admin said:

My Brothers,
As president of the 106th Assoc.,I established a Comm. To
Review the "future of our 106th" At the present time. Mr. John
Schaffner is chairing that comm. I would like to hear from
Members of the 106th, as to their thoughts on our future.
As for myself ,. I am in favor of continuing for as long as we
Can. Make every effort to attend our reunion in Kansas City,Mo.
Sept.5 -9,2007.
We will have an opportunity to discuss the Comm. Report,
And hopefully come to a meaningful decision!
Hope all is well
Murray Stein
Co.I 423rd

[Carl W.]

I personally think that it is important for the Association to continue as it is. The younger generations are becoming more and more interested in the events of WWII, and for that reason I think we can all benifit from it. For me personally, I find it great to read the stories and to communicate with the men and women who really went trough it.
There will always be an untold story, but it would be a shame if it hasn't got a chance to be told.

My 2 cents

Best regards
Carl

[Jim West - Indiana Military Or]

Though not a "Golden Lion", and not having been there with you, when you were helping save democracy, I do feel a certain tie with the 106th Division and the Association. As you may know, I have the web site at www.IndianaMilitary.org that contains a very large section for the 106th.

A recent project, conducted jointly with the Association, was the gathering of diaries and accounts from members. In about one year, we were able to obtain more than 200 of these significant war documents, with more coming in most every week. Most had never been published or read by anyone other than family. I would like to think that this proves that there are many untold stories out there. And no one can write them except you.

If the Association should stop, there will be no organization holding everyone together. For what it is worth, I say the Association should continue with as much vigor as you all showed December 16th, 1944.

I receive several newsletters from other Divisions. None - not one - comes close to the quality and depth as your CUB.

Jim West

[gctell]

As a result of Ken Burns recent epic "THE WAR", my children are now asking me a lot of questions about their grandfather, Ben Bartell, Captain, L Company, 106th Infantry, and what he did during WWII. I tell them what I remember him telling me but by finding this and other websites, it has given me, and them, a better understanding what you all went through, especially in Belgium.

Perhaps you might consider keeping the association going with the current veterans and descendent's of same, such as myself.

God Bless You All!

George Bartell

[sandy]

Just wanted to let everyone know how 106th Association helped me to put togeather my dads story I am of the younger generations and was very green but that has all changed thanks to the 106th Association I would like to keep this going for the generations to come who needs are help just like I did.
Sandy