57^th Alumni;

This has been an awesome year for the 57^th Alumni! Let me reflect back just a bit on this past year. We started our efforts last January to contact 57^th members so we could come together for a reunion. Thanks to the perseverance of your reunion committee we soon had located over two hundred alumni members and a reunion was set for Memorial Day weekend. On Friday evening we had a great turn out for the ice breaker at Luigi’s. On Saturday morning the base opened up the static display C-141 for tours and the interest and love for this aircraft could be seen on the faces of those renewing their acquaintance. Then Saturday evening approximately 100 came for our sit down dinner and we were honored to have the 58^th Airlift Squadron Commander as our guest speaker. On Sunday afternoon we finished off the reunion activities with a huge barbeque cookout. An awesome weekend and there is no way I could mention all of the wonderful individual reunions that took place. We were pleased to have individuals from all over the US. Our reunion in May of 2010 was made up mostly of members who served in the 57^th Military Airlift Squadron and the rest served in the 57^th Airlift Squadron (some in both). After the reunion in Altus I started thinking about how we could expand the reunion and especially how we might go about contacting some WWII 57^th members.

While doing research to set up the 57^th Alumni website (http://www.57thalumni.com) I was able to make contact with the 375^th Troop Carrier Group reunion president (The 57^th Troop Carrier Squadron (TCS) was assigned to the 375^th during WWII). Although the 375^th no longer holds a reunion the president was able to give me 50 names he had of 57^th TCS members. When supplying the names the 375^th reunion president said to me, “Woodie our last reunion was 2006, we are old and the health of many is not good so you will be lucky to find 25 from this list still alive”. Still determined to locate some 57^th WWII members I sent a personal letter to each address provided. In turn, I am now in contact with three members that are in good health and delighted to hear about our reunion activities. Twenty-three of the fifty WWII members are still with us. I am hoping we will be privileged to have some of the 57^th TCS members with us at our next reunion. Oh I must tell you that one of the 57^th TCS members is 88 years young and still works as a CPA 30 working hours a week. Also, made contact with a member of the 55^th TCS (the 55^th, 56^th, 57^th & 58^th TCS reported to the 375^th TCG during WWII) who is 92 and works full time in real estate sales. I may start looking for a job..…LOL. Today we have almost six hundred names listed in the 57^th Alumni directory on our website. Spread the word about our website and help us populate the alumni directory.

Now, let me share the following with you:

Alumni T-Shirt

We have designed a new 57^th Alumni tee shirt that we are delighted to be able to offer you. Please open the attached files to view the artwork of our shirt.

We are asking for a donation of at least $15.00 for each shirt. Shipping is free. We have a limited number of shirts, sizes and shirts are available on first come first serve basis. There are no limits on the number of shirts you can order and proceeds from this offering will go to help off-set reunion expenses and please know all donations are appreciated.

The shirts will be shipped from Altus, OK by Kevin McAuliffe (If you live in Altus you may pick-up shirt(s)).

To order:

1. Send a check made out to: 57^th Alumni Association

2. Send your order to: Kevin McAuliffe, 703 East Commerce, Altus, OK 73521