Alumni Update

Reunion 2011 T-Shirt

57th Alumni;

This has been an awesome year for the 57th Alumni! Let me reflect back just a bit on this past year. We started our efforts last January to contact 57th 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 58th 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 57th Military Airlift Squadron and the rest served in the 57th 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 57th members.

While doing research to set up the 57th Alumni website (http://www.57thalumni.com) I was able to make contact with the 375th Troop Carrier Group reunion president (The 57th Troop Carrier Squadron (TCS) was assigned to the 375th during WWII). Although the 375th no longer holds a reunion the president was able to give me 50 names he had of 57th TCS members. When supplying the names the 375th 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 57th 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 57th TCS members with us at our next reunion. Oh I must tell you that one of the 57th 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 55th TCS (the 55th, 56th, 57th & 58th TCS reported to the 375th 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 57th 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 57th 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: 57th Alumni Association

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

Reunion 2011

It is my great pleasure to announce that the 2nd annual reunion of the 57th Alumni Association will take place in Altus, OK from 6 to 9 October, 2011. Please make plans to join us. Registration forms will be sent out in January 2011 and the web site (http://www.57thalumni.com) and our FaceBook group page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=61965127586) will start posting additional details in January 2011.