HISTORY OF THE 221st VIDEO. Fort Monmouth. Packets. Powermen. Photo Teams. Lab Rats. Graphics. Supply. Motor Pool. Detachments. SEAPC and more. A video “History of the 221st Signal Company” was shown. Frank Lepore, our first OIC in RVN, gave a brief, impromptu talk about the earliest days of the unit in Long Binh.
MILITARY CHANNEL TV PROJECT. Producer Frederic Lumiere has been given an assignment by Discovery Communications to develop a possible show for the Military Channel on the 221st Signal Company. Frederic is an experienced producer (WWII in HD) with substantial credits. Frederic gave us a brief talk about the project and asked for our help with Interviews, stories and possible visuals to go with.
SLIDE SHOW
We showed slides. Limit 20 slides per person. This was great fun.
PICTURE BOOKS. We shared our picture books and memorabilia at the round tables in the Spirit Room (Hospitality Suite).
LUNCHEON ON MAY 8TH We had lunch together in the Spirit Room.
HILL 724. After lunch we had a special presentation given by Bob Walkowiak of the 3rd of the 8th Infantry. Bob, an infantry RTO, was there on Hill 724 near Dak To on Nov 11, 1967 where 221st Photographers, Maurice Cauchi, Mike Breshears and Butch Keneipp were wounded. This battle, one of the worst of the war, cost 22 American lives with 118 medivaced off the hill. Bob has recently discovered film footage in the National Archives (we thought to be lost) shot by Maurice Cauchi that day. This footage was shown in sync with the “battle tape” Cauchi made that day on his tape recorder. This presentation highlighted the value of Combat footage as historical record as Bob W showed us how the tape and film footage are helping him reconstruct the battle.
COMBAT CAMERA TODAY - 55th Signal Company (COMCAM)
We had a special presentation by the 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera), the Army’s only active duty Combat Camera Company, We were honored to have 1LT Darrick Noah and SSgt Kaily Brown on a TDY assignment to attend our Reunion. They did an outstanding job of presenting to us a complete picture of what Army Photo is today, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan They answered all our questions and stayed with us throughout the Reunion and our closing Banquet. In addition, Sgt Chris Hubert, alumni of the 55th Signal made a informative presentation which included a slide show by Sgt Jillian Munyon, alumni of the 55th Signal. We all came away with a deep appreciate of how Army Photo has progressed to such a high degree of capability both as “warriors” and “photographers”. Indeed, the mission is in good hands and we were extremely proud, at our Banquet, to make both 1Lt Noah and SSgt Brown honorary members of the 221st Signal Company (Pictorial).
COMBAT CAMERA YESTERDAY
Mike Anderson (Saigon Detachment) arranged for a selection of old camera gear. Mike got us a Graflex Super Speed press camera, a Nikon Photomic, a late-60's silver Leica, a 16mm Beaulieu, a Bolex MoPic, a Nikon F, a Nikkormat and another Speed Graphic. Evan Mower brought his Bell & Howell 16mm Filmo. Heavy.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS. On Wednesday morning, there were two special presentations by members of our unit. One by Ken Hoffman on MACV Photo Teams. Ken also discussed and answered all questions on the crash site of Ghost Riders 079. The other presentation was by Tom Wolzien who showed his film, “Forgotten Soldiers” which includes “Dustoff 89’er”, a riveting combination of Tom’s Filmo footage of a jungle pentrator dustoff mission with the “live” audio of the concerned pilot’s radio chatter as they hoover exposed on the hot LZ.
VIDEO INTERVIEWS. There were approximately 20 interviews filmed by Frederic Lumiere during the course of the Reunion.
CLOSING BANQUET WITH “MISSING MAN” CEREMONY ON MAY 9TH. Our Missing Man ceremony was done in a fitting manner on the 42nd Anniversary of the downing of Ghost Rider 079, with full active Duty Transcom Color Guard. One exception to the normal protocol was that we included a camera on the missing man table. We were honored to have the names of our fallen read out by Colonel Keith Essen, one of our own.
Final attendance List for Reunion May 2012
