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The Ripcord Association and newsletter
were the brainchild of Chip Collins (B 2/506). After returning
from Vietnam and re-starting his life in “TheWorld” Chip found a
need to talk to others who served in the Ripcord AO in 1970.
Gradually Chip began to make contact with men he served with
during Ripcord. By 1983 he was producing a small, irregularly
published newsletter in which Ripcord Veterans related their
experiences during the Ripcord siege. He soon heard from others
and the newsletter grew in size and distribution. By July of
1985 Chip Collins was putting out a 14-page newsletter on almost
a monthly basis. Soon Bill Heath (A 2/506) assisted Chip by
taking over the publishing. Through the newsletter Chip met John
Mihalko of E 2/506 Recon. John and Chip shared a feeling that
there was a story that needed to be told and soon enlisted the
aid of Jim Fairhall who offered in the 1980’s, to do a book
about Ripcord.
Meanwhile other veterans of Ripcord were getting
together for reunions in small, scattered groups around the
country such as A 2/506, E2/506 Recon, and D 2/501. Chip Collins
and John attempted to set up a reunion at Fort Campbell for 1986
but things did not quite jell and there were concerns the
Ripcord guys would get lost among the bigger 101st reunion.
Finally, later that year, John Mihalko organized the first
official Ripcord Association Reunion with the help of VFW Post
5351 in Whippany, New Jersey. Thirteen veterans from the Ripcord
Battle, along with various wives and girl friends, attended. The
veterans included Ray Blackman, Fred Behrens, Rick Blyth, Dick
Cable, Chip Collins, Jim Fairhall, Chuck Hawkins, Bill Heath,
Frank Marshall, John Mihalko, John Sherba, Tom Sheppard and
George Westervelt. Moving along on the wave of success from the
first event a second reunion was organized by Chuck Hawkins and
held during October 1987 at the Westpark Hotel in Rosslyn, VA
outside Washington, DC. General Berry and General Harrison both
attended and the highlight of the reunion was a very emotional
visit to “The Wall”. Changes were occurring in the newsletter.
By 1987 Chip had Ray “Blackie” Blackman (D2/501) on board as the
co-editor. In 1989 Ray assumed the duties of editor as Chip
moved onto another stage of life. Late in 1989 Chuck Hawkins (C,
A 2/506) assumed the mantle of editor. In 1994 Frank Marshall
(A2/506) assumed the duties of publisher and John Mihalko and
Ray Blackman assisted Chuck as Contributing Editors. Try as
Ripcord Association members might, the next reunion did not
happen until 1995 and finally took place in Golden, Colorado.
Again John Mihalko, who had recently moved into the area,
organized it. Since the Colorado reunion the events have become
annual affairs. The next was Fredericksburg, Virginia (1996)
with another visit to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial. Then
Mobile, Alabama (1997). The reunion of 1998 in Atlantic City,
New Jersey came with a floor show and all the gambling you could
afford. The Savanna, Georgia 1999 event proved to be the home of
the tour that never ended. Shreveport, Louisiana (2000) included
a moving dedication ceremony, excellent speakers and a lot of
hard work by Jim Campbell and Fred Spaulding. The year 2000 also
saw the start of the Ripcord Association website
www.ripcordassociation.com created and managed by Frank
Marshall. The following year
(2001) Carlisle, Pennsylvania included a tour of the Gettysburg
Battle grounds which made us once more realize every war is hard
on the participants and even the folks back home. In 2002 we
returned to Colorado this time to Colorado Springs where a
demonstration of the new equipment carried by the grunts made us
wish we had most of it in Vietnam. The most recent reunion was
of course in Charleston, South Carolina (2003) where Fort Sumter
and the naval ship displays were visited by most. While John Mihalko, Chuck Hawkins, Jim Campbell and Frank Marshall have
been involved in setting up some of these events, Fred Spaulding
(HHC3RD Brigade) has led the charge most times and done most of
the hard work and organization. The newsletter had
another changing of the guard in the Fall of 2003.. Frank Marshall has taken the
reins of editorship with Lee Widjeskog (A 2/506) as Contributing
Editor, Pattie and Gary Radford (D2/506) handling the mailings
and Dennis Bloomingdale (B 2/506) taking care of the publishing.
From the rather small beginning we have seen our mailing list go
from 40 plus members to over 600.The goal of
getting a book written about our shared experiences has become a
reality thanks to the efforts of Chip Collins and Jim Fairhall
who started the project to get everyone thinking along those
lines. Keith Nolan, at the urging of Chuck Hawkins and Sid
Berry, whom Keith got to know while writing his first book, Into
Laos, took the shared remberances of the Association and put it
into book form. The reunions have gone from a group of 13 guys
to over 250 attendees in Shreveport. Each year new faces show up
and the results always seem to be positive.
In 2010,
Frank Marshall is still the Editor and
handles the mailings. Lee Widjeskog (A 2/506) is
Contributing Editor, and Dennis Bloomingdale (B 2/506)
taking care of the publishing.
The Association has over 600 members, which 350 of the
members receive the newsletter by e-mail or our website. Our
website has been a large factor in obtaining new members who
"google" ripcord and find us. There have been two TV shows
that have featured the story of Ripcord, War Stories with
Oliver North and National Gepographics "Inside the Vietnam
War"
Also in 2010, The Ripcord Association is now
a group on "Facebook" and thanks to Anthony Critchlow,
Ripcord veteran of HHC 2/506 who continues to monitor
and update it.
However, the best part of the association is remembering
friends you made during the tumultuous times of FSB Ripcord and
the new ones you discover at the reunions.
CURRAHEE !!!! |
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