On behalf of the Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to wish a "Happy Birthday" to all the Active Members of the 38th OCC/BC 3-66 USMC Alumni, Inc. and all of thoseother Marines and family members who have chosen to associate themselves with thisfine group of veterans. Thank you for your service to our wonderful Country, to the Corps, your Classmates and the other Marine Warriors with whom you served. Whileactive duty members of our beloved Corps are in harms way in Afghanistan and Iraq,we celebrate this joyous event with a measure of concern for their safety. We ask God's grace on them and our Corps.

We kicked off the 2009 Annual Voluntary Contribution (AVC) drive on the Marine Corps Birthday. To date, we have received 23 "contributions" totaling $2,603.

You will recall that membership in our organization is not predicated on payment of dues. We do, however, solicit "voluntary contributions" to support the annual operations and our charitable mission. The "suggested" AVC is $25. We do provide recognition on the website (www.usmc-thebasicschool-1966.com) of all those Classmates who do contribute. The leadership levels approved by the Board are as follows:

• Eagle - $150 or more
• Globe - $76 to $149
• Anchor - $1 to $75

In 2008, your annual voluntary contributions funded our operations and allowed charitable contributions of $4000 to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and $2000 to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. We are considering making a significant Charitable Contribution in conjunction with our Reunion in 2009. As we are a Non-Profit, contributions are tax-deductible. Please consider making a tax deductible contributions for 2009. Please show your support for the Class by contributing.

Please send your tax deductible Voluntary Contribution check made out to "38th OCC/BC 3-66 Alumni" to our Treasurer at the following address:

Chuck Sooter
11932 Yearling Street
Cerritos, CA 90703-7615

Thank you for your continuing support of the Class.

It is with regret that I pass along the reports of the passing of two of our Classmate:

Jon M. Zayachek
Jon's wife, Mary, reports that Jon died of acute leukemia in May 2007. He was originally diagnosed with the disease in June of 2006. While treatment delayed the progress of the disease for a time, it was not successful in keeping him in remission. Jon was a member of D-2 at OCS and proceeded directly to Pensacola for flight training. If you wish to correspond with Mary, she can be reached via email at mkz4617@verizon.net or 4617 Old Oak Road, Doylestown, PA 18901-8812.

Lt Col James H. Kean, USMC (Ret.)
The following obituary appeared in a local Cape Cod paper: "James Hamilton Kean, 66, died suddenly on May 5, 2008. Mr. Kean was a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps, who participated in the evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. He graduated with a degree in Asian Studies from UC Berkeley and from the Defense Language Institute. He joined the Marine Corps in 1961 and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. His awards include two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.

He was the Commanding Officer of Charlie Company, Marine Security Guard Battalionand Ground Support Force Commander, United States Embassy Compound in Saigon. Hewas in command of the last Marines to leave the rooftop during the evacuation ofthe embassy on April 30, 1975. He personally supervised the evacuation of approximate 1000 Americans and several thousand Vietnamese in advance of approaching North Vietnamese forces.

He retired in 1983 and founded Yankee Traders, an export/import company dealing with Asia, and Pacific Grinding Wheel in Marysville, Washington."

Jim attended OCS as a member of the Meritorious NCO program. The record of his attendanceat OCS is a little muddled, but he was either in D-1 or C-3. He was in E-3 at TBS. Jim is survived by his wife, Roseanne. If you wish to correspond with Roseanne, she can be contacted at P.O. Box 478, Cummaquid, MA 02637 or phone (508)362-4859.

Your Reunion 2009 Committee had another meeting on Saturday, October 25th to review the arrangements that have already been put in place for our gathering. The host hotel will be the same facility that we met at in 2005, but it has been refurbished under the Crowne Plaza-San Diego brand. The hotel will begin accepting reservations beginning November 6, 2008. We have a guaranteed rate of $119/night. Hotel reservation may be made by calling the hotel toll free at 1-800-882-0858 and asking for "reservations." Please be sure to mention that you are with the Reunion group "USMC-38th OCC." This will ensure that you receive the guaranteed rate. I suggest that you make your hotel reservations as soon after November 6th as possible. We will be sending out more information on the program and the cost of the Reunion registration after the new year, once the program is finalized and the budget is prepared. In the meantime,please make your hotel reservation after November 6, 2008.

Please visit our website to follow the development of the Reunion schedule and get more information on registering for the Reunion and making reservations at the hotel.

The following items have been received relative to our Classmates:

• Hampden-Sydney College of Hampden-Sydney, VA has dedicated the basketball playing surface of Gammon Gymnasium as Snyder Hall in memory of Stephen F. Snyder, the first of our 32 Classmates to die in Vietnam. In 2007, Steve, who played basketball andwas a co-captain of the team his senior year was elected to the Hampden-Sydney College Athletic Hall of Fame. Steve was a platoon commander with Foxtrot Company, 2/4 andvolunteered to lead a night reinforcement of another heavily engaged platoon. For his heroic actions on the evening of 24 August 1966, he was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.



• Charlie Keryc - Finished up a three week round of chemotherapy and radiation in mid-September for a cancer of the throat. He didn't have any adverse side effects, and he is waiting for feedback on the efficacy of the treatments. He is planning to attend the Reunion in October 2009. Charlie can be reached lkeryc@msn.com, (516)781-2723 or 3173 Cherrywood Drive, Wantagh, NY 11793.



• Mike Joseph - Reports that his son, Stephen's wife, Nicole just had her first baby. Ava Grace weighed in at a very health 10 pounds. Everyone is doing fine includingthe proud grandfather.

Our Treasurer, Chuck Sooter, reports that as of October 20, 2008, we have funds on hand of $10,936 in our treasury, split between our checking, savings and money market accounts. You will recall that the Board has endorsed maintaining approximately $5000 for annual operations and advance funding for reunions, so we are comfortably above our minimum. The major difference in our financial condition from the last Newsletter are the Board approved charitable contributions of $4000 to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and $2000 to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. We should take pride in these significant charitable contributions to Marine charities that are near and dear to all of us. Our support of the Class through the Annual Voluntary Contribution (AVC) program has facilitated these charitable contributions. In 2009, as last year, we will be posting the AVC Honor Roll on the website. A sincere thank you to all who have supported the Annual Voluntary Contribution requests in the past. In a couple of months, you will be able to visit the website to view the 2008-2009 list of contributors. The list can be accessed by clicking on "Class Association Information" and then selecting "F. Annual Voluntary Contributions."

Your Reunion 2009 Committee is already meeting to put on a great Class gathering. The Committee consists of Classmates Bernie Allen, Andy Blenkle, Rick Cleland, Terry Cox, Dave Mellon, Digger Odell, Chuck Sooter, Mike St. Clair, Bob Stimson, Skip Storey and Earl Wentworth. The host hotel will be the same facility that we met at in 2005, but it has been refurbished under the Crowne Plaza-San Diego brand. The hotel will begin accepting reservations in mid-October of 2008, one year in advance of our actual Reunion.

In May, Classmates Fred Frey, Steve Hinds, Dave Mellon, "Vic" Vickers and Chuck Sooter returned to I Corps on a Military Historic Tours program led by Classmates Sam McClinchie and Dave Wall. It was an incredible trip through all of the major Marine battlefield of I Corps made more poignant by the remembrance gatherings to honor the memories of the 32 Classmates that we lost in Viet Nam. We recognized the 2 lost in Quang Tin Province on Hill 34 at Chu Lai. The 13 that died in QuangNam Province were remembered on Red Beach in DaNang. Captain Denver Colburn, who died in a helicopter crash in Thua Thien was remembered at Quang Tri Cathedral. Finally, the 16 of our Classmates who died in Quang Tri Province were honored at the "French Bunker" at Con Thien.

For Classmates who missed the May 2008 trip, but are still interested in visiting Viet Nam, Dave Wall will be leading another trip back to I Corps and duplicating the May itinerary, September 7-20, 2008. If you are interested in going back to Viet Nam with Dave, please give him a call at (603)744-9661.

I am looking for a Classmate, who would like to take over the administration of our several lists. This is a function that Past President, Jack Sheehan, has handled since the inception of our organization, but with a business to run, Jack has less time available than in past years. Accordingly, if you have some experience with Excel spreadsheets and an attention to detail, please give me a call at (949) 489-8378 or drop me a reply email. The lists need to be updated to reflect the new membership categories and then maintained. I look forward to hearing from those interested in performing this valuable function for the Class.

Joan Strokes

It is with regret that I pass along the following information. Joan Strokes, wife of Classmate Paul Strokes (OCC Platoon D-2 and Basic School Platoon E-5) passedaway on May 8, 2008. The Class has expressed its sympathy to Paul and his family. If you wish to make a personally expression, Paul can be reached at (202) 659-7524 or Paul_Strokes@ml.com.

The following two items have been received relative to our Classmates:

• Randy Erickson (Basic Platoon D-2) has been selected as one of Orange County,California's Top 50 Attorneys for 2008
• John Connor (OCC Platoon D-2 and Basic Platoon E-1) recently retired from the Wall Street Journal returned earlier in 2008 from a 6 months assignment as a PublicAffairs Officer for the Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq.

Our Treasurer, Chuck Sooter, has reported that as of July 1st, we have $18,029.63 in our treasury, split between our checking, savings and money market accounts. The Board has endorsed maintaining approximately $5000 for annual operations andadvance funding of "Reunion 2009." The Board will be making charitable contributionsto Marine charities during the Third Quarter. A sincere thank you to all who havesupported the Annual Voluntary Contribution requests made earlier.