Any questions, contact Gary Alls at:

Gjalls@aol.com

HMM-263 RENO UPDATE

FELLOW MEMBERS OF HMM-263:
As I mentioned in my letter sent in Sept .of this year, I would be doing a group e-mail to keep the members up to date regarding our reunion. If you get this e-mail more than once, please disregard and just be thankful that you received it at all. My computer deficits are about as big at the national debt.

Here are some following developments that are happening:
T.C. Moyer continues to work hard on Reunion memorabilia. Please continue to send all ideas that you might have to him at his e-mail address. It is moyerto@xspedius.net. He will be coming on line around the first of the year. Please give him all the support that you can.

The next topic will be the Squadron Dinner held on Friday 9 July. Thoughts were given to holding our dinner with another squadron near Lake Tahoe. Due to many reasons and circumstances, that thought has been discarded. Hmm-263 will hold a dinner amongst ourselves.

We are still booked at the hotel for a room size seating for 60-80 people. We are also looking at off site restaurants. If there are any members in the Reno area or if you know of someone who lives in the area who might want to volunteer some time please contact me at gjalls@aol.com. Also Les Williams whose e-mail is boodawg1@comcast.net, or Rich Buggllie whose e-mail is usmc65@comcast.net. More information will follow later regarding the dinner. A new chef starts in Feb of 2004. There may be a change in the menu so we will have to wait and see what happens.

Room Rates And Other Fees
As you know, the reunion will run from 8 July through Sunday morning 11 July. A room rate of $79 (not including a 12% room tax) will prevail. Also, a discount of 15% at the KOA RV Park will be offered. Information on the KOA Campground, including rates and reservations phone numbers will be published in the winter edition of our newsletter.

During January of ’04 each member will receive a reunion packet in the mail with scheduling and sign up forms. The cost will be the same as 2002. Registration will be $45 per person. The Thursday night “Welcome Aboard Reception” is $35. Saturday dinner and show $45 for a total of $125.
REMEMBER-----IF YOUR DUES ARE NOT PAID UP----NO PACKET—AND IF NO PACKET—NO REUNION. Please make sure you are up to date on the dues.

PRE-REGISTRATON
It is important for all attending that we pre-register. Our Coordinating teams needs to know how may meals to order for each event. If they guess wrong, extra money will have to be paid by our team. We, as a group lose. PLEASE, help them as much as possible. A late charge of $50 will be added if you wait until the reunion to register. It’s your money, so you decide.

ON SITE REGISTRATION
Each squadron will be provided a table to distribute reunion packets. Volunteers will be needed to man this table. Registrations will Thursday and Friday from 0900—1630 hrs. I am volunteering Les Williams and myself at the table from 0900---1100 hours for Thursday. I think that most, if not all, will be registered by early Thursday AM. So if you would like to step forward to help, please let us know.

SQUADRON HOOTCH & HOSPITALITY SUITE
These two items are in need of special attention by our members who are going to be present at the reunion. Each of these will require an additional cost to each one of us.

The “Hootch” will be a 12 x 12 unit made of pipe and drape located in the pavilion. Also provided will be two (2) tables with enough chairs to seat 24 people. An electrical hook-up, capable of handling movie or slide projectors will be provided. Projectors and screens will have to be provided by us. Banners and other items are not allowed to hang on the hotel walls. A BIG NO!! NO!! However, I would think that we could hang banners or posters from the hootch.

A fee of $75 dollars, which is half the cost, will be required. This will be paid be the members that attend the reunion. If you are unable to attend the reunion but would like to make a donation to our squadron hootch, please feel free to do so. I know I don’t need to say this, but if any money is donated you can rest assured it will be used for squadron purposes only. Hospitality suites also are available. If we decide to use one of these units, we as members need to know that it will be a major expense and require a lot of effort on our part.

Two sizes are available at $79 per day (plus a room tax of 12%) The deluxe, which are capable of holding 75-100 guests and the Sierra, which will hold 25-50 guests are available. No service what so ever will be provided by the hotel. We would have to supply our own food, snacks, drinks, ice, glasses, tableware, and whatever we would need to have a social gathering. Also, no clean up on the part of the hotel. I’m sure you can see that this will be a major decision that we need to think about and understand all the possible problems that might occur if we decide to do this. Just for the use of the room the cost will be approx. $300. That‘s without food, drinks and other condiments. The first question that comes to mind, will there be enough of 263 personnel to warrant this extra activity? I truly think it would be great if we had a place to “meet and greet” but we might just be able to do that at the squadron hootch.

Remember, this is your reunion and I will try to accommodate your wishes.
So please, give us some input as to your wishes.

In closing, as more information becomes available, I will try and make sure that you are kept up to date. Help spread the word to all your friends who were in HMM-263. After my first mailing I got back almost 25 returned letters because of bad addresses. Our members are out there somewhere. Let’s keep in touch.

We would like to hear from the members regarding your intentions of attending the reunion. An early head count so to speak would be helpful. I would like to have this info toward the end of January. Also we will start to collect money for the “Hootch” and for the “Hospitality Suite” (if you so desire one) most likely toward the end of April. Like all plans, this is subject to change but we need some kind of time frame to move forward.

Please take care and stay healthy. See you in Reno.

S/F GARY ALLS
CLASS OF ’66-‘67