2010 Reunion

Shipmates, Ladies and Friends, The USS Medregal has had another very successful reunion. This time it was in Portland, OR. The reunion hotel was the Double Tree on Multnomah Street. It is located right across from the LLOYD CENTER a big shopping mall. That area of Portland was easy to navigate if you could dodge all of the road construction. I think there were 32 Medregal shipmates and a total of 45 people at the Banquet on Tuesday evening. I would like to tell you all that if you ever need a couple to run a reunion Ron & Joan Bell should be considered. They did an excellent job from the day they volunteered to the last night of the reunion. Thank you Ron & Joan for your great job from the bottom of my heart. Our next reunion will be in the Baltimore area and it will be hosted by Jerry & Fay Vendrani. By the way Jerry & Fay, Barbara & I will be there but probably in our RV. A little summary of the reunion for those who did not attend. Saturday afternoon Barbara & I got to Portland set up our RV and preceded to the hotel to get our registration packet. The hospitality room was open so we stayed until the Welcome Aboard Buffet and then back to the hospitality room. We left early so that Barbara would not have to drive home the first time. The next day was a free day so that all of us could enjoy Portland but for Barbara & I it was back to the Hospitality room. A group of 4 of us decided to go to the Submarine Memorial in Beaverton, OR although we got a little bit lost we did enjoy “Memorial Park”. The park not only had a submarine memorial it had an “Air Group Memorial, a “Six Service Memorial” and a listing of all of the Oregon Medal Of Honor recieprences from Oregon. I will post a couple of the pictures we took when Barbara and I went back. Sunday evening about 30 of us descended on an unexpectant restaurant in the Hotel for supper. The fish & chips were great. Monday morning we started out on a bus for a tour of the city of Portland and the Lunch Cruise on the Willamette River . That was a pretty long day because after all of that we went back to the Hospitality room. Tuesday we got on another bus for a trip to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) which contains one of the “B Girls” the USS Blueback (SSN 581). We got back to the hospitality room about 2:00 pm but about 3:00 Barbara & I left to get ready for the Last night Banquet. It takes me a long time to get to look half way presentable for a big night out. The food at the Banquet was great and again this reunion as they did in 2008 Gary & Chris Davis produced a way of “Tolling the Boats” that I had never seen before. They had little glasses with the reunion dates on them and a picture of a lost boat. In the glass was a small candle and when the name of the boat was called the candle was blown out. After that the group was asked if they wanted to remember any one from the Medregal that was on Eternal Patrol. I and many others gave some names but I missed one that I would like to put in now James Foley was at our 2008 reunion and 5 months after that he received his Eternal Patrol Orders. Smooth sailing Sir. After the banquet most of us headed back to the hospitality room for one last drink and a lot of sad good bye. This time Barbara had to drive home. I had a hell of a good time. Thank you all for putting up with me.
Jim