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The

RED DRAGON

REPORT 2013 Red Dragon Gathering.................................................... 2 Notes from the June 2012 Gathering Colorado Springs, CO .. 3 Videos ...................................................................................... 7 Some Things Never Change .................................................... 7 Chemical Stryker Model Kits .................................................. 7 Financial Report....................................................................... 8 Web Links to Check Out ......................................................... 8 TAPS........................................................................................ 8 A Trophy of War Returns ...................................................... 10 Red Dragon Histories available ............................................. 10 Red Dragon Prayer ................................................................ 11 Red Dragons Past and Present ............................................... 13 Red Dragon Roster – Southwest Asia . Error! Bookmark not defined. Red Dragon Roster World War II........ Error! Bookmark not defined. Red Dragon Roster Korean War........... Error! Bookmark not defined. Red Dragon Roster - Associates ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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2013 Red Dragon Gathering

Event There will be a gathering June 19-24 for all Red Dragons past and present, from all periods of service. We welcome all others interested in the 2nd Chemical Battalion and its predecessor units.

Location Hyatt House, Gaithersburg MD 200 Skidmore Boulevard, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA 20877 Tel: +1 301 527 6000 Fax: +1 301 527 1800 http://gaithersburg.house.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels-gaithersburg-house/index.jsp?null We have been to this location twice before and every one really liked it. It is one block to the subway station which makes it easy to see sights in DC if you like. What you need to do: 1. Make your own reservations; we have a block of rooms at

$109 one BR and $149 2 BR that will be held through May 29. Ask for the Red Dragon Block.

2. Reunion cost $60 per person, $40 for Memorial Dinner only. Send to Walt Eldredge12124 North Oak Hills Parkway, Baton Rouge, LA 70810 You can also pay via Paypal. Send money to dragonscribe@cdox.net

3. If you are in the Facebook Group, please indicate your attendance plans.

Activities

• June 19-21 General gathering o Historical displays o Presentation of battalion history 1917-present o Plenty of time for sightseeing, meeting, mingling,

reminiscing and stretching the truth about yourself or others.

• June 22 Evening - Memorial Banquet

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• June 23 Close Station, March Order

• We will have a full time hospitality room. Feel free to attend for all or part of the time.

• If you would like additional vacation, the hotel will make rooms available at these rates for several days before or after our event.

Notes from the June 2012 Gathering Colorado Springs, CO The Red Dragons gathered in Colorado Springs had a great time, despite the fact that we could smell smoke from the Waldo Canyon fire just a few miles away.

Tim Petryni, Bob McGeorge (Korean War Red Dragon) SFC Jaime Martinez, Leon Crooks

(WW II Red Dragon) and SPC Micah Blackburn look at a collection of items dating from World

War I, Word War II, and Korea

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Cheryl Crooks (Leon’s daughter) talks with SFC Jaime Martinez and Marti

Troster, Korean War Red Dragon

SPC Micah Blackburn, Tim Petryni (Leon Crooks‘ grandson) with SPC Jazz Jasper

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CPL Venera Flores talking

with Leon Crooks, 1st Sgt,

B Co WW

Ed Fladeland and Bob McGeorge (Korean War) with Leon Crooks

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Harry Mitchell talks about his Korean War service with SFC Jaime Martinez

Red Dragons Past and Present at the June 2012 Gathering in Colorado springs

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Videos Several videos of the 2nd Chemical battalion history are on YouTube. These include: 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion in Operation HUSKY 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion on the North Coast of Sicily 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion at Salerno The Story of the 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion

Some Things Never Change

In the preparations for World War II in 1941-42, members of the 2nd Separate Chemical Battalion (later the 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion) referred to themselves as the”2nd Desperate Chemical Battalion.”

“We were called upon to win a place for ourselves – to prove our usefulness to our own side.” -- 1st Gas Regiment History, 1918

“Our job is to be scared for people who don’t know enough to understand what they should be scared of.” – 2nd Cml SGT Jackson, 2005

Chemical Stryker Model Kits For you scale modelers, several companies have come out with kits for the M1135 NBCRV Stryker, used by today’s Red Dragons.

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Financial Report

Beginning Balance YE 2011 $1,477.11

Donations $440.00

Newsletter ($583.15)

Reunion expenses ($1,000.00)

Reunion revenues $785.00

Raffle $170.00

Ending Balance YE 2012 $1,288.96

Web Links to Check Out

We continue to add photos and documents to the website for the Red Dragons Veterans Association at www.red-dragons.org. We are looking for more, especially experiences from Afghanistan and Iraq. You can even use PayPal to donate to the Association, and get a receipt for tax purposes. Walt Eldredge's website for his books is www.dragonscribe.com. Our Facebook group 2nd Chemical Battalion Red Dragons Second to Nonefor the battalion is up to 146 members. The members range form widows and other family of deceased WW II veterans to newly enlisted soldiers at Fort Hood.

Bruce Elliott’s website at www.4point2.org. remains the most comprehensive source of information anywhere about 4.2-inch mortar and the chemical mortar battalions that used it.

TAPS There are more names than usual in TAPS because I have been trying to locate people with whom we have lost contact. In this process I have found deaths as early as 1979. Almost all of this comes through the internet, which has information today that was unavailable just a few years ago.

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Name Service Date of Death

Ervin F. Behnke A:1/53-11/53 7/4/2012

Ronald J.Biermeier A:1/49-10/51 11/30/2006

John E. Boyle H: WW II 20/19/2012

Melville S.Boynton C: Korea 10/15/1979

August Brunsen Jr A: Korea 6/22/2011

Ernest L. Buschjost A:1/52-2/53 5/16/2011

Daniel D. Doran B: Korea 7/9/1998

Albert H. Fetting A: WW II 1/17/2012

Sam J. Folcarelli A: WW II 1/5/2005

Gilbert M. Hanan H:WW II 4/10/2011

Ellwood Hebda H:2/49-11/51 12/1/2009

William E. Henry Jr A: 42-45 1/28/2012

Gerald E. Johnson B:9/51-7/52 11/24/2012

William R. Kirklin C:12/42-7/45 3/11/2011

Weber Lashley B: WW II 3/23/2002

Leo H. Letondress B:49-51 3/11/2011

William P. McGowan C:1/52-10/52 1/27/2012

Leon V. Richie BD: 42-45 1/26/2006

John Robuck WW II 10/14/2007

Charles E. Smith Jr CD: WW II 5/16/2011

Leo Uliczny BH: WW II 11/1/2012

Richard W. Williams H:9/51-9/52 9/30/2012

Jesse D. Woodward C:1/53-9/53 2/2320/12

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A Trophy of War Returns I got an email from someone in Spain who had purchased a Nazi banner at a flea market. It was marked “2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion in Germany 1945.” The letters are faded so I enhanced the inset below. There were several recognizable signatures on it, including Lt. Gene Holzworth and Sgt Leon Crooks. I emailed it to Leon’s son Richard and 30 minutes after it left Spain, Leon was looking at photos of it in Parsons, KS. Don’t you Love living in the information age?

Red Dragon Histories available You can order your books about the battalion history from my Website, www.dragonscribe.com You can pay through PayPal with an account or a credit card.

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Red Dragon Prayer

Presented here is the Red Dragon Prayer which became an official part of battalion history in 2012. The story of its origin is on the following page.

Almighty God,

You have placed Your hands of protection upon Red

Dragon Warriors from our earliest beginnings until

our present day. You have watched over our

comrades in far and distant lands.

As our warrior predecessors carefully and

strategically gauged their precision mortar

coordinates, so may we fix our eyes upon You for our

success, and may You continue to grant us Your favor

which has allowed the Red Dragon Soldier to stand

head and shoulders above the rest.

Lord, protect our families who support their Red

Dragon Soldier as they serve our nation. Give them

comfort in your grace and mercy. Grant them peace

in the knowledge that You travel the path with them

and with their Red Dragon Soldiers.

May we ever be mindful of our rich heritage that You

have blessed us to prevail over many trials and tests

on and off of the battlefield. Let us continue to strive

to uphold our traditions with uncompromising

adaptation that displays humility, honor, and

integrity. Give us the courage to meet the unknown

without hesitation. Grant us the fortitude to persevere

over any obstacle, and may our actions enrich the

legacy of the 2d Chemical Battalion…FLAMMIS VINCIMUS—“With Fire We Conquer”

—AMEN!

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Origin of the Red Dragon Prayer

LTC Chris Cox was a strong supporter of the Veterans Association during his tenure as battalion commander, and gave high priority to informing the soldiers in the unit about their history and tradition. He decided to take the lead in adding to that history with something that we have never had before – an official Red Dragon prayer. Captain Mark Musser, battalion chaplain, was tasked with the writing. “The commander and CSM Kraus and I met every week for three months to work on it,” the captain told me. “We went line by line through the books on unit history and said ‘Is that reflected in the wording?’ Then we turned it around and went through every line in the prayer, and said “How does that wording express what’s in the history? We even asked the Brigade CO and CSM to look at it.” The first official use of the prayer was to open the Battalion Birthday Ball in April, 2012. We are indebted to LTC Cox for his leadership, and to all three of these Red Dragons for their painstaking efforts to make this prayer a true reflection of and addition to the battalion’s tradition.

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Red Dragons Past and Present

A sergeant of the 1st Gas Regiment in France, 1918

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A Red Dragon inspects wreckage for radioactivity during a training exercise at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, May 2012

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Father Joseph Conlon conducts Mass for D Company on 27 February 1944 near Cassino Italy. Note the altar made of ammunition boxes.

A jeep of the 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion (operating as the 461st Inf Bn ) fords the swollen Kumsong River in Korea, June 1953. Bob McGeorge, serving with the battalion at that time, saw th85is picture in the book Battle For Korea and recognized the helmet insignia (enlarged in the inset).