PRESIDENT’S CORNER

By

John D. Long

GREETINGS!!! Welcome to 2017, a year filled with hope, promise and optimism. I sincerely hope that everybody had a fantastic 2016 Holiday Season.

I know I promised to provide these updates more often, but my excuse is that we have been having trouble with our website. Having said that, I can’t use that excuse anymore because, Chuck Johnson, our webmaster, and Tim Bastyr have come up with a fix for the website. The website has been converted to a new language which provides for more effective and efficient maintenance and updates, and allows gray-haired Marines to understand how to make it work (maybe). If you have a computer, go to www.hmm-265.org and enjoy the upgraded website.

As I write this, we are four months and one week from Reunion 2017 in San Francisco. Currently, we have 31 members and guests signed up. Whereas we usually expect over fifty members and guests at our reunions, the smaller number will allow us greater flexibility in selecting various venue locations, such as the banquet. The good news here that is we are revisiting our expense estimates and will be making some changes that will allow us to reduce prices.

Example: Wine Tour. This was planned for a private bus that would hold 50 people and be exclusively ours for the day. With only 15 people signed up now, we are canceling this and will sign up for one of the regularly scheduled daily tours. Tim tells me the cost for this is only $89/person instead of the $120 for the bigger bus. Those who have already signed up will receive a refund and any one signing up from now can use the $89/person figure to pay.

Another saving will be the Banquet. Planning for a larger group, we had a banquet room set aside in the hotel and the costs were included the registration fee of $170/person. By eliminating the $80/person banquet cost, the registration fee will drop to $90/person. Instead of a Banquet with a limited set menu, we will be going to one of the fabulous restaurants at or near Fisherman’s Wharf. Tim is working now on reserving space and attempting to arrange that we will be able to order off the menu. I have seen the menus for several of these places, and if you are really looking forward to banquet style rubber chicken, you are out of luck. However, for the rest of us, I can already taste the gourmet seafood and beef selections.

We hope you can join us. If you have not already registered, call the Marines’ Memorial Club and Hotel, at 415-673-6672, ask for the HMM 265 Reunion 2017 rates and reserve your room now. Then, send Gary Kerr your Registration Form and payment. I’ll see you in San Francisco!

John Long, President

HMM-265 Veterans Association

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