From: "John Strain"   jsreco@csj.net
Subject: 44th Engr Grp History Comments
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 16:55:09 -0600

Frank, I was at camp USARTHAI from Oct 67 until its Death approx Oct 68 at that time I moved to Camp Friendship unti ETS Jan 9th 69'. While at USARTHAI Co. Lt Dennis R. Turner from Carlinville , IL now living in OK. I Was (UP) Unit Police (glorified gate guard) along with John Jenkin, John Holliday, John Gomez, John Rueter, Charles Rankin, Graves and Couple others. I believe Logsdon was Mail Clerk (NY) at least he went to Friendship to get he Mail,there was J.E. Stewart, Claud, Baumgardner + that were cooks and 44th had a Sgt. ? that had 2 monkeys in a cage by Taylor Shop. I know I remember you, can't say I knew you, ran in different circles. how about Top 44th Gr little Black Guy always carried walking stick and I couldn't underestand a word he said, did you know sp/4 Kirk , Sp/4 yates? Is there anyway a person could get a list of the name(all) that were with 44th and 697th while at USARTHAI ? I have 250 slides 100 Pictures taken in Korat or USARTHAI or FRIENDSHIP a little of everything, I'll go through them and put together everthing to do with USARTHAI , FRIENDSHIP , AIRBASE OR ARMY in THAILAND.

-Email 28 Jan 01


From: "John Strain"   jsreco@csj.net
Subject: C.O. - 1LT D. Turner
(You Can Run But You Can't Hide)
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 09:40:34 -0600

Frank, I'm on his trail and will probabley have E-mail address in a day or so, I spoke to his brother few minutes ago, says the Engineer Firm he works for is now located (for a year or so) in Lithuania. I'm going to get in touch with his daughter and get E-mail address. To date I've been in touch with 6 from the 697th USARTHAI by phone, a couple don't have access to a computer. I keep coming up with new names, looked at some old order(you probably typed them up) :Chier,Ruben Ramos,Michael W. Ford,Richard Alkire,Frank Blume,Ralph Lemmer. I also have some name for 44th:William Hapkoon,Earl McBride,Michael Keith,Norris Taber,Terry Humes Curtis Waters, Darrel Samsa,Lewis Johnson,,Leonar Vaughan, Robert Taylor,Wallace Roach,Harding Woodson, William Watkins,Jerry Gray,Lewis Ritter,Joseph Morice,James Lipp, Douglas C. Baumann,Thomas R. Ahrens, Jesse Johnson, Harry W. Benson. Most are 44th some are 809th some 538th. I think I went through AIT with most of these guys (62E20) Ft Wood. Mo. I don't know how you would ever find them, guess they would have to do the finding. Later' John



From: "Joe Wilson"   jjwilson@pcisys.net
To: "John Strain"   jsreco@csj.net
Cc: "Frank \"dFox\" Picchione" <korat_mahknut@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: KORAT (Camp Usarthai)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2001 14:04:10 -0700

John, I was north at Khon Kaen Feb 68 - Apr 70, and didn't get down to Korat very often that first 6 months or so. I dont recall the base, but have a member Frank Pichionne who was there (company clerk). I'll cc him on this email, so you will have his email address, and he yours. Glad for the informaion bro,

Joe

----- Original Message ----- From: John Strain From: "John Strain"   jsreco@csj.net
To: "Joe Wilson - 519th Transportation Battalion - 9th Logistics"   jjwilson@pcisys.net
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2001 1:37 PM
Subject: KORAT (Camp Usarthai)

    Joe, If you were in Korat before Oct 68 you had to know of Camp Usarthai, it was about 1/8 Mile from Korat on the road to Thai Air base. We had a small Movie Theater, EM Club, NCO Club, small PX, Snack Bar, I think there was an Officer Club . Everyone from Camp Friendship and the Airbase used our Facility for Beer , Cigs , Food, ETC, because they all had Bungalows on this road and it was close. This was a Great Place, It was home to the 697th Engr Pipeline Co. and HQS 44th Group. There was only one gate and the gate Guards were (UP) Unit Police, which I was one of. We were assigned to this Job because there was a shortage of MPs Had this job from Oct 67 to Oct 68 When Camp was Disbanded and we moved to Camp Friendship. It was really a Great Place, Korat was #1 and I went back in Dec 88 for a couple days, Big change. I'm sure glad to know I'm not the onlyone who was at Korat and it is not forgotten


Notice:   There were several Army camps in Korat as well as the Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) that the American Air Force flew combat missions from in bombing both Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.   Camp USARTHAI was also referred by both the GI's and the local people as "44" or Camp-44 because it was the original home of the 44th Engineer Group (Construction) in Thailand.   Camp Friendship was a major installation built by the 44th and manned by the 9th Logistics for everything from hospital services to material logistics.   In the immediate area/region were smaller camps for U.S. Army Special Forces and other detachment-size elements that were not as well known.

Map to Roodhouse,
south of Springfield, IL