Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday period. I suspect the next two or three columns will be filled with Christmas news.

There has been a lot of interest in the return of the remains of our classmate Ted Lilly, who was killed in Korea on 3 Sept. 1950. His were one of only a handful so far that have been identified through DNA. On 21 Oct. the interment was held in old Fayetteville, NC at the Episcopal Church there. Then the procession was lead by about 50 of the Rolling Thunder motorcycles from the church to the cemetery. Members of the 504th Abn. Inf. gave him military honors. Alma Lilly Hodes, Ted’s widow, now married to Jack Hodes ‘49, received both the American Flag and a POW-MIA flag. Ted’s two sisters, Tori MacMillan and Betty Ann Barrett were there along with Sam & Tillie Smithers, Al Paulger, and Bill Baxley.

Classmates, as I have said before, continue to make news. Most of you have heard that Dave Hughes was selected as a Distinguished Graduate this year. Many of his activities over the years contributed to his selection, I am sure; but certainly his work with remote education and wireless communications played an important role. Watch to see which hat he wears at the ceremony.

Meanwhile up in Maine, Biddeford elected Wally Nutting as its first Republican mayor in forty years. Interestingly his father was elected mayor four times in nearby Saco.

The rush of Christmas is over. Now it is time to digest all those letters for the first column of ‘04. With such a stack I will have to push some of them and some pictures over into the second column.

The Class continues to get honored. Thanks to Fran Pick Dillard and her husband Bill the new Veterans Memorial in Auburn, AL has pavers honoring the Class of 1950, Andy Pick, and his two sons

Got a lot of nice pictures, too many to use in this column. Some I have saved for a future one. Others I will send to Sandy Sanderson to include in the class webpage (see above). By the way I have not had good luck with digital pictures, so please send me hard copies to use.

Also recently I have gotten a number of questions on why people have not gotten emails about classmate deaths. I use the AOG server to send out class-wide messages. If you do not have a correct email address filed with the AOG, you probably will not get such messages. Just go to send an email to “Address@aogusma.org” to sign up.

After a cold, wet winter, Spring will be welcome. We had 44 inches of snow in DC.

All that did not dampen the Founders’ Day celebrations throughout the country. Several people very nicely sent me pictures, as you see. I also received an article from the Birmingham News, featuring our own Will Hill Tankersley at the dinner for the West Point Society of Birmingham and Central Alabama. He narrated a slide show on US Army battlefields and memorials throughout the world, drawing on his membership on the American Battle Monuments Commission.

When you get this, Spring will be in the air, but now I sit watching the great snow of ‘03 fall outside my window. At times like this Robin and I are very glad to be living in the condo.

Some of the smart ones missed all the fun. The ‘50 "snowbirds" were in FL, where a bunch gathered near Ft. Myers in Jan. to eat and tell tall tales: Jack & Sara Hurst, Herb Liechty, Ken & Marilyn Moll, Wendy & Joy Phillips, Ros & Mary Round, and Tom & Winifred Strider.

We had a white Christmas in Northern VA, yet by the time you get this, Spring will be almost upon us. Still I have a large stack of Christmas letters and notes on my desk. Will put the news from as many as possible in this column.

After fifty years Jake Allen finally was awarded the CIB for his Special Forces work in the Korean War. That should mean Vic Cuneo also will be getting his CIB. Vic & Carolyn, by the way, recently acquired a great-grandson, though I do not have details.    For several years Ann Tormey, aided by Jim, has been working as a leader to get a museum built for Hampton, VA. Their recent note included a picture of the nearly finished building, which will open in the Spring.

It has been a long hot summer, but that is about at an end. Still, life for the class has been very busy. As most of you know, your Board of Governors met to get the planning for the 55th Reunion underway, although we already had our hotel reserved. In the meantime a number of us will enjoy the HI cruise this Sept.

Win Skelton represented the Class at the Class Leaders Conference at West Point. AOG is really trying to improve the communication with the alumni.

Another year passing too fast, but before I forget there are some admin. things to cover.

First: several of you have told me that you did not get various class-wide messages, such a death notices, on e-mail. You all should recognize that I use the AOG data base for such messages, so if you have not sent them your e-mail address, you will not be included in the distribution. You can sign on by emailing Address@aogusma.org. Also changes of address go there.

It is only April here, but a Spring thunderstorm is booming outside. A nice time to visit with all of you.

The Class was well represented at various Founder’s Day Bicentennial celebrations all across the country, but particularly at West Point. My spies spotted at least 19 classmates, most with wives, plus Mary Ellen Shepherd, George Lear’s widow. While most were from the East Coast, the Bests and the Leavitts came in from CA. Everyone I spoke with had a great time. By the way I very successfully watched some of the proceedings several days later on www.virtualwestpoint.org. Dave Hughes has been one of the prime movers in setting that up.