Dear Brother EOD Vet,

What started three years ago with a reunion of the 287th EOD vets from Phu Bai is now a growing collection of vets who want to stay in touch with other.

When we began planning for another reunion of the 287th, we decided that we were too small a brotherhood to stay with one unit. Many of us served with more than one unit and we worked with people from units all over Vietnam and from all services.

We have too much to share to keep it to ourselves. We have a special bond with each other that very few people in their lives will ever have with another person. We hope this reunion will be the first of other reunions to follow.

With that in mind, Joe Jimenez and Stu Steinberg organized the first Vietnam EOD Veterans Reunion in St. Louis. We will be meeting at the Drury Inn St. Louis Airport from August 9-12, 2007. Everyone who was in an EOD unit in Vietnam from all services is invited, including our clerks who took care of so many things that made our lives better.

We have a block of rooms at the Drury Inn St. Louis Airport with a special rate of $89 a night for the standard room of two double beds, smoking or non-smoking, or a suite with separate bedroom for $141.99 per night. Handicapped rooms are available. You can also make your reservation by calling 800-325-0720. Tell them you are with the Vietnam EOD Vets for the group rate. The hotel will also honor this rate for a few days before and after the Aug. 9-12 reunion dates.

Our plan, which is still being developed, is to have everyone arrive for dinner on August 9th. If you can’t make it by then, we’ll see you when you get there. You can plan your departure anytime on August 12. We will be sending information on any planned activities such as contests like the ugliest scar, best tattoo, best tap dancer, most hair – least hair (only hair on your head counts for this one) and the most weight-least weight since Vietnam.

The hotel is right across the street from the airport and we will use the hotel shuttle to bring us to the Metrolink for trips to downtown St. Louis. We will arrange transportation for our events. Unless you plan to wander around the area, you probably will not need a rental car.

We plan to have most of the time for meeting with each other. With the exception of a hospitality room that will be open all the time, seeing each other for breakfast and groups that want to explore St. Louis, and dinners planned for the 9th, 10th and the 11th, we do not have a set agenda of events. Besides, if you remember the type of people we were (and probably still are), a set agenda wouldn’t work for us. Don’t forget your wife or girlfriend, but not both at the same time unless they’re really good friends. We will have a list of suggestions for exploring St. Louis.

Take a look at the roster of names we have collected so far. We will add more names as we find them. There’s still a lot more information we need to contact people. Please help fill in the missing information and correct any mistakes on the roster.

To help with other small costs of hosting our reunion, we need a registration fee of $40 per person. Send your checks to Joe Jimenez, 18112 51st Ave So, Seattle, WA 98188. Any money left after the reunion will be used to search for more EOD vets to help us stay in touch with each other.

More registration information is on the Reunion Flyer.

See you in St. Louis!

Your brothers, Joe Jimenez and Stu Steinberg