Who Has Supported These Efforts...?...and Who Hasn't?
Over the past three years that I have been working on this project,
there have been many individuals who have contacted me for additional
information and with statements of support. In addition, several people
have been able to provide me with valuable and useful information
to assist me in these efforts. To all those people, you know who you are,
I want to openly state my tremendous gratitude for your time and effort.
There have also been several organizations and individuals who have been
conspicuously absent from this group of supporters. The two organizations
that I'm most disappointed in for their lack of interest are the Marine Embassy
Guard Association (MEGA) and the 716th Military Police Battalion. One would
think that they would want to jump on the bandwagon to assist "one of their own"
-- 1 of the KIA was a Marine Embassy Guard and 4 were MPs from the 716th.
[Note added 5/15/2002 - The 4 MPs were with the 527th MP Company, a unit of the 716th
Battalion.]
As the developments of my contacts of January, 2002, began to gather momentum
and show some sign of bearing fruit, I felt it would be appropriate to involve
these two specific organizations. I think the following facts should be made public:
716th Military Police Battalion
[contact information was obtained from their web site]
- 1/24/02 - email sent to Battalion Commander LTC Gyurisko - No Response
- 1/24/02 - email sent to MAJ Kroupa, Executive Officer - No Response
- 1/31/02 - email sent to Mrs Xavier Daniels, Battalion Secretary - No Response
- 1/31/02 - Other attempts to contact 716th personnel resulted in bounced email
- 2/8/02 - Phone message left for Mrs. Daniels - No Response
- Between 2/8/02 and 2/15/02 - Two phone messages left for LTC Gyurisko at the
Battalion Duty Desk - No response.
- The 716th Reunion Committee was also informed of this project back in January,
2000, but I've never heard from them.
Marine Embassy Guard Association
[contact information was obtained from their web site]
- 1/24/02 - email to MEGA1
- 1/24/02 - auto-response email received indicating Alan White would be unavailable
until 1/28/02
- 1/28/02 - email received from Alan White (MEGA Board of Directors) indicating my
message was "forwarded to our [MEGA] President and Vice President" - No Response
Conclusion
Due to this lack of response, I believe it is safe to say that neither the Marine
Embassy Guard Association nor the 716th Military Police Battalion find the efforts to
re-establish the missing plaque a matter of interest. For any of you connected to
either of these organizations, it's got to make you wonder.
Rossie, out.
3/8/02