Clark County Press (Neillsville, WI)

August 23, 2006, Front page   

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

 

 

Of officers, and friends

By Mike Kuziak

 

The Berlin Crisis, the Soviet Union?s threat to world peace and President Kennedy?s calling the National Guard to active duty had brought the men of Company E together for nearly a year of training at Fort Lewis, Wash. back in 1961.

 

Forty-five years later, many of those same men just as enthusiastically answered the call to Fannie?s Supper Club for yet another reunion Saturday night.

 

About 50 men listened to their former commanding officer, Pink Van Borden, now nearly 80 years of age, recall the rigors of the field exercises they endured, as well as the humor they managed to muster in the most trying of combat exercises.

 

?We had a good out-fit,? Van Gorden remembered modestly at first.  Then he reminded the men how they had finished second in combat readiness among the 25 companies of the 1st Battle Group, 128th Infantry, 32nd Division.  ?You guys did a superior job,? said the soft-spoken former feed mill owner and five-term Wisconsin state Assemblyman.

 

Most of the men, along with four widowed spouses of former Guardsmen, at Fannie?s for Saturday?s reunion were from Wisconsin.  Many of them, especially those from the Clark county communities of Neillsville, Granton and Loyal, hadn?t missed a reunion, held every five years, since the first one in 1966.

 

It was the spirit of camaraderie and friendship, reaffirmed each and every time that has brought them back again and again, the men were saying as they lingered, sharing memories and laughter, long after the banquet speeches were over.

 

But the reunions were also about seeing their former commander, Van Gorden, once again, they said.  ?They would follow him anywhere,? said one of their spouses.

 

 

 

Former platoon leader and 2nd Lieutenant Tom Brackett had not been to a reunion in 45 years.  But the retired insurance agent from suburban Cleveland could not resist the call from Van Gorden to come to this year?s gathering.

 

Brackett did it his way, however, taking his 1929 Ford Model A ?woodie wagon? on the 600-mile journey to Neillsville along back roads and county highways.

 

 

 

?I kissed my wife good-bye on June 1st,? he jokingly announced to the group during the banquet.

 

Actually, he later said, it was a three-day trip, including a ferry ride across Lake Michigan, for a car that has a cruising speed of about 45 mph and only gets about 15 miles to the gallon.

 

But, according to Brackett, it had taken practically no time at all for him to agree to come after Van Gorden called him with a special invitation.  ?I thought, ?What could be better,?? he said.

 

Making it all the more worthwhile was visiting with his old Army infantry buddies.  ?It brought back a lot of memories,? he said.

 

In addition, Brackett said, he had a most interesting stay, spending two nights at the Tuft?s Mansion bed & breakfast, visiting The Highground veterans? memorial park, and even taking in the novel experience of a bustling Farmers Market in downtown Neillsville.

 

But that night at the reunion, Brackett and the other men said, was special.  They agreed that Van Gorden had not changed, still possessing the quiet and unassuming air of authority that never lost its tone of respect for each and every one of the men he once commanded.

 

?He was our leader,? said Brackett.

 

?He set an example.? said Lee Kurasz, of Neillsville.

 

Yet he was, and remains, a friend, a number of others added.

 

Van Gorden humbly offered another perspective, saying that the men, with their dedication to duty and rural values, made it easier on their commanding officers than it otherwise might have been.  ?We had some great, hard-working farm boys,? Van Gorden said of the soldiers of Company E.  ?They kept it going,? he said.

 

And the men of Company E kept it going once again Saturday night, overwhelmingly voting at the banquet to have another reunion, one that would be held in three years.

 

He would be looking forward to seeing the men again, said Van Gorden, just as he had at every reunion, since.

 

 

 


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