141110 November 10, 2014

 

        White House, TN - Out of town again, helping the kids move again. I am sure I am not the only one of my classmates who sometimes finds our schedules set by our kids. I should be in Hawaii now! Speaking of Hawaii, if any of you have any great trips you make and want to share with the rest of your classmates, please email me with pictures and details.

 

 

Veteran's Day Tribute

      This is the tribute to Lee's first Veterans which I created last year.  I had planned to update it this year but had to make an unexpected trip out of town and did not have accesses to the files or program I needed to make the update.  Still it is a fairly accurate account of our Veterans.  I know we have added some new readers since last Veteran's Day, so if you or someone you know from the Classes of '64-'65-'66 are omitted then please send me update info and I will add to the presentation when I once again have access to the computer on which I have my data filed.

          Happy Veteran's Day to all who have served and all their family members as well.

  

TV Shows of the 50's and 60's

Combat!

by Tommy Towery

LHS '64

        In honor of Veteran’s Day, let’s go back to one of the first Army drama series and what was touted as TV’s longest running World War II drama. Combat! (the exclamation point was a bayonet in the title graphics) originally aired on ABC on October 2, 1962 until 1967.  My most memorable item was the opening dialog of “Combat! Starring Vic Morrow…and Rick Jason.” It ran for 152 hour-long shows with the first 127 episodes filmed in black and white and only the final 25 episodes were in color.

        Most of the cast members were veterans of the armed services and several of them had actually served in WWII. Vick Morrow, who played Sgt. Chip Saunders, served in the U.S. Navy, and Rick Jason, who played as 2nd Lt. Gil Hanley, served in the Army Air Corps.

        Filming was scheduled for six shooting days per episode and each black and white episode had a budget of $127,500.

        I remember vividly this being one of my favorite shows when it first aired and I always tried to be home to see the show each week.  Though I thoroughly enjoyed the Army action, it was not (or maybe it was) influential enough to make me choose the Army over the Air Force for my own military career.

        Back then when one genre was a hit networks tried to air similar shows with a similar theme, such as the “Ben Casey” and “Dr. Kildare” competition. ABC came out with another WWII Army show similar to Combat! which only ran one season (1962-63) of 27 shows, staring William Reynolds. Does anyone remember the show?

Lee Lunch Bunch News

by Judy Fedrowisch KIncaid

LHS '66

        We had 29 folks join us at the October 2014 Lee Lunch Bunch get-together.  The group included several new faces: Judy Bills Tate & her husband Warren (that were visiting from Texas), Sarah Sanders Gilbert, Brooks Glover, Cecilia Chaffee Bruton, Adonna Johnson Mitchell, and Joel & Beth McNabb Weinbaum. Linda Weldon drove down -  again -  from North Carolina & Beverly Kay Parker Hillis and Linda Kinkle Cianci both drove down from Lawrenceburg, TN and Nashville, TN respectively.  Newlyweds Jimmy & Jeanne (Ivey) McBride were back from their Ireland honeymoon and able to join us also.  As always, good food & fellowship was shared by all those attending.  The next Lee Lunch Bunch get-together is scheduled for the last Thursday in April 2015.

 

 

From Our Mailbox 

 

Subject:    Guns at School and Website

George Lehman Williams

Class of '64

        The driver in the truck looks like me – but I don’t remember having a red truck – I did however on occasion – have a rifle and a shotgun in my trunk because I had gone hunting on the week-end – Seems like the Lee Lunch Bunch should communicate with you after each event for the next issue – they seem to have struck a nerve – I almost yelled at my wife over the week-end and fortunately was able to draw on my vast wisdom and just said “Yes Dear” – 

        On a fun note – does anybody out there know what I was doing on Toni Ivey’s front porch at 2 a.m. ? (As revealed as one of the Gossip features in the reunion video.)

        I for one will make an effort to send in comments or articles for the newsletter – and I will send Tommy a teddy bear before the next reunion so he has something to hug.

        I also really enjoyed the 50th reunion – thanks to all those on the reunion committee - got a chance to spend some time and talk to many classmates and my cousin that I have not seen or talked to in quite some time – we also closed down the bar on Friday night – maybe it was Saturday morning - I am sure that comes as a surprise to everyone – The only thing missing were classmate that live in Huntsville or a short distance away that did not show up – and of course – a live band.