USS Pursuit 2008 Reunion Report
Branson, Missouri

On or about November 9, 2008, (Sunday), the crewmembers of the USS Pursuit from 1942 till 1960 started arriving in Branson, Missouri for their 2008 annual reunion.  Branson was having fairly good weather (not too cold and a little overcast).  The hotel was about 50 miles from the airport but a free taxi service was included in our hotel bill which made it very convenient.  Sunday was mostly a “check-in” day with our crewmembers appearing all day long.  The Hospitality room was open with refreshments which allowed us to gather to do what we like to do most.  That is, to tell sea stories, talk about our early days and to catch up on our experiences since the 2007 reunion.  Some of our early birds (Jim Kinney and Nancy) got ahead by going to the Lawrence Welk show that day.  Our hosts, George and Martha were making sure everyone was getting in OK and that our next day was ready to go.

Monday was scheduled to be our “fully packed” day of activities.  It would be a visit to a museum, shopping downtown, a Christmas Show and a Chinese Circus Show. What a day! After our continental breakfast we gathered for our bus to the Veterans Memorial Museum.  This was a great museum, it had the best collection of WWII uniforms I had ever seen.  Malcolm and I wondered why all the uniforms looked so small (could it be that we had gotten bigger?).  A major exhibit was a life size, bronze statue of approximately 50 GIs all running forward as if to make an attack (awesome).  They said the faces on the men were the real faces of that particular unit.  Next we were bused off to the Branson Landing, a modern, multi million dollar shopping complex.  We had lunch there (and I don’t really know, maybe some shopping also).  Next, on to the Shoji Tabuchi Theater, where we saw a spectacular all American Christmas Show.  .Even before the show, we all toured the theater which was filled with gorgeous Christmas decorations and all kinds of unusual rooms (the men’s restroom was so spectacular, some of the women went in to see some of it).(None of the men saw the Ladies room).  The show was outstanding with colorful scenes, great music, expert dancers and a great host.  When you see Bob Ciereck again, ask him what he did with all his ice cream at the show.   Then after a quick (but very good dinner) we were whisked off to the New Shanghai Circus Theater.  This show was spectacular in a totally different way.  It was full of acrobats (that must have been made of rubber), many young women beating on giant drums that made excellent music, jugglers that we thought were using magic and in general a very entertaining show.  And then, we still had time and energy to gather in the Hospitality room to visit.

Tuesday was Veterans Day, and the big event was the famous Branson Veterans Day Parade.  Many were concerned that it was cloudy and the parade would rain out.  We went anyway.  Jack McCarthy, George Rose and I went downtown early to get a good viewing spot (we got one by parking in the Police Department parking lot).  Jack and I decided we would march in the parade (George declined) so we went to the staging area and all we could find were Army, Air Force and Marine groups.  We finally found a group that welcomed us to march with them (Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 913) so we did.  This group had a wagon for the vets that wanted to ride, so when we saw George on the sidelines, we pulled him in and onto the wagon (George had a great time taking pictures from the wagon).  As we went along we saw our vets and pulled them in too (Bob Ciereck, Roger Cortivo, etc.).  It made us glad we were Americans! That evening, at the hotel, we had our group pictures taken, then the Banquet Dinner and then our business meeting.  The minutes are attached.

Wednesday was “pack-up” day and “Good Bye” day till next year. 

Please plan on coming to our 2009 reunion in San Francisco being planned by George Rose for the last week of September 2009.  Our next newsletter will have more details.