The 26th Marines Association is open to Marine 26'ers of all eras... Including
the 26th
Marine Regiment, 26th MEU, etc., and
all units attached or supporting the same.
Important Links
26th Marines Association
- Our Origins...
| | Our reunion was a
lifelong dream of Ted Nichols, a member of Echo Company, 3rd Platoon in country in
1969. He was basically the only one Harvey Lang had stayed
in contact with over the years, with the exception of occasional contact with others in 3rd Platoon. He wanted
this to happen years ago, and then in the spring of 2001, Ted died of cancer. | | The
death of Ted was devastating; this loss brought home once again the brotherhood of being a Marine. The facts are we all made
it home, not because of our individual skills or luck, but because we all had each other, and we took care of each other.
Harvey Lang (known as Fang) and Mike Townes (known as Nashville Cat
deceased in early 2014), had also been in contact with others off and on since we had returned back to
the world in the mid to late 60's and 1970. We met in September of 2001 and decided to start work on the first
reunion. | | Sonny Hollub was the first contact, who had
been in contact with several 2/26'ers, Paul Tribus, Doc Charlie Klotz, Rudy Fonseca,
Bruce Killen, Ron Barrett, Lee Martin and others over the years... and it mushroomed from there. | | The 26th Marines Association’s website www.26thMarines.com was
created by Sonny Hollub. This site has all the up to date information
regarding, our organizations history, origins, current officers, past and next reunion information, contact information for
members on a voluntary basis, and other information related to our ongoing 26th Marines Association. | | All photos of past reunions are posted on our Face Book page
"26th Marines Association" now, with plans of transferring them
to our website www.26thMarines.com. If any of you have pictures you took and want them made available to everyone, please send those pictures to
Sonny for inclusion until further notice. | | Quinn
Harry found us early on and created his website www.26thMarines.org. His site has been a repository
for Nam photos and a compendium of other historical pictures and information related to our past. This site
is appropriately linked to the 26th Marines Association’s website, as well as the association's website appropriately
linked to Quinn’s. Quinn has recently offered to transfer all the pics from his site to ours. | | While we were not for sure how successful we would be in starting this association,
we started preparations for the association's first reunion. In May of 2002, this lifelong dream became a reality,
and we were together again for the first time in 30 years. We have completed
19 annual reunions since and will have our 20th annual reunion 2022 reunion
in the DC area. We all owe ourselves a pat on the back for continuing
this legacy. Over the years, we have expanded our membership availability
to all battallions, WWII, Vietnam and anyone whom has served with the 26th MEU... and since last year, any Marine or Marine's
Marine (Corpsman), regardless of when or who you served with. In doing this,
we hoped to obtain members from the 26th in WWII, offering to do the work for those old guys. We do have two Iwo Vets
whom served with the 26th Marine Regiment during WWII. Two years ago, at the Vegas Reunion, one of those Iwo Vets, George Bernstein 2/26 HQ, attended and was our key note
speaker at the Las Vegas Reunion... and what a treat it was ! Being from Ocala, Florida, he drove with the assistance
of his younger brother, all the way to Las Vegas. He had planned to attend our Savannah, Georgia reunion.
His brother had passed away and his son was going to bring him. I am also sad to report that his son, just notified
me Mr. Bernstein had passed away. It was such a treat to have him as our keynote speaker at the Vegas
Reunion. | | Now you know the background of the start of our 26th
Marines Association and how it has evolved
over the years, which is the intention of this posting including the introduction to the our new officers
and board members along with our goals, and our intentions to keep the association as an ongoing succesfull association. | | The goal of this association is to preserve our brotherhood, reflect on our past and present for the
benefit of all. Our intent as officers and board members of this association is to not only make this possible,
but to improve the next reunion and strength of our organization. | | In closing, we would like to tell you, 2022
reunion will be at the Embassy Suites, Springfield, VA. 22150, 8100 Loisdale Road, the Chicago, St. Louis or Branson Missouri, will be
voted on for 2023. | | Information related to these 3 cities selected to
choose from for 2023, at the 2022 Annual Meeting, will be been posted under "Scuttlebutt" on our website. It
will also be emailed to our email list and posted on the 26th Marines Association website, www.26thMarines.com, under "Reunions" and as mentioned above, presented at the 2022 reunion annual meeting, as well for a vote. | | Please check our Association's website www.26thMarine.com often
for updates. | | Semper Fi, |
~ The 26th Marines Association ~ Board of Directors ~
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 26th Marines Association Mailing Address,
340 Humphrey Dr., Buda, Texas 78610 |
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