{"id":155853,"date":"2022-07-08T21:04:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T02:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=155853"},"modified":"2022-07-11T03:44:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T08:44:53","slug":"local-u-s-navy-men-meet-for-the-first-time-in-56-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/07\/08\/local-u-s-navy-men-meet-for-the-first-time-in-56-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy men meet for the first time in 56 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a military reunion a long time in the making, more than 55 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six local boys \u2013 David Kreischer, Stephen Gehres, Thomas Baer, William Albright, Richard Fredrick and Lynn Jackson \u2013 left Van Wert June 23, 1966, for the U.S. Navy, just weeks after graduating from Van Wert High School. It was roughly 15 months after the United States became involved in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first stop was a recruiting station in Columbus, followed by a trip to the U.S. Naval Training Station in Great Lakes, Illinois, for nine weeks of training. After that, they split off to begin their service around different parts of the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shown in this 1966 picture are (front row, left to right): William Albright, Lynn Jackson, David Kreischer. Back row: Steve Gehres, Tom Baer and Richard Fredrick. A present day picture of the men can be found below. Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last month, June 23 to be precise, 56 years to the day when they left Van Wert, five of the men met at American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert. Kreischer, Gehres, Albright and Fredrick were there in person, while Jackson appeared via a video hookup. Unfortunately, Baer was unable to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first time they had seen each other since June 23, 1966, roughly 15 months after the United States became involved in the Vietnam War. The men literally hadn\u2019t seen each other during than span, but they\u2019ve all lived full and productive lives. During the reunion they were able to reminisce, trade information about what they\u2019ve done over the past 56 years and share a smile or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things went so well, the group is planning another reunion for June 23, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Here is the timeline involving Kreischer, Gehres, Baer, Albright, Fredrick and Jackson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May, 1966 \u2013 all six graduated from Van Wert High School as members of the Class of 1966.
June 20, 1966 \u2013 announcement of enlistment was made.
June 23, 1966 \u2013 left Van Wert for boot camp\/training.
September, 1966 \u2013 graduated from boot camp.
June 23, 2022 \u2013 first reunion in 56 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Richard Fredrick, David Kreischer, William Albright and Steve Gehres all met at American Legion Post 178 last month. Lynn Jackson appeared via video, while Tom Baer was unable to attend. Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor It was a military reunion a long time in the making, more than 55 years. Six local boys \u2013 David Kreischer, Stephen Gehres, Thomas Baer, William Albright, Richard Fredrick and Lynn Jackson \u2013 left Van Wert June 23, 1966, for the U.S. Navy, just weeks after graduating from Van Wert High School. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 21:15:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155853"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155881,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155853\/revisions\/155881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}