Flying to Hershey, PA. for a reunion of some of the guys Jim served with in Vietnam Nam. Dale VonStein, Jim’s Sargent and his wife, Paula have put this together. They arranged it 4 years ago and decided to do a repeat. Jim is excited. Some of the guys who didn’t make it before will be there.

The morning finds us on the way to the State Capital. Here are the boys on the steps of the imperial staircase inside the capital. These are tiles hand-crafted by Henry Chapman. He made 377 mosaics from the history of Pennsylvania.

These beautiful stain glass windows are featured around the House Chamber. There are 14 circular windows in the house and  10 windows in the Senate. The window with the cross is the only place a cros is featured in the capital.

The capital is the seat of the government of Pennsylvania but is also a masterpiece of art and architecture. Above is a painting by Violet Oakley found in the Harrisburg Chamber of the Supreme Court along with 15 others. Above it called “Divine Law- The Keynote” letters and images spell out the words, Love, Law and Wisdom.

Our tour guide of the capital, Debbie and Mike, the driver of our bus. We went on to a civil war museum and headed back to the house.

Paula was incredible  she had lunch and dinners prepared and made it appear so easy. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

The next morning the guys spend their time reminiscing and reconnecting their timelines and where they are now.

The women went to the Hershey Hotel for a little bit of shopping. Opened in May of 1933, it was built around Spanish and Italian influence. The Historic Hotel it is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Back at the VonStein’s house we gave Paula this platter that we found at the hotel. She was so surprised, it made us smile.

Above is Frisbee and Maria, Lenny and Ebbie, Tom and Jan.

Sal and Luba, Bill and Linda , Phil and Robin

John Rauseo and Ken Sollman

These are C-rations that Sarge had.  The C-Rations packet contains matches,chewing gum, toilet paper, instant-coffee, cream substupitute, sugar and salt.

Sunday Paula, Sarge, John, Jim and I went to a sports bar to watch the Cowboys win again, YAY!  These guys are great, John seemed larger than life. John, Jim and many of the others had been wounded in Vietnam Nam. John suffered some serious wounds and a well as a few of the others. Amazing they moved on with their lives. Like the cake said.        Thank you for your service!

One last shot of 3 buddies, a friendship that happened years ago and continues on as if it was yesterday.

In the VonStein’s front yard it this Dogwood Tree. I had never seen such a large Dogwood.  Driving to the airport we spotted the towers of 3 Mile Island. A great time spent with memorable friends.