July 1, 2018:
Since posting the tribute to Dinh on 17 June 2018 at Honoring Silver Spur Chu Hoi Scout Dinh, I’ve only received two comments from fellow Silver Spurs. I’m clearly out of touch…
Pam and I purchased the Honor Tile for Dinh at our own expense and would do so again to honor a Vietnamese that served and died while directly serving with our Troop. It has become clear that such efforts may no longer be considered worthwhile or noteworthy by many fellow Silver Spurs.
Pam and I have hosted and maintained the Silver Spur site at our own personal expense since it went live in September of 1997. It truly has been our greatest honor. Over the years I’ve expanded the site to make it more functional and user friendly for all, including providing a photo gallery on our Silver Spur blog, which is time consuming and increases our site’s bandwidth usage, but I felt it was an important pictorial history. I thank those that shared their pictures!
It has become very clear to us that our efforts have now reached there logical conclusion and are no longer required. Therefore, from this date forward, there will be NO FUTHER UPDATES to the majority of the Silver Spur site with the following exceptions which are vital to ongoing Spur business:
- Updated news on KIA-BNR Sgt Gregory Antuano
- Silver Spur Reunion News & forms
- Silver Spur Deceased List
- Silver Spur President’s Corner
- Our Guest Book will remain open for posting
We will continue to host the site AS IS and nothing more for its important historical content. As of this date, the comment section in our Silver Spur blog will be turned off placing the site in an archive state only.
When I began the Spur site, I had three personal main objectives:
- To list all our fallen Troopers from our Troop and the entire 3/17th Squadron and honor their sacrifice to our nation. We had help from many Troopers across the entire Squadron years ago in making this possible!
- To record to the best of our ability, our proud Troop history. I want to thank all the Troopers that helped to make that possible in the early years!
- To provide a venue that my fellow Spurs would be proud of and their personal contributions while serving our nation in Vietnam. For too many years we were made to feel guilty about our service in Vietnam, we hope you walk a bit prouder & taller today!
I believe with the laying of the wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. in 2000, the dedication of our plaque provided by fellow Spurs at the Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker in 2006 honoring our fallen, and the Silver Spur site that documents those events — my personal mission is now complete. My DEROS date came years ago! 🙂
I’m also proud of the fact with the support of our Spur President, John “Waldo” Pepper and my wife, Pam, that we addressed the problems associated with PTSD and Agent Orange exposure. We got some push back in the early going, but I believe it has helped many of us over the years.
I wish you all well and my sincere thanks to all the Troopers who have contributed to this site over the years and to those who have made our Spur reunions into a great success!
In closing, if you are not currently on the Silver Spur e-mail net, please contact Clayton Marsh so you do not miss out on future Silver Spur news and related correspondence!!
Roger “Bear” Young, Scout C.E. and Line Chief, 1969-1970
