Sergeant Major Edgar Irizarry C 2/5 1965 
Commanding Officer retired Colonel Ed Boyt &
Platoon Leader James Mullen
pin on  the new E7 stripes on, SFC Gaut.
Irizarry's daughter
 
 
 
 
 
Could a father be any more proud? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
OK, dinner for 175
NO PROBLEM
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Vance "Doc" Giffords thoughts about his first Reunion 
Tree,
 
Last year about this time, the 4th Reunion was over, and I was emailing you and calling you trying to persuade you to hurry up and have another one. I was convinced we needed to have one every year. I was so glad I ended up going to St Louis.
 
Two months earlier .... I had already found the Tall Comanche website and The Locator Page. Lonny Branch, Bill Manning and I had already made contact and I was exchanging emails with Doug Young and you. Everyone was telling me I should attend the reunion and how the group would welcome me, yet I didn't want to go while at the same time I wanted to see some of my old friends so bad I couldn't stand it. After all, why had I been searching the Internet for anything related to 2/5th Cav. I went ahead and made my hotel and flight reservations. I could always cancel, which I had every intention of doing. How could I go to a place where there would be a lot of people that I didn't know? I hate crowds and I don't make friends that easy. Still I really wanted to see Lonny and Bill, and you kept reassuring me I would be welcome. My oldest son lives in western KY, so I called him to see if he would like to drive over to St Louis and meet me there. We don't see each other that much with him in KY and me in south TX, and he is a Vet of the 1st Gulf War, so he might enjoy it and I would have someone there I knew. We would have some beer and a bottle of whiskey with us, so we could stay to ourselves and have a drink or three if I wasn't comfortable with the group.
 
4:00 AM Friday Oct 6 ... Get up early ... Have to get to San Antonio and make it to the airport by 6:00 AM. My daughter drops me off. I can still take a taxi back to her house if I need to. I board the plane ... Now what am I going to do? Next stop St Louis. Stewardess looks at me funny when I asked for some vodka to go with my tomato juice. It's a little after seven AM. The second bottle of vodka makes things a little better. Skip forward ... I'm in St Louis, already at the hotel, my son is there. Might as well get this over with, so we head to the Hospitality Room. There is probably thirty or forty people in there, but I have to stop and register. The first person I meet is Laura, you know, your wife Laura. She is friendly, makes a joke or two. OK so far. There is Lonny, guarding the beer coolers. He doesn't recognize me at first, but soon we are talking and there are a few others around us. Bill shows up and joins the group. This isn't so bad. There you are, so I am finally going to meet this guy I have been emailing for a few months. You are very friendly, also and make me feel very welcome. I meet a few others. They are all friendly and pretty soon I have become a part of this brotherhood that I have been searching for. Hey, you know this reunion stuff ain't so bad. I knew this was going to be a good decision to attend. Don't know why everyone was so worried that this was going to be a bad experience.
 
Now where did this story begin ... Ah yeah ... Why don't we do this every year? See you in '08.
 
Doc Gifford
Vance "Doc" Gifford
 

Ronnie Hayworth’s thoughts about his first Reunion

It’s a little hard to put into words so let me start with this for many years after I got back and went to school and then work and rasing a family I never forgot to think about some of the bravest and most honorable men I have ever known and it was hard for me to find them again I looked in many Veterans organizations magazines to try and find someone. 

After a Heart attack in 2000 I got a computer and found the 1st Cav web site and joined the Association. I then ordered one of the big hand books with all the names of 1st Cav members. For days I went through that book one line at a time until I found a name I knew.The first I found was Phillip Boatner, I immediately called the Association and they informed me as to how to contact him, wow! That was great we talked for some time and after talking to him about five minutes later I got a call from Oklahoma and it was Kenneth Tatham. We talked for a long time and then we started looking for others, he told me about our web site [ I was as happy as I could be, I had found my missing brothers at last] 

Later called Tree and he told me how to find our locator file, I have been in contact with him ever sense I got to see him and so many others at my first reunion in St Louis. If you have not been to a reunion because you might think some one might have had hard feelings toward you, like I did, but believe me we do not remember any thing like that.  Every one I met, even if I didn’t know them were very friendly. We all had a great time, the food was execlant, Hotel was reasonable, all the work that had gone into puting it together really showed. 

My wife was there, she had heard me talk many times about the guys in C 2/5. When we actually met it was like they knew each other so very well. The wives and some of the older children were like, "what we are is family" so please if you know any one if you think you know where one of our brothers are located let us know. Finding our buddies may mean the world to them. 

I will be at every reunion we have for the rest of my life if I am healthy, you all mean that much to me.

Ronnie