NR Officer/NCO Training School (1-2 Mar 08)

The annual NR Officer/NCO school was held on 1-2 Mar 08 in Gettysburg, PA, at the Gettysburg Fire Station on Stratton St. With some 60 plus attendees, K Co. was represented by Larry Nottingham, Henry Schmeid, and Mike Vice. Saturday's classes went well w/some standouts including "Evolution in Drill and Tactics" by Gus Person, "Wearing the Uniform and Equipment" by members of the Regulars, and "Food Packaging and Preparation in the Field" by the 150th NY Volunteers. Breaking up in the late afternoon everyone was back for the excellent firehouse dinner along w/the always well done "Show and Tell" which exhibited great camaraderie. Sunday's classes continued on w/really well done instruction on the "Role of Pioneers" by Jim McElhinney which included duties, responsibilities, and equipment along w/another well done class on "Guard Mount" by the NR Adjutant Will Hutchison. All in all the school was both educational and enjoyable!

Funeral of John Henry Kurtz (12 Mar 08)

John Henry Kurtz, the inspiration and founder of this company, was laid to rest on 12 March 08 in Cape May, New Jersey. A viewing was held from 10:30 to 12:00 AM at Sudak-Danaher Funeral Home in Cape May w/funeral services beginning at 12:00 noon. The funeral home was only a block from John Henry's wonderful little Victorian cottage on the very same street. The viewing saw the gathering of a large crowd of John Henry's friends including many from the theatre and TV industry in New York City as well as folks from the Colorado ski community (one of John Henry's favorite pastimes), and Hollywood movie community including Dabney Coleman, the actor, who flew in to give a most moving eulogy for his long-time friend John Henry. The funeral services also brought out a gathering of the Civil War collecting community plus the Civil War re-enacting community w/K Co. 1st PA Reserves being represented by Mike Vice, and the National Regiment by its commander Terry Daley. Following funeral services w/later private burial services by the family, attendees adjourned for a luncheon reception to the Lobster House in Cape May. The Lobster House was John Henry's favorite "Water Hole" in Cape May, and many, many stories were exchanged there between the gathered crowd, and drinks hoisted to John Henry's memory! It was a most fitting send-off to a man who had affected all of us, and one he would have thoroughly enjoyed!

The family has requested that memorial donations be made in John Henry's name to the Brendon Borek High Tides Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 41, Avalon, NJ 08202-0041, a pediatic cancer research fund. Please note on your check that this is in memory of John Henry Kurtz.

Ten members of Company K gathered in the museum-like atmosphere over Dennis Corbin's garage the last week in January to discuss the future of the unit, along with this year's schedule. It was agreed that a key goal for this coming season will be recruitment. We are off to a promising start in this area, as two likely recruits attended the meeting, and we have three or four others who are either committed to joining Company K or are already in the hobby and have recently relocated. Our first event as a unit this year will be the National Regiment's Civil War Weekend at Fort McHenry, which will also be when we have our first drill of the season.

The Events page has been updated with our schedule. A couple of additional events may be added. NOTE RE EVENT REGISTRATION: Until further notice, or until someone tells you otherwise, members are responsible for their own registration at events this season, until we relocate our checking account to a new bank. Along those same lines, we are not requesting members to pay their annual $25 dues until we have the new account functional.

OLD EQUIPMENT FOR COMPANY STORES: With several new recruits standing ready to spring to arms, we would like to request that anybody who has old gear they either are not using, or at least are willing to loan to a recruit, compile a list of such gear and send it to Bruce Milligan (remise@aol.com). We would like to be able to have the ability to dress two new men on any given weekend, if possible. All new members, as always, will be encouraged, once they are sure they want to stay with us, to start purchasing their own equipment.

If you have any news for the Website, please contact Bruce Milligan, at the same address he, I mean I, gave above. We look forward to seeing you in the field! Touch the elbow.