2005 Reunion Update

Hotel contract is signed. Tours have been selected and I am awaiting the final contract. Of course everything is subject to change.

1. Thursday evening: Mystery Dinner Theater We have the whole place to ourselves. It's one of those shows where we have to guess "who done it".

2. Friday: Tour of Battleship New Jersey, lunch on ship, and memorial ceremony. On the way to the Battleship, we will stop at a Vietnam/Korean memorial located in downtown Phila.

3. Saturday: Tour of historic Phila., including the newly opened National Constitution Center, Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, etc. Lunch will be at the historic City Tavern, where the founding fathers ate and drank (mostly drank, I would guess). Business meeting upon return to hotel.

4. Sunday: Drive-thru of Valley Forge and a tour of Longwood Gardens, world-renowned Dupont family legacy. Grand Banquet at hotel.

Jim Hawker is working on a special gift stuffer for the registration/welcome packets. I think Gene will be mailing registration forms in the fall/winter timeframe.

I may be going back to the National Archives to copy some more deck logs. Some of the members expressed an interest in the logs from when the Soley was involved in the Cuban missile crisis. I may also be able to borrow some of the Soley artifacts from the Naval Historial Center that we had at the last reunion.

To help the Committee in negotiating with the hotel we need a response from Members planning to attend this reunion in 2005. By respondjng to this message with the following information it will significantly help the Committee to deal with the hotel. Simply hit REPLY, complete the following and send the message back to Gene Blum at eblum3@juno.com:

I/We plan to attend the 2005 Reunion in Plymouth Meeting, PA: (Indicate Yes or No):

We will require a room for (Indicate the number attending):


Your name:

Your prompt response is requested.

Thank you,

USS SOLEY (DD707) ASSOCIATION
Reunion Committee