US Army Hawk Missile Air Defense Artillery Gathering, (not a reunion), Planned for Helen, GA, 2023.

Well then, it’s looking like we're going back to Helen, GA in May. Supported by several attending guests, I’ll see if I can keep this annual event going. This Gathering, (Not A Reunion) invites all Army ADA & Marine LAAM Veterans. Also, our support personnel come join us too! Last year, we had 3 Nike Missile Veterans attend. All y'all come on & you can arrange your own activities you guys might come up with.

We’ll be staying at Sure Stay Hotel, (Best Western owned) That appears to be the most affordable accommodations at Helen, GA. If you stay elsewhere, we’ll be meeting at Sure Stay in the Hospitality Room, about 3:00 PM while we’re there to see where we’ll be going for dinner. Your contact phone # is to their Front Desk at Sure Stay: 706 878 2191 (ask them for THE HAWKERS GATHERING. Our event date for our Get-Together is planned for Check-In on Tuesday, May 9th. 2023 to Check-Out on Friday, May 12th. 2023. Of course, come early and/or stay late if you want!

We’ve been talking about going over to Toccoa, GA to see the Currahe Military Museum on Wednesday. Anything else is open for suggestions!

From KEVIN RICHARDSON: “About Visiting the Currahe Military Museum: The more I looked, the more it became interesting! It's an Old Train Depot located about 5 miles out of town. (Camp Toombs) It was named after a Civil War General, Confederate Robert Toombs. This gets very exciting! He only served in the Army for 2 years. He resigned after the Civil War, was arrested & then escaped to go back to Paris France, where he was from. This General owned slaves, up to 32 slaves between 1840 to 1860. He was elected to the Senate as a Whig. By 1870 he was elected as a Democrat, serving one term before sinking into depression & alcoholism. He died in 1885. I left out all the little things about him, such as when Abraham Lincoln was elected president, Toombs wrote a letter to Georgia, his farewell address that read "We want no negro equality, no negro citizenship, we want no negro race to degrade our own & as one man, we would meet you upon the border with the sword in one hand & the torch in the other. I think I may have given you a lot to research now. Great topic though”!

There’s an entrance fee to the museum, 'Per Person' & that will hopefully get negotiated. (More details may come when closer to our event date).

We believe we’ve found the best German Food Restaurant, located out behind Sure Stay Hotel. & I believe the best breakfast was at Dottie’s Kitchen.

If you’ll be traveling very far, we encourage you to plan visiting with us at Helen, GA one year while we’re there. For all who live too far away & want an event closer to you, I recommend getting started on it. For me, Helen, GA is all I can afford to keep up with each year.

Calvin Bridges, US Army – June 1971 to July 1980, & Marta Filler,

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