4 Sept 2026
A few more days until I fly out from San Diego to Pennsylvania to pick up the gun! I leave on the 8th for Harrisburg, will pick up a Uhaul truck there, then drive to Chambersburg to hook up a trailer I purchased over the phone. I had the dealer reenforce the trailer's deck where the wheels will travel and install an electric winch to pull the gun up the ramp. Then on to Gettysburg, where I will pick up the gun from John Buchheister, owner of The Maryland Sutler and a Civil War artillery reenactor. Of course, I will have to spend a day wandering the battlefield- such a rare opportunity. 

On my way home I will be stopping by the farm and home of one of the Marines I served with in my last command on active duty: Battery R, 5th Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, NC, back in 1988. He was kind enough to look me up several years ago and we have stayed in touch since. It is hard to put into words the gratitude and honor I felt that he remembered me and had bothered to track me down. It is a real measure of the camaraderie that being a Marine engenders, something that few of us find after the Marine Corps and something I am sure we all miss. It will be great to see him and meet his family after 38 years!