From the Executive Director
by Tom Drugan

Summer, 2002

Our “New Tradition” got off to a good start! In spite of short notice and a somewhat “flexible” agenda, we had very good attendance at the first annual 390th Memorial Museum Foundation reunion. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Friday night social hosted by Jim and Mary Truitt, and the catered southwest cuisine dinner under the wing of “I’ll be Around” on Saturday was something special. If you missed this one, you will certainly want to plan on attending next year. And those of you who were here, please come back again. There will be more activities and we will inform you earlier of the dates so you can plan better. We still have a few reunion T-shirts for those who missed out or need another one. See the order blank on page 15. We received a number of excellent suggestions for next year’s reunion and many of those will be implemented. There will be some planned activities outside the museum and the event will likely be two full days culminating in a dinner party.

We refer to these reunions as a “New Tradition” because in the next few years, the 390th Bomb Group Veterans Association will be phasing out their annual reunion. Inevitably, time takes its toll and eventually that group will not have sufficient members to carry on their reunion tradition. We encourage all of you to help us build this New Tradition! Our museum in Tucson, Arizona is the one symbol that will survive us all. It is here that the history of their courage and sacrifice will endure for the education of future generations.

Our “Volunteer in the Spotlight” this issue is Don Anderson. You can read all about Don on page 6. We don’t thank Don enough. It seems he is always too busy to catch to hear us say thanks.

There are only a few more months left to take advantage of Dorothy Moller’s matching gift program for the Endowment Fund. Because of your donations, the Fund has been enhanced by some $160,000. But we are far from our goal. Mrs. Moller would like very much to see a broader participation in this effort so that all of you feel as though you are part of this wonderful memorial. So if you haven’t participated yet, you still have time to do so. Smaller donations are certainly welcome and encouraged. And please keep in mind that the Museum needs operating funds also. We must meet current obligations in order to sustain our operation in the near term.

We will be off to Harrisburg in a few short weeks. I look forward to seeing all of you there.