President's Message

By: Frank T. Church
1st Issue, 2025



In the 40 years the 11th ACVVC has been in existence it has accomplished many very positive things. I will attempt to recap as many of those accomplishments as much as my space will allow. In the process of building one of the most envied Military organizations around we have also built a Blackhorse family that has gone beyond the Troopers that served with the 11th Cav in Vietnam. Reunions began with a relatively small group of veterans, compared to the larger numbers of later years, and have grown to include their spouses, significant others, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and friends.

We watched our kids grow up, graduate from high school, and go off to college. Recognizing the cost of higher education, we started a scholarship fund that has given out $2,500,000 to members, their children, and grandchildren. Not all want to attend a university, so we added trade schools to the program, which was a much-appreciated addition to the program. Each scholarship is dedicated to one of our KIA’s in Vietnam and a certificate honoring them is sent to the scholarship recipient. This is just another way to honor our brothers lost in combat and preserve their memory.

In 2015 The Armor Center was moved from FT. Knox to Ft. Benning (now Ft. Moore). The membership decided that we should move our Memorial also. The Memorial was dismantled and then reassembled with the original monuments and memorial bricks along with major upgrade to the entire site. All costs were largely covered by donations from our members with contributions and assistance from the Blackhorse Association. Also, all the work was done primarily by members of the 11th ACVVC, with help from the BHA. There have been several upgrades and updates along with needed maintenance. The cost of these were again covered by our members’ donations. We now have a fund held by the National Armor & Cavalry Heritage Foundation to be used for the long term maintenance of the site. Our Memorial is the most prominent structure in Patton’s Park and will be there long after we are gone, thanks to our members.

Our first reunion in Arlington Texas drew 175 troopers that served with the 11th Cav in Vietnam. Over the years it has grown to a peak of 2,026 attendees in Louisville in 1996 and 1,622 in San Antonio in 2016. These reunions serve to reunite our guys that lived, laughed, fought, and cried together in Vietnam. The reuniting of troopers who had not seen each other since they left Nam is an emotional event that brings tears and laughter, then hours of sharing photos and memories. The bonds of war are reaffirmed and bring them back year after year to relive a part of their youth that for good or bad shaped the rest of their lives. A bunker is a place of physical safety and refuge, our reunion bunker provides that for our souls. Hence our motto, “Together then, Together again.” The need to be together is strong enough to bring many back year after year, we have members that have attended every year. We still have Troopers that attend for the first time, a remarkable experience for everyone. We also assist Troopers that desire to attend a reunion and needs financial assistance, we have a fund for that and is discreetly provided.

We also include our active-duty troops at Ft. Irwin. We invite them to join our reunions to be Color guard and guest speakers, or just to join us in Blackhorse comradery. They want to support us as much as we want to support them, if they can do it, they eagerly accept. In concert with the cadre at Ft. Irwin, we offer to recognize their achievements in the form of gift cards or sponsorship in Regimental activities. We want to stay in contact with them as they look up to us as being a defining part of the Blackhorse’s history and we see them as little brothers.

Unfortunately, due to our age it has become harder to travel. Sadly we are also losing members at an accelerated rate from diseases rooted in our time in Vietnam and natural causes. But we have family members of lost Troopers, both in Vietnam and since, that still attend our reunions. This is a testament to the bond we all have as they have become members of our Blackhorse family. Last year we had more guests than Troopers.

This is the link to more infrmation on our reunions-
www.11thcavnam.com/reunion/Past%20Reunion.htm

Our regularly printed newsletter is always eagerly awaited by all our members. It is professionaly done and contains artcles and poems our members have written and pictures that they took in Vietnam.

It keeps the membership informed of the activities of our organization by way of messages written by the Chairpersons of our various committees, remembers those that have gone on to Fiddlers Green, and gives credit for donations from our members. The annual calendar is another highly anticipated publication. It is also a high-quality publication that contains pictures of daily life with the 11thCav in Vietnam. It is easy to imagine that we see ourselves in many of those pictures. Families of departed Troopers still request them, and they are given with no conditions, they are still our family.

When we get notification of one of our guys that has passed on Troopers in the immediate area of their home are notified and requested to attend to represent the 11th Cav. This is very much appreciated by the families and is an honor for the representatives. They are also remembered in our reunion Memorial Service by way of reading their names in the presence of the members and it is a very emotional event. Our chaplain sends a letter of condolence to the family and our Blackhorse Women’s Group makes and sends prayer shawls to the surviving spouses as a remembrance. We also make effort to find burial sites of our Troopers to order to assure the grave is clean and noticeable then we salute them and say their name one more time.

Our annual reunions are concluded each year with a banquet that recognizes individuals that have made distinctive contributions to our organization’s success. The ceremonies are ended with our Blackhorse salute video that honors the sacrifices that we made as young men in answering our country’s call to serve bravely and proudly. More importantly it remembers, honors those that did not return. Our banquet program is emotional and therapeutic. We get many requests for copies of the video.

I have spent a lot of words on the good things that the 11thACVVC has done. It is a broad look that does not include lesser-known activities but when put together it creates a more comprehensive representation of all that we have accomplished. All the above would not be possible without the dedication and hard work done by the leaders of our organization. It started with finding 20,000 thousand of the 25,000 men that served with Regiment in Vietnam and resulted in a total membership of over 10,500 - the current membership base is 7,000. Maintaining that database was and continues to be a monumental task. A current membership base is critical for the success of any organization. Without that we could not do all the things that make us who we are. Future articles will have detailed accounts of the good things that we have done and continue to do.

Over the years our leaders have managed the organization’s activities in a competent and prudent manner. They work yearround to keep the organization running smoothly and maintain a healthy financial state, and we have ample funds to continue all these good things well into the future. Doing all this is not an easy job. It requires daily commitment to the tasks of being in a leadership position. But they do it willingly, unlike many other Military organizations, they do not get, or ask, for compensation for that work. For me the pay is in being part of the good times we all have while being together. We also acknowledge that the members are our most valuable asset, without them there would be no 11th ACVVC. They are the ones that come to the reunions every year, they are ones that give generously of their time and money to the many activities that have provided continued for our success and accomplishments.

I am honored to have been chosen to lead the 11th Armored Cavalry’s Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia. Thank you all for your support.
 
“We were, we are, we will always be Blackhorse Troopers.”

Allons, Frank