DLIAA Russain Reunion - May 1959 Class - We Shall Return.

After almost four and a half decades, Russian class R-9-4, held a reunion in Monterey from 13 March - 16 March 2003. The idea for a reunion sprang to life at the end of 2001. Early contacts seemed to demand an immediate get-together, but time was needed to try and find as many classmates as possible, a great challenge after 44 years. We had 65 graduates in our class and learned that at least two of them have died since 1959. We also learned that we had several that were health wise incapacitated and unable to travel. Out of the 63 classmates, we located 43 and had 29 sign up for the reunion.

What a reunion it was! The word “perfect” isn’t adequate to describe the great time all had in Monterey. The highlight of the affair was an all day tour of the Presidio of Monterey/Defense Language Institute (DLI). This tour was made possible by the superb effort by the recently formed DLI Alumni Affairs office, and its Director, Natela Cutter. All, including a couple of wives who were initially reluctant to take the tour since it was “for the R-9-4 class,” had nothing but superlatives to describe the tour.

“Tour day” of the Presidio began with a coffee and doughnut social. Since our class is now mostly senior citizens, coffee and doughnuts were necessary to get the blood flowing in the right direction. Commandant of the Presidio/DLI, Colonel Kevin Rice arrived and held the class spellbound with his welcome and briefing of past, current and future DLI affairs. Classmates were utterly amazed at the changes since our stay at the Presidio. Colonel Rice was probably amazed that he had probably one of the most attentive audiences for any of his briefings; the class “soaked up” his every word. The class was also very impressed and made to feel very important having the Commandant show up to welcome us. Thanks, Colonel Rice!

Dr. Ben De La Selva, Dean of the European Languages, also addressed us and provided detailed information concerning our language of interest, the Russian language. If anyone ever reads Dr. De La Selva’s biography, they might agree with me that his life should be made into a movie. He has accomplished a lot for our country.

After the briefings, the student Russian choir performed for our enjoyment! Not only were they superb, but the songs in Russian touched many in the class. I spotted several classmates with tears in their eyes, believe it or not.

The next event on our tour was lunch at the dining hall. What a vast improvement over our dining hall back during 1958 - 1959! We were used to plastic cups, steel trays (divided into compartments for the basic food groups!), one entrée, one dessert, and either coffee or milk to drink. Today’s Presidio DLI dining hall is akin to prominent civilian restaurants, e.g., where customers select their food a la carte. Classmates were “buzzing” the entire meal about what a great place it was to dine.

With the bellies full, we migrated to Soldiers’ Field and had our class pictures taken. If you go on the internet to the DLI Alumni site DLI Alumni Site, click on “Past and Future Reunions” button to get a glimpse of our class. By the way, if you haven’t done so already, you should sign up and join that association. Also, buy one of those language specialty shirts the site offers. It’s a non-profit association headed up by Dr. Ben De La Selva and dedicated to DLI alumni. Before anyone asks, we did NOT break any cameras!

We then migrated to the new, experimental language-learning laboratory. Wow! High tech meets language learning. The class uses computers, intense graphics, and adds active duty military language instructors (with language experience “in the field”) in addition to DLI’s always outstanding instructor staff. I didn’t think I’d get away with it, but I did - I logged onto the internet and checked the news. Seniors, especially me, have a tendency to check to see if every thing works.

Next, we were broken up into groups of four, escorted by one of those active duty military language instructors, and visited individual in-session Russian classes. What a delight! You may have reservations about today’s youth, but not me. The mixed services students were all attentive and displayed a remarkable degree of proficiency in the Russian language. It’s obvious, DLI still does a super job of teaching languages.

The last event of the day was a visit to the Base Exchange, for both, non-military identification card holders and retired military. All were allowed to purchase souvenirs to remind them of their day at the Presidio. And purchase they did! What a great tour! What a great day!

Our reunion began on Thursday, 13 March 2003 when we had an informal get together at the lounge of the Bay Park Hotel. Some of us hadn’t seen each other for 44 years, but we seemed to recognize everyone. “Tour Day” was on Friday, 14 March. On Saturday, 15 March, classmates scattered to the winds, either to visit friends in the area, visit their old haunting grounds, or visit the tourist attractions in the Monterey area. We topped off the day with a reunion banquet, again at the Bay Park Hotel, our host and central location for our reunion. Sunday morning, 16 March, was a farewell breakfast time for those who were willing to get up that early in the morning. Anyone interested is viewing some pictures of our reunion on the internet, our R-9-4 class web

site is located at: http://www.geocities.com/texasjoe_60/r94.html.

For whatever reason, our days at the Presidio almost a half-century earlier seem to be treasured by our class. Seeing old classmates after all those decades was a treat in itself, but the hospitality of Colonel Rice and his staff made us feel like we were home again. Who said you can’t go back? We did. And we shall return!