SOUND INTELLIGENCE HELPED VISITING MILITARY REUNION GROUP MAKE ITS MARK IN WORLD WAR II

Contact: Jim Massey
(513) 304-3596 (m)

John Werdmann
(513) 374-6730 (m)

SOUND INTELLIGENCE HELPED VISITING MILITARY REUNION GROUP MAKE ITS MARK IN WORLD WAR II

Fort Mitchell, KY/August 5, 2008-In its day, the 16th Field Artillery Observation Battalion was as about as high-tech as you could get in the military intelligence game.

Today, only a few dozen of those World War II servicemen are alive. Only 12 of that group are scheduled to attend what will be the 20th and maybe the last military reunion meeting held by the 16th on August 14-17 at the Drawbridge Inn.

The Battalion served under General Patton in the Battle of the Bulge. Its job was to carry data to erect sound bases adjacent to enemy lines, according to surviving unit member, 87-year-old Jim Massey of West Middletown, OH and a planner for the reunion.

“After the Germans fired their artillery, the sound technology we had available to us would allow us to plot that exact location in minutes. We were really ahead of our time,” said Massey.

Massey says all of the men attending the reunion are age 85 and above, so no activities or tours outside the hotel are planned. But attendees will have a treat at the group’s annual banquet Saturday evening, August 16th at 6:30 when the oldest surviving member of the group, 94-year old Captain Charles Hunter of Birmingham, AL will give the keynote speech about his service experiences.

The mission of the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau is that of an aggressive sales, marketing, service and informational organization whose primary responsibility is to positively impact the Northern Kentucky economy through conventions, meetings and visitor expenditures. The direct economic impact of visitors’ spending in Campbell, Kenton and Boone Counties in 2007 was $325 million.