THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603070170
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Thousands of aging World War II GIs want to get together again to relive old times and several Beach hotels are trying to accommodate them.
The Virginia Beach Resort and Conference Center on Shore Drive earlier this week played host to more than 30 military reunion planners from as far away as Oregon and California.
They were in town to prepare for gatherings of veterans in the resort city in coming years.
In mid-May, the Holiday Inn Executive Center on Greenwich Road will open its doors to 40 or more reunion planners to schedule future gatherings for old warriors.
Such preparations traditionally attract about 70 military reunions a year to Virginia Beach, mostly in the early spring and late fall, says Ron Kuhlman, marketing director for the city's Department of Convention and Visitor Development.
``We're hoping to generate business two or three years down the line,'' explained Brent Amundson, of the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center. ``We're seeing the reunion market growing.''
Most of the veterans' groups are World War II-era Navy men, said Amundson, but Army and Marine Corps groups occasionally book local hotels for weekend reunions.
Amundson hopes the recent gathering of planners will produce more than a handful of off-season military gatherings at the Resort Hotel and Conference Center.
Patty Saddler, sales manager for the Holiday Inn Executive Center, says past gatherings of military reunion planners have produced four to six veterans' get-togethers at the Greenwich Road inn.
``We get a very good booking response,'' she said. ``It's not a quick turnaround. Normally booking time is one to four years in advance.''
Dick Kinsley, a retired Navy commander now working as the city's military reunion coordinator, says the city hosts 70 to 80 veterans' gatherings a year. The groups generally stay over three-day weekends, arrive in groups of 100 to 150 and usually reserve about 75 hotel rooms.
These veterans, their spouses and friends usually tour local military bases, shop, swap war stories and hold at least one banquet while they're here.
``It's a big business for us,'' Kinsley said. ``Periodically, I travel to other cities to try to sell them (veterans groups) on holding their reunions in Virginia Beach.''
While not as large as a Shriners convention or Fraternal Order of Police gathering, which can attract several thousand people, military reunions provide a tidy off-season business for some resort hotels, he said.
However, with the World War II generation gradually dying out, Kinsley expects the reunion market to fade as well. by CNB