FIFTH ARMY ASSOCIATION |
The US Army North (Fifth Army) Association is dedicated to charitable, educational, and support efforts for US Army North (Fifth Army) Soldiers and families. Our main function is to facilitate connections among members, preserve unit history, assist with unit celebrations and reunions, and support military traditions. We also raise funds through donations and grants for critical Soldier and family support programs, including the Caisson Funeral Detachment, the 323rd Army Band, and the Vogel Resiliency Center (VRC); the VRC operates the military's premier program that enables active military, veterans, and military families to better care for themselves through individualized evaluation and hands-on training on financial, nutritional, physical, mental, social, and spiritual resiliency. The Association operates under the guidelines of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act, ensuring all activities align with its nonprofit status. EIN 82-2217411.
Join us for the Army's 251st Birthday Celebration Ball in San Antonio! Army Ball: JW Marriott Hill Country on 13 Jun 26 Click Here for Individual Tickets It will be hard to top last year's Army Birthday Ball, but we are going to give it a try. This is a special year. Next July we will all celebrate the Nation's 250th Birthday, and the upcoming Army Ball on June 13, 2026 will be part of the Nation's and the San Antonio community's celebration activities. The Fifth Army Association will once again take the lead in assisting the Army in ensuring this is a first class event. Come join us at the JW Marriott Hill Country on the north side of San Antonio on Saturday evening, 13 June 2026. The guest speaker is not confirmed yet, but the short list is impressive. We will be enjoying a delicious beef dinner--the same as last year which was incredible--but we have added an additional bottle of wine for each table (1 bottle of white, 2 bottles of red, and sparking wine for toasting at each table), as well as more bartenders and more valet parking to speed those things up this year (we listened to your comments!). Come enjoy the pre-dinner reception; toast and honor those who came before us; participate in the formal festivities; enjoy dinner and the camaraderie of our Soldiers, veterans, civilian employees, and our community supporters; and then dance the night away. Tickets will be sold on this website starting next month at the link above or by going to the EVENTS tab at the top of the page and to the "Army 251st Birthday Ball" link. Join the Fifth Army Association Today! Membership Drive Underway Membership Sign Up Click HereThe Fifth Army Association (FAA) is up and running as an official 501(C)(3) non-profit organization and is bringing in members. We have raised sufficient funds to operate successfully and accomplish our main mission--member support. And we have an initial strategic plan that lays out the way-forward. We have also recently added to our portfolio our concerted efforts to protect military missions in San Antonio and to bring other missions here. We are currently working hard with the local, State, and Federal Government officials to bring new missions here to help provide employment opportunities for all those Army North and Army South personnel who are losing jobs due to the loss of those commands. We believe this is a vital way we can truly provide member support. But now we need your help. Please forward the below link to not just current and former members of the Fifth Army/Army North and ask them to join, but also those in the community who are willing to support Fort Sam Houston and the military here. The cost is minimal, and the benefits are many. Please check out the many articles that give examples of all we have already accomplished in our two years. This website also is a means for members who to find and communicate with current or former Fifth Army and Fort Sam Houston military and civilian co-workers, as well as community supporters who have joined the Association, by going to the member directory link on the top right side of this homepage. So join today and connect with old friends! Go here to sign up: FAA Provides Assistance to Congressional Medal of Honor Society The Fifth Army Association provided critical support to enable over 30 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients to spend a week in San Antonio fully engaged with the military, the community, and our schools. They were joined by fifteen widows of recipients and dozens of their family members. It was a week full of fun and gaiety, mixed in with a somber realization of the incredible sacrifices these men, and those who came before them, made for our country. Most importantly, throughout the week these heroes spent their days interacting with thousands of our high school students discussing character development and what it means in life to be a person of character. When the Congressional Medal of Honor Society choose San Antonio for their annual convention and celebration, MG Pat Brady (USA, Ret), himself a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, and Dan Pedrotti, the Chairman of the Board of the Host Committee, called the Fifth Army Association and asked for our help. And help we did! Nine of the fourteen key personnel who formed the Board/Host Committee and made this event possible came from the Fifth Army Association, seven of whom are also Fort Sam Houston Distinguished Quartermasters. They would go on to produce what the CMoH Society calls their most successful conference and celebration ever. The week started on Sunday, 29 September, with the Lewis Air Legends Reception when they landed, where Fifth Army Association’s own Lieutenant General John Evans (USA, Ret) was the Master of Ceremonies. The next evening the Fifth Army Association sponsored and ran the Fort Sam Houston Quadrangle Medal of Honor Reception, with all one hundred Medal of Honor guests and 350 community leaders from all walks of life attending. Thursday centered on their two most meaningful events: the Medal of Honor Memorial Service at the Alamo, and that evening’s Awards Gala. Friday, they decompressed at the Mexican Charreada Rodeo before heading home the next morning. The most unforgettable event was the Medal of Honor Annual Awards Gala, held on Thursday, 3 October at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in downtown San Antonio. Already being talked about as one of the greatest Gala’s in San Antonio history, there were over 1500 people in attendance and involved an all-star cast. First and foremost, we had 33 Medal of Honor recipients in attendance. The Master of Ceremonies was Gary Sinise, with Chef Robert Irving of TV fame working alongside the great kitchen staff at the Center to produce an incredible meal. The highlight of the evening came when George Strait came on stage and regaled the very receptive audience with a couple of his mega-hits during dinner. Finally, but certainly not least, the Medal of Honor Society honored Fifth Army Association Charter Member and Distinguished Quartermaster Tres Kleberg as the National Citizen of the Year, as voted on by every living Medal of Honor recipient. For this event, the Association also worked hard to enable over 100 NCOs to join this event free of charge and meet these incredible men. The big take-away for the week is the Medal of Honor Character Development Program that several school districts are now considering for their middle and high schools in this area. To read more about this program, go to the following link: https://www.cmohs.org/lessons/overview | Fifth Army Association Completes Purchase of Needed Caisson Equipment Using $75,000 Diana Davis Spencer Foundation Grant The Fifth Army Association recently completed purchasing a large amount of equipment in support of a number of initiatives on Fort Sam Houston, the largest being the revitalization of the Caisson Mission and Detachment Area. These funds were made available through a $75,000 grant from the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation in memory of one of Fort Sam Houston's Distinguished Quartermasters who recently passed away, the Honorable Diana Denman. This grant provided for critically needed items that were either not authorized for the military to fund, or were too hard for the military to prioritize due to operational needs elsewhere. This included the continued building of our herd of the magnificent, large, Percheron horses you can see in the pictures on the News Article page (go to the tab at the top of this page). We rely on donations to purchase these horses, and this grant enabled us to bring three new beautiful horses onto the team. We have now totally replaced our old herd, and have 13 young and healthy horses (we are still one short of our goal of 14 but are looking!). But we were able to do much more. We started the purchase of new saddles tailor-made for these large Percherons. The old saddles were made for average size horses and caused challenges for the much larger draft horses; the new saddles are solving that problem. We also bought much needed trailers and water tanks for the pastures, added a large shade canopy to the new 8-horse trailer, and outfitted the historic Vet Hospital that houses the Caisson Detachment with display cases for historic veterinary tools as well as framed large pictures of the thirteen horses and the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients for whom they are named. Especially important, we were able to provide some of the unique Caisson related individual items of clothing for the Soldiers on the Caisson mission that they had previously had to purchase themselves. We give our heartfelt thanks to the Diana Spencer Davis Foundation, and join them in remembering all the contributions that Diana Denman made to the military throughout her life, especially her support for our servicemen and women, and their families. Fifth Army Association Assists Medal of Honor Celebration The Fifth Army Association provided critical support to enable 33 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients to spend a week in San Antonio fully engaged with the military, the community, and our schools. They were joined by fifteen widows of recipients and dozens of their family members. It was a week full of fun and gaiety, mixed in with a somber realization of the incredible sacrifices these men, and those who came before them, made for our country. Most importantly, throughout the week these heroes spent their days interacting with thousands of our high school students discussing character development and what it means in life to be a person of character. When the Congressional Medal of Honor Society choose San Antonio for their annual convention and celebration, MG Pat Brady (USA, Ret), himself a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, and Dan Pedrotti, the Chairman of the Board of the Host Committee, called the Fifth Army Association and asked for our help. And help we did! FAA Receives $75,000 Grant in Support of the Fifth Army Caisson Mission! The Fifth Army Association recently received a $75,000 grant in support of a number of initiatives on Fort Sam Houston, the largest being the revitalization of the Caisson Mission and Detachment Area. The Diana Davis Spencer Foundation is providing critically needed resources for items that are either not authorized for the military to fund, or too hard to get prioritized funding due to operational needs elsewhere. One of these is the continued building of our herd of the beautiful, large, Percheron horses you can see in the pictures on this page. We have totally replaced our old herd, and now have 12 young and healthy horses. This grant will enable the herd to reach the 16 horse required to properly handle the large number of funerals they perform every year, especially with the temporary closing of the Arlington Caisson Detachment for the next year. But the grant is providing funds for much more than the horses. We also can now purchase a much needed small trailer to help the Soldiers maintain the new pastures on Fort Sam Houston for these animals. It also will provide some of the specific clothing required of our young Soldiers to perform this sacred mission that is not covered in their clothing allowance. Finally, the grant provides funding to build a historic app for your IPhone or Android that will allow you to travel on Post and use the app to follow a historic trail on the original Post, or to just find out more about the history of facilities as you pass the buildings. We are grateful to Ms Diana David Spencer and her team, who took the time to travel to San Antonio and see first hand how their foundation could play a key role in supporting our Solders of Fifth Army as they perform this sacred mission.FAA Takes the Lead Supporting the Army 250th Birthday Ball Celebration The Fifth Army Association stepped up to the plate when the Army units on Fort Sam Houston were struggling to fund the 250th Army Birthday Ball on 14 June 2025. The Association agreed to raise the funds needed, provide a platform for selling tickets and tracking those sales, and negotiate and sign all contracts. This enabled the Army officers and Soldiers to focus on the Ball itself, to include the agenda, seating, registration, the program execution, and the decorations. The end result is the Ball was a huge success, with over 1000 attendees, former Secretary of the Army Honorable Ryan McCarthy as the guest speaker, and dancing till late in the evening. We have agreed to continue providing that support. One of the best results was due to our fundraising activities. We were able to bring in dozens of sponsors as a trusted non-profit organization, permitting the Army to lower the price of tickets for Soldiers and young NCOs, and the more junior GS civilian employees, to only $50. This resulted in hundreds more young Soldiers and employees attending than any of us can recall happening in years past. We are excited to have been asked to continue to provide that support, and look forward to the upcoming 251st Army Birthday Ball on 13 June 2026. | Famous Monuments Donated by Dr Mellijor to the Fifth Army Association Arrive in San Antonio The two incredible monuments--valued at $750,000--that were donated by a Chicago museum to the Fifth Army Association have arrived in San Antonio! If you have been on Post lately, you may have noticed an enormous amount of construction and pasture expansion near Staff Post Road. This is part of a $15m revitalization of the entire Caisson Detachment Area, to include renovating three major buildings, construction of a horse training pavilion, and expansion and enhancing of the pastures from the original 6 acres to 22 acres. As part of the revitalization project, and in honor of the Soldiers and horses who man this Detachment and perform the funerals, Dr Alfonso (Lon) Mellijor and his Chicago museum donated the famous Duty First monument created by world renowned artist and sculptor James Muir for placement at the entrance of the Detachment area. James Muir also created the Colonel Travis monument that is just inside the entrance of the museum within the grounds of the Alamo. Dr Mellijor also donated the breathtaking American Pieta monument by James Muir to the Fort Sam Houston VA Cemetery. We are working the paperwork and ground preparation to place those monuments at both locations and hopefully the entire community can enjoy these incredible works of art soon. Famous Monuments Donated to FAA for Caisson Detachment and VA Cemetery If you have been on Post lately, you may have noticed an enormous amount of construction and pasture expansion near Staff Post Road. This is part of a $15m revitalization of the entire Caisson Detachment Area, to include renovating three major buildings, construction of a horse training pavilion, and expansion and enhancing of the pastures from the original 6 acres to 22 acres. As part of the revitalization project, and in honor of the Soldiers and horses who man this Detachment and perform the funerals, Dr Alfonso (Lon) Mellijor has donated the famous Duty First monument created by world renowned artist and sculptor James Muir for placement at the entrance of the Detachment area. This 14-foot statue of a Soldier on horseback has been on display at the Mellijor museum in Chicago for the past 20 years. Dr Mellijor and Mr Muir visited Fort Sam Houston this past summer, and were incredibly impressed with both the Funeral and Caisson teams here, and the revitalization project. Even more so, they were struck by the importance of the Caisson mission: to conduct funerals for fallen Soldiers in the most dignified and respectful manner possible. Dr Mellijor agreed with the Association, who accompanied him during his visit, that this would be the perfect location for the monument, appraised recently at $160,000. The monument has a special place in Dr Mellijor's heart, as his dad, a cavalry scout himself, was used as the model for the Soldier riding the horse in this monument. Dr
Mellijor also visited the Fort Sam Houston Veterans Administration
Cemetery, and has donated a second monument for display at that
location. The monument, the American Pieta, was also created by James
Muir and is appraised at $500,000. This particular monument is
breathtaking, as it mirrors the famous Madonna della Pieta statue by Michelangelo but is of
Lady Liberty holding a fallen warrior in her arms instead. The VA
agreed the Fort Sam Houston VA Cemetery is the perfect place for this
monument as a tribute to each and every warrior interred there. The Fifth Army Association is waiting word on a grant proposal submitted for $25,500 that will enable the transport of the two monuments from Chicago to Fort Sam Houston. |