Cast Reunions
In 1994, Jo Davidsmeyer had approached several of
the Combat! cast to get information about what they were doing today, and also to
tell them that there were still lots of fans who appreciated their work. In the process,
she developed a phone friendship with Dick Peabody and Rick Jason.
In one phone conversation, Tina Peabody joked that
other shows took cruises with the fans, wouldn't a Combat! cruise be fun!
Not knowing anything about organizing such a thing,
and without telling Dick or Tina, Jo jumped in with both feet, contacted travel agents,
cruise lines, other celebrity cruise organizers, and within two weeks got back to Dick and
said, "Well, if you want a cruise, we can do it October of 1996. Who in the cast
would want to come?"
With Dick Peabody acting as cast liaison (since Jo
had at that time yet to converse with the other actors), Comboat '96 : The Combat!
Cast Reunion Cruise was launched. And a small tradition of reunions came into being.
The first cruise was a great success, and the last time all the cast (minus Vic) appeared
together.
Two years later, Jo organized Recon 1998, which was
a cast reunion at Simi Valley, with highlights of the weekend being a guided tour of the
filming locations at Franklin Canyon and a special evening of cocktails and finger food at
the home of Rick Jason.
In 2002, Jo passed the torch on the Jeanette Healey
who organized the third reunion, Recon 2000 in Las Vegas.
It is unlikely further reunions will occur. The
planned Recon 2002 scheduled for June was cancelled. And now, with so many of the actors
now gone, the numbers of guests for any future reunions is dwindling.
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