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Badgers, Badgers, Everywhere: Asia

Badgers in Asia.

Vietnam

Asia

I finished a work assignment in India, and as an avid scuba diver, took advantage of my proximity to the Indian Ocean and booked a week on a live-aboard dive boat in the Maldives. An erupting volcano in Iceland interrupted travel for some of the other divers and we ended up with five guests onboard. I wore a UW hockey cap one day, and one of the other guests asked if I went there. Turns out, he did too, as did his wife. He was about 10 years older than me and had a geology degree. He was working for an oil company in Saudi Arabia and the Maldives were a quick getaway for them. For me, I had to travel halfway around the world for this unexpected ad-hoc Badger reunion.
Curt Andrus ‘85
Lewisville, Texas

In 2008, our family had just arrived at the steps of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a famous Theravada Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, and a fellow exclaimed “Go Badgers” when he noticed my son’s Badger T-shirt!!
Judy Baumgartner Lukach ’82
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Retirement has allowed us the opportunity to travel to many areas of the world, and my husband, Al, always wears a Wisconsin cap. This has resulted in many wonderful conversations with people who recognize the “W” as being from the University of Wisconsin. One of our most memorable moments was in September 2016 when we were rushing through the Shanghai, China, airport to get to a rather long security line, and were stopped by a tall, Chinese gentleman. He was so excited that Wisconsin has beaten LSU at the Green Bay Packers’ stadium a couple of weeks earlier. We suddenly noted that he was wearing a red Wisconsin T-shirt. He explained that he had graduated from UW in 2010 and currently was in China on business, but lives in the Atlanta area. In our haste to get through security we neglected to get the young man’s name, but have a great memory of good things happening when you travel with Wisconsin attire!
Mary Koepke ’65
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

For three days in September 1970, my fourth-infantry platoon helped construct an artillery battery atop a mountain 18 kilometers south of An Khe, Vietnam. Unexpectedly, two daring Red Cross volunteers arrived by Huey helicopter and for about an hour passed out goodies and talked with every GI. Having a great smile and “can-do” attitude, learning Sue was a Badger and that we’d both lived on Randall Street just four blocks apart in 1968–69, only encouraged me to seek her out whenever my unit returned to base camp in An Khe. We both returned to the UW for studies, married in May 1972, and are still counting. Blessed are we, and Go Bucky!
Rich ’73, MS’75 and Sue Salaja ’70, ’75 Greiling
Seattle, Washington

Badgers Are Everywhere

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