The New Jersey National Guard Militia Museum in Sea Girt is holding is 5th annual luncheon on April 29 for veterans who have participated in their oral history program. This year one veteran who recently gave his oral history to the museum will meet several Marines from his unit in Vietnam who have been looking for him for 35 years.

Everyone involved in the reunion is trying very hard to keep it a surprise for the former Marine Cpl. John Egger of Fair Haven. Egger participated in the War Veterans' Oral History Project at the museum, which collects the memoirs of living veterans through videotaping. While doing research on Vietnam, Carol Fowler, one of the volunteers who records the memoirs, found a web site relating to Egger's experiences. David Prendergast, a lawyer in California who runs the site, and this former fellow Marine of Egger had been looking for him for 35 years.

The end result is that Prendergast and several other Marines from Egger's unit in Vietnam will be coming from California, Baltimore and New Jersey to surprise Egger during the banquet.

The banquet will be at the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey in Sea Girt at the National Guard Training Center at 11:30 a.m. and the media is invited to cover the event. Please call (732) 974-5966 and leave a message if you are planning to attend.