The men of Company B have a few more shots to go before they polish off a prized bottle of bourbon saved by one of their cronies for a special occasion.

&#8220We’ve got enough for two or three more years,” said Dick Jacobson, 88, at the World War II veterans’ annual reunion Friday at Toney’s Restaurant and Lounge, attended by the six remaining local members of the Mississippi National Guard’s Company B, 106th Engineer Combat Battalion, and seven guests.

As the group raised their glasses – some filled with bourbon, some with beverages not so stout – they cheered three times, &#8220&#8220Company B, by God!”.

Before their deployment in 1940, Company B hosted banquets in Vicksburg. At one of those gatherings, an idea was born: A bottle of Wild Turkey would be drank by the two surviving local members of the group. The bourbon was opened early, however, at the 2004 reunion, attended by nine members.

Each year since then, the bottle has gotten a little emptier. Company member Ed Clark, who died in February at age 86, was its keeper.

It was 66 years ago today that the men of Company B left the former Cherry Street train station bound for what would become World War II. Most served five or six years of active duty and helped the Allied forces to victory.

The company was activated with 66 volunteers on May 28, 1934 – the spring after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.

Many were Carr Central High School students or employees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterways Experiment Station, now the name of the headquarters site of the Corps’ Engineer Research and Development Center. The young guardsmen received their military training at the local armory, housed at the former Main Street School, where the Vicksburg Municipal Auditorium now sits.

From 1934 until 1940, the company grew and handled assignments such as riot duty in Cleveland, Miss. and honor guard for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s visit to Biloxi.

Meanwhile, Europe was moving toward war. Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 and took Paris in 1940.

By the time Company B left Vicksburg, its strength was at its peak – about 190 officers and men.

&#8220They had filled up B Company with draftees,” Jacobson said. The United States began its first peacetime draft in 1940.

When the war ended in 1945, Company B returned home and started families and careers. No organized reunions were held for decades.

&#8220Well, it took 30 years,” Jacobson said. &#8220It took a long time to get enough interest to start over.”

Company B’s annual reunions began again in earnest in about 1980 and, since then, local members of the group have continued to meet monthly for lunch or breakfast, Jacobson said.