Vietnam Era Reunions in the US

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Niner
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Vietnam Era Reunions in the US

Post by Niner » Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:35 pm

I got this in an email inviting me to a 3/506, 101st reunion because the guy sending the invite thought the attachment was very true about what happens at a 3/506 reunion. Only thing is that it's a memory about an MP group in the Americal Division. But it strikes a note or two that could be about all Vietnam reunions. I've posted it at my 6/31st, 9th site and have gotten a few good comments about how it rings true.

I've since talked to the guy who wrote the memory and he is amazed that it has been seen by many Vietnam vets who have gone to reunions who have appreciated what it says.

The message is this, from someone who wishes to remain not named:

Last weekend I was in Jacksonville for the annual reunion of the Americal (23d Infantry) Division. This is the 4th one I've attended since 2001.

The Americal was a bit of an unusual unit. It was originally formed in 1942 from a variety of regiments, battalions and other support units and fought all over the south Pacific. It's unlike most other Divisions that were formed in the US , trained and shipped. Americal stood down in 1946 and was briefly re-constituted during Korea and stood down again. It was last reformed in 1967 from 3 independent Brigades in I corps and stood down last in 1972. This Division has never been on US soil, somewhat like the French Foreign Legion. One of the "highlights" (lowlights?) of Americal history is a place called My Lai and some of the players with names like Calley, Medina, Henderson, Baker and others. That's what the public generally knows if they ever run across the name Americal and do a Google. Of course, like all other things, that isn't the whole story of the Division, its units or its members. Since this Division stood down in 1973, as someone noted at this year's reunion, "we aren't making any more veterans of the Division" and membership is stagnant; well, really declining since the youngest folks that served in it are 55 or more by now. All in all, it's an interesting slice of the country, mostly representing the "boomer" generation and since it's a static membership, some very interesting observations can be made.

Everyone remembers that we had a draft in those days and we were in a "draft" world…we had guys who had Cornell educations and guys who came down from the Hills in Kentucky with slanted ankles who could barely read….we had black dudes and white dudes…we had a good number of immigrants (Hispanic)…we didn't have too many Dan Quayles because their daddy's bought their way out…for the most part it was just guys who answered the call. Still, there were big disparities in class, education, and the like. I remember that some of the guys who came down from the hills to basic at Ft. Benning had to be shown first, what a tooth brush was, and then how to use it…guys who upon issue of 5 pairs of boxer shorts, had the largest amount of pieces of underwear that they had ever had in their lives, and probably the first new ones as well.

The Americal was like that. For the most part it was this collection of wild variations that somehow managed to do the job (not always well). The MP Company that I was sent to was a bit different…like many HQ units, it seemed to have a greater proportion of folks with more than 8 years of education and a discernible future (geez that sounds rather elitist!!)…and, of course, we didn't have to sleep on the ground very much and didn't have to run point every other day and, generally, didn't have to worry that the next step would trigger some destructive little explosive with a cute name…our "war" was a little different. I had a number of friends but none of them were "lifelong"…when I came home, I came home…no addresses…no phone numbers…just came home and got on with life. The guys I worked with were like that too…Bob Cottrell, a school teacher that went back to teaching and just retired last year…George Sunderland, my CO, who finally mustered out after 13 years of being a Captain and not going to be promoted, now a counselor in Fayetteville, Thurman Branham, my 1st Sgt. Who was finishing the last year of a 30 year career…Glen Endress, my mail clerk, Vern Rhinehart, the Provost Marshall's Clerk, Lee Woodson, Lieutenant, recently graduated from whatever college is in Ypsilanti, Tom Haglund, Lieutenant, from somewhere in NY and for whom I served as driver when he was Duty Officer, Jim Doyle, Lieutenant who became an officer after 10 years as enlisted Infantry, Al Feser, from NY who was the Provost Marshall driver and a wheeler-dealer extraordinaire…Gerry Loughman, Desk Sergeant in the Provost Marshall Office…and others. I served with these guys…we drank together, we huddled together in bunkers with the rockets were coming in, we spent a year together in a Tropical Wonderland and when my time was over, I just upped and left and rejoined the real world. We began to find each other in 2000…it just seems like a virus was incubating for all that time and then suddenly, with the emergence of the Internet, we all found each other and have found ways to get together, usually at Division reunions. Well, it's been interesting.

Our Division reunions are fascinating….we have our share of knuckle draggers…our share of guys who still wear came…we have our share of guys who just never made it back, so to speak…but we have what's really a slice of Americana…guys who careered and retired…guys who went on to become police chiefs, teachers, insurance salesmen, appraisers (imagine that!! I'm not the only one)…guys who are comfortable in the social and commercial world and guys who aren't….guys who come and sit and listen and find it difficult to speak…guys who view the annual reunion as their one chance to come and get some things off their chest, and guys who you might think would not come to these things but do. Everyone recognizes everyone else, no matter what their station in life, as something akin to themselves…they may not want to spend more than 2-3 days a year with them, but somehow or other, they're drawn to these things. Some come and can't afford to register or go to the paid events, like the Saturday night banquet…but they hang around in the hospitality rooms that are always full from the night before the reunion starts until long after midnight after the Saturday banquet…the low and the high, sitting around table, drinking beer, coke or whatever and asking "hey, do you remember…." Or "has anyone heard anything about…." Oh yeah, the war stories…the events…the things they remember that were long forgotten or forcibly submerged….the tears sometimes.

I had a great time…I usually have in the past. But it was enough for another year. One of the guys, the teacher in NJ and his wife have become friends and we see them occasionally but that's enough. Now after 4 of these that I've gone to you begin to notice some that were there last year who aren't here anymore…we're at that time in our lives. I spent hours with folks that I normally wouldn't…we have something in common…I met another one this trip that I hadn't seen since 1968, a Marine named Patton assigned to our unit and is a first time reunion guy…and I didn't see my school teacher friend, he had his chest cracked for a triple bypass a week before the reunion…it's that time in the cycle.

If there's a common thread to this really unusual mix of fat 60 year olds who once upon a time in their lives did some incredibly stupid things for some incredibly stupid leaders but at the same time were just doing what their father's and their father's fathers had done, namely answer the call of duty, it's summed up in a Vietnam Veteran's of America poster that was hung on the wall in our Hospitality Room…."Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another generation".
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