Vets Back To War Zone (VBTWZ) and Veterans History Project (VHP) are winding down the year after multiple accomplishments and events. VBTWZ’s utmost mission and desires are to have Vietnam and Korean veterans and others assist in mentoring veterans returning form the Middle Eastern Wars.
The one jewel of the final part of this year was meeting Bill Reynolds, a long time Valencia resident and Vietnam veteran who made a return trip to the war zone in 2007 to retrace his, and his unit’s, footsteps in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. This is his story.
Several weeks ago a mutual acquaintance introduced me to Herby Hightower via e-mail and subsequently, Herby and I met in person for coffee and we discussed our common interest. That interest is the Vietnam War and our separate efforts over the years assisting Veterans. My effort has focused on creating and managing a web site www.9thinfantrydivision.com, which is dedicated to preserving the memory of my unit (4th/47th Battalion, 9th I.D.), its soldiers and especially our fallen soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice. For a number of years now, my wife Meg and I have facilitated bi-annual reunions for my ole unit, Charlie Company, 4th/47 th, which led me to creating several documentaries of our exploits and memorials to those we lost in Vietnam and since that time.
During our coffee meeting, I described to Herby the trip that our group of 17 made to Vietnam in June of 2007. Our mission was to walk on the exact battle site on the exact day and hour 40 years after our battalion’s battle with a large Viet Cong force and to pay tribute to our fallen… this battle became known as, “The June 19th Battle Near Ap Bac Village”. Tragically, that day we lost 48 brave soldiers, many more wounded and the enemy had been decimated, however at a very high cost of American lives.
Following that visit, I created a documentary DVD of our day at that battle site, which depicts the still horrible conditions of the people living in that area, how well we were received by the local villagers and the tribute that our group paid to our fallen soldiers who died at that location. Through tears, I read each soldier’s name, his age and hometown while local villagers observed; several in attendance had fought against us in that battle. It was quite a remarkable experience shaking their hands and communicating through our interpreter. I should mention that we had three men, Mike Lee, Dennis Lee and Bob Geier, in our group who lost their brothers that fateful day. Our tribute included burying a time capsule at that site containing photos, letters, dog tags, and poems to our fallen buddies… indeed, that visit back to Ap Bac Village was very emotional and powerful.
Interestingly, when we met, Herby gave me a DVD and he told me that it illustrated his group’s primary purpose, which is to enable Veterans to return to the war zone to help erase their war demons. The next day, I watched Herby’s DVD and to my amazement his video was based on three Vietnam Veterans who travelled to the War Zone in year 2000 with a group of students from the University of Southern Mississippi. Of those Veterans, one was a fellow Charlie Company soldier, John Young, who also fought in the “June 19th Battle Near Ap Bac Village”. They too visited that exact battle site and seemingly experienced the same feelings of relief and freedom that our group felt.
Veterans interested in re-visiting their War Zone should see Herby’s DVD and then you will realize the value in making such a trip. As for me, going back to Ap Bac Village was an experience I would not trade for anything, plus I was fortunate to have my son Mike join me which made the trip into my war Zone even more special.