Vietnam Veterans of America

Liberty Bell Chapter #266

1515 E. Luzerne Street, Phila., PA 19124     215-288-7998 

Chapter 266 Welcomes All to Our Site
more importantly we
WELCOME YOU HOME
"Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another."
 
   Home      Memories of Vietnam
 
 
 
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then press "1" for the Veterans Hotline
 
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MEMORIES
OF
VIETNAM
 

The above letter was sent to
266 member Thomas Rogers' late father
from his commanding officer
back in 1968
WIFE'S VIEW
A Poem by Janet Rudman written for husband Jerry
 
Husbands, brothers, sons, dads served  in the US military
fighting the Vietnam War for love of our country, right or wrong.
 
Off they went, though our own land's ills were unresolved.
 
How we should have thanked our heroes when they came home.
Instead we called them "Baby-killers."
 
In South Vietnam - not the hot, dirty, bustling streets of Saigon or DaNang,
filled with Buddhist temples - or even in the officers barracks and
soldiers' bamboo hootches and makeshift hospitals -
 
but further inland, in monsoon-soaked jungles, rice paddies,
among rubber trees - visible during the day: American rifles,
canons, B-52 strikes, napalm.  Invisible at night:  Vietcong trip-wires,
ambushes, punji sticks.
 
Injuries, deaths inflicted on our brave, who fought to free this
beleaguered nation from Red dominion.
 
In the effort to save their land, it was war-ravaged.  Innocent
civilians and South Vietnamese Army - killed or maimed, children orphaned.
 
Parallels divided North and South in 1964.  After 1975 their flags flew separately.
 
 
Submitted by Jon Wright
 
During Tet, March 1968, A Fire Support Base, (FSB BURT),
near Dau Tiang & TayNinh
was almost overrun by VC & NVA.
The units at the base were part of the 25th Division. 
Besides part of the 7th/11th Artillery Battery,
there was also the 3rd of the 22nd Infantry.
The battle went on for most of the night. 
The enemy got through the wire but was eventually
repelled by forces that were stationed there.
Forty one and a half years later,
Jon Wright found this M-16 bullet on a return trip
 to the area of operations of the 25th Division.
While the story was being told by 2 of the combatants
that were there that night, Major Robert Hemphill
and an enlisted man, Jerry Cunningham an RTO,
Jon looked out the window of the bus
and spotted something green in the tire track of the red mud.
Curiosity got the best of Jon
and he had to get off the bus to check it out. 
This is what was found. A
s if all this was not weird enough,
Jon was an RTO for the 25th Infantry Division in 1967 and was sharing a room on the return trip
with Jerry Cunningham.
The following money was carried by Jon Wright when he was IN COUNTRY 1967 
 
 
Jon Wright also took a photo of the lighter that he carried when
IN COUNTRY 1967
 
  
VIET-NAM
66-67
"YEA THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH I WILL FEAR NO EVIL FOR I AM THE EVILEST SON OF A BITCH IN THE VALLEY"
 
The Haunted Dream - 4/23/970200 hrs

 (Upon reading Internet posts triggered by the upcoming 22nd anniversary in 2 days of the fall of Saigon & the RSVN)

Silent wings through the night,
Stealing into our sleep with fright,
Freighted with terrible weight,
And memory of loss.
~
Bolt upright we awake.
The stuttering sounds inside still quake.
You hear the cries of those forsook,
And remember their loss.
~
Hands raised, arms outstretched.
You can't span time and space
To pull them up, take them in,
And their loss is your loss.
~
"A thousand tears falling",
So wrote Yung Krall.
Their flow pursues us still,
Till forgiveness for failure
 Is allowed to fill the loss.

 - Gerald Ney

 
Items from Chuck Bauer
 
the below lighter was taken off a Vietcong soldier
(notice the planes inscribed on it)
 
 
and I guess you all remember the P38 can opener
and some money that Chuck received
 
  
 
and of course, his original dogtags
 

 
 
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