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How come Sgt Ron Malachi never received the Medal of Honor for his actions on January 5-6 1968 at Heip Duc. The submission should be reevaluated.
I am looking for any Viet Nam Veterans to preview my dads book. He was a pilot in Viet Nam and kept a daily journal of events along with pictures. His book will be released July 4, 2021. If interested in previewing an unreleased copy and writing an endorsement, please send your inquiry to along with a short bio and interest. rebeccacoda1@gmail.com
Vietnam War Veterans Day
Today, March 29, our Nation commemorates National Vietnam War Veterans Day on its 50th anniversary. The nine million American men and women served– more than six million of whom are living today – who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces during our involvement in Vietnam from November 1, 1955 to May 7, 1975.
War, Nightmares & Love
I have long feared my sins of past battles would return to haunt me.
As a man I try to justify the death of my Friends & Enemies as my part of an Unholy War!
Now as my Days of Sunshine are nearing a final Sunset I am comforted by the love of my family and friendship of my “Brothers of the Blood”.
Why does it take a “War” to make life important?
We remember the “Worse of Times” but the best of our family & friends.
Some say God has a greater Plan than we will ever know!
Death is called the endless sleep or immortality?
Family & friends await us, we will not be strangers in a foreign land.
We all will have rendezvous with death but as Veterans we hope to be remembered as Patriots
My sins against a fierce enemy were committed to save as many of my “Brothers of the Blood”, as I could!
My soul as man has been cast, only God can Judge!
Bullwinkle & Warlock
Well said. We cheated death so many years ago. Whether I am remembered as a Patriot is unimportant to me. I know I was and that is more important. Be well my friend.
Gents:
Today is K-9 Veterans Day (soon will we have day everyone). Karen & I went to see Warlock at the Veterans Park in Sun City in Bronze. He is looking good!!
Excellent! He did a great job.
Good to hear Bullwinkle. You took Wally and myself there and there is a brick with our brother Duck Detwiler.
Got both my covid shots at Northport VA hospital. Well organized. went great. Hope the rest of you are doing as well with it.
Got both of mine at the VA. Well organized for both shots.
museum is still reaching out for more testimonials take cell phone selfie style tell your story for posterity email to museum and i want to thank all who have responded
🙂🙂🙂
Guys
How re we doing getting the COV vaccine? Karen & I got our first shot yesterday.
Karen & I don’t use the VA but have medical from our 30 years with the Bell System. We also live in a retirement community so they set a drive through. We live South of Tampa, Fl.
Got mine three weeks ago at VA. Second one this Monday. Could not find a place a month ago when trying to get first shot. Called state, county, city, hospital, my in town doctor, and CDC. NOTHING! Finally thought send a secure message to my primary at VA because have nothing to lose. Got an answer the same day. Call scheduling line to schedule your first shot. Did and got it in 3 days. VA gets too much bad press. Because of moves have gone to 3 different ones and no complaints.
Bill:
Not that I am a Buc’s fan, they gave your Chiefs a beat down on Sunday. Buc’s defense was over powering. Anyhow you still did better than my Giant’s
We just found out that Charles Surface (70-71) passed away in Houston of a heart attack on Dec. 13, 2020. We’ll miss our brother.
RIP and I send prayers for the family.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Merry Christmas to Everyone & Be Safe!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The C 2/1 1970-72 group reunion. EVERYBODY is welcome to come!
We’re going to try again and hope COVID doesn’t cancel this one too. Please come!
WHEN: Sunday, May 16 to Thursday, May 20
Check in 1500 hrs, Check out 1100
WHERE: Comfort Inn and Suites
255 Cliff St.
Deadwood, SD
All rooms are $139.00 per night, plus tax and fees
Reservations must be made by April 16, 2021.
PHONE: 605-578-7550
FAX: 605-578-2836
E-MAIL: sales@deadwoodcomfortinn.com
Use C 2/1 when signing in or calling for reservations.
There is also an RV park about 100 yards from the hotel.
Our host this year are 1SGT Gene and Marilyn Secrest.
I’ve seen band of brothers multiple times. Great series. I agree though I don’t remember the colonel’s talk on Band. Anytime I see a military guy on any TV show, newscast, movie, etc. I look closely for a CIB. If I see one, it raises the guy up a notch in my opinion. Of course I recognize that Marines don’t get CIBs, arty guys don’t, medics don’t, chaplains don’t, chopper crews don’t. And any of them can be in the same stuff we were. I also believe that some got it who never saw combat. It still is a real “badge of honor” and I have the same feeling as Bill about fellow grunts. And, Happy birthday to you Bill Beckum. I’ve got 73 coming up next month.
This is my exciting war story. I watched “Band of Brothers” again over Thanksgiving. It reminded me of what the Colonel said on my first Stand Down probably early 1969. I was still mostly a FNG carrying an M79. He said from the stage welcoming us for the Stand Down that being infantry we all shared a common bond that no other MOS can claim. As I prepare to celebrate my 75th birthday this month I often reflect on that moment and those who were KIA, WIA, or returned home without a physical wound as I was. Just wanted to say how I remember you all with warm emotions. Blessings!
Muzzle flashes. Now that I think of it, I think I might have some bragging rights about muzzle flashes. The 90mm had huge muzzle flash and a second one at the rear, since recoilless rifles blast out the rear. I don’t quite understand the physics of that; Newton’s third law and all.
We were operating with the tracks one night (F-troop I guess) and we got hit. As I recall, we had our hooches set up between the vehicles. I fired off about three rounds at muzzle flashes in the tree line. We had no casualties and never knew if we hit anybody. The APC was blasting away with their .50 cal and M-60 I guess along with everyone else. I stupidly didn’t realize what a great target my dual-muzzle-flash made for the dinks but nothing happened to me or my assistant, who was an FNG but stuck with me. I can’t remember his name. That’s a shame..
The funny part was the morning and daylight. The guys on the track next to us saw the 90. They had thought that we were taking incoming with a blast next to them. When the saw the 90 they realized what the boom and flame was. It was us.
I did see the rear muzzle flash of the 90 mm Jim not sure if it was from yours as I don’t remember your tour dates. We were on a night logger on a terraced knoll I was an old guy by then. We heard the sound of a motor. We all stayed in place. It hit long from where I was. We moved to where it hit knowing they would adjust. The second hit short. By this time I watched the 90 mm fire at the motor flash in the jungle at the base of the hill. No more incoming. We did not go down and check for KIA during the night. We just got up the next day and humped on. Another exciting war story.
Thanksgiving 1969:
Warlock & I along with another Dog team Harvey Guess “Top” & Rex are with C2/1, I remember Silva & Harper being there. We were warn before leaving Hawk Hill not allow the Dogs to eat too much Turkey if it was flow out to the field. Top was a good old boy from Tenn. and pay no attention. Rex’s belly swell up like a basketball and he spent the night walking around with Rex, vomiting & diarrhea. He couldn’t allow him to lay down or he could get bloat & die.
Both Rex & Top survived the night but I don’t think they made any friends.
Not much of a War Story but true.
Next day Warlock & I got three (3) kills, Rex got medevac to Chu Li Veterinary Hospital but survived.
I came home on 11/23/1969 after 1 year and 17 days to an early out. My first Thanks giving home which by the end of my tour never expected to see.
Bill:
Did your belly swell up like a basketball? I bet it tasted great being home finally!
Chiefs look good against the Buc’s yesterday not that I care about any of the Tampa teams, just a old NY Giant fan. They are currently 4-7 but first in their division. Shows how bad the NFC has gone downhill.
My post took a few days before it turned up. It says way on top that some have to get manually approved.
I am so happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the accidental misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
I don’t know if any of you guys are watching or have watched “Tour of Duty.” It was a TV show that first ran around 1980 I think and was about a platoon of grunts in Nam. It plays on Saturdays at 8 pm EST on a cable/optimum channel called H&I, which stands for Heroes and Icons. Pretty cool channel. Also has Paladin, Wanted, dead or alive, Combat, Rawhide and a bunch of other shows from when we were young and watching cowboys and stuff.
Tour of Duty is supposed to be about a platoon but really seems to be just a squad. When i first started watching, they had 196th patches on their shoulder. Lately they have MACV I think. A chopper pilot who is like their own personal chauffeur, practically, wears a 101st patch.
There’s a lot of pure Hollywood stuff, especially the plots. Nevertheless, I enjoy watching it and looking for the accuracies and inaccuracies. They make an effort to show a lot of stuff. How the upper level REMFs were obsessed with body count; how some guys got drugged out; booby traps and trip wires.
Strangely enough, this squad goes back to a really comfortable firebase every night, takes showers, visits boom boom girls in a town that is relatively safe, etc. maybe some units were like that in other parts of the country.
One of the things that I think is most odd, is that in every firefight they are looking at and taking out VC and NVA. I know you guys saw more than I did but I never saw who I was shooting at. Muzzle flashes, yeah, but I never saw a live dink and never knew if I hit anybody (except the one with my 90mm fleschettes in him that Chuck told me about after Jan 11th, 1970).
Of course, every episode has guys doing stuff that should have gotten them silver stars with V or higher. Like the redshirt guys on the old Star trek, new guys usually don’t survive. Like I said, it’s Hollywood. They are Army. In one episode, during a firefight, you hear someone say something like “Come on Marine.” Stuff like that makes you laugh. Most of them carry M-16s and there is one M-60 guy and you see M-79s. But then sometimes you’ll see someone carrying an AK, a WWII vintage M-1 carbine and a grease gun. I know guys did get other weapons sometimes. I remember Lucky carried an M-14.
The stuff with the different shoulder patches might have been a way of honoring different units. That would make sense.
A lot of the plots they go in to rescue, abduct or kill someone. Kind of like what we hear Navy seals and other special forces do today and maybe then too. Not the typical grunt mission in those days, I don’t think.
They also deal with stuff like useless ARVNs, including traitors but sometimes they’re good and tough. Pretty realistic on that point, I think. They even showed a guy at shit-burning detail on the firebase.
They frequently get shit from remfs and lifers. Usually it is BS of course.
They don’t have anyone like Captain Morris. But then again, how could there be? They do have some good lifers. Just like we saw. Most weren’t our favorites but a few were special.
I just felt like talking about this because I thought others might be interested and I think it’s a good conversation topic.
As a plot device, the platoon was transferred from the 196th to MACV for special missions after a season or two. Sort of like SOG or something. I guess they ran out of things for a line company to do other than walk around and get shot at. Boring, right?
I watched it and liked it, at least early on. But, when they were sent to rescue a downed chopper full of scantily dressed dancers, the show began to lose me. LOL
But, I give them an A for effort.
The only live “possible” VC or NVA was when I was about 4th back from the point guy. We were walking down a dirt road road with elephant grass on both sides early in my tour when I was carrying an M-79. Perfect ambush sitting. As we rounded a curve we came upon a male. Not sure if carrying a weapon. The point guy opened up and the guy took off. We all got down waiting for the ambush. Never happened. I just figured later some villager who got caught in the wrong spor at the wrong time. Probably VC at night. I never even saw mussel flashes. Just fired into tree lines.
Some of the other guys saw them, but the only ones I saw l live the bush were ones we captured. We did see muzzle flashes and tracers in the dark, though.
I did see an RPG go over my head in 8/69 and landed in the CP.
I made a post here two or three days ago and got standard post it would be reviewed. It was never posted. Anyone else having a problem??????
God Bless the greatest and bravest American Heroes and Patriots I have ever known… Charlie 2/1 grunts! You are the epitome of what a REAL American is. May the wind always be at your back and the Sun light your way. Happy Veterans Day and Semper Primus, brothers!
Thank you!
I hope everyone is getting their freebees today, Nov. 11. Denny’s, IHOP, Dunkin Donuts and others.
I read that the politicians, in 1918, had reached agreement to end WWI on the day before November 11th . They decided to make it at 11:11 on the clock. for the drama attached to it: 11:11 on 11/11. As a result, dozens or maybe hundreds died fighting a war that had been concluded but kept going to make armistice look cool on the calendar. So, I guess our war was not the only one that wasted lives to make non-combatant mother…..ers happy.
Least we not forget!
Memories
Their smiles, laughs & sense of humor that reminded us of home
How they trusted us
Death was always a step ahead
Looking over our shoulders hoping they were there
Perhaps they were!
Now we have reunions with empty chairs
Widow brides, children without fathers
Trouble with truth, for eternity we suffer with the shame to be alive.
Now the River of Time, PTSD, Agent Orange, Cancer continue to thin our Ranks
A night logger for the dead
They are Our Brothers forever in the Thin Green Line
No need for Sound discipline
“Light Em If You Got ‘Em”
Stand Down
Waiting for the Freedom Bird, back to the World
Allow your soul to have a voice
Happy to be alive but Proud to have known them.
So true!
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brother Terry Roberts following heart surgery! Get well real soon!
Take care brother!
Vote! Vote! Vote! You fought hard for this right and we lost our brothers for this right. You have no right to complain of who is elected on the local, state, and national level if you don’t vote.
I am from Jersey (NOW FLORIDA) so voting, voting, voting has always been right to life. Actually Karen & I mailed our ballots in two (2) weeks ago.
I do not see where a post I tried to make is not here. I posted that William “Doof” Porath passed away yesterday. Services for William “Doof” Porath
When: Friday October 9, 2020
Where: Salem Lutheran Church Address: 615 S 30th St, Escanaba, MI 49829
Time: 12:30 -2:00 pm Visitation, funeral at 2:00 pm
RIP our brother.
Another of our brothers passed away yesterday. William “Doof” Porath passed away. I think his funeral will be Friday. There are several of us going to his funeral in Esconoba, MI. I should know some details tonight or in the morning. I am picking up Ben Buehler, Rex Allen and Ken Ruesch on my way up to the funeral.
Hello to all my brothers!!! This is the first I get into this new address. Everything is o.k. here at home. But it’s getting too long. But we must continue to wear a mask and keep the distance. We’ll survive again. I hope everybody is keeping safe, so I can see you next reunion. Love you bros!!!
How about those Chiefs?
Looking strong unlike my Giants who already planning for next year!
Maybe I’m just too much of a cynical New Yorker but my guess is these two compliments on the website are by people who plan on trying to sell their own web stuff. If they are veterans, friends of ours, family, etc. I humbly apologize. I don’t ever remember seeing either of their names.
Sure looks like it! Call in an airstrike to blow those posts away.