The social media revolution has been a godsend for pulling scattered bands of brothers—forged decades ago in Vietnam—back together again.
Once the long line of passengers ahead of me finished fumbling with stowing their carry-on luggage in the overhead bins and sitting down, I at last reached my aisle seat near the center of the plane. I sat down, buckled in and exchanged “hellos” with the young man sitting in the seat next to me. I then closed my eyes in preparation for my normal routine of falling asleep even before the plane leaves the ground. This day was different, however. I was too excited to sleep.
Forty-two years ago, I had met some exceptional young men. We were all part of a rifle company humping the jungles of Vietnam. Now, in a matter of hours I would be seeing 18 of them at a reunion in Myrtle Beach, S.C. I knew they would have aged, but in my mind’s eye they would still be the brave young warriors who did their duty in a nasty war they didn’t totally understand. And through it all, they bonded as brothers, placing their lives in each other’s hands. I was proud to be one of them.
When the plane reached cruising altitude and the pilot finished welcoming us aboard, I began a conversation with the young man beside me. His name was Jason, an engineer from Atlanta who was heading home following a business trip to Los Angeles.When he asked me where I was going, I told him about meeting up with some men I served with in Vietnam. “We read about Vietnam in high school,” he said, “but I didn’t learn much. There were only four or five paragraphs about it in our history book.”That amazed me. How could a 10-year war that changed the United States in so many ways rate less than a half-dozen paragraphs? I decided to tell Jason as much about the hows and whys of the war as best I understood them, and what I had observed from my ringside seat.
When I finished, Jason wanted to know how the men felt about the war. “They didn’t want to be there,”I answered. “They were a long way from home in a hot, dangerous place full of bad smells, bugs and snakes. Every step they took, they didn’t know if it would be their last. “Yet in spite of all the uncertainty, the camaraderie we built among each other is what kept most of us going. We knew we had each other’s back.”
Our conversation was interrupted by a flight attendant asking us what we’d like to drink. We soon fell into silence. Jason closed his eyes, and I stared ahead, lost in thought about how the reunion only came about because of a website for veterans that I’d happened upon.
TogetherWeServed.com is an exclusive website where retired and active-duty men and women can reconnect and bond. It’s also a place where I’ve met some really great people.
The first time I signed on, I was surprised how easy it was to navigate, and within a couple of days I had found six old Army buddies.When people become members, they are encouraged to fill their profile page with as much information as they can about their military and personal history including unit assignments, awards, schools attended and military and personal photos. To capitalize on this powerful search capacity, I filled out my profile on both the Marine Corps and Army sites as completely as possible.
I had joined the U.S. Marine Corps after high school in 1956, then joined the Army as an infantry second lieutenant in 1966, during the height of the Vietnam War. Following a year of selected training, I was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group in 1967. My first four months was on A-Team 101. The rest of my tour was with Project Delta, a special operations unit running small reconnaissance teams deep in enemy-held territory. My second tour started in 1969, when I was a rifle company commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). In May 1970, we operated in Cambodia. In 1984 I retired as a lieutenant colonel and jumped into a career as a writer and documentary filmmaker.
With my data uploaded to my profile, it wasn’t long before a whole lot of old Army friends began contacting me, most of whom I had served with in Vietnam.
After months of exchanging emails and messages with my Vietnam comrades over the Together We Served (TWS) message center, the idea of holding a reunion began to take shape. A lot of enthusiasm and the beginning of some planning started the momentum. The final shove, however, came from somewhere else.
One day, I got a TWS message from an unknown veteran. He wrote that he had been a member of our company when it arrived in Vietnam in 1965, and for the past eight years, the original members had been meeting for reunions every two years. He wanted to open up the next reunion, to be held in Myrtle Beach, to all veterans from all years who had served in the company. I wrote back that we would be there and got busy getting the word out.
Reflecting on how it all came about, I was struck by the versatility of the TWS website. It doesn’t just bring together long-lost friends; it’s actually a national archive where millions of stories and photos are posted, and with each, a lasting legacy of America’s military heritage.
Whenever I get the chance, I like to search for photos and stories posted by vets who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The detail some of the veterans have posted never fails to amaze me. It is better than a history book because it’s personal and because these living, breathing “scrapbooks” come straight from the gut and the heart. The postings by friends and relatives honoring the men and women who paid the supreme sacrifice are the ones that get me the most.
Inspired by the firsthand accounts written by others, I began making a detailed history of the Vietnam War. So far I have posted more than 200 photos and stories, beginning with the French occupation and ending with the fall of Saigon in 1975. It’s still a work in progress, but eventually it will include all major battles and end with a modern Vietnam, which has become one of our nation’s friends and trading partners. What Vietnam veteran would have ever dreamed of that happening?!
On the plane, as I was musing about why I love Together We Served, I fell asleep. The next thing I felt was the plane leveling off and the pilot telling us we would be landing shortly. The head flight attendant got on the horn with some gate numbers for connecting flights and thanked us for flying the airline.
The plane landed at the Atlanta airport and parked at a gate. Walking off the plane, I said goodbye to Jason and headed for the gate for my flight to Myrtle Beach. Two hours later, the commuter plane landed. I called the hotel where I would be staying and where the reunion was being held. In a matter of minutes, a van picked me up.
The excitement and anticipation was growing as I realized that within minutes, I would be coming face-to-face with some of my combat buddies after more than four decades. They understood better than anyone else about what Vietnam meant because they were there; they shared in the experience too.
No doubt William Shakespeare had men like us in mind when he wrote in Henry V, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”
Michael B. Christy has written and produced a number of documentaries for cable networks including A&E and The History Channel and is a frequent contributor to Vietnam.
Originally published in the April 2013 issue of Vietnam. To subscribe, click here.