By Todd DePastino
One of the pleasures of running the Veterans Breakfast Club is discovering other people like us who have spent years building communities around veterans and their stories.
Earlier this year, VBC friend and Vietnam Donut Dolly Ginny Close reached out to tell us about Vietnam veteran Keith Goudy and the remarkable online communities he has built. Ginny thought Keith’s work would interest us not only because of its historical value but also because it reflects a challenge familiar to many veterans: how to preserve memories, photographs, stories, and connections before they are lost. Through her introduction, we began a conversation that we hope will lead to future collaborations and conversations with Keith.
Keith is a Vietnam veteran originally from Moundsville, West Virginia. Drafted in 1969, he arrived in South Vietnam in August 1970 and served at An Khe Base Camp with the 4th Infantry Division before transferring to the Da Nang Support Command’s Inspector General office. He extended his tour before returning home and leaving the Army in 1971. Like many veterans, Keith carried his experiences with him long after his military service ended. Today, he serves as founder and president of the Vietnam War History Foundation and helps administer three Facebook communities devoted to preserving the history, literature, and memory of the Vietnam War.
Together, these groups reach tens of thousands of veterans, family members, historians, authors, and enthusiasts.
The largest of Keith’s communities is VietnamWarHistoryOrg, a private Facebook group with more than 44,000 members.
Its mission is ambitious but straightforward: to be one of social media’s most reliable sources of information about the Vietnam War. The group’s primary focus is the period from 1955 through 1975, while also covering the earlier French Indochina War years from 1946 to 1954. The page was founded in 2012 by Army historian Erik B. Villard of the U.S. Army Center of Military History. Keith Goudy and Joss Huot organized the administration team in 2014 and have worked to keep discussions informative, focused, and free from spam and misinformation.
Group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vietnamwarhistoryorg/
For veterans, researchers, family members, and students of history, the group offers a steady stream of photographs, documents, questions, discussions, and historical insights.
Vietnam Veteran Wall of Honor Memorial Group
Perhaps the most moving of Keith’s projects is the Vietnam Veteran Wall of Honor Memorial Group.
The group’s purpose is simple and powerful: remembrance. Members post memorials honoring Vietnam veterans who died in the war as well as those who survived the conflict but have since passed away. Many tributes are written by family members, friends, classmates, or fellow veterans who knew the individual personally. Keith emphasizes that the group is dedicated exclusively to memorials and remembrances, creating a space where service and sacrifice are remembered one veteran at a time.
Group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1216032118425114/
For many families, the page serves as a virtual gathering place where stories, photographs, and memories can be shared long after formal ceremonies have ended.
Readers of VBC Magazine will be especially interested in Keith’s third community, the Vietnam War Book & Film Club.
Created to promote literature, film, and creative work related to the Vietnam War, the group welcomes discussions of memoirs, biographies, history books, novels, documentaries, feature films, poetry, screenplays, and artwork. Members can post books, reviews, recommendations, and sales links, making the group an excellent resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the war through reading and viewing.
The group organizes books into categories that include memoirs and biographies, historical studies, fiction, photography and art, and reference works, making it easier for members to discover new titles and authors.
Group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/425634090955395/
Given the strong interest in books among VBC members and contributors, this group is a particularly valuable resource for veterans who write, read, research, or simply enjoy learning more about the war through personal narratives and scholarship.
Veterans Building Communities
What strikes us most about Keith’s work is that these communities are entirely volunteer-driven. They demonstrate the enduring desire of veterans and their families to connect, remember, learn, and share stories.
At the Veterans Breakfast Club, we often say that stories build community. Keith’s Facebook groups show that the same principle applies online. Whether preserving the memory of a fallen friend, discussing a newly published memoir, or debating the history of a battle, these communities help ensure that the experiences of the Vietnam generation are neither forgotten nor oversimplified.
We encourage VBC members with an interest in Vietnam-era history to explore Keith’s groups and join the conversations.
We’re also hoping to feature Keith in a future VBC Connects interview, where we’ll learn more about his service in Vietnam, the origins of these Facebook communities, and the challenges and rewards of preserving history in the digital age.
Thank you, Keith, for your years of dedication to preserving the history, literature, and memory of the Vietnam War and the people who lived it.
