Photo credit: Rose Carlo Gantner VBC member Richard Sand reports that on May 22, 2023, former Navy pilot Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) introduced House Resolution 8978: “To award a Congressional Gold Medal to members of the Red Cross Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas (SRAO) program, also known as the ‘Donut Dollies,’ who served
Written by Harry Van Riper I don’t know where I’d be without the Army. Before Vietnam took my arm, the Army saved my life. Harry Van Riper tells his story at a VBC breakfast in September 2016 at the 911th Airlift Wing I was a troubled teen, a real hellraiser. I rolled my
written by Carole Wagener For Bill and Carole Wagener, 1969 was The Hardest Year. Newlyweds separated by 10,000 miles, Bill served in the 865th Engineer Gas Generating Detachment at Cha Rang Valley while Carole was a student at protest-wracked University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their 300-plus letters back and forth are the basis of a new book recounting their
By Todd DePastino Marine veteran Andy Nigut and former NVA soldier embrace at the DMZ Nothing prepared me for the emotional impact of our first VBC trip to Vietnam. In 2018, the VBC decided to offer a guided tour of the country, from Hanoi to the Mekong Delta. Seventeen of us, almost
Written by Bob Rabe Vietnam veteran Bob Rabe shares a beautiful Christmas moment from 1966. It seems like yesterday, December 25, 1966. While on patrol with my fellow Military Policeman, we came upon a Vietnamese Catholic Church. Mass had already started, but we entered the church quietly anyway. While we stood in the back, the Vietnamese
Written by Jim McStay A B-52 flies over the beach at U-Tapao, ca. 1973 (Jim McStay) Navy P-3 Orion pilot Jim McStay recalls a long day in the air from Diego Garcia with special cargo in a cooler and a badly hurt SeaBee on a litter awaiting emergency surgery. Back when I
