The Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC) is the nation’s premier non-profit for connecting veterans with their fellow Americans through inspiring stories of service. We’re the place where veterans can share what they’ve seen and done—and where everyone can listen and learn.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Join the Veterans Breakfast Club for a remarkable conversation with William S. Reeder Jr., the last U.S. Army soldier taken prisoner during the Vietnam War and author of Through the Valley: My Captivity in Vietnam.
In 1972, then-Captain Reeder was flying Cobra gunship missions in support of South Vietnamese forces near the besieged Special Forces camp at Ben Het, close to the Cambodian border. During an intense battle, his helicopter was shot down. After evading capture for three days, he was taken prisoner by North Vietnamese forces.
What followed was an extraordinary ordeal. Reeder spent weeks confined in jungle cages before enduring a brutal forced march along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Seven men in his group of twenty-seven POWs died during the journey. Eventually imprisoned in Hanoi, he spent nearly a year in captivity before returning home during Operation Homecoming in 1973.
Reeder’s memoir, Through the Valley, vividly recounts not only the horrors of captivity but also the bonds among prisoners, the strength drawn from family and country, and the determination to survive under unimaginable conditions.
A decorated Army aviator, Reeder flew dangerous reconnaissance and attack missions throughout Southeast Asia, including classified operations over Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. His service earned him numerous decorations, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Prisoner of War Medal.
During this live conversation, Reeder will reflect on his service and, as always, we’ll leave plenty of time for audience questions and conversation.
About William S. Reeder Jr.
William Reeder is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, combat aviator, and former prisoner of war. Captured in 1972 after his helicopter was shot down near Ben Het, he spent nearly two years as a POW before his release in 1973. His acclaimed memoir, Through the Valley: My Captivity in Vietnam, is considered one of the most compelling firsthand accounts of the American POW experience during the Vietnam War. His story has also been featured by the Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine and numerous military history organizations.
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The Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC) is the nation’s premier non-profit for connecting veterans with their fellow Americans through inspiring stories of service.
Our goal is to build a nation that understands and values the experiences of our military veterans so that every day is Veterans Day.
We do this by bringing together–in-person and online–men and women from all walks of life, all ages and eras, and every branch of service to talk about what they’ve seen and done. We want to hear how people’s military service has shaped them. “Every Veteran Has a Story” is our slogan. We want to hear every one.
We share the stories we hear in our weekly VBC Bulletin email newsletter and our quarterly VBC Magazine. We also record a weekly podcast, The Scuttlebutt, about military culture from the people who lived it.
We do all this because we believe the best way to thank a Veteran is to listen.
Listening is what the VBC has been doing for the past 15 years, when we held our first small event outside of Pittsburgh. Since then, we’ve held over 1,000 programs in-person and online and have welcomed over 20,000 different people at our events, Veterans and non-Veterans coming together to listen.
We value every veteran’s experience, no matter who they are or when or how they served. We’ve seen up close the power of storytelling, as the memories shared at VBC events connect, heal, educate, and inspire an ever-expanding circle of listeners.
THE VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT
Preserving veterans’ stories so that this living history is never forgotten.
We pair passionate VBC volunteers with military veterans for one-on-one oral history interviews over Zoom. If you are a veteran, or you know a veteran, who would be interested in sharing his or her story with us, let us know. If you are someone interested in conducting these interviews, please reach out!
At any given event, you might hear from the newest members of Space Force to a 101-year-old World War II veteran.
We’ve welcomed Tin Can Sailors and Montford Point Marines, Vietnam Sky Soldiers and Cold War intelligence officers. We’ve heard stories from the Horn of Africa to Antarctica, the Bering Sea to Diego Garcia, and all points in between.
LORAN Coast Guardsmen and Radar Station Airmen have told us about serving in some of the most remote places on earth.
Korean War veterans have borne witness to their “forgotten war.”
Other “forgotten warriors” shared their memories of Beirut, Grenada, and Mogadishu.
Some of the first women authorized for combat shared stories of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the Purple Hearts they received.
