Old Friends......
Old friends, Bruce and Arlene Crandall are in town for the weekend. Actually, they are "new" old friends. I met Bruce two years ago when he came out to help with a seminar I put together on the Vietnam War. He was introduced to me by my good friend Joe Galloway who wrote We Were Soldiers Once, and Young, which became the film We Were Soldiers. Bruce and Arlene now stop in several times a year on their RV ramblings across America.

Bruce is one of the leading characters in the real life action in Vietnam in 1965 on which the book and the movie are based. Bruce was portrayed by Greg Kinnear in the film. His actions are one of the reasons that the 1/7th Cavalry survived those three hellish days in November '65. When no one else would fly, he and his good friend Ed Freeman volunteered to fly their helicopters into an intensely hostile landing zone to deliver ammunition, food, and water to the trapped soldiers. And to fly the dead and wounded out. Ed Freeman later received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.....he was recommended by his commanding officer, Bruce. Joe Galloway's father-in-law, Capt. Tom Metsker, was killed on Bruce's helicopter as he was helping the wounded on. Bruce watched a North Vietnamese soldier shoot his co-pilot thru the neck. He had to abandon several Huey's that were shot up too badly to fly another trip. Bruce went on to fly 900+ missions in two tours in Vietnam and is one of only seven modern army aviators to be inducted into The Eagle Flight, the aviaton Hall of Fame.

I've heard all these stories first hand from Bruce, but like most veteran's....after we tell our stories we move on to life today. We talk about what his kids are doing, baseball, football......how we're going to fix his RV which seems to get banged up everytime he visits us. This trip Bruce and Arlene got to know Julie, Jack and Amanda and Bruce took to son Jack immediately, they are both sports fans. And we look at Arlene's Hollywood photos. Bruce was the aviation consultant on the film, and Arlene was the only person allowed to take photographs during production. She has hundreds with Mel Gibson, producer Randy Wallace, Sam Elliott, Barry Pepper, Madeleine Stowe, and of the filming. And copies of the scripts, photos of the costumes, and the sets along with notes from the actors and behind the screen staff. It's a real treat and one that my friends and neighbors like to come over and enjoy.

But mostly we, Bruce and Arlene, Julie, Jack and I, just like to "hang around" together. With the assembled group last evening, I asked if anyone wanted to watch clips from We Were Soldiers on DVD. Bruce was the first to speak up, "No thanks, I've seen it".

Here's to The Band of Brothers.