A True Memorial Day......
During five hellish days in November of 1965, 234 young, proud and brave Americans died 10,000 miles from home at Landing Zones X-Ray and Albany in the Ia Drang Valley of the central highlands of South Vietnam. Their story was told in the bestselling book We Were Soldiers Once...and Young and later in the Mel Gibson film We Were Soldiers. Julie and I had the honor of spending Memorial Day with some of the Ia Drang survivors at the Adm. Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas. This is what Memorial Day should be and I will never forget this one.

Most of these young men had been together and known each other for 18 months before they went to Vietnam....they knew each others wives, kids and families. They were close then, and they are perhaps closer now, more attached to each other than many of us are to our own kin. The Band of Brothers. Tears are still shed all these years later for those comrades who fell that day, and for the many wounded, and for those who have never been the same since. But also there is joy in seeing each other again and joy in sharing the good things that life has brought in the years that followed.

These are amazing men, with some amazing stories. Vince Cantu [black shirt/yellow tie] was a classmate of the books author, Joe Galloway, at tiny Refugio Texas High School, with a graduating class of 55 kids. Joe and Vince had not seen each other in the six years since their graduation. As a young UPI reporter Joe stepped off the helicopter at LZ X-Ray to cover the battle and one of the first voices he heard said, "hey Joe, you'd better get down, people are dying here". He wondered, "who the hell knows me in the middle of a battle in Vietnam"? That voice was none other than his old classmate Vince Cantu..... Vince is retiring soon from his job in Houston, and is planning to start up a new Tejano music band.

Will Parrish [red polo shirt] was a young kid from Oklahoma, and certainly had no dreams of becoming a hero. He was about to be become one, though it's a term he would not use on himself. During a human wave attack by the North Vietnamese at LZ X-Ray, Will found himself alone, manning a machine gun. He fired up all the machine gun ammunition and when that ran out, he emptied two .45 cal. pistols into the enemy.....they were that close. When the battle was done, over 100 enemy soldiers were found in front of his position. He won the Silver Star for Valor that day. Today, he is the mostly quiet modest person he has always been, still living in Oklahoma. He shies away from the term hero, an overused used term today, but his buddies know that he truly is.

Lt. Col.[retired] Bob Barker [yellow shirt/black hat] commanded one of the supporting artillery batteries at LZ Falcon, some 5 miles from LZ X-Ray. Bob and his fellow artillerymen, firing constantly for 3 straight days, poured some 18,000 high explosive shells into the enemy, and when necessary, right on top of the American soldiers at X-Ray. There is not a man who was at the battle who will tell you that the reason they are alive today is because of Bob and his artillery. That says it all. Bob is now retired in Hemphill Texas, a true gentleman and a great pleasure to be with.

Robert Saucedo [far left] was an extraordinary soldier who Joe captured on film during the battle and can be seen on our photo website, photo #2, assisting a wounded comrade to evacuation. George Kelling [red shirt] ran the evacuation medical facillity to which wounded soldiers were sent, and through his skill many lives were saved. He is now a PhD. and lives in San Antonio. Chip Parker [blue shirt/black hat] was an attack helicopter pilot in the Ia Drang Valley and provided continuous, accurate and deadly fire on the attacking NVA. He and his wife have been close friends of mine for years. Chip owns a telecommunications company in Dallas. I met Joe Pena [far right] and his wife Rose on the airplane flying to an Ia Drang reunion in Washington D.C. several years ago.....we have been friends since. Joe retired as the Chief of Police in Port Lavaca, Texas and now assists in helping youth in that area.

And the young man in the dark suit and tie is Dacien De la Paz. Dacien's father was killed at LZ X-Ray. The troops vowed that no one would be left behind and no one would be forgotten. Dacien is an example that the vow has been kept. Dacien is a living Memorial to his father and to all those who died that day and he is a member of the Band of Brothers and attends many of the reunion functions. He is a Doctor in Houston.

And finally there is the book's author, Joe Galloway [brown coat].....the reason for my association with this group. Joe has been a friend and business partner for some years now. I thank him often for my introduction to these great guys and for his efforts in telling the true story of the soldiers in Vietnam.