Trip down memory lane....
Please pardon my reverie back to the past and the 60's, but last night I watched a part of Vietnam: A Television History on PBS, a very good series about the history of the conflict. Then when I checked my email for the final time of the day there was a note from Will Parrish up in Oklahoma. Will sent along a link to a very intriguing website [below] named "The Vietnam Era in Music" which is guaranteed to take anyone of that certain age back on what may be a very joyful, tearful and heart tugging journey. My partner Del and I listened at the office for a half an hour or so until we just couldn't take the memories anymore.
Will Parrish is a veteran of the battles at the Ia Drang in '65 and through the last years has become a good friend. We email often and see each other at various reunion events such as the one in Fredericksburg, Texas pictured above. Will, in the red polo shirt in the photo, standing alongside his daughter, is a very humble guy and won't ever voluntarily tell you his story himself. But I will. In brief, Will singlehandedly held off a North Vietnamese human wave attack for several hours with a machine gun and when his M-60 ammo ran out he stood up and emptied two .45 pistols into the NVA. Somewhere over 100 enemy soldiers were found dead in front of his position when the day's fighting was over. Will was awarded the Silver Star for Gallanty.
Pictured at the far left is Vince Cantu who has his own amazing story. He graduated from Refugio [Texas] High School with my friend, and author, Joe Galloway. They did not see each other for many years thereafter until, amazingly, they met under a tree in Vietnam at the battle of LZ XRay neither knowing that the other was "in country". The bride and I are 3rd and 4th from the left above. Rounding out the group, is Chip Parker and his wife Vicki. Chip was a helicopter gunship pilot in the Ia Drang, now lives in Dallas and has been a visitor in our home.
So courtesy of Will, take your own trip down memory lane at:
Vietnam Era Music
Scroll about half of the way down and start selecting tunes off of the three "players".
Please pardon my reverie back to the past and the 60's, but last night I watched a part of Vietnam: A Television History on PBS, a very good series about the history of the conflict. Then when I checked my email for the final time of the day there was a note from Will Parrish up in Oklahoma. Will sent along a link to a very intriguing website [below] named "The Vietnam Era in Music" which is guaranteed to take anyone of that certain age back on what may be a very joyful, tearful and heart tugging journey. My partner Del and I listened at the office for a half an hour or so until we just couldn't take the memories anymore.
Will Parrish is a veteran of the battles at the Ia Drang in '65 and through the last years has become a good friend. We email often and see each other at various reunion events such as the one in Fredericksburg, Texas pictured above. Will, in the red polo shirt in the photo, standing alongside his daughter, is a very humble guy and won't ever voluntarily tell you his story himself. But I will. In brief, Will singlehandedly held off a North Vietnamese human wave attack for several hours with a machine gun and when his M-60 ammo ran out he stood up and emptied two .45 pistols into the NVA. Somewhere over 100 enemy soldiers were found dead in front of his position when the day's fighting was over. Will was awarded the Silver Star for Gallanty.
Pictured at the far left is Vince Cantu who has his own amazing story. He graduated from Refugio [Texas] High School with my friend, and author, Joe Galloway. They did not see each other for many years thereafter until, amazingly, they met under a tree in Vietnam at the battle of LZ XRay neither knowing that the other was "in country". The bride and I are 3rd and 4th from the left above. Rounding out the group, is Chip Parker and his wife Vicki. Chip was a helicopter gunship pilot in the Ia Drang, now lives in Dallas and has been a visitor in our home.
So courtesy of Will, take your own trip down memory lane at:
Vietnam Era Music
Scroll about half of the way down and start selecting tunes off of the three "players".
