I wish I could somehow let you know what it was like for me.
I was not in combat, but I did see a lot when I was there. In thinking
about how to describe it ,first I wrote of the smells, the colors, the weather,
the sounds, oh so many things. But my heart knew that unless you
were there my writing about those things would only be words
to you and you had to be there to experience them in a real way.

Vietnam, a place yes, but more then that. The
Vietnam War was not just a place on a map
it was and still is part of my very being.  

So I want to share this mostly with those who have been there. 
With those whose :
eyes do not say no, stop I have heard enough, 
please I am uncomfortable. 
Are you nuts, you went there ?

This is for YOU for you that have been to the Nam, 

for each of you that live inside my heart, 
for my Nam Vets
and your wives and loved ones.

During the height of the war in Vietnam, 
there was a statistic that was passed around 
- the average lifespan of a Huey door gunner was
approximately 11 minutes of flight time. The Man in the 
Doorway remembers these brave young men who faced 
death to save others. Forty-eight percent of all Army deaths 
in Vietnam occurred during a soldier’s first three months 
in the country.

How I got to Vietnam and how this part of my life 
and how it is a part of my soul 
and those I met will live in my heart into forever.  
I never was a star but a working
model, actress, singer and pianist.  

My life has taken many turns and I have
been blessed along the way to meet wonderful people. 
When I was living in Dallas, Texas 
I met Bob Hope at an event at SMU. He had me audition for him
and then asked me to go with his group and the USO to Vietnam.  

It was the Bob Hope Holiday USO tours.  I had been a pianist 
most of my life since childhood. Up to this point in my life I had 
only done modeling. So this was very special to me, to get to go to 
Vietnam and support our troops and to get to go with so many 
wonderful people as well.  
I got permission from my parents to go and that
took something as they were worried about my safety. 
I moved to Los Angeles so I could train and 
prepare for the trip and meet the others going on the tour.  

On all my trips to Vietnam, going with various people, 
I thank God everyday that I was chosen to go,  
I was able to meet our troops.......

MY Heroes!  

Bob Hope with Les Brown at Phu Bai  

The one, the only Bob Hope and Les Brown, 
the Band leader, returning to their C-130 at Phu Bai airfield 
after a big show for the 101st Airborne near Phu Bai. 
Bob had an entire crew and cast on two C-130s. 
The que card for the shows were carried on a palette 
and were stacked 5-6 feet tall. 
They had to be loaded and unloaded with a fork lift! 
Note the the Phu Bai tower and passenger terminal 
in the background over the UH-1. (December 1970)
Image courtesy of Tom Payne can also be seen at
the VHPA website

Camp Haskins Red Beach

Freedom Hill 1969

Camp Eagle  

Bob Hope Christmas show at the 'Eagle Bowl', Dec.'71. 
Starred Jim Nabors, Vida Blue, & 'Les Brown & His Band of Renown 
Image courtesy of Doug. Doug served in Vietnam. 
Doug Kibbey - 2/17th Cav., 101st Abn.- 
Camp Eagle/Hue/Phu Bai 1971 and 
2/11th ACR Hau Nghia Prov. 1972

Thank you Doug for serving our country. 

Welcome Home! 

This photo was also from VHPAMuseum website

Bob Hope and Guests, Christmas of 1971
Image courtesy of Rick Schwab, Condor 47

This photo was also from VHPAMuseum website

1968 Phu Cat  

Vietnam 1966

CHU LAI  1969

USO in Saigon

A BIG hug  for each one  of you !  Wild Thing

Captain Dave Capt. Dave flew Dustoff 22 in Vietnam He is one of my Heroes .  I will always cherish that I know him.  He is a very special person to so many, and many that he does not even realize how he has touched their lives.

The Brown Water Navy consisted of this type of craft. PCF 28, during transit to operational area..... PCF's mean Patrol Craft Fast or Swift Boats. Tommy is another Hero I want you to meet. He is also the President of the  Swift Boat Sailors Association. Tommy is another reason we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. America owes a lot to Tommy and I am very grateful.

Don in the front mount. Don has a wonderful web site that is also listed further down on my  Vietnam Page , the Mobile Riverine Force

Don in the Rung Sat Special Zone. Don is an American Hero. He is also a friend of mine just as the other Nam Vets have become. I am truly honored to have met Nam Vets in person and or online.  Being able to thank them one on one like this means more then I can say.

Robert Hornberger, is a Vietnam Veteran. He is one of the  big guys standing behind the Traitor Hanoi Kerry.  Robert served on swiftboats out of An Thoi Vietnam in  68 and 69 on pcf 3 and pcf43, he was a Gunners Mate on pcf43. Robert was awarded a Purple Heart and  Bronze Star. He is one of America's Heroes and my heart is so proud of him. Welcome Home Bob and thank you for your friendship and all you have done and do today. And for making a  difference in this world as you served our country in the  Vietnam War.

This is a photo of a Vietnam Vet friend of mine.  My friends name is Marvin. He sent this to me and  said...."It is a photo of the very first time in  something over three weeks when it was safe  enough to take off our boots and bathe.   Try to imagine spending weeks sweating in the  jungle without ever being able to take off your  boots or clothes any time, day and night, growing  great patches of all kinds of skin diseases from  the filth." Thank you Marvin with all my heart for serving our country!!  Welcome Home!

This is my friend Larry Barnes.  Larry served in Vietnam  Dec 66 - Dec 67    tuy hoa nah trang  duc pho  chu lai Larry was with the 39th Combat  Engrs.  Larry thank you for your friendship  and thank you with all my heart for serving our country.  Welcome Home Larry!!   This is Larry and his adorable wife  Joyce. They are dear friends of  mine. Please click on their photo  to hear a song I have dedicated  to them.

This is my friend Mac.  He is a Vietnam Veteran  and this is his photo above.  Mac served  from  OCT 1968 to Jan.1972  Edward Lee Mc Intosh USN/USNR/E4/BT3

This is Mac today, he has a great smile. Mac was a Navy soldier and I am proud and honored to know him.   Thank you Mac for serving our country!  Welcome Home!  Click the Banner below to go to Mac's awesome website

Eddie served with the 4/23rd 25th Infantry Division and then with the Robin Hoods for his second tour, as a Huey door gunner.  He decided to stay just so he could do that and was up almost constantly during Tet, 1968.   Eddie was there from 66-68.  He wasn't drafted, he asked to go. Thank you Eddie for serving our country. Welcome Home!      Eddie with his beautiful wife Terry.  A perfect match! He is one of my Heroes and she is a real life Angel. Click their photo above to hear a song for them. Thank you both of you for all you do.

Bob Hope Show Da Nang 1971

Each of the four years I went to Vietnam, I spent Christmas there.
All of the men and women I met serving our country in Vietnam touched my
life in such a special way.  With the help of some wonderful people,
I went to the base camps, rifle companies, to the firebases, then went to
outposts . As I learned the ropes along the way and also from the
suggestions from others, I got to meet men in bunkers, maintenance pools
and the gangrene ward.

Going to places that are not in a Dick and Jane books. Not down your comfy
streets with children playing ball in a corner lot feeling safe because
of our military keeping you safe. No, these are places that once you
have been there in the Vietnam war you will never forget them.
And I do not want to, nor the wonderful Americans I met in each place.  

The Delta, Nha Trang, Long Binh, Bien Hoa, Thuy Hoa, Quang Tri, Hue, 
Phnom Penh, Phu Loc, Phu Bai, Dong Ha, Kontum, An Khe, An Hoa, 
An Loc, Tay Ninh and Khe Sanh,from the Demilitarized Zone 
to the North and other places there.  

  I hated to say goodbye, I hated to leave each time it was like a piece
of my heart was being cut out not be able to stay longer with the troops, to
to be with them till each one came back with me. They were a part of my
being and still are to this day.  I saw and felt their courage, determination,
camaraderie, and selflessness.  

Everyone of them my HEROES! 

 When I came back home the first time, I wrote to them and their 
families too, trying to keep in touch with as many as I could. Some of 
us drove to VA hospitals back here in the States and visited those that 
had returned to let them know how much we cared. I wish so much 
more people would go to VA hospitals to thank those that served and 
welcome them home. We have our freedom because of our military.  

This is a ticket to from my last trip to Vietnam.

It is for the Bob Hope Christmas Show in 1971

DaNang, Freedom Hill.

The troops were so wonderful. Christmas was more special in
 Vietnam then I can put into words. How can I describe something
that is as real today as it was then. Even the smells are still right there  
to draw upon. The sounds and sights like non other and emotions 
running so very high with everyone.

Every Christmas Eve we closed the show with everyone, the cast 
and the troops singing "Silent Night". Imagine being in a place that  
many would call it a Place called Hell, with lives living on the edge 
of life or death not just everyday, but every second of every day.  
 All of us joining in singing "Silent Night".

Vietnam 1969-1970 Danang Red Beach

Bob Hope in South Vietnam

Bob Hope Christmas Show  

Dai Loc  

For Johnny, Lenny, and Bill and your special place in the hearts 
that miss you. For Tim, Mark, Buzz, Big Hawk, and the thousands 
of others that paid the price for my Freedom that I can never repay.

I want to take you to a place,  
the weather is hot, beyond hot and sticky.  
It is like wearing a scuba suit and 
pouring hot Karo syrup down inside of it. 
You give up wiping the sweat off your face and arms  
because it does not do any good. 
You learn to own it, the heat and humidity, the stickiness.  
Own it and become it. Then it is bearable......almost.  

  A boy really but a man because of the war 
is laying in a hospital in a bed.
 Not a hospital like we know, this is make shift . 
He has his right leg gone, pieces of it left in the jungle.  
His other leg missing just above the knee. 
His right hand gone as well. 
His shoulder a huge chunk gone so even with bandages 
the deformity is obvious. His face, he may have been a great  
looking heartthrob in the past, maybe a girl kissed his tender cheek on 
a date and his soft lips lingering for just one more kiss at the door. 
But now it was like mashed potatoes. The only thing noticeable
........his eyes.  

The thousand yard stare was there, but behind them the clear sharp 
sight of what had happened. And the doubt of what his future held 
for him if anything.  

  You take his hand and sit for hours, just being.  
Trying to let him know you care. 
The touch is all the words that need to be said. Then you start to 
hum a song softly and the hand in yours tightens a little for approval.  
Then the words of the song , and ever so gently you sing,  
music from your heart right into his.  

 He is a Hero just as the soldier at the desk at the base is a hero. All 
willing to serve their country and keep their land the land of the free.  

I am not very good at writing poetry. But I truly do 
love when others have the talent for doing so.
This is a poem I wrote years ago from deep
within my heart and soul and I would like to
share it with you.

Your Eyes Say No

By Wild Thing

You said you wanted to know
All the things about my past.
You spoke so openly of yours
of the good and the bad.
I told you of my travels to oh
so many lands, of photo shoots
and print work and concerts that I had.
Yes but I never told you of one far land
that lives within me still.
A place where lives bonded in the
heat and heart of will.
Where souls that touched were
not forgotten even to this day.
Do you want to know , you really do?
If I tell you will you stay?
You say you want to know…….
But your eyes say no……..  

Our love is filled with passion, 
I do so want you to know
of a part of my life that is so deep within
 and yet I mustn’t let it show
OK……. I’ll tell you , 
I will share like never before.
Are you sure you can handle 
the scenes that are in store?
Not just the hugs and handshakes,
 nor the kisses on the cheeks
Of the many serving and the wounded,
 but the times my soul still seeks.
Wait your body tightens and stiffens to my eyes
You look away as I begin to speak
 and then you start to sigh.
Your eyes say no…………  

You say you want to know……
But I ask you gently are you sure,
 I can stop anytime.
It is after all my past and 
happened in another time.
You turn back with a tear
 upon your cheek and say
so tenderly. " I love you but I 
worry just to hear you speak.
You went to a place I know not of , 
my time was Korea and you were much too
young. You tell of things I never
 saw, of memories living still.
I want to know but feel so strange ,
 and I need to turn away.
So not to know, how afraid I would 
have been for you even to this day."
Your words say yes but guarded
 in such a loving way……..
But your eyes say no………….  

Glancing down you see another,
of laughing faces but with eyes that show
a look you’ve naught seen before
 that pierce right through your soul.
You turn abruptly and say to me. 
You’ve a lot of these? These photos you can show?
Yes, I have many, I’ve kept them in this box,
with letters from them and yours too ……
my treasures to unlock.
The poems that you’ve written 
to my heart since we did meet .
You can read them all , I want to share , 
you are my life , I want to show
you all I have , my world you asked to know.
But your eyes say No………..  

"Those brave young men they had to know…..
you went to tell them how America loved them so."
Your eyes still looking off to the side,
unable to look back and look into my eyes.
"I am glad someone went, many did I know,
but I don’t understand why you, 
why did you have to go?"
Your eyes say no……….  

That moment it did happen so many years ago.
That one chance to open up and let it flow.
But when the head takes over to 
protect ones heart you know.
I thought it best to stop and let it go.
You seemed relieved and perhaps ‘twas I.
Some things cannot be shared,
but only with the others of the Nam, 
they all did know.
They did not only know the Nam
 it knew them all as well.
They left their mark upon it’s land, 
and sea and air to show,
the world in their brave way the
 price that Freedom costs you know .
That price it does not end with war on its halted day.
It lives on in their hearts and souls,
 it sings out ore the land.
 Remember me and never
 forget my brother’s left behind.
That buddy that he fought beside, 
that pilots helping hand.
That nurse that took a bullet for him
 trying to keep the blood inside.
The boy he had  just met and 
barley knew his name
and when he  turned to tell him thanks,
 was gone and another just the same.
The time we sang and danced
 for only such a short time,
but had to last much longer 
when the Huey left its blast of air
 upon those visited with each  and every ride.
One can’t just share these things
 that happened like a
whim of passing thought.
They are engraved upon the  Soul 
and live within ones heart.  

So when your eyes speak so loudly 
of the please no more for me,
I just cannot handle the ‘intensssssity’.
It isn’t a movie where the cast and crew do wait,
for the call for lunch upon the set and make-up
brushes laying in wait.
It’s real, with smells and scents, and hues of green
unseen in other lands.  

Of colors that are painted upon
 life’s memories of the Nam.
The jokes and kidding so desperately in need 
in a time when lives were on the edge. 
In one moment will it be me?
The sounds and music that can 
send one back there to this day.
That even are a comfort in
some odd  and melancholy way.
A comfort in a kind of loneliness 
of wanting to be near ,
those that know the Nam 
and what it was even with the fear.  

It’s not meant to exclude another
 it is just to hard to share,
to go to places, people , things,
 yes one did have to be there.

Our love we show each day and I do know
that if in time you want that trip 
into my hearts life’s path
I will share it willingly, 
and step by step we’ll take
that walk down life’s journey into Nam.
But until then,
Your Eyes say no…………..  

Life Magazine cover by Larry Burrows

Tools of the trade

"ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL, 
SOME STOOD TRUE FOR THE RED WHITE AND BLUE, 
SOME HAD TO FALL.
SO IF YOU EVER THINK OF ME THINK OF ALL 
YOUR LIBERTIES AND RECALL,
SOME GAVE ALL"

  Click on lyrics above to hear  
"Some Gave All" by Billy Ray Cyrus  

The Vietnam war was the longest in our nation's history.
and the  last casualties in connection with the war 
occurred on May 15, 1975, during the Mayaquez incident. 
Approximately 2.7 million Americans served in the war zone; 
300,000 were wounded and approximately 75,000 permanently 
disabled. Officially there are still 1,991 Americans 
unaccounted for from SE Asia.  

Vietnam was a savage, in your face war where death 
could and did strike from anywhere with absolutely 
no warning. The brave young men and women who 
fought that war paid an awful price of blood, pain 
and suffering. 

As it is said: "ALL GAVE SOME ... SOME GAVE ALL"
The Vietnam war was not lost on the battlefield.
 No American force in ANY other conflict fought with 
more determination or sheer courage than the 
Vietnam Veteran.  

For the first time in our history America sent it's 
young men and women into a war run by inept 
politicians who had no grasp of military strategies 
and no moral will to win. They were led by "top brass" 
who were concerned mainly with furthering their own 
careers, most neither understood the nature of the war 
nor had a clue about the impossible mission with which 
they'd tasked their soldiers.  

And the war was reported by a self serving Media who 
penned stories filled with inaccuracies, deliberate 
omissions, biased presentations and blatant distorted 
interpretations because they were more interested in 
a story than the truth! It can be debated that we should 
never have fought that war. 

It can also be argued that the young Americans who 
fought so courageously, never losing a single major 
battle, helped in a huge way to WIN THE COLD WAR.

Patrolling the Wall

Rick Rescorla,A retired Army colonel, veteran of combat 
in three wars and a survivor of the 1993 bombing of the twin towers 
(in which he saved the lives of hundreds of 
Morgan Stanley employees), 
Rescorla was killed in the WTC attacks of September 11, 2001.

Vietnam Veterans , Thank you with all my heart Y

	I love you my Nam Vets and thank you. You are my Heroes ! Just click on the patches to go to the web sites.......
	DUSTOFF was is a mission and a radio call sign.   It is given to helicopters that are sent to evacuate  wounded troops in the field.          "DUST OFF"  "Dedicated, unhesitating support to our fighting forces"
	VA-155 Silver Foxes, Vietnam Era
	Swift Boat Sailors Association is an organization created by and for the personnel who manned or supported U.S. Navy PCFs (Patrol Craft Fast) or SWIFT Boats assigned to Coastal Squadron One (COSRON1) in Vietnam between 1965 and 1970.
	Mobile Riverine Force was the Navy's awesome answer to the many waterways in Vietnam. They became the partnership between the Army and Navy in fighting the war in the rice paddies, canals and treacherous waterways of the south.  While they were principally congregated in the IV Corps area, they were also called into service in the rivers of I Corps, the area nearest the DMZ, and at some times in the III corps area.

During the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1975, helicopter crews were able to locate their fellow Marines on the ground by asking them to "pop a smoke" in the landing zone.

Delaware Valley Vietnam Veterans (DV3). They meet at Levittown, PA. They are Vets helping Vets. The DV3 organization is composed of veterans, family members of veterans and those who wish to help veterans

This is a fantastic site, it is dedicated to the men and women of the 4th Battalion/23rd Infantry Regiment....... "Tomahawks"

Forever Green

Jane Fonda seeks exoneration,
Forgiveness from her traitored nation.
What say you warriors fought that war?
Is forgiveness due that wartime whore?
So rich, so smart, she thought she knew
Much more than us, we bloodied few.
So smug, self-serving, seeking fame,
The rich bitch played her seditious game.

A game that cost me many friends,
Many, thanks to Jane, came to bad ends.
I’ve borne scars forty years or more,
From lies laid on me by this whore.
Self-serving now she sells her tale,
This traitor who should be in jail.
Is it within our souls to grant her grace?
Our souls shout, “No… spit in her face!”

So self assured, she played high stakes,
Telling American prisoners, “That’s the breaks.”
She accused brave men of heinous crimes,
Which were disproved in future times.
And now our country knows the truth
Jane Fonda betrayed us in our youth.
She asks us now to read her book,
Americans, the folks this bitch forsook.

So now she crawls, her conscience bare,
To tell us she screwed up back there.
Well, hell, we knew that way back then,
This Hanoi Jane who helped them win.
It was glory then for this airhead star,
But forever now she’ll bear the scar
A scarlet letter she’ll now wear,
A stench forever in her hair.

So Jane, dear, you must realize,
You’re the devil in a helmet in our eyes.
When Vietnam vets raise up their toasts
It’s to damn your soul, to salute our ghosts.
We swear, we living, to our long-dead brave,
We’ll live to piss upon your grave.
So Jane, good fortune, unforeseen,
Your traitor’s grave will be forever green.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Agent Orange

When I first did my web site and this  special page for Vietnam Veterans I did not say anything about Agent Orange.  The reason was because I have lost so many  friends because of Agent Orange.  Too many .......way too many. You know what,  it just won't stop though. It will never stop  until the last Vietnam Vet is gone. It won't  stop until the last Vietnam Vets  hand I shook,  the last Vietnam Vet I hugged and said thank  you to, the last Vietnam Vet that I Welcomed  Home is gone. It is just so damn hard ! The list of the side effects is long ! If you have never been to Vietnam I can tell you  that the colors there of the various greens are  different then anywhere I have ever seen. But on those leaves, in the foliage was poison for our troops. In the air, you name it.........poison ! The planes spraying Agent Orange would  circle back and forth, brushing and spraying the  troops, the foliage, and also the water supply.

Agent Orange was the code name for a  herbicide developed  for the military, primarily  for use in tropical climates. The purpose of the product was to deny an  enemy cover and concealment  in dense terrain  by defoliating trees and shrubbery where the  enemy could hide.  The product "Agent Orange" (a code name for  the orange band that was used to  mark the  drums it was stored in), was principally  effective against broad-leaf foliage,  such as  the dense jungle-like terrain found in  Southeast Asia. Agent Orange is a war committed on our troops  that served in Vietnam.  It is the war that will not end. It is the war that  continues to stalk  and claim its victims decades  after the last shots were fired. I pray for you my Heroes, my Nam Vets.  And I think of you each day  and always will ..........   Wild Thing

A friend of mine, John has made a wonderful a video to all 
you guys and gals that served in Vietnam. 

Please CLICK HERE to watch the video

Thank you  John! 

((hug))

Wild Thing

Vietnam Helicopter Photos Association Museum

As you have seen some of the images on this page 
are from the VHPAMuseum website. 
Please visit there if you can and sign their guest book. 
Thank the men and women that served in Vietnam. 
They are one of the reasons we are living in 
the land of the free. 
As it states at the top of the VHPAMuseum website, 
the Legacy of Valor. I am so very proud of all that 
served in Nam. 
Thank you with all my heart and Welcome Home! 

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