great site, i hope and pray u can continue on in the great sprit and tradition of the u.s. armed forces. i was in the nam dec68-dec69. i served with hotel 2/4, 3rd marine div and was on firebase neville when it and firebase russell got overun feb 25, 69. i then in march or april, 69 went to 3rd maf, 3rd combined action group,(cap marines) 3-3-3 and 3-3-1. it was an experience of being in a hot fire zone, or kill zone with all marines around you and then being in a village where the marines did several things, not to just kill them, but to help them the best we could such as help build schools and do civil action work, dig wells, and other support foundations as well as to protect it's people and property, it's goverment and village leaders. our mission was to seek out and destroy the viet cong from within and with the people's help. of the 5000 marines and mac v men who served , only half made it home, of the 2500 who made it back to the world, most would be wounded physically, and probably all wounded mentally....sometimes i wonder if we've ever really come home at all, but through it all, blood and guts, physically and mentally, we have survived to help each other, not to forget, but to forgive and help heal. what do and how do i think of the vietnamese people? they're a wonderful people with love for their families much like ours, they did what they had to do just as we did; i would not be here today it not for a wonderful young kid(then) named son(with a dot over the o and a wave under the o) he saved me from stepping on a 105 howezer round sat up as a bovietrap and he not only saved me once but a couple of other times from differend ways. his parents and family were killed by the vc in me lam near the village of xonglo outside of hue and phu bi. my son shawn is named after him. all that kid wanted was to live and be loved with something to wear and something to eat........thank you, semple fi. jimmy cherry