The Vietnam Memorial   is the most significant site we visit.

The Virtual Wall is particularly moving. Spend some time there. Read the remembrances. You can search by name, by home town, or by casualty date and location. If you don't know where to begin, look up some of my childhood friends and men I served with -- Mark Dixon, Richard Keithline, Robert Bacon, Charles Hamilton, Larry Hohman, David Falk, Terry Ketter, to name a few. Among the bad days in my part of Tay Ninh Province were July 29, 1969, October 21, 1969, the first few days of February 1970, March 29, 1970, and April 5, 1970. This photograph of the wall shows the casualties during my tour. The Wall on the Web and The Vietnam Casualty Search Engine provide additional information.

Tay Ninh Province   is where I spent almost all my time.

The first part of my tour was spent searching north of Landing Zone Jamie. The next few months were spent setting ambushes along the Saigon River southeast of LZ Jamie. I then spent three months on Jamie, followed by a hectic period north of Jamie on LZ's Tina, Rhonda, Mike, and Maryglen. Finally, I helped build and defend several LZ's in the Dog's Head on the Cambodian Border. The views you just saw were on military maps dated 1970. What used to be jungle and swamp has apparently changed a lot. Dau Tieng reservoir was filled in 1985, flooding our ambush sites along the Saigon River, and it appears that much of the jungle is now cleared and under cultivation. LZ Jamie was located in the center of this modern satellite photo , just north of the river. If you look carefully at the roads on the military maps, you should be able to drag the satellite photo so as to located LZ's Maryglen, Tina, Rhonda, and Mike, and you can follow the river to see our now underwater ambush area. This second satellite photo shows part of the Dog's Head. There's a distinctive pattern of roads that appears on both the 1970 map and the satellite photo. Once you've found it, you should be able to compare the map and photo to locate my LZ's in the Dog's Head.

Obtaining Maps and Records

You can obtain military maps, much like we used in Vietnam, from the United States Geologic Survey in Denver. Call them at 303.202.4200, but first look at the Map Index and also try to learn the latitude and longitude for the your area of interest. I have also found the Battalion Daily Journals to be very informative. This link will take you to the Daily Journals of the Second Batallion, Seventh Cavalry from June 1969 through April 1970, the time I was in the field. Daily Journals may be requested from the National Archives and Records Administration. Here is the first NARA records request I sent by email.

Photographs  mostly of places familiar to me or taken by people I knew.

Mike Bodnar a medic in the First Platoon. Jim Rowell who served in the Second Battalion Eighth Cavalry Regiment. 9th Cav They flew the choppers An Assortment I have collected. Fourth Platoon C/2/7 Cavalry Photos by Gary Watkins and Glenn Hindley, both DEROS July 1970. Please email me andrew@math.gatech.edu if you recognize these people, places, or dates.

Historical Resources

Here are a few, and they'll lead you to many more. Vietnam War Bibliography by Professor Edwin Moïse of Clemson University. If you're a mathematician, you'll think of his father Edwin Moïse ! Vietnam Veteran's Home Page The Vietnam War Resource Guide

Organizations for Veterans and others.

The first few of these are related to the Cavalry, but other units have similar organizations The First Cavalry Association The Seventh Cavalry Association The Web Site of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry The Georgia Vietnam Veteran's Alliance Finally, if you have memories of war like mine, and if you think the Bill of Rights is worth defending as I do, visit Veterans for Peace The American Civil Liberties Union

Books In addition to any book by Tim O'Brien, I highly recommend these.

The Cat from Hue, by John Laurence, describes events and people I remember. Vietnam: A History, by Stanley Karnow, was the basis for a PBS documentary. A Rumor of War, by Philip Caputo They Marched Into Sunlight, by David Maraniss, is a fascinating account of October 1967 in Binh Long Province; Madison, Wisconsin; and Washington, D.C. Granny and the Eskimo -- Angels in Vietnam, by Jim Rowell, whose pictures you've already seen. Vietnam Diary of Michael Kevin Ingram, by Mike Ingram, also of Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment. The next two are out of print but are available on-line from used book dealers. The Letters of PFC Richard E. Marks USMC, by Richard E. Marks, published posthumously by his mother. Love To All, Jim, by James G. Rowe Jr., published posthumously by his sister.

26 February 2003, revised 13 June 2007