This past week the BRAVO! team spent the week at the Khe Sanh Veterans annual reunion at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California.

We met again with men who served with Bravo Company, First Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment before, during and after the Siege of Khe Sanh. We also met new friends and old friends from other outfits and shared stories, memories, tears and laughs.

Every year these events get more intimate and emotional for us. The ties that bind the survivors of any crisis are strong and can only be severed by death. This is very true for the men who served during the Siege. For those of us who endured the horror of that prolonged battle, the bonds of comradeship are stout. As one looks across a room full of veterans of that action, he knows that the people sitting out there, even if he does not personally know them, all understand the lifelong tensions and anxiety that simmer down inside.

One of the most exciting things that happened to us at the 2014 reunion was being joined by our family. Son Jim and his wife Norma, along with their daughters Justyce and Jayden drove over from Casa Grande, Arizona. Daughter Sarah and husband Baruch along with their daughter Isadora came in from Seattle, Washington. We were all present at the reunion banquet when Justyce, who received a scholarship from the Khe Sanh Veterans Association, was recognized by the scholarship committee chair, Dan Fisher.

BRAVO! Corpsmen and Marines: Back (L to R): Jim Beall, Charles McIntire, Tom Quigley, John Cicala, Tom Kupcho, Ken Pipes, Front (L to R): Ken Korkow, Ken Rodgers, Mike McCauley, Ben Long
© Betty Rodgers 2014

Thanks to Tom Eichler, John Pessoni and the rest of the leaders of the Khe Sanh Veterans for all their hard work in putting the event together. Now, next year, on to Savannah, Georgia.

While we were at the reunion, we slipped away to screen BRAVO! COMMON MEN, UNCOMMON VALOR at American Legion Post 291, Newport Beach, California. While the calming Pacific breezes wafted over the sailboats berthed at the pier outside the post, an earnest audience of seventy-plus people saw the film. Among the attendees were BRAVO! Marines Skipper Ken Pipes, Ben Long, Ken Korkow, Mike McCauley, John Cicala and Tom Quigley. Also there were other men who served with Bravo Company, Jim Beall and Charles McIntire. Area residents Ray and Barbara Doyle and Robin Zimmermann who contributed both music and expertise to the film came and visited with us and watched BRAVO!

A big shout-out to Tony Arrigo, Jim Kaylor and Roger Henry who worked hard to make sure the event came off without a hitch.

Something about the contrast between balmy southern California weather outside and the intense representation of the violence, agony and redemption depicted inside during the screening of the film seemed to make the day more poignant.

At the Newport Beach Screening, left to right: Barbara Doyle, Ray Doyle and Robin Zimmermann.
© Betty Rodgers 2014

Aside from the Khe Sanh Veterans reunion and the Newport Beach screening, BRAVO! was featured in an outstanding news feature by reporter Matt Burke in The Stars and Stripes which serves the United States’ military community worldwide. You can read the article here.
http://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/vietnam-at-50/the-bloody-battle-of-khe-sanh-77-days-under-siege-1.314627

Up next for the BRAVO! team, back to Idaho for a battery recharge and plans for screenings in March 2015 to coincide with the first year of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and for Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.

If you or your organization would like to host a screening of BRAVO! in your town this winter or spring, please contact us immediately.

DVDs of BRAVO! are available. For more information, go to https://bravotheproject.com/buy-the-dvd/.

BRAVO! has a page on Facebook. Please “like” us and “share” the page at https://www.facebook.com/Bravotheproject/. It’s another way to stay up on our news and help raise more public awareness of this film.

Last Wednesday night BRAVO! was screened to an enthusiastic crowd at the Meridian Library District, Meridian, Idaho.
As the event began a brisk wind snapped the American flag on its pole outside the library building. Warm gusts sluiced across the surface of the parking lot, tumbling orange, gold and russet leaves that announced the abrupt arrival of autumn.
The weather hinted at what winter will deliver here in Idaho between now and April, but the mood of those folks gathered inside the library was one of much anticipation for the screening of the film.

BRAVO! was well received by the audience and we wish to thank all the folks who attended. Many thanks, too, to the Meridian Library District and to Mr. Greg Likens of the library who put the event together.

Ken Rodgers introduces BRAVO! to the Meridian, Idaho attendees.
© Betty Rodgers 2014

This time of the year brings Halloween and Thanksgiving and sandwiched in between that, the Marine Corps’ 239th Birthday on November 10, 2014, and on the day following we honor America’s warriors with Veterans Day. The Marine Corps has a new commandant, General Joseph Dunford (you can find out more about Commandant Dunford at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_F._Dunford,_Jr.) who will soon deliver his first annual Marine Corps birthday message to Marines of all eras. In tune with the season of military memory and honors, it seems to be the season of film screenings for BRAVO!.

Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Joseph Dunford
Photo courtesy of Department of Defense

Besides the just-completed event in Meridian, BRAVO! will be shown as follows:

On November 1, 2014, at 10:00 AM at the Veterans Association of North County, 1617 Mission Avenue, Oceanside, California. Donations will be accepted at the door to benefit the Association’s building fund. You can find out more about the Veterans Association of North County at http://www.vancnorthcounty.org/. Doors open at 9:00 AM. Reservations are requested for this screening. Please RSVP by emailing Vanc.events@gmail.com or calling 208-340-8889.

The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote a fine article earlier this week about the screening in Oceanside. You can read the article at http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/oct/20/bravo-uncommonvalor-vietnam-siege–khe-sanh-rodger/.

At 5:30 PM on November 11, 2014, BRAVO! will be screened at the Meadowwood Technology Campus, E. Mission Avenue in Liberty Lake, Washington as part of a ceremony honoring Bravo Navy Corpsman Greg Vercruysse who was killed in action when Bravo Company 1/26 was ambushed off of Hill 881 South on June 7, 1967. You can find out more about Greg at http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/53621/GREGORY-P-VERCRUYSSE. More details about the Liberty Lake screening can be found at http://www.llfhcc.org/index.php.

Gregory Vercrussye
Photo courtesy of Vietnam Veterans Memorial

On November 15, 2015, BRAVO! will be screened at American Legion Post 291, Newport Beach, CA, 215 15th Street, Newport Beach, CA. Screening begins at 10:00 AM on November 15, 2014. Proceeds go to benefit the Fisher House of Southern California. You can find out about American Legion Post 291 at their website: http://www.al291.com/.

The Fisher House of Southern California is a non-profit organization that offers shelter and support to military families in times of medical crisis. You can find out more about The Fisher House of Southern California at http://www.fisherhousesocal.org/html5/AboutUs/Home.html.

Please attend one of these events in your area and please be sure invite your friends.

If you would like to host a screening of BRAVO! in your town this winter or spring, please contact us immediately.

DVDs of BRAVO! are available. For more information, go to https://bravotheproject.com/buy-the-dvd/.

BRAVO! has a page on Facebook. Please “like” us and “share” the page at https://www.facebook.com/Bravotheproject/. It’s another way to stay up on our news and help us reach more people.

Last week we wrote about the month of October around the Khe Sanh Combat Base. One of the main themes of the blog was that the most difficult thing to deal with was the weather. We don’t think that was the case in the rest of Vietnam. Operations were conducted from north to south searching for both North Vietnamese and Vietcong combat units. Thousands of men and women died on both sides, the troops led by the forces of the United States and those fighting for the overthrow of the South Vietnamese government. The fighting was brutal and the body counts high.

The airstrip at Khe Sanh.
Photo courtesy of David Douglas Duncan

But not at Khe Sanh. For a time and place that saw the savage springtime battles centered around the hills, 861, 881 South and 881 North, the battle action was strangely non-existent in October 1967. Compared to the conflagration of the Siege and associated fights, October 1967 at Khe Sanh was almost Paradise. Leeches, patrols, rain and mist, work parties, slick red mud and too much water were all, in the big picture, little to nothing.

According to Reverend Ray Stubbe’s Battalion of Kings, the men killed in action at the Khe Sanh TAOR in October 1967 were as follows (if you are interested in knowing more about these men, please check out the links to the virtual wall following each name):

On October 13, 1967, Marine Corporal Melvin Sink (http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/SinkMF01a.htm) was killed by friendly fire while leading an ambush off Hill 881-South.

On October 15, 1967, Army Sgt. Charles Baney (http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BaneyCL01a.htm), and crewmembers Airman 1st Class Lawrence Berneski (http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BerneskiLA01a.htm), Captain Erle Bjorke (http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BjorkeEL01a.htm), 1st Lieutenant James Hottenroth (http://www.virtualwall.org/dh/HottenrothJR01a.htm), Tech Sergeant Edward Mosley (http://www.virtualwall.org/dm/MosleyEx01a.htm) and Airman 2nd Class John Snyder (http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/SnyderJH01a.htm) were killed when the C-130 they were either inspectors on or crewing, crashed and burned at the east end of the Khe Sanh airstrip.

On October 30, 1967, Captain James Bennett (http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BennettJH01a.htm) died from injuries sustained in the crash of an Air Force O1-E spotter at the Khe Sanh air strip.

Even when the war was quiet, in terms of combat, the dangers of operating in bad weather, in tough terrain, in the light and in the night was dangerous and took the lives of good men and women such as those represented herein…

We look forward to the upcoming screening at the Meridian Library in Meridian, Idaho, at 6:30 PM this evening, October 22.

Also on tap is a screening in Oceanside, CA, 10:00 AM on November 1 at the Veterans Association of North County, 1617 N Mission, Oceanside, CA. Donations go to renovate the VANC Resource Center. Seating is limited. Please RSVP to Vanc.events@gmail.com.

Oceanside Screening Info

Later in November, a screening will be held at American Legion Post 291, Newport Beach, CA, 215 15th Street, Newport Beach. Screening begins at 10:00 AM on November 15, 2014. Proceeds go to benefit the Fisher House of Southern California.

Please join us for one of these events and please invite your friends.

If you would like to host a screening of BRAVO! in your town this winter or spring, please contact us immediately.

DVDs of BRAVO! are available. For more information, go to https://bravotheproject.com/buy-the-dvd/.

BRAVO! has a page on Facebook. Please “like” us and “share” the page at https://www.facebook.com/Bravotheproject/. It’s another way to stay up on our news and help us reach more people.