CPT Donald V McGregor
U.S. Army- MAAG


Military Assistance Advisory Group 

           51st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division - ARVN 

SDIT- Vietnam 2003: In Honor, Peace and Understanding

 

 

The last three days have been filled with visits to fathers sites.  The stories  are very powerful.  I'll tell you a little about the visit to my dads site.   Me made the visit on Sunday afternoon.  The site is Phuoc Lam and is about 20 miles NW of Quang Ngai.  We turned off the only main highway they have here in Vietnam QL1 and drove about 10 miles into the country.....very primitive area even today.
 
 
 
 

The road went along the Tra Bong river and I took several pictures as we drove.  Dad crossed that Tra Bong River the morning he marched out of An Hoa with the ARVN Army.  It had been raining lightly all morning, so the red clay road was muddy and slick.  I knew that we wouldn't made it all the way by vehicle and would have to walk a little.  We went as far as we could in the bus and then parked and walked the rest of the way which might have been 1/2 mile.   It was kind of errie walking along that muddy road in single and double file.  It really gave us the feel of a GI walking through the villages of Vietnam. Thank goodness everyone is very friendly these days. 
 

When we reached the site our local guide had prepared a statement for me about the battle that occurred that day on August 13, 1963 and some history of the battles that occurred there throughout the war.  The site was beautiful!  Rice paddies surrounded by jungles of coconut trees and other vegetation. There are several small villages all around the area.  We walked off the road a ways and found a nice little area between the rice paddies. 
 


I had some flowers that I laid out in a nice little arrangement.  I had some incense sticks that we lit and I made a blessing holding 3 sticks to my chest and bowing three times; once for the sky, once for the man and once for the earth.  I placed those sticks, and all the others, in a circle around the flower arrangement.  I had a red rose that I brought home from Fathers Day 2000 in Washington DC.  I kissed that rose, said a little prayer and place it on the other flowers.  I then sprinkled the area with rose petals that I had collected from my rose garden at home over the last year.   I read a little letter that I wrote to dad that morning and then burned it at the site.  My team members that were standing behind me said that a beautiful black bird with  gold trim on its wings flew near the area as I was making my memorial.  The bird sat there and looked in my direction.  As soon as I stood up, the bird lifted into the sky and flew right over the area where I was and into the jungle. I know that dad was there in sprit that day. 


 

     As with all the site that we visited the local people have been great.  They gather to watch us with great interest.  They haven't seen Americans since 1975 and they are very interested in our activities.  I exchange gifts with a 75 year old man who was there in 1963.  I gave school supplies to the local administrator.  We've had lots of fun with the kids singing songs, giving out suckers and stickers. Its been fun. 
     I appreciate all the mail that you've been sending me.....feels so good to know that you support me on this adventure. 

     Just arrived into Hue (pronounced like WAY) today.  Hue is the home of the Citadel which you might recall was the site of the 29 day battle when the 1968 Tet Offensive occurred.  We took a tour of the Citadel today......it was very interesting.  We'll be here in Hue for two nights.  Tomorrow we'll be making a long journey up to the DMZ, Khe Sahn and then back to Hue. We'll then go over to China Beach for two days and then to Hanoi for 2 days.  China Beach is R&R and believe me we need it. 

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