MASCOUTAH - Mascoutah Elementary School computer instructional aide Vicki Hall experienced a gamut of emotions - joy, sadness, relief, excitement, empathy, regret and anticipation - during her March trip to Vietnam.  She also gained a deeper appreciation for the freedom and privileges enjoyed by Americans and the sometimes very personal sacrifices made by military personnel and their families in ensuring those freedoms endure.
Along with her sister, Gail Worley Permenter, Hall, of Mascoutah traveled to Vietnam with about 75 other people as part of a group called Sons and Daughters in Touch (SDIT) - their purpose - to reconnect with fathers killed or lost in the Vietnam war and to gain some perspective on the sacrifices made by those who died and perhaps provide some sense of contentment to those family members who survived the loss of a loved one.
Hall’s dad, USAF Major General Robert F. Worley, was vice-commander of 7th Air Force in South Vietnam when he died on a reconnaissance mission in an RF-4 Phantom from the 450th Air Reconnaissance Wing in 1968.  As a high ranking officer, Worley didn’t have to be flying that day, or any day, near the DMZ in Vietnam.  
“He was a fighter pilot, though, and he absolutely loved to fly,” Hall said of her Dad’s frequent efforts to get out from behind the desk and fly combat missions.  “They didn’t let him fly as often as he wanted because of his rank.”
This love of flying cost Worley his life at age 48, when anti-aircraft fire from just across the DMZ caused his RF-4 to go down on Wunder Beach near the village of Thon Muy Thuy in the province of Quang Tri, Vietnam.
Worley never ejected from the damaged plane.  After the mayday call, he ordered his back seater to eject.  Accounts of the incident relayed to Hall’s brother, Robert (a recent selectee for promotion to Brigadier General in the Air Force), indicate Worley was probably dead before the plane hit the beach.  His death left a widow, Bette, now 83, and living in Shalimar, Florida, and five children.  Hall was 16 at the time of her father’s death.  His death was not highly publicized because of Worley’s rank, though it was widely known at Langley AFB in Virginia where the family lived.
The military heritage of Vicki’s youth was forged even stronger when she married Robert Hall, himself a Vietnam veteran of three tours as an Air Force special ops helicopter gunner.  The family retired from Scott AFB in 1989 and settled in the Mascoutah area.  
Sister Gail asked Hall to go on the trip to Vietnam a year ago.  Gail is researching a book she plans to write about their father.  “Vietnam is the last place on earth that I would ever want to go,” Hall initially said of painful memories about the country where her father died.
As she noticed how excited Gail began to get about the trip, Hall had a change of heart.  Alone in a drive home from a visit with Gail in Chicago, Hall thought it over and making the journey just seemed the right thing to do.
In doing so, she joined 75 people in the odyssey, about 50 of them sons and daughters of those killed, the rest a mix of Vietnam vets and support people.  Hall’s team, one of seven established from the group of 75 to visit various areas of the country, consisted of a psychologist, two priests and several nurses.
On arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon to legions of G.I.’s, the group went back in time.  Hall said the trip helped her gain some education about how the Vietnamese live and the problems they face while helping her shed some bad feelings she used to have toward the people of the country.
The group visited many sites before personal journeys to the places where their fathers died.  Among them were the Cu Chi tunnels, Hanoi Hilton prison and the Citadel in Hue.  Hall and her sister had talked quite a bit about what kind of tribute they wanted to have for their Dad once they got to Wunder Beach.
“We decided we would walk together down the beach to the spot where his plane crashed,” she said.  “We asked our team leader, a Vietnam vet named Dick Stoops, to come with us because he had the maps showing the spot and it was a comfort to have him with us.
“Gail and I collected sand from that beach and Gail released rose petals in the wind and we hugged and cried.  We were both overwhelmed with thoughts of what his last moments were like.  We both regret that our children never had the opportunity to know their grandfather.  He was a very good man.”
Alone with their thoughts and the spirit of their father, the sisters rejoined the main group after about half an hour for a group tribute.
“Gail and I decided to draw a circle in the sand and put Daddy’s picture in the middle with some flowers and shells.  We put incense sticks around the circle also,” Hall said.
Vicki then recited a story to the group about her father and their shared love of horses.  Gail read a story she had written.  One of the priests in the group read Psalm 139 and Hall recited a prayer.  
For Hall, one trip to the place where her father died 35 years ago was sufficient for her healing process, though she wouldn’t mind returning with her Vietnam vet husband.  “I would like to encourage him to go.  The veterans that were on this trip went through an amazing healing and came away from it changed,” Hall said.  
This was the first organized journey back to Vietnam for SDIT, though individual members have made their own journeys before.  Hall said it was well organized.  SDIT plans a reunion for Father’s Day 2005 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Hall plans to be there with her family - both for herself and for her Dad.
 

The Worley Sisters- Vicki and Gail at Wunder Beach in Thon My Thuy, Vietnam