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D Company 1st Bn 8th Cav 1st Cav Division RVN 69 - 70

 

 

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Me in 1970

Welcome Home!

Every soldier that was in Vietnam has a different view of that part of their life. The sights and sounds effected everyone in ways that sometimes cannot be told. I have talked to guys that were there that just don't like discussing details, others are more than willing to discuss their experiences. I guess the thing to remember is that everyone's time in Vietnam was personal. We were all very young and saw and did things that people back in the world just could not understand. We came home to a country that was opposed to what we were doing there and we just tried to "fit in" again. We all just wanted to get "normal" again. Some of us did, and some didn't. However ALL of us will never forget! As hard as we try, we never will forget! The details happened long ago and names and places escape us. This project has jogged my memory about a lot of things that took place. As you read through this site please remember all of us have different stories. Even the guys that I was with. Vietnam was a very large country, about the size of California. There were mountains, jungles, oceans, islands, swamps, marshes, grassy areas, rocky areas, weather that was hot and dry, then the other half of the year WET. Monsoons where it rained all day and all night. One thing I can say for sure was I never saw snow! As you read other stories about soldiers in Vietnam, remember one thing. The guy on our left and the guy on our right would have given their lives for us and we would have done the same for them. It was the only way we could survive. Perhaps this is reason Vietnam Vets have such strong feelings about their experience. This is the part that others can't seem to relate to.

About this web site

In January of 2003 I rented the movie "We Were Soldiers" with Mel Gibson portraying Lt. Col Hal Moore of 1 battalion 7th Cavalry. During the movie I was remembering small details of my time in Vietnam one of which was flying on helicopters as was the normal method for movement by the 1st Cavalry Division. At that moment I could not remember which unit I was with so I started to research though my old army papers that I had kept all these years and found that I had worked with D company 1st Battalion 8th Cavalry 1st Cavalry Division. I began my search by "googling" 1st Cavalry Division on the internet. To my surprise I found a number of web sites devoted to different units that served with the "Cav" in Vietnam. However I didn't find anyone that had a web site for D 1/8. It was during this research that I found the "The Vietnam Project" that was prepared by Texas Tech University. After spending some time doing research on the information they had collected I stumbled across their collection of documents that were provided for the 1st Battalion 8th Cavalry. This collection consisted of a copy of the daily officers log for almost every day the 1st Cav was in Vietnam. Imagine finding the story of your life recorded on the internet! I was able to locate the records of my time in Vietnam including the report of my Medivac on June 3rd of 1970. I knew at that time that I needed to put information together to share with my family and figured I might as well share it with others also. This was the start of this web site. Since then I have been fortunate enough to have found others that served with our unit and with myself. The willingness of others to share their stories and photos (including audio) has added to the dimensions of the web site.

Be sure to read Ed Noreds story with photos link. Ed kept his many letters, and photos of his time in Vietnam. Many of his experiences were similar to mine and his photos are of the people areas and experiences we shared.

I hope the memories that we share are enjoyed.

Gordon Swenson RVN 69/70

 

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

- General George S. Patton -

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LATEST TOPICS

12-14-2023: Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and the best New Year yet!!

10-19-2023: I was notified that Scott Lemanski (3rd Platoon) passed away on September 17, 2023 LINK

10-12-2023: In doing some research I discovered that Captian Perkins (Carey L. Perkins) passed away on December 27th, 2021. Link to obituary LINK

4-5-2022: I was notified that Don Ketchem has died. Don was one of the squad leaders during our time in Vietnam. May he rest in peace. Link to obituary LINK


11-21-2020: With the holiday season rapidly approaching I thought I would take this time to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and a MUCH better 2021!.


8-18-2020: Received and email from Jay Selby notifying me of the death of Ed Stoffel on July 22, 2020. May he rest in peace. Link to obituary LINK

3/2/2020: Received an email from Ketch advising that Larry Anciti (Paisano) past away on April 10, 2019. I have included a link to the obituary: LINK

12/21/2019: Here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

On 9/22/2019 1:51 PM, Jay Selby wrote:
To: Company D 1st Bn/8th Cav, 1st Air Cav emailing list

On November 11, 2019, Don Ketcham and I will be presenting a memorial quilt to the family of Sgt. Richard Quinn at the American Legion Hall in Woodstock, New York, between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. Afterwards, Don and I will present the memorial quilt to Richard’s family at the American Legion Hall located at 10 Sgt. Richard Quinn Drive in Woodstock. (On the Internet, the address is still shown as 10 Hillcrest Ave. in Woodstock.) Commander Terry Breitenstein, at the American Legion Hall, has graciously offered to provide lunch for us at the Hall. Don and I will be arriving in Woodstock on Sunday, November 10th, to make preparations. We will be staying at the Howard Johnson's by Wyndham Saugerties, at 2764 Route 32, in Saugerties, New York. We are sending this email to everyone we have an email address for at the current time. If you know of any members of our Company that are not on this email list, please let us know or feel free to forward this email to them. We would like to have as many as possible in attendance from Company D, 1st Bn/8th Cav, 1st Air Cav. If you have any questions, email 1stCavgrunt@webewebbiers.com If you are able to join us, please let us know so we will have enough food for everyone. It will be a great opportunity to meet Richard’s family and visit with each other.
Jay Selby s/Jay Selby Don Ketcham s/Don Ketcham


>img src="images/Doc%20Quinn%20photos/Doc%20Quinn%20quilt-group-soldier-family%20%282%29small.jpg" alt="Quilt" height="400" width="329"<

5-25-2019 Memorial Day 2019. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy time with family and freinds. But also take a moment to remember those we lost.

12-18-2018 Here's wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!


11-17-2018 Ed Nored is safe and sound!


7/31/2018 I found out this morning that Lt. Ed Griffith has past away Sunday July 29th. Ed was the Forward Observer for my unit in Vietnam. I had the honor of being his radio operator for a short period of time. Ed and I 'found' each other about 10 years ago and corresponded regularly.


May he rest in peace.












VIETNAM VETERANS

Crisis Line

1-800-273-8255 Press 1

Veterans day 2010

My youngest daughter and her family purchased a flag in my honor for the Murrieta, veterans day "Field of Honor" Over 2000 flags were on display. It was quite a sight!

Important Message from John Dennison (1st Cav Medic)

Memorial Day 2007. Received notice of the death of John Dennison.......

I have received some bad news last week and I wonder if you could read this message and forward it to any Vietnam Veteran that you may know or anyone you may think would benefit from reading the information. Here is the link: http://www.1stcavmedic.com/renal-cancer.htm

Please help me get the message out.

John D. Dennison

http://www.1stcavmedic.com

 

Special Thanks This web page was developed to record my time in Vietnam. I have always expressed that this was a time I would never wish to go through again... However it was a time I would NOT have wanted to miss. My extreme gratitude to all involved with this project!

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Names Upon The Wall

This is a poem written by John A. "Pappy" Loughran SGM US Army (Ret). D co 1st Bn. 8th Cav 1st Cav Div RVN Jun 66 / Jun 67.

John A. “Pappy” Loughran

18 January 1923 - 10 May 2008

Read more

Reunion Information JUMPING MUSTANG
37th ANNUAL REUNION
Pigeon Forge, TN
SEPT 11 TO SEPT 14, 2023

Watch for info on the next reunion!

Ann-Margret and her gentlemen A true story story about a Viet Nam vet and Ann-Margret as told by the vet's wife. Read more

Don't let the sun go down without reading this about Martha Raye.

This is a great story about a great woman.... Read more

National Purple Heart Hall of Honor

If you are the recipient of a Purple Heart enroll now! Click here

 

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