Our story began 46 years ago in the jungles of Vietnam.

In 1970 Charlie Company 2nd 506th Infantry BN 101st Airborne Division known as “Currahees” was part of the effort to re-open and defend a strategic firebase on the edge of the notorious A Shau Valley which began March 12, 1970 and continued through July 22nd of that year. Charlie Company would lose 17 men in the siege of Firebase Ripcord. We would lose another seven in the months that followed.

There were 80 of us originally, hailing from Connecticut to California. Most of us were barely out of high school or college. We had anxious families waiting for us back home, watching the news with horror and hoping against all hope that we would make it out alive. For those of us who did survive, we returned home with deep wounds and memories we wished we could erase. But we also returned with deep, unshakeable bonds, and memories of men we hoped we’d never forget.

When the war ended, it was difficult to imagine what would become of the brotherhood we had formed in those jungles. Certainly none of us expected that, more than four decades later, members of the Charlie Company would be embarking on yet another mission. Although some of us stayed in touch over the years, it wasn’t until 2005 when some of the men began to reconnect and organize reunions. Ten years later, in September 2015, five of the men traveled to Augusta, GA, to visit the gravesite of Platoon Leader SFC Domenic Smigliani (KIA July 27, 1971), the last of the Charlie Company men to die in Vietnam. While sitting at the gravesite, they discussed their close relationship to not only SFC Smigliani but also many others of their fallen brothers. They decided this was something they needed to do for their brothers. So in the following summer, on July 2, 2016, a four-man team held a memorial at Saint Katherine Cemetery in Bellville, KS, for CPT Thomas Hewitt, a Charlie Company commander who died exactly 46 years prior, on Hill 902.

So many stories were shared as the teams reached out to the family and friends of fallen brothers—stories many of them had never heard before. The team was able to provide personal accounts for these men, and where they did not have information it was supplied by many of those who were with these men when they died.

The team journeyed on to Oklahoma City Memorial Park to honor SGT Steve Steward (KIA April 6, 1970). We placed our coins on the headstone, and shared poems relating our shared life struggles while in Vietnam and while learning to live for our brothers today. The local NBC affiliate came to capture the story of a young soldier honored by his Charlie Company brothers. A personal friend of SGT Steward, Andrew Cornelius, shared stories of SGT Steward’s life before joining the Army and going to war. A beautiful story of life was revealed for all the community to hear.

As of September 10th 2016, we have held 15 memorials and are planning 9 more within the next year.

On April 1st 2017 we will travel to Lexington NE to remember our fallen Bro James D. Davis who died April 1st 1971.

~ Gary Gilliam, Vietnam Veteran