For American troops in Vietnam, understanding your pal out of your foe usually was no straightforward factor.
However the place Sam Rice and his unit have been positioned, they by no means needed to fear about it.
“We cherished working within the mountains, as a result of all people was the enemy,” he mentioned.
“That made it less complicated. You didn’t need to cease and suppose.”
Today, Rice, who was awarded three Bronze Stars for valor, prefers focusing extra on his mates than his foes, although.
That’s what he was doing throughout a go to final week to Tulsa, the place he joined different Vietnam veterans for the twenty sixth reunion of the Hill 4-11 Affiliation.
The occasion, which drew 85 veterans from everywhere in the nation, a lot of them bringing household, wrapped up on Saturday with a memorial service and wreath-laying at Veterans Park, adopted by a banquet within the night.
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Hill 4-11 Affiliation members embody veterans who served with or in assist of the Military’s third Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment through the Vietnam Battle.
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The battalion, which was in Vietnam from December 1967 to October 1971, misplaced nearly 300 males throughout that point and had one of many highest casualty charges of any unit.
Rice, from Toulon, Illinois, mentioned the group’s identify, Hill 4-11, is taken from the location of a firebase the unit established and operated close to Quang Ngai Metropolis, South Vietnam, an space that had a heavy enemy presence.
“We had 4 corporations, they usually rotated on and off the hill,” mentioned Rice, who was there in 1969. “So one firm can be on the hill to relaxation and recuperate whereas the opposite three have been out patrolling and operating ambushes on the paths.”
The items on patrol have been in fixed hazard.
Tommy Thompson, a veteran from Bristow who served because the reunion host, had barely set foot in Vietnam when he was minimize down in an ambush.
“It was seven days after I arrived within the subject,” he mentioned, including that he was evacuated with shrapnel wounds throughout his physique.
“They ended up eradicating what was left of my spleen,” he mentioned.
Though his time was temporary, the 21-year-old non-public top notch absorbed sufficient battle to final a lifetime.
Simply 4 days earlier than he was knocked out of motion he noticed three troopers from his firm killed in entrance of him.
4 extra died within the ambush through which he was wounded.
Thompson is aware of the names of these seven fallen troopers by coronary heart, he mentioned.
“Each night time earlier than I fall asleep, I say them aloud,” he mentioned.
‘Buried each reminiscence’Rice, who achieved the rank of sergeant, misplaced his share of comrades, as effectively.
After he obtained house, he needed nothing to do with the battle, he mentioned.
He’d had a digital camera with him in Vietnam, he mentioned, and had taken random images of unit life.
“My mother saved each one and put them in a shoebox,” he mentioned. “Nevertheless it was most likely 10 years earlier than I lastly opened it.”
“I simply didn’t wish to relive it once more,” Rice added. “I used to be performed.”
The 4-11 reunions have helped the veterans course of the horrible issues they noticed and discover solace in reconnecting with comrades.
The primary reunion was held in 1984. It was held yearly for some time earlier than transferring to each different yr.
It’s been in numerous cities, and this was the primary time in Tulsa. It was initially scheduled for final yr however was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thompson mentioned he found the group about 10 years in the past.
“After I obtained discharged, I buried each reminiscence,” he mentioned. “And 10 years in the past it simply begin consuming at me. So I began getting on the web, googling this and that.”
Thompson, who was not too long ago married when he was drafted in 1968, quickly found the 4-11 affiliation. He’s attended each reunion since 2015.
“Our numbers are dwindling, however those that can preserve coming,” he mentioned.
The friendships that have been solid in battle have stood the take a look at of time.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Thompson mentioned.
Rice added, “It’s like we may be speaking and one man stops, and the opposite man can simply keep on prefer it was the identical sentence.”
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