Every few years around Veterans Day, Bill Smith of Charlotte packs his red, short-sleeved shirt and heads to a family reunion.
The guys he gathers with - Gunn from Texas, Vito from New Jersey, JD from Minnesota - aren't technically brothers. But they are related by blood.
Blood that stained the sandbag bunkers where they took cover. Blood on their uniforms when a guy beside them was hit by mortar fire. Blood spilled in a war so unpopular that some civilians called them "baby killers" when they returned from Vietnam more than 35 years ago.
 On Saturday, Smith and more than 30 of his Army brothers heard cheers as the rode in Charlotte's Veterans Day Parade, carrying the banner of the 1st Battalion, 92nd Field Artillery.
Their unit is nicknamed the"Brave Cannons" after the howitzers they manned in support of troops, including Fort Braggs 82nd Airborne.
The Brave Cannons reunion this weekend was a chance to tell stories, take pictures and be honored in ways they never were when they came home in the late '60's and early '70's.
"I had my 21st birthday over there" said Larry Jeffers, 61, of Roanoke, Va. "The North Vietnamese helped me celebrate - with fireworks."
The enemy fire started at 3 a.m., he recalled, and lasted for three days. His howitzer crew lost three men.
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"We faced death seven days a week, 24 hours a day," said Joe Miklos of Ohio. "You learned to take care of each other."
Wearing red polo shirts with the Brave Cannons insignia, the men spent few of their reunion hours talking about th tough times.
Instead they remembered when the outhouse built from wooden ammo boxes fell over with someone in it. And when the rumble they feared was a convoy of Viet Cong turned out to be a herd of water buffalo.
The men were touched when a piano player at the Howl at the Moon uptown brought them onstage Friday  night to honor them with a version of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A."
And Smith, 63, wiped away tears Saturday afternoon at the unveiling of a plaque in the Brave Cannons' honor on a veterans monument outside the Charlotte Convention Center.
Barry Baird, 59, who lives in Pennsylvania said he's grateful to s ee how much appreciation there is for the verteran these days.
It seems, he said, that no matter what people think of a particular war, "they're for the troops." |
A nice note from the Reporter and Photographer:
"Thank you so much for giving our article such prominent display on your Web site. Diedra and I really appreciate it. You're a great group of guys, and I'm glad I got to write about you and share your stories with our readers."
Kathy Haight
Charlotte Observer
704-358-5999
600 S. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202 |
