When I retired from the Army in October, 1970, I left without having any contact information for anyone that I had served with during my time in the service. The last eleven months of my military service had been spent in various hospitals rehabbing from my wounds. Guys came and went without really getting to know any of them that well.
While I was in Vietnam, I worked as a sniper, mostly with one partner, Mike M. We generally worked as a team alone, either ahead of a patrol or up in a radar tower on LZ Jamie. We had originally been taken out of the field for sniper training, away from our original unit, and then assigned to Echo Company. E Company was made up of a Recon Platoon, a Mortar Platoon, and a Radar Section, all designed to provide security for the LZ. Our buddies came and went. The tendency in Vietnam was to not become very close with anyone for fear of losing a new best friend.
Mike and I did however get a chance to spend some time with a bunch of guys from the Radar Unit in Echo Company. Lee Dworshak was one such person. Ken Havens was another. Ken was killed in action on October 21, 1969.
Around October of 2003, I began doing some research by surfing the internet for 'LZ Jamie' just to see what I would discover. What a find I made! I stumbled upon Fred Andrew’s Links to the Vietnam War. Fred had served with the 1st Cav Division and on his site there was a link to LZ Jamie where I was based. I found a map of the area and some daily reports.
I followed some other links and landed up at the Virtual Wall, a web site that has information about everyone who was killed in Vietnam. Visitors to the site can look up someone’s name and then be directed to a page containing information about the veteran. There is also a place where anyone can post a remembrance similar to a guestbook. I looked up Ken Haven’s page and found a message that was left by Lee. I contacted Lee via the e-mail address that was left on the page and we began corresponding with each other. Lee sent me a CD full of pictures from Vietnam, which actually included a couple of me.
I also did a search on Ken Havens. This led me to the Havens Family web site. I found this site to be very interesting with stories and pictures of generations of Havens. On the Haven’s site is a special section dedicated to Ken. There are stories, pictures, and viewable letters that Ken had written home to his family from Vietnam. It was very eerie reading some of these letters. Ken didn’t mention my name or Lee’s specifically, but he shared some of the times we all spent together in his letters home. I contacted Ken’s brother Russ and we have been corresponding on and off ever since. I called Russ on Veteran’s Day in 2003 and we had a nice talk about Ken and what it was like serving in a combat zone in Vietnam.
While I was attending a Hepatitis C conference out in California in the spring of 2006, Linda and I had made arrangements to meet up with Lee and have lunch together. Lee grew up in the Los Angeles area and we met at a restaurant in Marina del Rey, a local hotspot that was very familiar to Lee from those growing up years. We spent a couple of hours catching up with our lost years.
Lee and I correspond quite often now, mostly via e-mail and video conferencing. While I haven’t seen Lee since 1969, except for the few hours we spent together in California, I feel a special bond with him. It is the camaraderie that is formed by serving together in a combat situation.
Lee has been a tremendous help to me while developing my web site. He designed the header on the home page and edited most of the sections and offered suggestions concerning the overall design.
One of my favorite places to visit is Southern California and I am looking forward to the day I can return and spend more time reminiscing.
