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By hard-travelin' a variety of rivers in Vietnam, in search of an old American patrol boat left over from the war, two Vietnam vets encounter a totally unexpected truth.

Looking out the windows, they didn’t see bomb craters nor shrapnel-scattered runways.  There wasn’t a sign of military troops, weapons of war or helicopters ferrying the wounded to aid stations.  When the door opened, there wasn’t a blast of heat or the smell of waste, just a rush of memories from long ago.

Susan (Lodge) Backs and Brooke Serpe-Ingold were among 12 persons (ten veterans, two non-veterans) who travelled to Vietnam and Cambodia 12-27 September 2010 with the Vietnam Battlefield Tour group.  Two of the veterans were the tour guides.  Our journey began in Ha Noi where we were guests of the US Marine Security guards at the Marine House near the US Embassy.

After forty years I returned to Vietnam, a country in which I spent a year, seeing only Saigon! By chance I met a Marine Vietnam Veteran at last year’s (2008) Memorial Day Service at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. After repeating my often-said comment, “I have no desire to go back to Vietnam,” I began to think about it and shortly after called Vietnam Battlefield Tours for more information. I was hooked, signing up for the March 2009 tour.

Ron Hoffman was a 20-year-old Marine from Two Rivers when he landed in Vietnam in 1966 and more than 40 years later he returned to the battlefield where he spent a year of his life.

Hoffman had tried to enlist in the Marine Corps but was turned away due to his poor eyesight.  At a later date he was drafted and when asked which branch he'd like to join, he chose the Marines because "they were the tough ones."

The Marines called him GTO.  Mike Neil thought of him as a son.  Now, 40 years later, Neil returns to battle his demons – and find the boy.

GTO was a boy befriended by Neil's platoon.  He was 11, the ringleader of a group of children who wandered over regularly from their village to a nearby bridge the Marines were guarding.  His father was the village barber.

For Don Alsbro and many other Vietnam War veterans, Hanoi, Hue, Khe Sanh, Da Nang and villages such as An Khe are names encased in a vivid, 40-year-old time capsule.

Opening that time capsule by entering it had several objectives for Alsbro, of Benton Harbor, and a small group of veterans and their wives who headed for Southeast Asia on April 19 for a 19-day trip.

Recently VBT helped a woman named Judy find the site where her young husband had been shot down in 1969.  The couple's daughter, Marcie, was only 35 days old when she lost her father, and she dreamed of visiting Vietnam to learn more about her father's death.  Unfortunately, Marcie died before she could visit Vietnam.  Her mother, Judy, made the trip to honor both her husband and daughter.