{"id":81389,"date":"2026-03-24T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2026\/03\/24\/after-more-than-half-a-century-these-veterans-returned-to-vietnam\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:44:09","slug":"after-more-than-half-a-century-these-veterans-returned-to-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2026\/03\/24\/after-more-than-half-a-century-these-veterans-returned-to-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"After more than half a century, these veterans returned to Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was a homecoming of sorts \u2014 decades overdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dozen Vietnam veterans returned to the Southeast Asian country \u2014 with all but one having not been back since their combat boots left the soil of Vietnam for the last time some 50 years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got back from Vietnam in \u201868 and luckily, I didn\u2019t experience any disrespect,\u201d Jerry Melcher, a combat medic in the U.S. Army told Military Times. \u201cJust experienced nobody wanted to acknowledge or talk about it. So I went home, took off my uniform and kind of stuffed it in my back pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rudy Dixon, who served in an Army recon team from 1970-1971, had a similar experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[I] didn\u2019t talk about it much because didn\u2019t nobody want to hear about it back then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veterans, who range in age from 74 to 80, represent America\u2019s decades-long war in almost every facet by way of air, land and sea, including: a former infantryman, helicopter pilots, combat medics, a Navy boatswain\u2019s mate and Dixon, a former recon soldier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All 12 men were part of a weeklong trip earlier this month, organized by the Eagle Society<\/a>, a Nashville-based nonprofit, and Forever Young Veterans, aimed at supporting, honoring and preserving the memory of the veterans who fought in one of America\u2019s most contested wars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rudy Dixon served in an Army recon team during the Vietnam War. (Courtesy of Forever Young Veterans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Eagle Society has done several trips with veterans, including a pilgrimage to Okinawa with veterans of the Second World War, but the trip to Southeast Asia, dubbed \u201cVietnam Revisited,\u201d was a first for the society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do we honor these veterans? How do we elevate a level of dignity and purpose and ability and honor?\u201d Michael Davidson, founder of Eagle Society, told Military Times in a phone call prior to the eight-day trip. \u201cLet\u2019s help the country digest because \u2026 we\u2019re really still processing that era. We are still dealing with issues that reverberated since that era \u2014 everything from geopolitics to civic division. So how do we use experience to expose us to all those issues and help the veterans while we\u2019re doing it?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war in Vietnam represented a fracture in American society and politics, which ultimately gave way to something new entirely. For the veterans, however, shedding the uniform, did not shed the memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of my friends [came] back and got on drugs and alcohol,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cWe were sort of poor when I grew up, so all I had on my mind when I got back was, is going to work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople that\u2019s never been in combat \u2026 you can tell them something and you can tell they don\u2019t believe it. They can\u2019t understand it because they\u2019ve never experienced it,\u201d Dixon continued. \u201cA lot of things I just never would say anything about because I knew it be too unbelievable to them. So most people that I\u2019ll talk to about it is [with] other veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his tour in Vietnam, Melcher, the Army combat medic, became motivated to heal himself \u2014 and his fellow veterans. The combat medic-turned-Army psychologist became a mental health specialist, \u201cin part for self-help,\u201d Melcher said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s supposed to be some light-hearted humor,\u201d Melcher quipped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never heard the term post-traumatic stress disorder. I just didn\u2019t know what it was,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t talk to anybody and no one talked to me. Even my friends, my best buddy from high school, is a vet. We never talked about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even as a medic, Melcher was called to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI talked with guys a lot, meaning, not only was I treating their physical sense, but trying to treat other things. When people got \u2018Dear John\u2019 letters and wanted to talk to somebody \u2026 I don\u2019t know why, I just wanted to help and wanted to listen, and that\u2019s what I ended up doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jerry Melcher, an Army combat medic, became a mental health specialist after the war. (Courtesy of Forever Young Veterans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vietnam Revisited presented an opportunity for veterans to talk and reminisce among one another, but as Davidson put it, \u201cwhen you get on the ground, you see, touch, feel, learn \u2026 it deepens engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip took participants through Hanoi, Da Nang, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City, however, the veterans \u201ccould opt out of anything\u201d they wanted to opt out of, said Davidson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe try to make sure we our goal is to create the space for them, whatever it is, whatever version of grieving, healing, restoring, renewing, any version of it. We are going to respect and support their process. So our goal is to create options now,\u201d Davidson added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unrecognizable<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For veterans like Dixon, as a member of 1st Battalion, 52nd Infantry Regiment, a combat unit assigned to the 198th Infantry Brigade within the 23rd Infantry Division Americal Division, his memories of Vietnam don\u2019t include city campaigns, but crawling through jungle tunnel complexes and traversing dense foliage against the threat of a hidden enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His recon team, according to Dixon, worked in and off firebase LZ Stinson \u2014 going out for seven days, coming back in for four and rotating back and forth like that for nearly a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war-torn nation he left was very much not the same more than 50 years on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what I was expecting when I went back, but it was a totally different country,\u201d said Dixon. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t even the same place. I\u2019ve never seen such a beautiful place in my life. \u2026 The beaches the South China Sea there and China beach and all it was just, man, it looked better than Hawaii.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen more courteous people. I mean, they acted like they wanted you there. They, you know, done everything they could to make your stay there as pleasant as they could. And I just, I couldn\u2019t get over how the people were there toward us,\u201d Dixon said of his time back in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Dixon, memories of his service include shards of light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in basic training, a senior drill sergeant had found out that Dixon was likewise from Mississippi. Every morning while standing at attention, Dixon recounted, \u201che\u2019d walk down that line and he\u2019d get to me and he\u2019d put his nose right, nearly against my nose, and he\u2019d say, \u2018Dixon, you ain\u2019t never gonna make no soldier.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019d say, \u2018I know it, won\u2019t you let me go home?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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