Please see below for an important Casual Conversation on Sunday, October 29 at 3 pm Eastern Time. The guests are our classmates, each of whom served in Vietnam during the war. The event was organized by classmate Bill Stableford, who introduces in the description below the men who will be our guests to discuss their experiences before, during, and after their service abroad.
Usual rules apply: RSVP to my email by the Friday before, October 27: arthur.fergenson@ansalaw.com .
Arthur Fergenson
While the Vietnam War was indeed long ago, none of us were unaffected by it, so I think that an historical perspective and discussion might be of interest to fellow classmates, regardless of how they felt or what they did about the war. For the presentation, I thought it would be of interest to hear from those classmates who actually served in Vietnam. I found five classmates who served in Vietnam who are willing to participate in a '69 Casual Conversation.
- John Lallis served as an artillery officer on an artillery base.
- Sandy Alderson served as a Marine infantry platoon leader.
- Paul Pillar served as an officer in the Adjutant General corps at a transient depot within Tan Son Nhut air base outside Saigon. The work involved administrative processing of personnel coming into and out of country. He came back on the last plane of the withdrawal following the 1973 peace agreement.
- John Sasser served as a platoon leader and company commander of an Engineer Battalion, drilling wells for Army units throughout northern RVN.
- Nick North served as a staff officer at battalion headquarters in an Air Mobile unit.
I do not mean for the discussion to be limited to these five classmates. I welcome other veterans, those who served in Vietnam or elsewhere, to participate. They are welcome to reach out to me in advance.
I have asked our '69 Vietnam Veterans to briefly discuss the following:
- What were your thoughts about the war while on campus?
- What were your reasons for serving in the military at that time?
- What were your experiences in Vietnam, and how did they affect you at the time?
- How did you manage the transition from military life back to civilian life?
- What are your current perspectives on your experiences in Vietnam?
- Any other comments?
I was in Army ROTC and I am a Vietnam Era veteran, but I ended up serving stateside as a platoon leader and staff officer with the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Lewis, Washington. While I am proud of having served in uniform, I take my hat off and defer to those who served in Vietnam.
Bill Stableford