The 41st Civil Affairs Company was activated in the Republic of Vietnam on December 15, 1965 and performed with distinction and honor, earning three Meritorious Unit Commendations , the RVN Gallantry Cross w/Palm, and the RVN Civic Actions Honor Medal, FC, until the unit was deactivated on January 28, 1970. Fourteen members of the unit reassembled for a reunion on May 18th through the 21st, 2006. We came from North Logan Utah, Chico California, Weems Virginia, Ashland Kentucky, Redding California, Bastrop Texas, New Braunfels Texas, Midlothian Virginia, Martindale Texas, Marietta Georgia, San Antonio Texas, and Gainesville Georgia, and eight of us were accompanied by our loving spouses.

 

As stories of time spent in the Republic of Vietnam as Civil Affairs personnel were shared, photographs carefully looked over, old copies of company correspondence read, unit rosters checked for familiar names, slides and videos of construction projects, medcaps, and refugee control shared, the memories came flooding back.

 

Thursday, May 18, 2006:

John Schmidt and his wife Susan hosted a cookout at their home in Martindale, Texas for several of the attendees who arrived that afternoon. David Clark and his wife Lois were the first to arrive around 1700 hrs and as David came up the front sidewalk he said, "John ! I have never met you but it is like I know you already". We were soon joined by Nick and and Mary Raybourn, Pete and Fay Jones, and Jimmie and Dee Gonzalez.

Stories of days spent in Edap Enang, LZ’s on the Bong Son plain, and other locations where the CA teams were located, came forth with ease and often much clarity. While we could not sometimes remember names and places, we found that each could contribute something to filling in the blanks. David Gunn arrived later in the evening and joined in the discussions. The wives often just sat there, listening to these old soldiers tell of friends made "in country", places they were assigned, and how they helped the people of that war-torn country. The evening ended close to 2300 hours as travel fatigue seemed to out-weigh the stimulation of the conversations and everyone departed for the hotel.

Friday, May 19, 2006:

More brothers arrived during the morning while Pete, John, and David waited in the lobby of the hotel for their rooms to be ready. The three continued to share and looked up to see a young, full colonel in battle dress fatigues walk into the lobby. John commented on how young this "bird colonel" looked and realized he was with an "older gentleman" who turned out to be Lloyd Hill. The colonel was his son, stationed at Brooke Army Medical Center at Ft. Sam Houston. After introductions, Lloyd told us he also had a daughter who was a Lieutenant Colonel stationed at the Pentagon. Lloyd joined our growing group in the lobby and about 10:30, a fellow walked in and David Gunn said as the guy walked up to the desk, "he looks like a soldier".  Earl Palmer then said he looks like Ivars Bembris, so John yelled out, "Hey, Ivars !", and he turned around.  Sure enough it was him.   He bounded over with that big Ivars grin.  We continued to carry on our remembering and got into our rooms a little after noon where we assembled in the "company headquarters" which was a suite John had reserved. We swapped stories and drank a few Shiner’s for the remainder of the afternoon as others arrived including, Steve Corbitt, Gary Faith, and Erin Milligan.

 

At 7:00 PM we gathered with the wives at Mamacita’s Restaurant and Cantina for an evening of good Tex-Mex food, some Mexican beer, margarita’s, and more stories of Vietnam, kids and grandkids, and the last 40 years. Travel fatigue began to take its toll on the old bodies and sack time came for many soon after returning to the hotel. Some returned to the "company headquarters" again where still more remembering was shared until very late.

Saturday, May 20, 2006:

We assembled in the meeting room of the Holiday Inn around 0900, and the first order of business were informal introductions. Each of us took several minutes, some more than others, to tell us about their lives since leaving Vietnam. Everyone had a story to tell and we were proud of how we led our lives since we were so young and far away in Vietnam.

 

We then moved to showing 35mm slides and super 8 movies on VCR tape of the earliest times of the unit in Vietnam--1967-68. We progressed through the years with everyone contributing either slides, movies, or still photos. Halfway through the morning we were surprised by the appearance of Conrad Mull who showed up completely unexpected. He brought along a Montagnard crossbow to go with the bracelets and basket that others had brought for "show and tell". We looked at AV of civic action projects, MEDCAPS and DENTCAPS, reconstruction of schools, bridges, marketplaces, and clinics, refugee resettlement, and other projects that our CA teams participated in from 1966 through 1969. We broke for lunch around 1230 and went to Smitty’s Bar-B-Que in Lockhart.

Returning for more sharing, we were additionally surprised when Dave Schoenvogel arrived. Dave had not been sure he would be able to attend because of his job, but Dave was with us for about three hours and we enjoyed his input to the conversations. Dave Gunn had CD slides of several boxes of 41st CA Co records his brother had obtained during a trip to the national archives. We reviewed daily journals from the company, orders, histories, and photographs of men assigned to the unit.

 

Highlight of the afternoon was a CD slide show provided by David Gunn of his trip to Vietnam in December and January. His slides indicated a "new Vietnam". We were all amazed at how Vietnam had "cleaned itself up" from the years of war. It was evident that Nha Trang was developing into a major tourist city.

During the last half of the afternoon, we were joined by several of the wives including Eileen Milligan, Fay Jones, Jeanette Ivars, and Lois Clark. The wives had been to the Outlet Mall and then to lunch at historicGreune on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

We closed the day around 1800 and everyone prepared for dinner at the Hill Country Grill at 1930 which was a wonderful experience of discussions among the members and the wives. Returning to the hotel at 2200, many assembled in the "company headquarters" to view movies taken by David Gunn during his tour in Bong Son. Things closed down around 2400.

Sunday, May 21, 2006:

The memorial service for Sigfried Karlstrom, James Sovizal, and William Dick was held on Sunday morning at the Martindale United Methodist Church and was attended by nine of us and six wives. Major (reverend) Pete Jones conducted the service and it was very moving.

Following the service we began to say our good-byes and some had to catch flights back home.

 

Conclusion:

The first reunion of the 41st Civil Affairs Company was a time all of us knew we had to experience. We realized that although our teams had been scattered throughout Vietnam, we all performed similar actions and projects, helping the Vietnamese and Montagnards improve their standard of living and helping them develop some sort of organization and order to their lives during a time of warfare. We found that while many of us were meeting for the first time, we felt a kinship and brotherhood that made us not meet as strangers, but as brothers and friends. The wives came away with a better understanding of what it was their husband soldiers did during that year in Vietnam serving with the 41st Civil Affairs Company. Those attending readily admitted that the sharing of stories and remembrances of friends made, was the most gratifying part of the weekend.

Lessons Learned:

1. I loved this reunion and needed it, the same as when I visited "The Wall" in Washington.

2. It takes time and close monitoring to pull this kind of reunion off.

3. A/V equipment must be arranged well in advance and insured that it is working properly

4. One day for A/V sharing is sufficient with less than 15 attendees. More than that will require      

    additional time for sharing which will extend the reunion by more days.

5. Memorial service works well on the morning of the third day.

6. Everyone should arrive at least in the afternoon of the first day and depart after the memorial 

    service. Therefore, attendees should plan on at least three days and two nights minimum stay.

7. Hospitality Room (Company Headquarters) is a necessity.

8. The "early bird" gathering was great and should be continued.

9. A specific time must be included in the schedule of events to take group photos with and without 

    spouses.

10. We need to have another reunion NLT 2008. 

 

John Schmidt III

LTC, USA - Retired