ROS sends us a link to a story of two Vietnam Veterans who found each other after 42 years. The last time they had seen each other was when one was medivaced from a fire fight.
“Have you tried Facebook?” Melissa asked. “Give me a name.”
[Michael] Sanzaro remembered Ron Colby, a Saukville resident who left his tour by helicopter when his lung was punctured by shrapnel from a booby trap. Having no knowledge of what became of Colby, they plugged in his name and Melissa composed a brief message.
“My father would like to know if you served in golf co 2/5 in vietnam in 1970?” Melissa wrote on Jan. 12.
Twenty-two days later, Colby found the message and responded right away.
“Yes, I did,” Colby wrote. “Who is your father? I’m sorry I didn’t answer this much earlier. I didn’t even see your message until now. I’m still trying to understand this medium. Obviously, I’m not from the computer age.”
Facebook has reconnected me with many of my troops from decades ago, I’m thankful that it connected me with one just before his untimely death. I’d thought that I’d never hear from any of them ever again. So although Facebook is a huge pain in the ass sometimes, it has it’s uses.
I’m glad these two friends have reconnected and their questions about each other have been answered. It’s also instructive in the relationships between soldiers. Some names never die in your memory – there are days you can’t find your car keys, but you never forget the name of that guy who chewed dirt with you decades ago.
I find myself suffering more and more from CRS (can’t remember shit) except when it comes to those names.
Grunt…You just might be a bit older than I but I call it “Sometimers” Sometimes I remember, sometimes I forget! Just not the names, like you.
Closest friends’ names and their hometowns are etched in my memory. Probably because of swapping lies and looking forward to returning home, or as we called it, ‘back to the world’.
Seeing as how I served with a handful of ‘names’ for longer than I’ve had some of my relatives, ya, not likely I’ll forget them. lol
And yes, Facebook has been invaluable in keeping us in touch with each other. I have to believe we’d have found a way to do so even if FaceBook weren’t around though.
Great post! I helped out a few vets at the VA from that era, in terms of computer literacy and social networking through Facebook, etc… They absolutely love it!