Monday, February 27, 2006

8883 Miles to Ho Chi Minh City

When I flew out to Vegas last December I think I described it as an "epic journey of discovery", which was perhaps just a wee bit of a hyperbole. But it would be no overstatment to say that about the trip my cousin Noreen is about to embark upon. On March 3rd she's flying to Vietnam as part of a group called the Friends of Danang, and she'll be spending 10 days (I think it's 10 days, the dateline thing has me confused) seeing the country for the first time.

On July 9th, 1969, Noreen's dad (and my uncle) was killed in Quang Tin province during an ambush. I've heard countless stories about my Uncle Jimmy since I was a little kid (he died when Noreen was eight months old and I six) but for years Noreen has been talking to the men in my uncle's unit and digging up old pictures and letters and making herself into a world-class pain in the Army's ass as she fought for (and eventually received) documentation about his service and how he died. Never doubt the power of the Freedom of Information Act, people, nor the power of sticktoitivness.

So now Noreen is going to Vietnam to see the place for herself. She has a blog set up for the trip here: and as she posts stuff I'll link to it as well. Her "regular" blog is at Reeny's Doodles, where she writes about stuff leading up to the trip. I heartily recommend you check them out.

She put together a collage of pictures of my uncle, many of which I hadn't seen before. And so, this is who we're talking about:





Darn it, can't get the collage to expand. Just go to Noreen's post here and you can click it and expand it to get a better look.

posted by Gene @ 12:26 PM   |