Welcome back! – The ‘Cast’

 

Charles M. Searcy (Chuck) Charles M. Searcy (Chuck)
U.S. Army October 1966 to October 1969
Highest rank: Specialist 5th Class (SP5)
Intelligence Analyst, in Vietnam:  June 1967 to June 1968

Chuck has been living in Vietnam for the past 18 years, and and was instrumental in setting up Project Renew: ‘Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War’ as an effort to reduce the number of deaths and injuries cause by cluster bombs and other munitions – which have claimed the lives and limbs of tens of thousands of Vietnamese, mainly children and farmers, since the war ended in 1975. www.landmines.org.vn

 

Don BlackburnDon Blackburn served in the
U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968

‘I was in Viet Nam from 1967-68. In Viet Nam, attached to 9th Infantry in Ben Cat, then in 116th Transportation Company in Cam Ranh. Because I refused to participate in aggressive action against Vietnamese civilians, I was twice given Article 15’s (serious reprimands) and nearly court martialed. I had the rank of private E-1 when I returned to the U.S., the lowest rank possible.’ Don is a poet and author. His second book, Into the Heart (beautiful poems about Vietnam) is available at createspace.com

Hoa BInh (peace)

 

Michael GillumMichael Gillum, Sgt.,  U.S. Army,  20th Engineer Battalion (Combat)
served in Pleiku, Viet Nam from Jan. to Dec. 1970

Michael returned to Vietnam the summer after this film was made to spend time in the Pleiku orphanage, teaching the children English pronunciation.  ‘The kids are great and are quick learners.  I’m having a great time, and so are the kids.’

 

Michael E. CullMichael E. Cull
Specialist 5th Class,
served in the US Army Medical Service from 1964 -1967

Mike came to Vietnam on a ship with 3000 other soldiers in May 1966 with the 98th Medical Detachment assigned to the 8th Field Hospital until July 1967.  He worked as a psychiatrist, both during the war and afterwards. He describes the trail of suicides, addictions and failed relationships suffered by so many veterans in the forty years since the Vietnam war ended.

After living in Vietnam for several years running a language school to teach English, he married his partner Pham Thi Tuyet Lan on Jan 19th 2013.

 

David ThomasC. David Thomas
Director Indochina Arts Partnership
U.S. Army
20th Engineer Battalion (Combat), Pleiku, South Vietnam
April 11, 1969 – March 22, 1970

David Thomas is an artist who curated an exhibition in which both Vietnamese and American artists looked at the war, in a project called ‘As Seen by Both Sides’. In addition to his own work as an artist and teacher he has been bringing groups of American artists to visit Vietnam for the past 20 years.

‘When I returned to Vietnam in 1987, it was again the children whose faces would not leave me. They are the continuing tragedy of the war. Adults make war and children inherit the aftermath.’

 

Manus CampbellManus Campbell

‘One photo with me and friends eating C rations in an underground bunker. Four Marines dining. I am second from right. C_rations were canned food still left over from WW2 , thankfully we finished them and got an updated version with different foods but still boring as hell.’ All of the guys from the film who live in Vietnam now, posing together on the occasion of Mike’s wedding to Lan, on Jan 19th 2013.