SFA President Jack Tobin, Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Roger Donlon, and author Ray Bows stand together at the Special Forces Convention, Jacksonville, Florida, June 2016.
On 13 June 2016, we were in attendance at the US Army Special Forces reunion in Jacksonville, where we encountered an old friend, Colonel Roger Donlon, the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War. We hadn't seen each other since 2001 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the day before 9/11. The fifteen years between encounters seemed to evaporate as Ray and the colonel spoke of previous meetings at such places like Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and San Antonio, Texas. Ray has written extensively about two of Colonel Donlon's team members at Nam Dong, Master Sergeant Gabriel Alamo and Sergeant John Houston, for whom the Alamo and Houston Bachelor Enlisted Quarters (BEQs) in Saigon were named.
At the reunion, we also met the current president of the Special Forces Association, Jack Tobin, as well as fellow author Andy Winfree; Bob Mulcahy, who shared invaluable information previously unknown to us; Pete Peterson, David "Bulldog" Smith, Pete Laurence, and Johnny King, who was at Nui Coto with Ben Davan, for whom the Davan Compound was named. We shared a table with USASF author and historian Steve Sherman and MAC V SOG historian Jason Hardy. We also encountered Betty, manager of the Special Forces gift shop who agreed to carry "IN HONOR AND MEMORY" at the Special Forces Museum, Fort Bragg, where it is now available in limited quantities.
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Above (left): Pia and Major David C. "Bulldog" Smith, President of Chapter 57, share a hug after "Bulldog" kindly shares information of several places in New York named in memory of Major George Cuomo, missing in action (MIA) in 1968.
Above (right): Ray Oden, President of Chapter 33, looks at the BOQ/BEQ section of "IN HONOR AND MEMORY" as he tells Ray Bows and Andy Winfree about his time as a dependent in Saigon when his father was stationed in Vietnam.
Left: Pia with Johnny King, who was at Nui Coto. Johnny knew Ben Davan for whom the Davan Compound (Det. B-55), at Nha Trang was named (see page 92 of "IN HONOR AND MEMORY").
Above (right): Ray Oden, President of Chapter 33, looks at the BOQ/BEQ section of "IN HONOR AND MEMORY" as he tells Ray Bows and Andy Winfree about his time as a dependent in Saigon when his father was stationed in Vietnam.
Left: Pia with Johnny King, who was at Nui Coto. Johnny knew Ben Davan for whom the Davan Compound (Det. B-55), at Nha Trang was named (see page 92 of "IN HONOR AND MEMORY").
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