good to read all of your comments. served with bn/supply from margarita in 1966 til april of 1967 at chu/lai. hill 69. planning on attending reuion in may. will be great to see all of you again. until then semper fi.

Love the site!! My father was Rick Spaniol and he passed away 3 years ago but he always mentioned that he loved going to the reunion! We were going to go with him to the next one but he got to sick! I like the pictures and the work that is done from all of you!

hi i served with mike company from 1/68 thru 2/69. i was company radio operator. my memory isn't what it used to be,names,but i still can see all my fellow marines faces.if anyone remembers me please e-mail me. i was known as the [bean bandit],by capt. frank pacello.

I was an arty FO for Mike & Kilo and was LNO during Tet '68.  Served Sept '67 (replaced the FO killed on Operation Swift) to Oct '68.  2/11 was my organic unit but spent the majority of my tour with 3/5 and consider myself a 3/5 grunt.

I was with H&S Btn Supply from Camp Pendleton (late 65 early 66) till I rotated home a month or so early due to death in the family in February of 67.  Worked in Btn Supply with Capt. Jasem, SSgt. Cooke Btn Armory, Sgt. Silvers Btn Supply.

I served in 2nd platoon M 3/5 in VietNam from Jan through Sept.1967. Was on Swift and was wounded trying to get Corpsman Leal up the hill. Wrote Fr. Capodonno up for the Medal of Honor, which I am proud that it was awarded to his family. Actually, I would like to know about the reunion in May. I have never participated in anything like this but it's time to bury the past and move on. Would like to see marines I served with.

i served w/ m3/5 70-71i would like it if anyone that served the same time i did &who remembers me to please contact me at desertdog51@mns.com so that we can share old times good or bad i have been trying to find marines who served with me during this  peorid. looking forward to hearing from old friends &comrades

I was w/FAC/TAC Party H&S 3/5 2/67-5/68. Spent most of my time with Mike 3/5. Went to Quantico after the nam, and got out there in 69. Went back in as a Pfc in 73, and retired as a 1stSgt in 91 when I came back from Iraq. I remember so many Marines, have many names in my books. If you remember me, please write. Just attended 40th reunion of Swift in California in September. Great healing time. 904-879-7371

i am looking for any one that has pictures and info about my uncle john wayne love.i know he was friends with jim cravey and steve lovejoy

I was with Kilo in June '67 and after being wia returned to INdia in June and Plt cmdered and xoed  til Oct after Swift. I will update you with info soon.   I just retired from LAPD am interested in making the reunion.   Thanks for your good works   Tom Runyen    Pvt 1965 PLT 282-   Capt 1970

Greetings to all in 3td Bn 5th Marines. It has taken me 39 years to get back in touch.  I plan to attend the reunion for May 15-18 2008.  In Nam I served with I Co from March to June 1968.  Agin HI to all and Semper Fi

My Greg served 3 tours in Vietnam with India 3/5. Members of India Company had contacted him a few years ago after a long search and tried to convince him to come to the reunion. Like so many, he would not go. While he was a very proud Marine and lived his life to honor his beloved corps, the memories were painful and ran deep. He did not want to face them again except in his own private hell.

When Greg passed away in December, I was determined to attend the reunion. I NEEDED to. I wanted to represent him, I wanted to meet those who knew him long before I did and most of all I NEEDED to learn and understand more about him. A few of my friends tried to convince me not to go. They said it would be too hard on me. I told them that I knew that parts of it were going to be hard but I really believed I would gain a lot of healing as well.

Curtis, who contacted Greg, served with him in Vietnam and is the one I contacted to ask if it was ok for me to attend. He was delighted and set everything up for me. This was done in January, not even a month after that terrible day. I was so grateful to him for doing this for me. I was not in a frame of mind to plan travel at that point.

The week before the reunion, I had a dream about Greg and the grief monster got such a good grip on me, I couldn’t shake for 3 days. I started to wonder if I really should go. As I got hold of myself again, I knew I would not miss this opportunity for healing, new friendships and to learn more about my beloved.

I arrived at the reunion on Wednesday. As I walked up to the tent area there were several people standing there just looking at me. It was un-nerving and part of me wanted to turn tail and run. I didn’t belong there. I continued across the road and walked up to them. I don’t remember who spoke first but I was immediately welcomed and Cutis’s wife began to introduce me to everyone. Being introduced as Greg’s Widow was a shock. “I am his wife not his widow”, reality soon set in and I realized that the introductions were correct and not meant to be hurtful.

After the introductions, I found a spot at a table and sat down. Everyone knew each other and went back to doing their thing. I was content to sit and watch because I still felt a little like I didn’t belong. Curtis wasn’t having any of that. He went and told several ladies to come sit with me. I guess he figured out I wasn’t going to just jump in on my own. I was embarrassed a bit but appreciated it. It was something Greg would have done knowing how timid I am. These ladies and I became fast friends and fairly well stuck together throughout the reunion. I am not one who can just sit around while others worked so it was nice that the ladies I was talking to were also on KP duty. We washed many a pot, stirred huge pans of eggs and cracked many jokes at the cooks’ expense. How in the world can they get eggs to become cemented to those pans anyway!? When the cooks got me to stirring the eggs, they don’t know what a huge risk they were taking. I have been known to literally Melt a Pot on the stove. I know Greg was laughing like the dickens in heaven.

After that first awkward afternoon, I quickly began to feel like family. The wives and I shared our experiences living with our Marine’s. The men shared with each other and sometimes us. Curtis took me over to the Wall to show me the book they keep of all those fallen since the war. Greg's name was there. Curtis and I shared a few tears and he told me that this was so I would know that Greg was never forgotten. I don’t know any of the stories or how their bond was formed to be so deep beyond the normal bond of war. I never asked and won’t and Curtis didn’t offer anything which I understand. I do know that what I felt from Curtis was the love of a brother that went beyond the brotherhood of Marines who served together. I felt a bond of brother hood that Greg’s own brother doesn’t possess. I can not tell you what it means to me to know that Greg will be remembered in the hearts of more than just me.

Several meals, lots of conversation and loads of pots later it was time for the ceremony at the Wall. The ladies did their best to prepare me for what was about to happen. We all knew it was going to be hard for me. It’s hard for the guys every year but very healing for them. I understand the ceremony if for those fallen during the war but for me Greg was honored there as well. The only one of Greg’s family to come to his funeral was his brother and his family. In my heart these Marines or 3/5 are his family and to watch them say good by made me feel so proud. The Marines of 3/5 line up in twos and as the brass quartet plays, they walk up to the Wall in twos and salute the Wall. You cannot imagine how large an impact this has on you until you are sitting there watching these proud Marines, many with tears streaming paying tribute to the friends they lost. Even though in many ways it was like being at the funeral again and in some ways it is a funeral, I was determined to hold back the grief monster and represent Greg with as much honor and dignity as I could muster during the ceremony. I shed a few silent tears as did nearly everyone there. “No thoughts force them out and just breathe.” After the procession, two families of men fallen during the war are honored and presented with medals their Marine earned. It is beautiful and the families are truly touched. They learn what I did; their Marine will never be forgotten as long as a member of 3/5 is still alive. After nearly 40 years of little or no contact, you can imagine what healing and closure this offers these families.

I met Greg's CO, a few other guys who served with him and remembered. I met a wonderful lady who was a flight nurse in Vietnam and another lady medic. The respect I have for these ladies is beyond words. I spent many hours talking with the flight nurse. She offered comfort she will never know when I lost it after the ceremony was over. I was honored to be someone she felt she could share a few stories with. I cannot imagine the suffering she goes through since unlike the men, she has so few people who can truly understand what she went through over there.

In the Marines of 3/5 I saw many of the traits I loved so much in Greg, I saw that sadly a majority of them are afflicted by serious heart disease or diabetes probably connected to the War. I learned that these guys were in one of the most heavily contaminated areas for Agent Orange and where some of the fiercest fighting went on. From the ladies of 3/5, I found a sisterhood. These ladies, many of whom have been with their Marine since the war are the only ones who can understand the love, respect and pride we have in our men. Some of these ladies live with PTSD so bad that their husband sometimes doesn’t recognize them. Sometimes they are recognized as friend and sometimes the enemy.

They truly understand when I say my Greg was so easy to love; he just wasn’t always easy to live with. I have such respect for these ladies. I was accepted as one of them even though I met GREG only 15 years ago, am younger than many and have little to no understanding of the military or the war. They asked me if I would encourage other widows to attend the reunion and I could not express to them how strongly I felt that other widows should come. The healing that I have gained from the reunion is invaluable to me. Finding a family that truly understands the love I have for my Marine and how I feel about being a Marine wife is more that I could ever have asked for. I regret that Greg never went to the reunion. I regret that I didn’t find these ladies until after Greg passed away. They could have helped me to understand the anger he had at his body for betraying him. I would not have had to live with the lack of understanding of what he was going through because I only saw the anger and didn’t understand the cause. The last three years he was alive were so very hard. I don’t know of a word in our language to describe the relationship I feel to the folks I met at the reunion. Family is about the only word we have. It doesn’t describe the feeling of really being connected in thoughts and feelings nor the sense of true understanding I feel when I am with them.

I believe Greg chose not to attend the reunion because of the horrible memories of war, I think he felt lesser of himself because of his health. These guys in their hearts are still that 10 ft tall bullet proof Marine that went to war. Time and age have not diminished the warrior inside. Inside the reunion area is a sacred place where he would have found he was not the only one suffering health problems and raging against them. It is completely safe to discuss disabilities, nightmares and all the other things that live in the minds of these battle scarred Marines. No matter what your civilian job is, no matter your current health status, if you come to the reunion you will find you are still seen as that young Marine of so long ago.

I hope that my thoughts and experience at the reunion will encourage other widows of 3/5 to come to the reunion. I also hope that more Marine’s will come as will their wives.

Semper Fi.

Judy Coe

Looking for members of 3/5 , 3rd squad ,mike company. Who served with my father in 1970. (He's doing well) Just helping him look up old friends. Had nickname corporal Trip. Also anyone have info on the following Marines   Newill,Sonnet, Perez, Berg

Thank You/Godbless

R.e. Vela Jr

Vietnam Dec 1966 through July 1967, Comm Platoon 3/5. Spent time as the FAC with Kilo Co on Union l and some patrols, was with the Bn CP on Union ll. Would like to participate in the next reunion. Semper Fi.....Norm

Sgt.Lacy - A Co 1/26 Marines

Would like to imform Mike Co 3/5 that my best friend has pasted away.

Sgt. Mike Brown

Scout and Silver Star

Ohio Military Hall of Fame

Teacher

Football Coach

Father

Friend

Thank you

Still not on the roster....Is there a reason?

                         Thanks

                         T L Cox

Brenda,

 Every time I look at this site you have something new added

THANKS!

Frank

Recieved your letter today,nice to hear from you.I'am very interested in your reunion in 2007.I served  in vietnam  mostly with India company from may 1968 to june 1969.Birthday 11/ 7/1947,wife Lori,home phone 440-259-5926,cell 440-897-0281,e-mail t15956@aol.com Jim

Oct 70 to Mar 71 I served with H&S S-1 when the battalion was at LZ Ross. It was my second of three tours. I am curious I have signed this before and still not on the roster of 3/5 HELP.

Rex C MCBee SGT USMC

Hi, looking forward to attending the 2007 reunion.  Doc Kunkel, I Co. 3/5

Good job on the site, Brenda! Can't express in words how much you doing this site means to me and the rest of the Marines I served with in Mike 3/5. Semper Fidelis, Tony

Thanks for visiting this site.  Please keep checking back as I am in the process of adding a roster and some more goodies.  Have a great day!