REPORT ON THE 2nd POST-VIETNAM
(But not last by any means)
RURAL AFFAIRS REUNION
..... held at Sequim, WA and Victoria, BC, August 19 - 23, 2003
Few events in life ever live up to their expectations. But the 47 participants in our just-completed old RA-ers 2nd
Reunion agree that this event exceeded even their fondest expectations.
The spirit and people noise at our various functions just kept rising.
Local onlookers were amazed. Several
asked what religion we were, and what we were so happy about.
When we parted company, everybody insisted that we meet again... and
soon!
One thing which really made this gathering super was the strong presence
by both old American and Vietnamese RAers.
One of the most moving moments came at the end of the biggest banquet
when we all stood for the Vietnamese national anthem.
Some said they had not sung it for years.
Our Reunion was also blest by the presence of the original RAers, Rufe
Phillips and Barbara Phillips, both in their usual outstanding form despite Rufe
having endured two heavy abdominal surgeries in the last two years. Both are
still working, Rufe building airfields and Barbara on State translation
assignments.
We managed to do some informal planning for future reunions.
Former Mayor pro-tem and Councilman of Westminister, California, Tony Lam
Quang, volunteered to make arrangements for our next reunion in Westminster.
Likely time: early summer, 2005. Stay
tuned!
Westminster and its surrounding area, with 250,000 Vietnamese Americans,
is probably the largest Vietnamese city outside Vietnam...
And RA’s own Lam Quang was the first Vietnamese in America to be
elected to high public office. We
are not sure if he owes that honor to his experience with organizing hamlet
elections so many years ago.
Vlad Lehovich and John O’Donnell and Hai Dang will continue to search for former colleagues and friends and help with and other liaison for us. And – George Melvin Jr. has launched a Rural Affairs web page to allow us to be in touch more easily. It features an outstanding section on the reunion, including photos. You’ll want to log on asap at at:
George also brought discs for everyone of his Dad's book on his Vietnam
experiences, "Vietnam – a Communist Pawn Play," which can also be
obtained by e-mailing George Jr.
An important future need is to determine how best to describe, document,
and preserve the RA experience. For
example, many brought to Sequim memorabilia such as documents and pictures.
Earl Young brought by car all the way from San Diego several six-foot
briefing boards with truly spectacular photos of Vietnam scenes long forgotten.
They were more exciting than any briefings ever prepared for Bob McNamara
or for the “Five O’Clock Follies” press events.
Others told of their dusty Vietnam files moldering in their garages or
basements.
This material is priceless. So
is the RA story. They should be
preserved and made available to historians and future policy-makers.
A logical entity to collate, assess and preserve our various materials
and histories is the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
During the mid-1960's, both of AID’s Vietnam training centers (in
Hawaii and Washington, DC) took oral histories of many RA-ers and Vietnam
returnees. John O’Donnell will
try to locate these. Rufe Phillips
will call Texas Tech to determine their interest, and Earl Rhine will visit the
Vietnam Center to get a first-hand impression.
Those of us with our own dusty collections may wish to try to get them in
logical order for preservation. No
less important, we hope in the future to be able to have a structured,
user-friendly process to take and transcribe oral histories from old RA
participants, US and Vietnamese.
Our 2nd Reunion enjoyed almost perfect weather.
It was in a friendly, slow-paced rural setting.
It was of sufficient length to enable everyone to talk themselves hoarse
with old comrades. The feelings
engendered were strong, and we felt like true family.
And some liked Sequim so much that, it is reported, they are considering
buying property there for vacation or retirement.
We also invited local people with Vietnam connections to our functions,
and more than ten took part and soon became energized participants.
Our reunion came a few days after the IVS reunion in Portland, Oregon, an
event attended by 37 IVSers from various country assignments, including Vietnam.
Five of them went on to join our reunion, led by Mike Chilton and his
wife, who did so much for us in Saigon. Mike
Benge showed up at the IVS event for a few hours.
The reunion featured two evening banquets and an overwhelming breakfast
at the Oak Table, a fabled Sequim establishment judged by many to be America’s
premier breakfast restaurant. Those
who went on to Victoria had more outstanding meals, including one in Little
Saigon which would have made Savarin leave France for Asia.
At the main Sequim banquet, where we commandeered a Thai restaurant, John
(of the Kingston Trio) O’Donnell and Dwight Davis strummed their guitars and
sang calypso and old Saigon ditties. They
were joined by Lam Quang and his lively repertory in English and Vietnamese.
We also joined in a new song created for the event, “Ballad of the Old
RA,” attached for your enjoyment. Want
to refine it? Contributions
welcome!
Not much more to report except that if you missed it, you missed a major
event which ended up regenerating a strong “Old RA Spirit” which will live
on and be further juiced by the next gathering in Westminster.... and
maintained, meantime, by e-mail and Web. Roster
attached... Network anytime, network often!
An anecdote: the day before the reunion, a local AID retiree got a
telephone call from Genevieve Bibos, once RA’s Washington personnel backstop
officer and now retired in Washington, DC.
She asked what was going on: she had heard a rumor that 400 old
colleagues and friends were massing in Sequim, and word was out that this was a
“must” event. The numbers were
off... but wait until Westminster!
Sequim, WA, August 24, 2003
Bert & Co.