Currahee!! __ Welcome to Charlie Company! A Brotherhood of Vietnam Vets
This website is dedicated to a veterans group of "Field Grunts" that served together in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War with Company C, 2nd Bn, 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during the years of 1970 and 1971. After many years of looking, we have been fortunate enough to find each other again. And our little "Band of Brothers" is still growing at 84 men found. We continue to seach for and reachout to many of our "unfound" brothers that we served together with, and their families, that may be looking for us. To that end, we hope this website may help. While I was in the 2nd Platoon, I want to invite all of the members of Charlie Company to participate in the development of this website. We need your help in collecting all of the missing information needed to fill in the blanks on these pages. Names of Officers, NCO's, and men from the platoon's that you served in. Think of this website as a "on-going work in progress" and we are looking to you, our brothers, for information, comments, and suggestions on the content of this website....your website. Let us know what would be helpful to you? What would you like to see? And how can we reach more of the men that we served with? Add this website to your favorite's list and check back offen, we are constantly adding new members to the group, posting new material of interest, and adding new photo albums into our Photo Gallery page (now over 800 Vietnam War photos). View along with some great music too... The audio piece that your are now hearing is how Infantrymen feel about Chopper Pilots. "God's Own Lunatics" is narrated by Joe Gallaway (The only civillian to earn a Bronze Star) who wrote the book "We were Soldiers Once and Young" with Gen. Hal Moore which became the movie "We were Soldiers" with Mel Gibson. A very powerful and healing piece. It is our hope and desire, that you find a sense of joy and healing here on our website.... And a place where you can be proud of the job that you performed for your Country.
!! Newly Re-located Charlie Company Men !! Give a big "Currahee Shout-out" to Alan Essex with the 1st Platoon and Lt. Bob Leibecke also with the 1st Platoon.....Welcome back men, to old Company C group. You can now find them on the "Roster" page.
Send your comments and info to randyparmley.ca@gmail.com
Vietnam Duty at Camp Evans__ During our deployment in RVN, Charlie Company was stationed up near the DMZ at Camp Evans, located between the cities of Hue and Quang Tri in the I Corp sector of South Vietnam. We worked in the steep mountainous area, covered with dense jungle canopy. This area was located to the west of Camp Evans from the lowlands to the rim of the "A Shau Valley" where the Ho Chi Minh trail was a re-supply highway for the NVA. We patrolled this area from the Song Bo River on the south, to Quang Tri on the north. This mountain area was designated as a "free kill zone" with no civilians to deal with (all friendly's had been removed from this area). We didn't need to have permission to engage our enemy. It was just "Us" and the "NVA" to slug it out. If there was some "unaccounted for" movement around us, we fired it up. Most of our many fire-fights were quick and intense encounters. When fighting stopped and the smoke cleared, the enemy would have faded away back into the jungle. Many of us prefered it this way, easy and quick to pull back and disappear into the dense jungle. But it was very tough moving and living in this steep and heavily covered terrain. We did, however, have several on-going sustained battles. The "Siege of Firebase Ripcord" and "Operation Lam Son 719" were a few to mention. These were real hard times. But during our time in Nam, the deepest bonds of friendship that you could imagine developed. We didn't need to worry about guys around us when trouble struck....Why?....Because we were then, as we are still today....Brothers!!!
A short video article of the (2009 WOE) three day weekend honoring Vietnam Veterans with a long overdue "Welcome Home Celebration" held at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky by the 101st Airborne Division.....Not a dry eye in the buliding, young and old alike.... http://www.army.mil/media/amp/?bcpid=6981683001&bclid=0&bctid=40921056001
Here is a video on "FSB Ripcord"....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYLm18PFcwM
The 101st Airborne in the A Shau Valley 1969-1971....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWUphwnDvHs
A Pictorial History of the 101st in action....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J94JKYMGVCk
And while we were all off keeping freedom safe....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBdeCxJmcAo
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Support for the current 2nd Bn/506th Regiment at Fort Campbell KY. Our group continues to have a close relationship with the young men and women of today's 2nd BN, 506th Regiment. We attend many of their functions at Fort Campbell to show our support for them in the job that they are doing and to demonstrate the rich history of our unit to them. And you would not believe how much they enjoy us being there with them. It's a great relationship! Our very own Capt. Bob Seitz (Retired Colonel Bob Seitz) is the newly appointed "Retired Colonel of the Regiment". He, along with LTC Don Hill, the current 2nd BN 506th Reg. Commander (4th BCT) work closely together to develope new ways for us veterans to support todays troops. And of course, Charlie Company holds a special place in our hearts, but we call all the regiment currahee's our brother's... If you haven't made it out one of the events yet, you really need to. You will come away with a chest full of unit pride and feeling absolutely great! That' a promise! Seeing old friends and making new young friends. It doesn't get any better then that....once you go, you will be back again & again. I will see you there at the next event....
See the latest News on our "Charlie Company Today" webpage....Charlie Today
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Check out the new "Charlie Company Store" page. ...Click Here...
Here is a great way to show your unit pride and help out the families of men currently serving with the 2nd/506th. You can also find many other fantastic Currahee items for sale at the 506th Association "Quartermaster Sales" page and support a great veterans organization.
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UP-COMING EVENTS & NEW REUNION OPPORTUNITIES
Keep checking back here for the lastest info on coming events. We will try to give you the earliest news of what is coming up so you can make plans to join us...See you there! ...Our next planned event will be......
2010 Currahee Reunion 27 Charlie Company men now confirmed as going...(see the Charlie Co. Attendees List below) Mark your calendars now & start making plans to attend the 506th Association 2010 Currahee Reunion. Hotel Accommodations |
Reunion Registration Form Reunion Schedule of Events 506th Association Buffet Dinner Charlie Company Attendees List Currahee Memorial Dinner 506th Reunion Attendees List Questions from our group will be addressed by Gary Gilliam, and please let him know that you are planning to attend. We are working on some shared rooms and travel arrangements to help assist all in handling the costs. Let Gary know if you wish to participate. But please don't wait to book your registration. Book it ASAP as facilities will be filling up fast. Do everything you can to attend this one...Let's make this one a big priority for a great Charlie Company Reunion. |
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"PAST EVENTS"..... OUR WRITE-UP's AND REFLECTIONS
To help our homepage download speed. The lastest event will be displayed here on the homepage for a period of time, then moved over to the Reflections Page as they are replaced with newer articles. Thanks for your understanding...RP
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Our "Photo Gallery of Albums" now has over 800 Nam photos, have a look! You can find a menu-bar button on this page, and each of the platoon pages. During our reunion in late May at the "Rendezvous 2009" we had our 1st chance to pass around our individual photo albums for all to see. We found that everyone is in everyone else's pictures. It was really neat to see photos of yourself (from 40 years ago) that you have never seen before. We all agreed that there should be a central place for all of us to place a copy of our pictures for all to enjoy. This web based PHOTO GALLERY is the perfect solution. Heck, you can even get photo printouts sent to your home in the mail. We can easily setup a photo album for each person that submits their photos. So get yours sent in soon! If you need any assistance in scanning and converting your old film photos, I will be happy to help you..... Just send me an email with your questions. You can reach me at: randyparmley.ca@gmail.com
