JUAB COUNTY HAS LOST ANOTHER VIET NAM HERO

I have always found it difficult to talk or write about our American Hero's that were called to fight for freedom in a land we couldn't even spell or pronounce at Juab High School. But history is there to learn about and learn from. For many of us, the United States Miltary "minds" of Washington D.C. didn't do what they should of done before we let 58,000 Americans die in Viet Nam, as we neglected to talk to the soldiers of France, who invaded Viet Nam in a previous war and didn't get the facts of that war they fought with the Viet Cong "fight til you are killed". Glen Williams was born in Levan, then called Mills his hometown, and found a bed at his father's-Charlie Williams who relocated in Nephi where he could work out of his Blacksmith Shop, when not driving the bus from Mills, Levan and to Nephi, then return to Mills after school. I worked with Charlie during the summers of 65 and 66, and considered him as a great friend, and also became friends with Glen's brother-Arlo, in search of an accidental shooting and burial of a member of the John C. Fremont expedition in the Juab County area. Out side of Saigon, the capitol of South Viet Nam(our "friendly" folks), the Viet Cong built the CU CHI Tunnels, which were gopher like tunnels underneath the ground, much like earthworms or gophers. Our Troops could not tell where the enemy may come up and spread their mine field around, or kidnap a friendly mother and give her a gun to kill Americans or else her kids would be slaughtered in a room under the ground. Rather than the 1st Calvary rolling into a dense forest with horse's, the Troops came by way of helicopter's being deployed in late 1965 through 1972. Glen didn't know it at the time, but he had the body that was slim enough to get in the tunnels and kill off the enemy, who were called VC or Victor Charlie, and Glen was named after his Dad, so he wasn't called Charlie. If you ever want to see the pure Hell our boys went through, see the movie "We were soldiers", where Colonel Hal Moore led the 1st Battalion in Nam. The Helicopter guys were called Sky Troopers. I have only touched on part of Viet Nam, but when my brother-Hal Jones returned from Nam, he and I went on an educational tour of schools in Salt Lake to teach what that war was all about. Brothers Weston and Gary were also in the Miltary during the Viet Nam Era. Nobody but God kept track, but total numbers of casualties of that war are guessed between one to three million and that doesn't include Cambodian's and Laotians. Hal was there as a 9th Infantry Medic, but was hit by shrapnel when another medic was killed. I went there in 1998 on a "Humanitarian" mission and to recover any remains of where some of our MIA's were buried. One of our teams did retrieve the remains of a soldier from Taylorsville, and his mother attended his proper burial and I felt saddened for what the Army kept hidden from her. Glen seldom spoke of his time "over there", and that is like most of the GI's that don't like to talk about, but it often hits them during their nightmares! Glen was hit in the head with mortar fire that split his helmet and head open, then suffered from blood disorders including Agent Orange and for Glen, it was Malaria. Purple hearts are fine and dandy but don't take care of the nightmares of the past. Please, Please, treat all Vets with care and announce your presence. Shell Shock and PTSD or now hitting Middle East Troops. Donations to American Legion is always appreciated.