Veterans Forged Lifelong Friendships in Vietnam

Members of the 319th Transportation Co., an Army Reserves unit from Augusta, served in Vietnam from September 1968 to August 1969. The photo was released from active duty during a ceremony at Fort Gordon in 1969. Photo courtesy Wendell Moore

Date: August 10, 2021

They boarded the C-141 to Vietnam in September 1968 without knowing each other well. Some of them were acquainted with one another before being thrown together while others were strangers who happened to live in the same town. But when members of the 319th Transportation Co., an Army Reserves unit in Augusta, returned a year later, they’d forged unbreakable bonds.

“We got to know each other. We left as associates, friends. We came back as brothers,” said Mike Dickerson, one of the unit’s members.

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The unit was called up in late spring 1968 and headed to Virginia for a few months of training. By September 1968, the members had boots on the ground in Vietnam near Long Binh, where they spent grueling days and nights as part of a convoy unit.

Bill Patterson said they logged many 10- to 12-hour days with little time off.

Their experiences in Vietnam remain encapsulated in that 11 months. Some of their experiences they won’t share with anyone.

“We don’t talk about it,” said Dickerson. “It was something we had to do.”

But they were glad they were brought together with people from their hometown to do it.

“It helped us,” said Charlie Brown, another member of the 319th. “It helped our families.”

Unidentified members of the 319th Transportation Co. as they prepared to leave Vietnam in August 1969. Photo courtesy Wendell Moore

Brown’s wife stayed with the pregnant wife of a fellow soldier.

“She still talks about the baby being born,” Brown said.

Dickerson said despite the challenges and dangers they faced, there were still moments that they had fun with each other and shared a laugh

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“It was a lot like ‘M.A.S.H.,’” he said referencing the sitcom about a group of Army doctors serving in Korea.

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And unlike other Vietnam veterans who were told not to wear their uniforms when they returned home to wartime protests, the 319th was welcomed home with fanfare and an Army band.

Members of the unit said they were fortunate that all but one of them returned. The lone casualty was Roy W. Miller Jr. The group holds a reunion, but COVID-19 has kept them from gathering the past two years. During many reunions, they meet at Hillcrest Memorial Park, where Miller is buried to pay their respects.

Members of the 319th Transportation Co. gathered at the graveside of Roy W. Miller Jr. on Aug. 10, 2014. to honor their fallen soldier. Photo courtesy Charlie Brown

But they’ve done more to keep his memory alive, fighting to have the Army Reserves center on Wrightsboro Road named after him.

“It took a long time,” said Patterson.

The center was renamed in 2002.

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While only one member died in Vietnam, the veterans returned with their own battle scars.

“So many have been dealing with Agent Orange disease,” said John Bowen.

And Patterson in a June article in The Augusta Press said he wrote a book about his experiences as a way to deal with the PTSD.

Bill Patterson was part of the 319th Transportation Co. during Vietnam. Staff photo by Charmain Z. Brackett

In addition to their reunions and their fight to honor Miller’s memory, the veterans have championed other veteran causes including assisting in the efforts to build a Habitat for Humanity home for a wounded veteran and helping feed the Fort Gordon soldiers attending Thunder Over Evans.

In 2014, the unit was named to the National Army Transportation Hall of Fame, and members traveled to the ceremony.

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They also still keep in contact with their leader, Col. Drew Troxler, who lives in Savannah.

While there’s not a reunion this year, the members said that they plan to have lunch with Troxler soon. His daughter has agreed to bring Troxler to a half-way point between Augusta and Savannah for the meeting.

Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.


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The Author

Charmain Zimmerman Brackett is a lifelong resident of Augusta. A graduate of Augusta University with a Bachelor of Arts in English, she has been a journalist for more than 30 years, writing for publications including The Augusta Chronicle, Augusta Magazine, Fort Gordon's Signal newspaper and Columbia County Magazine. She won the placed second in the Keith L. Ware Journalism competition at the Department of the Army level for an article about wounded warriors she wrote for the Fort Gordon Signal newspaper in 2008. She was the Greater Augusta Arts Council's Media Winner in 2018.

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