Steve and Judy Hofheimer from Dnang 03/11/11

Please: Bear with me as I am writing via “WORD” and mom is then sending this letter via E-mail.
Today, the 12th is the last day of the formal tour which we took using Military Tours of Washington, D.C.  The group of 12 left for the DaNang airport earlier this morning.  Two fellows, John Collier of Southern California and Tom Kilduff of Meeker, Colorado will fly into Hanoi and, then, onto Dien Bien Phu later this afternoon.  If you didn’t know, Dien Bien was the location of the disastrous French capitulation to the Vietnamese that formally ended the First Indo-Chinese War on May 7, 1954.  A large besieged French garrison held up in the northwest corner of North Vietnam surrendered.  Then, in 1956 the United States stepped into the breach that was left by the French withdrawal.  Oh, yeah, did I tell you that we were booted out, too, on April 30, 1975?

Three other guys, 72 year old Chuck Meadows, a former company commander and two of his former subordinates, “Doc” Bruce Gant and “Barney” Barnes were driven to Hue, the old Vietnamese royal citadel.  On the Ides of March (March 15) a new library to the northwest of Hue will bbe dedicated in Chuck’s name.  It cost $20,000 and this entire sum was contributed by many of his former Marines.  These three guys will fly out of Hanoi on the 19th.  They are an especially “tight” group.  Yesterday, the three of them visited several of the old areas where the 5th Regiment operated.  Ironically, one of these sites included the mountainous region of the Que Son Mountains where I was sent upon entering Vietnam in May, 1970.

For now, I have to close this letter.  When time permits I’ll try to keep in touch.

Lisa: In 7 weeks your Master’s program should be almost completed.  Great work!

Jesse: If memory serves, you should be done with the current quarter around the 24th of March.  Thanks for the blogs and the successful job you have performed during this quarter’s courses.

Take care and write as often as time permits.

Love,
Dad and Mom

Our changed itinerary in Da Nang

We will be staying at the Green Plaza Hotel until the 22nd of March and we'll let you know where we'll be after that when we figure out where we want to go. 
Green Plaza Hotel