Vietnam

by **Forcell** Thu 25 Jan 2018, 11:20 am

War veteran searching for peace in return to Vietnam

By Kevin Yarr, CBC News Posted: Jan 25, 2018

'If I can go over there and feel at peace, I think that's going to be a good thing'

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-vietnam-war-veteran-returns-1.4503082

by **Wolfman** Sun 08 Nov 2020, 6:00 pm

This Canadian’s war: remembering Vietnam veteran Roger Arndt

From Vancouver, Arndt wasn’t supposed to go to Vietnam. He went anyway

Bronwyn Beairsto
Nov 8, 2020

“He went to war to prove he was a man, reality made the shit hit the fan.” -The Ballad of Don Rogelio.

Six feet separated each member of Mariachi Tobasko as they sidled up to Roger Arndt’s North Shore Hospice window. In the warm summer breeze, the four-piece group (one of two Mariachi groups to visit Arndt that week) serenaded their friend with his favourite songs. Though Arndt’s energy was waning, the islander sang along with the rising chorus of Volver Volver, laughing as he dropped an octave to harmonize with the last note.

The Vietnam veteran, Mariachi band co-founder, father of four and islander of nearly 30 years died a few days later, on Aug. 3.

In January 1968, the Vietnam War was reaching its height and watching it on TV, Arndt couldn’t help but feel he was watching history. Coming from an less than happy childhood in Vancouver, fascinated by the jungle warfare of the Second World War and looking for purpose, the 18-year-old Arndt headed across the border to the military recruiting centre in Bellingham.

Never mind that it was illegal for Canadians to serve the foreign war, the Americans were accepting anyone who walked through the door; all he needed was a visa.

“Was it adventure, escape or just wanting to prove something to myself – I don’t know. I just felt it was something I had to do,” Arndt wrote In My Year in The Company of Heroes, a compendium of stories from men of the 159th Medical Company, Dustoff, in Vietnam.

Arndt became one of between 20,000 and 40,000 Canadians to serve in the Vietnam War.

With eight weeks of basic training and eight weeks of combat medic training, the young Canuck headed from Texas to Germany and then to Phu Loi in 1969. In Vietnam, he was a medic with the 11th Combat Aviation Battalion, 128th Assault Helicopter Co. and volunteered as a gunner with other companies.

Though the best buddy he had enlisted with was killed overseas––one of at least 134 Canadians who died or were declared missing in action in the war––Arndt returned and was honourably discharged in December, 1970.

“It was a bad time to come back from fighting in Vietnam in 1970,” said Arndt’s longtime partner Susan Hillman. “It was not popular. But those who were over there fighting, they were doing their best to win, be soldiers and not get killed themselves.”

“It was a very different thing from the people who were making the political decisions,” she said.

As an art student and later professor of visual art, Hillman had a very different take on the world from Arndt. “And I probably would never have gotten involved with anybody who was fighting in the war when I was a student,” she mused. “But that was all behind both of us by the time we met.”

Arndt met Hillman when he moved to the island in 1992. She was an associate dean at Emily Carr University, he was her banjo teacher.

By that time, Arndt had had a career with Brink’s––first on the trucks, later qualifying as a firearms instructor, and then becoming the Western area manager––before moving onto being a professional musician and teaching at Rufus Guitar Store. “He could play anything with strings on it,” said Hillman.

Both had children from previous marriages––Arndt had two girls, Kendra and Aleysha, and a boy, Wyatt. Hillman had a four-year-old boy, Victor.

In the early days of their relationship, Arndt was just going to stay at Hillman’s house for a couple of weeks and sort some things out. “Then we extended the two weeks and it became 28 years,” she said.

Music became central to their shared life. Hillman quickly switched from the banjo that had incited their romance to the bass and got more comfortable playing and performing with musicians. In 2005, the couple (along with Richard Baker of Blue Northern and Doug & The Slugs fame) recorded an American Roots album, The Texicanos: Southern Exposure, in the home studio Arndt assembled. Though Arndt had never recorded an album before, The Texicanos sold in 10 countries, was written up in French fanzines and was played by radio stations in the American South.

But it was when Arndt met Mariachi musicians that he found his great musical passion, became a co-founder of Mariachi Los Dorado’s in Vancouver and Don Rogelio was born. (Rogelio is Spanish for Roger.)

He would go on to be master of ceremonies for the International Mariachi Festival at the Vogue and host of Mariachi Festival Canada.

A friendship with Mariachi player Rich Ochoa (Ricardo) inspired the Ballad of Don Rogelio, the story of Arndt’s time overseas.

But that wasn’t the only story delving into Arndt’s wartime past.

Though Arndt was assigned to the 128th Assault Helicopter Co. in Vietnam, for a time he volunteered to fly with the 159th Medical Company (air ambulance). Looking to add a 159th patch to his flight jacket and wanting permission before doing so, Arndt found a website dedicated to the company and the contact information for one Randy Millican.

Unbeknownst to Arndt, there’d been some mystery around the Canadian. Some in Millican’s unit said there had been no Canadian, others said they remembered a “crazy Canuck.”

“[They] thought he was a ghost because nobody else knew about him,” Hillman recounted. It was quite the surprise when Arndt contacted them of his own accord. Millican and another war buddy of Arndt’s assured him that it was all right if he wore the 159th patch and asked their long-ago fellow to contribute a chapter to the book Millican was editing, In My Year in The Company of Heroes.

As Canada wasn’t officially part of the Vietnam War, the Royal Canadian Legion didn’t recognize Vietnam veterans as members until 1994.

“Canada says it was not their war,” wrote Arndt in the 159th’s book. “While this may be true, Vietnam was definitely this Canadian’s war.”

“It was a very important part of his life,” said Hillman.

Remembrance Day was very important to Arndt. “November the 11th, he always put his uniform on,” she said.

And on Bowen, Arndt was a staple at the massive Remembrance Day community ceremonies, marching in behind the bagpiper, though there was some controversy over carrying a flag. “He wouldn’t carry the British flag…he didn’t fight for Britain,” recalled Hillman. “They wouldn’t let him carry the American flag, which is what he fought for and when you’ve had your life on the line the flag is very important.”

Earlier this year, Arndt had been losing weight and generally was feeling unwell but had put it down to stress. The country was well into the grips of COVID-19 and virtual appointments had replaced in-person doctor’s visits. When he finally saw the doctor, Arndt was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer. Six and a half weeks later, he was gone.

“He was a fabulous person,” said Hillman. “He was very straightforward and honest. He’d tell you exactly what he thought.

“But he was always very kind and wanted everybody to be happy.”

BOWEN ISLAND UNDERCUURRENT

by **Falcon** Fri 04 Nov 2022, 11:34 am

Canadian crosses border to join U.S. military in Vietnam era

Murray Bradshaw was left with PTSD from his experiences

MATTHEW CLAXTON / Nov. 4, 2022

Murray Bradshaw is a member of the Aldergrove branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, a veteran, and he takes Remembrance Day seriously.

But unlike many of the other legion members, the Abbotsford resident spent most of his service wearing an American uniform. He’s one of the thousands of Canadians who served in the American armed forces during the Vietnam War.

Growing up with a father in the RCAF, Bradshaw spent much of his childhood in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He initially joined the Canadian military while still in his teens – with his parents permission – but when after his father left the air force and got a job in the United States, Bradshaw enlisted south of the 49th parallel.

The choice was about the different opportunities in the different militaries at the time, he said.

“A chance for advancement, and places to go,” was what made up his mind.

Bradshaw saw the Canadian Army as having old, Korean War-era equipment, and the only places Canadian soldiers deployed overseas were Germany and Cyprus.

“Everything Uncle Sam had was brand new,” he said.

He was 17 when he joined up, and found himself in the armoured cavalry. That meant tanks, armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and other heavy vehicles.

But because it was the late 1960s, it wasn’t too long before Bradshaw found himself being moved from training in Hawaii to Vietnam. He said he really didn’t have any inkling of what that would mean.

Technically, as a Canadian, he said he could have refused to deploy. But he wanted to go with his friends in his unit.

He served in E Troop and C Troop, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment.

Technically, he was an “armoured intelligence specialist,” which meant he spent his days inside a tank and his nights “sneaking around,” he said. Armoured vehicles weren’t that great for reconnaissance.

He had arrived in late 1967. A month later, the Tet Offensive, launched by the forces of North Vietnam, began.

“It was pretty mundane, until the s—t started hitting the fan and people started getting killed, and then it wasn’t fun no more,” Bradshaw said.

He was shocked that some of the combatants were women and even children. He’d been trained for a war against adult men wearing uniforms.

“We weren’t trained to shoot kids in the head,” Bradshaw said.

Murray Bradshaw is a member of the Aldergrove branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, a veteran, and he takes Remembrance Day seriously.

But unlike many of the other legion members, the Abbotsford resident spent most of his service wearing an American uniform. He’s one of the thousands of Canadians who served in the American armed forces during the Vietnam War.

Growing up with a father in the RCAF, Bradshaw spent much of his childhood in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He initially joined the Canadian military while still in his teens – with his parents permission – but when after his father left the air force and got a job in the United States, Bradshaw enlisted south of the 49th parallel.

The choice was about the different opportunities in the different militaries at the time, he said.

“A chance for advancement, and places to go,” was what made up his mind.

Bradshaw saw the Canadian Army as having old, Korean War-era equipment, and the only places Canadian soldiers deployed overseas were Germany and Cyprus.

“Everything Uncle Sam had was brand new,” he said.

He was 17 when he joined up, and found himself in the armoured cavalry. That meant tanks, armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and other heavy vehicles.

But because it was the late 1960s, it wasn’t too long before Bradshaw found himself being moved from training in Hawaii to Vietnam. He said he really didn’t have any inkling of what that would mean.

Technically, as a Canadian, he said he could have refused to deploy. But he wanted to go with his friends in his unit.

He served in E Troop and C Troop, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment.

Technically, he was an “armoured intelligence specialist,” which meant he spent his days inside a tank and his nights “sneaking around,” he said. Armoured vehicles weren’t that great for reconnaissance.

He had arrived in late 1967. A month later, the Tet Offensive, launched by the forces of North Vietnam, began.

“It was pretty mundane, until the s—t started hitting the fan and people started getting killed, and then it wasn’t fun no more,” Bradshaw said.

He was shocked that some of the combatants were women and even children. He’d been trained for a war against adult men wearing uniforms.

“We weren’t trained to shoot kids in the head,” Bradshaw said.

The Abbotford News

by Viper Wed 13 Mar 2024, 6:14 am

Thousands of Canadians served in the Vietnam War. These researchers are looking for them

Be Counted project looks to list as many Canadian Vietnam War vets as possible

Meg Roberts · CBC News · Posted: Mar 13, 2024

CBC News

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