Sara+and+Mallory

**__Research Paper__**
Mr. Reed M. Zellers was a member of the United States Army during the Vietnam War. The Army is the branch of military in which they are focused on land (Army...). Mr. Zellers was a helicopter pilot during the war, but also saw action on land. He was in a group called the “Golden Hawks,” also known as the first aviation brigade. The first aviation brigade trained warrant officers, soldiers, and aviation officers. Mr. Zellers was one of these trainees known as a CW5 or a chief warrant officer (History of First Aviation Brigade...). Mr. Zellers was very busy in the army, which is why he was awarded many medals and had to go through much training.  Mr. Zellers was very active in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was an attempt by the communist Northern Vietnam to overthrow Southern Vietnam’s government. This war went on from 1959 to 1975. The North was being supported by South Vietnam’s guerrillas. The guerrillas often jumped out of the jungle and attacked, then retreated back to escape. To take down the communist Northern Vietnam and to support South Vietnam, several countries including the United States provided South Vietnam with ammunition, troops, and other war-related necessities. During the Vietnam War, front lines were not used. Instead, the fighting consisted of hit-and-run attacks (Vietnam War...).  During the Vietnam War, there were many battles. One of the main battles Mr. Zellers was involved in was the Tet Offensive in 1968. The Tet Offensive began on January 30, 1968, when North Vietnam launched an assault that was planned to cause a revolt. Even though this offensive had failed, due to casualties, the Tet Offensive was considered a psychological win (America in the Twentieth). North Vietnam tried to get the citizens of Southern Vietnam to overthrow the government. The United States supported the war until they found out what was going on in the Tet Offensive. When the offensive occurred, the U.S. lost a lot of political support. When they lost the support, many people changed their opinion on the war (United States Support on Tet Offensive...). They were also trying to get the U.S. to withdraw from the Vietnamese war (Tet Offensive of 68...).  Mr. Zellers was awarded with many medals for his courageous acts during the Vietnam War. These medals included the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, the Meritorious Unit Award, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He also had many achievements, some of which were the Army Commendation and the Legion of Merit. The Distinguished Flying Cross, or DFC, was commonly awarded to those who had done extraordinary aerial flights or for those who had shown acts of heroism while flying during service (The Medal...). The Purple Heart is awarded to those men and women who were wounded, endured maltreatment, were prisoners of war, or had even died during their service (Purple Heart...). The Meritorious Unit Award was given to the Units in the Army which had carried out extraordinary service, and heroic deeds or actions. (Meritorious Unit Award...) The Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry was given to all units during the war. It was given for their heroic conduct while fighting (Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry...).  To continue on with Mr.Zellers enormous amount of awards and achievements, he achieved the Army Commendation and the Legion of Merit. The Army Commendation was awarded to those who had done meritorious or heroic acts, but did not reach the requirements of the higher level than the “Bronze Star Medal” (Army Commendation Medal...). He had also achieved the Legion of Merit, which was awarded to those of a foreign nation’s armed forces which had taken on much responsibility for the U.S. (Legion of Merit...).  Mr. Zellers obviously had a very busy and intense time during his service in the United States Armed Forces. He had fought in the Vietnam war which had gone on from 1959 until 1975. He had fought in the Tet Offensive in 1968. This was when North Vietnam had attempted to convince South Vietnam’s citizens to overthrow their government. Mr. Zellers had also won many awards while he was in the Golden Hawks. He was a helicopter pilot, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for being caught in a heroic act or an extraordinary aerial flight. He had also won the Purple Heart for being injured, won the Meritorious Unit Award for being in a unit which had done a heroic act, and was given the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry for fighting in the Vietnam war. He had also won many other awards and achieved many other honorable notifications. Mr. Reed M. Zellers was a very honored and heroic helicopter pilot, warrant officer, and Golden Hawk in the United States Army.

__**Questions **__
 Mr. Reed Zellers was born on February 18, 1946. He served in the United States Army, with his highest rank being a CW5 in the Vietnam War. Today is October 9, 2012 in Newmanstown, Pennsylvania. My name is Sara Bentz and this is my partner Mallory Beard and we are conducting this interview for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. __Biographical Details__ 1. Where were you born? 2. What did your parents do for a living when you were a child? 3. How many siblings, if any, did you have? 4. What was your occupation before joining the army? 5. Were any of your family members in the military? __Early Days of Service__ 6. What made you decide to enlist in the army? 7. How old were you when you enlisted in the army? 8. What was the most difficult part of leaving home? 9. Where did you go for training camp and what was it like? 10. What kind of special training did you have to go through? 11. What was the most difficult part of your training? 12. Was it difficult adapting to military food and the way of living in the military? __Wartime Service__ 13. Where did you serve in the Vietnam War? 12. What did you do as a CW5? 14. What kind of missions did you go on? 15. Did you know why and what you were fighting for? 16. Did you make any friendships while in the military? 17. Are you still in touch with any of them? 18. What kind of action did you witness during the war? 19. What was it like being shot down from a helicopter? 20. Did you receive any injuries from being shot down or at any other time in the war? 21. Could you please explain the Tet Offensive? 22. Could you please explain the May Offensive? 23. Did you stay in touch with your family and friends? if so how? 24. Do you have any exciting stories from when you were serving? __War’s End, Coming Home__ 25. Where were you when the war ended? 26. What was your reaction when the war was over? 27. How did you return home? 28. When you returned home what were your family’s reactions? 29. Was it difficult to readjust back to normal life style? __Reflections__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">30. Can you explain why you were awarded the Purple Heart? 31. Can you explain why you were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross? 32. How did your experiences is the war affect your life? 33. Did you learn any life lessons from being in the military? 34. Did you ever come face to face with a communist while you were at war? 35. Did you regret going to war after you began fighting? Or were you proud to be fighting for America? 36. By looking back, would you still go to the Vietnam War if you had the choice? Thank you for giving your time and allowing us to interview you Mr. Zellers.

__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Transcript __
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bentz: Today is October 9th 2012 in Newmanstown Pennsylvania. My name is Sara Bentz and this is my partner Mallory Beard. We are conducting this interview for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress.

Beard: Where were you born?

Zellers: I was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Bentz: What did your parents do for a living when you were a child?

Zellers: My dad was an auto mechanic and an auto salesman, my mom was a housewife.

Beard: How many siblings do you have, if any?

Zellers: I had five, I had four brothers and a sister.

Bentz: What was your occupation before joining the army?

Zellers: My occupation, a student. I was in college.

Beard: Were any of your family members in the military?

Zellers: All of them, all of my brothers served in the army.

Bentz: What made you decide to enlist in the army?

Zellers: I just sort of felt that it was my duty to do that, my obligation. I had four brothers that were in it, and I decided that I wanted to do it.

Beard: How old were you when you enlisted in the army?

Zellers: Twenty years old.

Bentz: What was the most difficult part of leaving home?

Zellers: There really wasn’t a difficult part of leaving home. I’d left home when I was eighteen off to college, so there really, really wasn’t that difficult. I think the unknown was the most difficult. My brothers told me what the military was like, but you never know until you go into it. So that’s probably, probably the hardest thing was the unknown of what the military was going to be like.

Beard: Where did you go for training camp and what was it like?

Zellers: I went to Fort Pope Louisiana in July, and let me tell you don’t want to be in Louisiana in July. There’s nothing but bugs, snakes, and heat.

Bentz: What kind of special training did you have to go through?

Zellers: In basic training?

Bentz: Yeah.

Zellers: Well the typical combat training, hand to hand combat, rifle, marksmanship, a lot of walking with packs, learning different types of weapons, and learning different types of tactics. Just the basic soldiering jobs. Basic soldiering needs.

Beard: What was the most difficult part of your training?

Zellers: Most difficult part was putting up with the heat in Louisiana in July. That was tough.

Bentz: Was it difficult adapting to the military food and the way of living in the military?

Zellers: No, I, my mother raised a family that you eat what you get and be happy you go it. So, you know, military food didn’t have a problem.

Bentz: What were your living accommodations like? Were they anything like the portrayed on the TV show MASH?

Zellers: That’s a good question and you’re right. Some of the accommodations were tents with wooden floors, some tents just had ground floors. I was fortunate, most of my time I spent in the barracks. As a matter of fact, I spent a lot of time in a two story barracks. I have a funny story about the one accommodation I had. My roommate, Jeffery Smith, he now lives in Washington D.C.. We were at a barracks that was a single story, just one floor, and every night we would get rocketed in orders later and later every night so every night we stayed up because we didn’t want to get chased out of bed. And during the day Jeff found this spring at the motor pull, which is where the trucks, and he put it on the door because we had a screen door that you could open but it wouldn’t close. So at night mosquitos would come in. Well we didn’t want the mosquitos, we had mosquito covers over our bunks. So he put the spring on the door so it would close. Well one night we were sitting at the Oscars club having a beer and it was getting late, it was 11:30 and we didn’t have to get up for emission the next morning, but well they’re not going to rocket tonight, they’re not going to order us. So we went back to our barracks and we went to bed. Fifteen minutes after we went to bed there were rockets started coming in, orders started coming in. I ran down to the doors, pushed the door open, ran outside, dove into the bunker to protect myself. There’s no Jeff. Well guess what happened? He went through the door as the door closed. Hit him square in the face, knocked him back on the floor. He just layed there the whole time. He was out cold. So he spent the whole motor attack on the floor of the barracks and he had welt marks across his face from the screen door. So to make a long story short, yes the accommodations were very much like on T.V. Very much like T.V.

Bentz: What was the food like? Was it as bad as they make it out to be?

Zellers: I was fortunate, I had a good mess hall where I ate my food and I actually began to like liver and onions. Before the army I never touched liver and onions and if you didn’t eat liver and onions at least once a week in the army then you didn’t eat that day. But all in all, I thought the food was very good. You know they portrayed on T.V. of course, sea rations and things like that. They show that on T.V. and some of those other rations. Those, they have a lot of big desire. We used the pound cake as a burner. We would soak the pound cake in fuel and then light that and heat the rest of our food. We didn’t eat the pound cake because it was horrible. But, most of the food was good.

Bentz: What food did you miss the most when you were there?

Zellers: What food did I miss the most? Wow, good home cooking from my mom. Thats the only thing I really really missed. You know, my good old mother’s home cooking. It didn’t matter what she made, I wanted it. You know I didn’t have it the whole time I was over there.

Beard: Where did you serve in the Vietnam War?

Zellers: I served in three corps and four corps. Basically, Tra Binh Dong, Long Dinh, and Dion areas.

Bentz: What did you do as a CW5?

Zellers: Well now, just a clarification, I was not a CW5 in the Vietnam War. CW5 was a rank that was only passed by congress in 90, 1992. I was just a warrant officer right out of flight school when I was in Vietnam. And what did I do? I was basically, at that time in the beginning I was just a troop ship pilot, a scout pilot. Later on I was a gun pilot.

Beard: What kind of Missions did you go on?

Zellers: I served in the Air Cavalry my whole time in Vietnam. And Air Cavalry is just like you saw in the movies if you watched the old western movies. Cavalry units searched for the enemy with scout ships and then they developed the fight and then they would insert the troops to take care of the fight.

Bentz: Did you know what you were fighting for?

Zellers: That’s a good question. I think everyone that was over there knew why we were there and what we were fighting for but we all became disillusioned with what was going on back here in the states.

Beard: Did you make any friendships while in the military?

Zellers: I have a friend that I visit every winter, he lives in Arizona. I’ve known him for forty-five years. So, yeah we developed a lot of friendships. Close friendships.

Bentz: What kind of action did you witness during the war?

Zellers: What kind of action? A lot of combat, a lot of action I did not want to witness, but unfortunately you can’t select and pick the ones you want to witness. But I was there for the Tet Offensive, the May Offensive of 1968. I saw a lot of battles that you probably heard, if you do read about it in history books or hear about it in the news. I was not there for the Cejukay san. I was up north, I was already, I think I was just getting ready to leave for Vietnam when that occured. I was there when the mountain, the sacred mountain Louis Bow Den and Tanin was surrounded and all but one person on top of the mountain was wiped out out of about one hundred or so people. I saw a lot of major battles over there.

Beard: Did you receive any injuries while in the war?

Zellers: I was wounded twice in Vietnam. I was shot in the leg and took shrapnel in the hand.

Bentz: Could you please explain the Tet Offensive?

Zellers: The Tet offensive? Well Tet is a religious holiday in Vietnam and every year on the lunar calendar every year Tet is a different day. 1968 Tet began February First and it was a coordinated attack by the NVA which is the North Vietnamese Army and the VietCon. They, it was a coordinated attack, the attacked all the bases that the U.S. army had at one time. And there was a lot of turmoil and it was a major thrust by the NVA and the VC. Fortunately for us, it failed. They did not, it lasted for a couple of weeks, but the initial couple of days were the worst. But they couldn’t support the battle. Fortunately we prevailed.

Beard: Could you please explain the May Offensive?

Zellers: The May Offensive was more or less a continuation of the Tet Offensive. There was another offensive by the NVA and the VC to strike the major bases, the U.S. bases in the major cities. It was not near as big as the Tet Offensive it was much smaller in scope, but there again they couldn’t prevail. We were able to stop them.

Bentz: Did you stay in touch with your family and friend back home and if so how? Zellers: Yeah, and we used to send, you are probably too young know this, but tape recorders. We used small reels of tape and you’d sit there and dictate to your wife or your mother, father, brother, sister and you’d dictate what was going on. We wrote letters but the tapes were the easiest to send back and forth. And course my wife would send me tapes back and I would send tapes home to my parents and they’d send tapes back to me. So, that was a nice way to stay in touch. And of course the occasional care package, there was lebanon bologna. You know I used to get that and some homemade cookies. So, yeah we stayed in touch quite a bit.

Beard: Do you have any exciting stories from while you were in the war?

Zellers: Oh, I could tell you a lot of excited stories, but they’re a little difficult to talk about. Probably the one that I remember the best, nothing bad happened that’s why I’ll talk about it, We used to refuel and rearmor aircraft and wait in line at the rearm point, which had fuel and machine gun bullets, rockets. Well our crew chief was loading the air craft, our door gunner was shooting the bad guys off the fence fifty yards away. That was kind of exciting, I mean, we had armored seats in our aircraft and we’d slide the armor panel and the pilots, we’d all slouch down in our seats like this to protect ourselves. We had bullets flying everywhere but that was exciting. And that was, I don’t want to discuss any of the other ones. It’s not, I don’t like discussing some of the other things. That was not fun.

Bentz: That’s okay. Where were you when the war ended?

Zellers: I was, I was actually now back in the states. I decided, I was going to stay in the army for twenty year, twenty-five, thirty years. And then I decided, I got out and I joined the Pennsylvania National Guard and low and behold I’m back in the army, I’m back on active duty with them. At the time that the Vietnam War ended or ceased I was actually employed by the Pennsylvania National Guards as a pilot. I was here in the states, I was not overseas at the time. I was back here, as a matter of fact, I was in Harrisburg when I got a notification that the war was ending finally. That was what, seventy-three? Something like that. Seventy-four.

Beard: What was your reaction when the war was over?

Zellers: Well, I thought that we had let the Vietnamese people down. We went there with the right reasons, but politicians and politics got into the war and I think we let them down. We really really did not support them the way I thought we should and that’s the way a lot of the guys felt. We were there to do a job, but we couldn’t do it because the politicians got involved.

Bentz: How did you return home?

Zellers: How? I flew home. We deported at Binh our air base, flew to Yokota, Japan to Anchorage, Alaska to San Francisco. And at San Francisco we were on our own, so I got an airline ticket and flew home to Philadelphia and my oldest brother chartered an airplane, believe it or not, flew down into the air port in Phili and I landed in Myerstown Airport which no longer exists. But there used to be a private little airport in Myerstown right at the highway and that’s where I came back from Vietnam. That little, little airport.

Beard: When you returned home, what was your family’s reactions?

Zellers: One big party, but the funny thing about that, I had been up for like thirty hours, thirty-six hours and when I got home my one brother toasted me with good old scotch and I was so tired I went to bed and everybody partied downstairs in my parents house when I was upstairs in bed sleeping. And one by one they would file up to the bedroom to hug and kiss me, but I was totally, I was exhausted. Totally exhausted.

Bentz: Was it difficult to readjust back to normal life style?

Zellers: No, and I’ll tell you why it wasn’t hard for me. I know a lot of friends that had trouble. I immediately joined the guard and I spent tours in, I was in, Germany, I was in Honduras with Army and the National Guard, that was good. Because I was with people that understood what I went through because they went through it too. And that was good therapy for me. I have a lot of friends that had gone through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and they are never going to be right, but that was the best therapy for me, being with people that knew what I went through. Because my parents, my brothers they couldn’t relate to it and even my friends in Richland where I grew up could not relate to it. They didn’t know.

Bentz: What kind of reaction did you get from people when you came home?

Zellers: That was tough, I did not enjoy that. I think I was bitter for years about that. San Francisco we got into California and we were ignored. I remember walking down my home street. Now because I’d been wounded I was walking with a cane and I was walking down my home street in Richland and a gentlemen I’d knew my whole life growing up, he used to come to my little league baseball games and my legion baseball games, he saw me coming up the street, and do you know what he did? He crossed the street to the opposite side and once I was by he came back on my side. He never spoke to me after I came back from Vietnam and that hurt. So, I didn’t like the way we were treated. I thought we were treated very unfairly. It was tough getting over that.

Bentz: Did you have a hard time finding a job when you returned home?

Zellers: Yea, you know I did. I tried very hard to get with the airlines and I got turned down. And then when I got a job with the National Guard and went full time with the National Guard I was offered a job with the airline, and I said you know what, I’m not gonna bother. I probably would have made a good living in the airlines but I probably would have been laid off several times, so I did have a tough time finding a job initially. But thank goodness the Guard came through and that’s why I stayed in the military for 35 years.

Beard: Can you explain why you were awarded the Purple Heart?

Zellers: Cause I got wounded. I took a bullet in the leg that I really didn’t want to take but I got shot in the leg and got the Purple Heart that way. And I took shrapnel in the hand, we were coming into an LZ and some rock propelled grenades went off and the fragments came through the door and got me in the hand.

Bentz: Can you explain why you were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross?

Zellers: Well that was just doing my job. I’d rather not discuss some of the things on that but it was basically just doing my job. And the army paid me to fly, they paid me to fly combat missions and I was just doing my job.

Beard: How did your experiences in the war affect your life?

Zellers: That’s a very good question. Some people say I really, really changed when I came back. I didn’t notice it. I got to say one thing I was being callous, a very callous person. It’s taken me a long time to get over that. I was never an outgoing person after I came back from Vietnam and I conquered that. I’m more outgoing now than I ever way. It was tough making friends because I was afraid of losing them and I think that’s why I strayed away from people. I didn’t want to get close to somebody because I wasn’t sure that they were going to be here tomorrow because that’s the way it was in Vietnam. You got to be good friends with somebody and they were gone the next day. That was tough, that was tough for me to do.

Bentz: Did you learn any life lessons from being in the military?

Zellers: Life lessons from the military. That’s a good question too. Well cherish every day that you’re here for one, and try to do your best everyday while you’re here and try to remember your family and friends because you’re not here that long. So take care of them.

Beard: Did you ever come face to face with a communist while you were at war?

Zellers: Yea, I did, I’ll just let it go at that. Yes I did, several times.

Bentz: Do you regret going into the war after you began fighting? Or were you proud to be fighting for America?

Zellers: No, I was proud, without a doubt I was proud.

Beard: By looking back, would you still go to the Vietnam War if you had a choice?

Zellers: Well, why do we have wars? If you see who fights the wars it’s the young men that don’t know any better and the young women now. Yea, I’d do it again. I wouldn’t want to do it at my age now. I certainly wouldn’t do the things that I did when I was 20/21/22 years old. You look at life differently, you feel like you’re invincible. But at my age I know we’re not invincible. Sure I’d do it again, absolutely.

Bentz: Could you explain some of the stuff that you brought along?

Zellers: Alright, well you wanted to see it. This is the original Purple Heart I got and this is like 40 some years old, like 44 years old. I found this, see unfortunately I lost a lot of my things and misplaced them and in a move I know my original paperwork for this got thrown out. All I had is the citation, that’s all I have left of that. I’m not sure what this is, oh, this is an army commendation medal, one of them that I got in Vietnam. I got three of those but that was the one I got in Vietnam that’s quite a while ago too. I’m not sure that this is. Oh I got this for serving in Germany can’t remember what it was about, can’t remember the name of this one. Another Army commendation, you see the oak leaf cluster on here? that means it’s the second award, or in some cases third award. They just add a bronze star on it. Like this, see I have all of these and I just don’t know where they are, and this is the last one I got. This is the Distinguished Service Medal. I don’t know where half of these are like this, over the years I lost them. That was the day I got shot down. You can see how old some of these are. That’s the citation the day I got wounded and shot down. That goes with that one. And then these are units I was in, this one is the Valorous Unit Citation from Vietnam for my unit. This is the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry and this is the Vietnam Civil Action and this was a citation I got with a unit in Germany. That was not Vietnam. That’s about it in here. I have some pictures. I was being decorated for heroism in that one. That was my unit commander who lives in Lexington, Kentucky and I emailed him about, that’s another friend I should have said, I’ve known him since 1968. I email him usually once or twice a week and he does me too. Believe it or not I was smart enough to write down the names. This was me, if you can pick me out there, you see me Sara? OK, the gentlemen on the back, their names on the back the one is Tony Wood and the door gunner is Larry Smith. This was the door gunner, Larry Smith and that was Tony Wood, he was the crew chief. That was my aircraft at the time. I was a young 20 or 21 there I guess, 20 I was. Now this is nothing to do with Vietnam, but the state of Pennsylvania gave me this the day I retired. I ended up serving 34 years, 10 months almost 35 years. Of that 35 years about 15 was active duty and the rest was with the Pennsylvania Guard non active duty. And just before I retired they, the US Army, gave me this, and that’s what this one is. It’s the Army Aviation Association of American and I was awarded the Order of St. Michael’s, that’s the Patron Saint of Aviation. But like I said a lot of the things I had are gone. I have no idea where they’re at. I don’t even know if I could piece them together anymore, it’s been so many years. But they just didn’t seem to be important to me so I just never; I put them out in a box in the garage and forgot about them.

Bentz: Could you explain what it was like being shot down?

Zellers: Scary. In one word, scary. I got shot down during Tet, well right after Tet. Tet really, I should clarify that, Tet really didn’t just end, it carried on for a few months, but you could tell just within the first couple days that they were not going to be successful and we took, I was in a gun ship and we took heavy automatic weapons fire. They hit us in the right spot in the fuel line, and our engine quit and down we went. That was scary, not knowing, you know because I was only in county a month, month and a half, so I was brand new to all this. I was with an old guy who knew what was going on, I didn’t know what was going on except I knew we were getting shot at and down we went, and it was scary, I was a 20 year old kid and I was really, really concerned, no wait a minute I was 22 at the time and I was really worried about what was going to happen to me. We were pinned down for an hour we couldn’t move we were taking heavy machine gun fire and all we had, I had a 38 revolver and the other pilot had a 38 revolver and then we had two door gunners who had machine guns but you know when you’re hiding behind a rice paddy, I don’t know if you know what a rice paddy is, but a rice paddy is where they raise rice and it’s a flooded field and the rice grows in the water and rice paddy dikes are only about maybe a foot high, foot and half high and when you got to lay down and get below the rice paddy dike to protect yourself, you know I’m not a thin guy and I wasn’t a thin guy in Vietnam, I weighed 16/ 167 something like that in Vietnam I was not a thin guy so to hide down below those dikes so you don’t get shot at or get hit that was interesting, that was scary. Any other questions on that? That was the one time; I got shot down a total of three times and the third time was when I took the bullet in the leg and I could not; thank goodness there was somebody there cause I could not have gotten away. But we were far enough and we had enough protection there that I got out of that. I was lucky.

Bentz: What type of things are you involved in now that deal with military veterans?

Zellers: Well, I belong to the local American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars post. I was the past commander at the American Legion. My Legion post sponsors trips every year for Veterans. This will be our third year we sponsored a trip for World War II vets. I think we had 30 World War II vets. I’m surprised that we had 30 left in our area but I think we had 30. Last year we did Korean War Vets and I think we had about 27 last year and this year the Vietnam Vets they’re all going on a trip to Washington DC with a High School student from the local High School in the county and they spend the day together. I’m very active in that, doing those trips with the American Legion. I’m very active in a lot of the things at the VA my Legion post does a lot for the VA locally, we run bingos, bingo games for the returning vets that are wounded and coming back from Afghanistan things like that. We run bingo probably six times a year at the Veterans Administration and get a smile on those guys that are in wheel chairs that’s neat. Buts that’s about it. I retired from flying and I have not flown anything in about three years, I’m beginning to miss it. I’m done flying and I just spend time at the Legion and the VA helping where I can.

Bentz: Thank you for the interview.

Zellers; Alright, Thank you.

__Biographical Narrative__
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Reed M. Zellers was born on February 18, 1946 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He served in the Vietnam War. Mr. Zellers has four brothers and a sister. His father was an auto mechanic and auto salesman while his mother was a housewife. Mr. Zellers was a twenty year old student in college when he enlisted in the army. He joined the army because all of his brothers served, therefore feeling obligated. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Zellers left home to go to training camp in Fort Pope, Louisiana in July. He didn’t feel it was difficult leaving home because he already done so when he left for college. While he was in Louisiana, he learned the basic necessities of the military. These would be hand to hand combat, rifles, marksmanship, walking with packs, types of weapons, and battle tactics. Even though these all may seem very difficult, Mr.Zellers explains how the hardest part of training was the heat. Mr. Zellers said he didn’t have any problem adapting to the way of life in the military. He says the reasoning for this is because his mother taught him to be happy with what he gets. He spent most of his military time in a two story barracks. This was fortunate because most men slept in tents with wooden floors, maybe even dirt floors. He had many good times with his friends in this barracks, some including friends being knocked out cold during a battle, but not from the battle itself. Many people expect the food in the military to be terrible, and sometimes it is, but Mr.Zellers said he was lucky to have the mess hall he did. They served the best food. He even began to enjoy liver and onions. His buddies and himself would soak pound cake in fuel and then light it on fire to heat the rest of their food, they didn’t mind doing this because the pound cakes were horrible. Even though he enjoyed most the food served in the mess hall, Mr. Zellers still missed his mother’s home cooking. Mr. Zellers was a warrant officer during the war, but was then given the title, “CW5” in 1990 or 1992. He served in both the three corps and four corps. He served in the areas of Tra Binh Dong, Long Binh, and Dian in Vietnam. He was part of the Air Cavalry which scouted for enemy ships, developed the fight, and then inserted the troops into battle.v He had gone on many missions, some of which were the Tet Offensive and the May Offensive both during 1968. During these two offensives he had gotten injured twice. He was shot in the leg, and also took shrapnel in the hand. The Tet Offensive took place in February 1968 over the religious holiday known as Tet. The NVA and the VietCon planned a coordinated attack on all the U.S. bases there. Luckily they had not succeeded due to not enough support of the battle. Although they lost this battle, there was still a lot of turmoil during and after it. The Tet Offensive had encouraged the May Offensive of 1968. It was a continuation of the Tet Offensive in which the VietCon had failed. Again there was an attempt to attack all the U.S. bases, but yet again the VietCon and NVA could not prevail and the U.S. won again. Mr. Zellers explains how he was fighting for the U.S., but he felt many soldiers had forgotten what they were fighting for and got disilllusioned about the war. He made several friendships during the war, and still stays in touch with them today. He enjoyed the rush of flying over enemies while sitting low in his seat, dodging bullets. When the war was over, Mr. Zellers feels that he let the Vietnamese people down. He says how the military went there with the right reasons, but politics got in the way creating a lack of successfulness. He had flown to San Francisco where he found his brother and flew home in his personal plane. When they reached his home, the family held a large party. During this party though, Mr. Zellers was catching up on his sleep. He had an exhausting couple of days, so he slept through the entire party. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When Mr. Zellers returned home from Vietnam, he did not have a difficult time re-adjusting back to normal life. The reason for that was because he immediately joined the National Guard. He was with people that understood what he went through because they went through the same thing. He says that a lot of his friends that returned home from Vietnam will never be the same again because of the war, and he is thankful that he had the National Guard to help him through that time. Mr. Zellers’ family and friends tried to understand what he had been through, but they just had no idea and could not relate to him. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The reaction Mr. Zellers and other members of the Army got when they returned home was not at all what they had expected. When they came into San Francisco, California, he said they were completely ignored. Also, a man that he had known his entire life, who would come and watch his little league baseball games, saw him coming up the street one day. Mr. Zellers said that when the man saw him, the man crossed the street to the other side and then came back over after Mr. Zellers had passed him. The man never spoke to Mr. Zellers again. That really hurt him. He did not like the way that the Vietnam veterans were treated at all when they returned home. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Finding a job when he returned home from the war was difficult because no one wanted to hire a Vietnam veteran. He tried very hard to get a job with the airlines, but they turned him down right away. After he got turned down by the airlines, he got a full time job with the National Guard. As soon as he went full time with the National Guard he was offered a job with the airlines. Mr. Zellers didn’t want to bother with them, even though he says he probably would have made a good living with the airlines. He is just thankful that the Guard came through for him and that is the reason he stayed in the military for 35 years. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While Mr. Zellers was serving in the Vietnam War, he was awarded the Purple Heart for being shot in the leg, and he also took shrapnel in the hand. Mr. Zellers was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for doing an exceptional job as a helicopter pilot. He was also honored with many other awards, but some of them got lost in a move. Mr. Zellers also received other awards that were not from the Vietnam War, but are still very important. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When he was a helicopter pilot he was shot down. He explained in one word that it was “scary.” He was shot down right after the Tet Offensive. The enemy hit them in the right spot, the fuel line, and the engine quit and down they went. Mr. Zellers was only 22 at the time and was very worried about what was going to happen to him. He and another pilot were pinned down for an hour and could not move. They were taking heavy machine gun fire and all they had to fight back with were two 38 revolvers along with two machine guns that were manned by the door gunners. To protect themselves, they all had to hide behind a rice paddy, which was only about a foot and a half high. That was scary for all of them. Mr. Zellers was shot down a total of three times. The third time, he was shot in the leg and if no one would have been there to help him he probably would not have been able to get away. He was very lucky. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">People said that when Mr. Zellers came back from war he really changed, but he did not notice it. He said he was being a very callous person and it had taken a long time to get over that. He was never an outgoing person when he came back from the war, but he is now more outgoing than he ever was in his life. He also had a tough time making new friends when he returned home because he was afraid of losing them. He tended to stray away from people. The reason for that was because he didn’t want to get close to somebody since he wasn’t sure if they were going to be there the next day or not. Unfortunately, he found that to be the way it was in Vietnam. Some life lessons that Mr. Zellers learned from being in the military are; cherish every day you are here, try to do your best everyday while you are here, and try to remember your family and friends because you are not here that long, so take care of them. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After joining the army, Mr. Zellers never regretted his decision to enlist because he was proud to be serving his country. Also if he had the choice he would still go into the Vietnam War because he is now more experienced and knows how to handle more situations than he did when he was 22 years old. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Zellers is now involved in a few organizations that deal with military veterans. He belongs to a local American Legion, which he was the past commander of, and he belongs to the Veterans of Foreign War post. His Legion post sponsored trips every year for the past three years for veterans. The first year they sponsored World War II veterans, last year was Korean War veterans, and this year was Vietnam War veterans. The Vietnam veterans went on a trip with students from the local high school to spend the day in Washington DC. The Legion also does a lot for the local VA Hospital, such as running bingo games for returning veterans that are wounded and coming back from Afghanistan and the many other places that the US military is serving. Mr. Zellers says that getting a smile on the faces of the men and women who are in wheelchairs is one of the neatest things and makes him feel really good inside. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Zellers is now retired from flying and has not flown anything in about three years. He is starting to miss it, but is happy now helping out at the Legion and the Veterans Administration and spending time with his family. Thank you Mr. Reed M. Zellers for you service in the United States Army. Even though you weren’t appreciated as much as you should’ve been when you came home, we like to let you know that you are now.