A New Book

I want to inform "all" Alpha Company vets of a recently published book inspired by the letters, journals and poems of A 1/501 namvet Phil Woodall. Phil was a member of the original Alpha company that arrived in Vietnam in December 1967 and he extended his tour to July 16th, 1969. For those that never met Phil he was the easy going son of a preacher man and in Nam his nickname was "Memphis". Well, Phil had a way with words and he left his mark in many places before his untimely death in January 2007.

The book is titled "RESURGAM" which is Latin for "I shall rise again" and is subtitled "Standing on the Ground of Remembrance". This work is an interesting blend of both fact and fiction which has literally been twenty years in the making. In late fall of 1987 author Jean A. Niedert decided to pay a visit to the "Traveling Wall" Vietnam Veterans Memorial which was then in Charlotte North Carolina. Curious about an envelope laying up against the wall she took a closer look at the words written on it expecting to see a name but instead saw the words "Alpha Company".

I'm not going to spoil it for you but will say that Jean happened to stumble onto this blog while searching Alpha company images and wondered if I was the Joyner that Phil wrote about. My mind got blown bigtime at that point. A limited edition printing was done December 30th, 2008 and I was one of the lucky ones to get an advance copy. Jean recently told me she is doing an accounting as to how many from this first printing are left. She also said positive responses she's received have far exceeded her expectations and a second much larger printing is imminent.

One other point I'd like to mention is that "RESURGAM" is actually part one of a trilogy and Jean is hard at work on part two. One thing I think you can count on is Alpha company being prominent throughout the trilogy. Anyone that ever served in Alpha company from WWII to those currently serving in A-Stan are going to want this on thier bookshelf. Here's what you need to do to get yours. Go to this link: Ground Of Remembrance and click the link there to request a copy. If first print books are still available you'll get one asap (ask Jean to sign it for you) if not you'll be added to the waiting list for the second printing. I was one of the first at Jeans blog and she said she has drafts of more posts she intends to make. This will be an ongoing story so I'm suggesting that you A 1/501 vets sign in there and leave your mark to see what develops.

Last but not least: Over in the Geronimo TV link I've added Dear America, Letters Home From Nam This is an HBO special first aired on The History Channel in 1988. One of the letters featured in this film was written by Phil Woodall. About 53 minutes into the video comes a segment about Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination and Phil's letter follows. I apologize for the quality and audio miscues but it was the best copy I could find.

Later, Joynt

Geronimo-Vietnam TV

Greetings fellow namvets. It looks like spring is finally coming to the Chicago area and in the spirit of renewal I've decided to try something different for the website. Over the past year I've downloaded numerous tv shows and movies relating to the vietnam war era. I recently purchased more webspace and bandwitdh usage from my server and will begin hosting these productions directly on the website.
First point of order is that these shows will be hosted as WMV(Windows Media Video)files. If Windows Media Player is your default player and you have a good hi-speed internet connection these shows will automatically start streaming and playing in just a few seconds of buffer time. This is important to remember because other players such as RealPlayer, Quicktime, etc will likely prompt you to download the file instead of just playing it. You can go into the advanced settings area of these other players and set them to accept .wmv streaming files if you prefer not to download. However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with downloading and saving these files to your computer to play at your liesure if you want. If downloading be advised the files will be large (on average over 200mb) and may take a while depending on your internet connection.
One last thing. We all remember the politics of the day back then and my presenting these programs in no way reflects the political views of the geronimo-vietnam website in general or myself personally. This is strictly for entertainment purposes only.
The first presentation is a History Channel special regarding a photojournalist's adventures in nam from the early years until the downfall of Saigon.

The Unseen War

I will leave this first program up for a few weeks and I would appreciate any comments you have. Just click the comments link at the bottom of this post and tell me what you think.

Thanks, Joynt

Co A 1/501 Reunion Information

Week Of The Eagles

I'm going out on a limb here but from all reports it looks like this years 'Week Of The Eagles' at Ft. Campbell Kentucky will be held August 14th to the 20th? That's a bit odd because it starts on a friday but apparently there are many good reasons for this change from the norm.
So... the smart money says if you plan to attend get accomodations in Clarksville or Hopkinsville starting thursday the 13th thru sunday the 16th. Rumors have the Division Run on friday 14th and the Big Air Show on saturday the 15th. As yet none of this is written in stone so check back here for updates. Right now it's every man for himself but we will designate a local motel as A 1/501 hdqtrs once this info is more firm.

see ya there, Joynt

Kokomo Update

I just received the latest newsletter of the HCVVO (Howard County Vietnam Veterans Org) host of the annual all services reunion in Kokomo Indiana. Along with the newsletter was a campsite request form and I'm starting early in pestering those of you that have been holding down a site in our basecamp in Veterans Park.
Go ahead and reserve your lot for 3-4 days regardless of what your current plans are. We lost one lot last year because of being late with a request. Lets just quickly secure our camping area and sort out the details later. September 18th to the 20th are the target dates. A minimum of two nights or more must be reserved.

lets do this, Joynt

December 25th, 1968

I've decided to move this little Christmas story over to the Sit-Rep posting forum so y'all don't have to do so much scrolling through here.

CLICK HERE

Seasons Greetings

Custom card created By Barry

Incoming!

The best thing about having this web site on the net is the surprises that come my way.

Yesterday I got a call from Harold "Smokey" Smith and we had a nice talk. Smokey joined the 3rd platoon as a replacement on Dec 5th, 68 which unfortunately was not a very good day for a baptismal of fire. No one hurt on our side but 6 kia and 1 wia for the bad guys. The visual trauma alone was enough for a freak out but thank god we didn't have many of those days.

Smokey served in the third squad, third platoon until being wounded on June 9th, 69 during operation Lamar Plain. Smokey is new here so if you knew him and have any stories, pics whatever let's get him hooked up.

thnx, Joynt


Another surprise yesterday came in my email. A guy named Michael explained to me that he was named after Michael W. O'Leary, Alpha vet KIA on June 7th '69. His mother was a cousin or something like that.
This guy Michael is an active duty vet and would like to know more about his namesake. If you have any pics, stories etc regarding O'Leary please contact me.

later, Joynt