FORT PLAIN - Forty years ago, four men touched down on the red earth of Vietnam and formed the bond of a lifetime.
Drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in the triple-canopy jungles of what is now a tourist destination, Andy Brenn, Paul Daw, Dennis Drees and Steven Farber faced death every day between guerrilla warfare, oppressive heat and a variety of venomous snakes and arachnids.
Today, the four men are like brothers fused by the blood of war.
"We're probably closer than brothers," Drees said. "It's the fact that we all faced destiny together."
For the last two decades, the men have reunited once a year. This was the first year Brenn, of Maurepas, La.; Drees, of Florence, Ky.; and Farber, of Phoenix, gathered at Daw's home in the village of Fort Plain.
They were four of eight men who made it home from a platoon of 30 soldiers in the 1st Cavalry Division.
They arrived at Daw's home last Monday and stayed until Friday. They visited Cooperstown and the State Museum in Albany.
On Thursday, the four men flipped through pages of albums filled with photographs from the Vietnam War. Each photo carried with it a story of unthinkable conditions.
They showered from a small bucket filled with cold water about twice a month. Pieces of their uniforms rotted off from the oppressive humidity and grime. They slept under large halved galvanized pipes covered in sandbags.
Surviving Vietnam
Drees was 18 years old when he went to Vietnam. The others were 19 years old.
"I think I was a little immature when I went in. I thought it would be a neat thing to do - before I got fired on," Drees said. "It made you old fast. We all survived on each other."
Daw had just finished a year of what he described as partying at Orange County Community College before he was drafted.
"My life was changed in every way," Daw said. "All I was thinking about was surviving that day."
All four men said while in Vietnam they didn't have time to dream of what they would do when they returned home. All they could do was think about that day.
"We were on a short-term calendar. You make the most of every moment. I don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow's great," Daw said, a philosophy he still carries with him today.
In August 1970, the platoon went out walking on a trail for the first time and was ambushed. Daw was the machine gunner.
"I saw where the fire was coming from and it was closer to my side, so, being young and foolish, I took my assistant gunner and we ran up the trail and up a hill to the side and laid down oppressive fire," Daw said. "We cut ourselves off from the platoon but gave them enough cover that they could spread out and get rid of the enemy."
For that, Daw won one of two Bronze Stars, a medal given for an act of heroism. He was also awarded two purple hearts for the two times he was wounded.
The other three men escaped the war with no combat wounds.
"I'm enjoying my grandchildren now, and I just think someone took a bullet I was supposed to have," Drees said.
Today, Drees and Farber have five grandchildren each. Brenn has nine grandchildren, and Daw has two.
When Brenn left for Vietnam, he left behind his wife, Melba, who was pregnant. She delivered the couple's first daughter in January 1971.
"We all said she [Brenn's daughter] got three uncles when she was born," Drees said.
They said waiting to hear about Brenn's daughter was one of the little things that kept them going.
"It was something to look forward to," Daw said.
Brenn saw his baby girl about four months later when he returned home.
"Everyone said to warn him that she might cry the first time she saw him because she wouldn't recognize him," said Melba, his wife of more than 40 years. "But she looked up at him, and she had the biggest smile. She knew who he was."
Coming home
Many Vietnam veterans didn't receive as warm a welcome. They were greeted with protests and a public they say didn't understand what they had been through.
"They expected you to just pick up life and go," Daw said.
Farber said it took him a while to shake off the habits of war.
"I'd be walking and then all of the sudden I'd catch myself looking off to the right like when we were on patrol," Farber said. "I thought, 'What am I doing this for?'"
Drees said he turned to drugs and alcohol to cope.
"That's how I dealt with it," Drees said. "I got back, and I thought I was a man because I fought in a war."
He said he was able to turn his life around, but the support offered for today's veterans wasn't there then.
"A lot of them never left the battlefield," Farber said.
In addition to post traumatic stress disorder, the veterans also watched what they fought for crumble.
Drees said the saddest day in his life was in 1975 when he saw the South Vietnamese surrender to the communists.
"I thought, 'well what'd we go over there for?'" he said. "We should have never left."
History repeating
The four men said they can draw several parallels between the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Vietnam War. They watched a public that at first was generally receptive to the Vietnam War eventually turn on it.
"That war was lost at home," Drees said.
Similarly, polls reflected a majority support for the war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"You know what makes me so angry? People have forgotten," Daw said. "People are over there fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq for democracy, and I don't know of a better cause to die for than that."
The men likened the Viet Cong to the terrorists.
"They didn't fear dying," Daw said. "They were a dedicated enemy."
Brenn said the main difference he sees is that the U.S. armed forces fight "by rules."
"We always followed the rules. We couldn't fire unless we were fired upon," Brenn said.
"You could have a little kid come up to you and hand you a soda, and there would be a grenade in it and that'd kill you and the kid," Daw said.
One big family
The first time the four men had a reunion was when they visited the Vietnam Memorial with their wives shortly after it was erected in 1982.
They always kept up with each other through Christmas cards and yearly newsletters, but about five years after the Washington trip, they decided to get together every year.
"These three guys are never out of my mind," Farber said.
In previous years, the four have gotten together all over the country, including in their respective hometowns.
Drees said a lot of people don't have the opportunity to form friendships like theirs.
All four said the Veterans Administration didn't offer the services it does today. Their friendship was their strongest support system in dealing with what they had been through.
"If I got anything out of 'Nam, it was these three guys," Daw said.
The three men said through the reunions, their families have melded into one.
Daw's wife, Jean, said she enjoyed having the three men and their wives for the week. The three couples stayed at A White Rose Bed and Breakfast.
"It's been a very nice experience for all of us," she said.
Amanda Whistle covers Montgomery County news. She can be reached at montco@leaderherald.com.
