In the back, from left to right we have: Sammy Sullivan (From Tennessee, he would sometimes get moonshine from home), ?, Jerry Sylvia (From New Jersey, He was sent to 1st Platoon about September 1 and was killed by "friendly fire" from a Cobra a few days later. Frank Rodriquez told me he was his best friend and he died in his arms), ?,James "Popeye" Reynolds, Ronald Melendez (from California, His folks would send munudo to augment the C-rats), Sgt. Roy H. Price.
In the front row are: Mark Romander (from Utah), unknown but a Corpsman, Frank Rodriquez, Jim Tyler (From Missouri. According to Frank Rodriquez all Tyler got from home was Dear John letters).
November 2000. Mark Romander now lives in Utah where he works as a cowboy. Which, according to Frank Rodriquez, is all he ever wanted to be. After leaving the Corps Mark and Roger Williams (a company clerk) rode horses across the US.
February 2001. Contact has been made with Sam Sullivan. He lives in Kentucky now.
This was taken in the Que Son Mountain area.
Just above Frank's head are two Vietnamese farm hootches. These are pretty typical of the housing you would see away from the towns. They were nothing more than sticks and brush with dirt floors. The poor folks in them were just barely scratching out a living from their rice paddies. You almost never saw any young men there, at best there would be some old poppa-san, usually too old to be a lot of help. You had to feel sorry for these people. Even without a war their lives would have been hard.
This was about how all the ground around LZ Ross and Antenna Valley looked. Lots of open fields and treelines. Really good ambush country because they can see you coming and would have much better cover and it was a lot easier for them to get away.