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A Night at the Movies

Once in a great while, you can watch a movie that actually reaches down and touches a part of you. The kind of movie which leaves you feeling a little detached from yourself . . . the kind whose images cause you to reflect upon something besides your daily life.

This Road Trip is not about the ride, but about the experience -- one which will remain with me for some time to come.

Image yourself seated in a room full of veterans and their wives. It was a small theater with no waiting lines. The young girl at the ticket counter didn't even ask which movie we wanted to see. She just smiled as each vet came to the counter. "We Were Soldiers?" she'd ask each one. In turn, each silently nodded.

The theater itself was only about 1/3 filled, but as I looked around, I could see the similarities of each person. The men sat silently. The wives and girlfriends would give concerned side glances to their men . . . remaining quiet but vigilant. Only three teenagers were in the crowd, the youngest of those present.

The movie takes place in November 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam where more than 400 troopers from the U.S. 7th Air Cavalry found themselves outnumbered by nearly 2000 of the enemy.

Several times, I had to look away. I realized I was one of the more fortunate. I COULD look away. For the veterans in the theater, what I saw only on the screen was a part of their life -- their reality.

As the ending credits began rolling across the screen, I saw name after name of the West Virginians who lost their lives in that Valley of Death. Some were the friends, family, and commrades of the men who sat silently in the room with me. Unlike the end of most movies, where people are talking, laughing and shoving toward the exit, everyone remained seated. You could have heard a pin drop. Tears were shed not only for the lost, but for the living. It was a moment I will not soon forget.

In Memory

CLAYTON COLLINS PFC, ARMY PECKS MILL, WV 3/24/1942 - 11/5/1965 EARL GENE PHILLIPS SP4, ARMY WAR, WV 11/8/1945 - 11/6/1965 TROY BYRON WILLIAMS SGT, ARMY MT. HOPE, WV 5/12/1936 - 11/8/1965 THEODORE SHAMBLIN SSGT, ARMY FAYETTEVILLE, WV 7/8/1936 - 11/11/1965 FRANKLIN L CONN PFC, ARMY AMHERSTDALE, WV 11/29/1941 - 11/12/1965 JACKIE MCMILLON SP4, ARMY CYCLONE, WV 2/9/1945 - 11/12/1965 TIMOTHY MORGAN BLAKE 2LT, ARMY CHARLESTON, WV 8/20/1941 - 11/15/1965 HERMON R HOSTUTTLER SGT, ARMY TERRA ALTA, WV 4/15/1940 - 11/15/1965 JAMES LEWIS RILEY SGT, ARMY VIENNA, WV 5/8/1935 - 11/16/1965 CHARLIE ANDERS SP4, ARMY LECKIE, WV 10/12/1944 - 11/17/1965 WILBERT HERSHELL JOHNSON SGT, ARMY MORGANTOWN, WV 6/26/1934 - 11/17/1965 CECIL WILBERT KITTLE JR SGT, ARMY HUTTONSVILLE, WV 3/15/1940 - 11/17/1965 MARTIN C KNAPP SSGT, ARMY WHEELING, WV 3/10/1932 - 11/17/1965 DARRELL W SANDERS SP4, ARMY WAYNE, WV 10/6/1945 - 11/17/1965 THEODORE SHAMBLIN SSGT, ARMY FAYETTEVILLE, WV 7/8/1936 - 11/11/1965 DANIEL FERREL TALLMAN PFC, ARMY ROSEDALE, WV 11/23/1941 - 11/24/1965 TROY BYRON WILLIAMS SGT, ARMY MT. HOPE, WV 5/12/1936 - 11/8/1965 ARTHUR NELLO MCMELLON SSGT, ARMY BARBOURSVILLE, WV 11/14/1932 - 12/1/1965 WILLIAM RICHARD MCPHERSON CAPT, ARMY PARKERSBURG, WV 1/3/1940 - 12/3/1965

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