Larry James, a Vietnam veteran, addresses members of the Army's 4th… (manchu.org )
FT. LEWIS, WASH. — Soldiers have come home from war since Ulysses' turbulent return to Ithaca -- to tearful wives and cranky babies, to brass bands playing John Philip Sousa marches and to potlucks of casseroles and coleslaw laid out by neighbors.
For men like Larry Criteser, though, there were no trombones or baked beans. Not in 1969, when he got off a flight from Saigon at the massive Army terminal in Oakland and spent a fitful night alone at San Francisco International Airport, unaware that the sight of his carefully pressed uniform would draw so much fire.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, August 30, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 33 words Type of Material: Correction
Veterans: A July 30 article in Section A on the bonds between Vietnam veterans and those returning from Iraq said the D-day landing at Omaha Beach occurred in June 1945. It was 1944.
"I spent the night getting heckled," recalled Criteser, 60, a retired welder from Eugene, Ore. "One of the favorite expressions was 'baby killer.' I have consciously tried to forget most of it. It wasn't my job to go over there and kill babies."
Criteser waited 39 years for his official welcome home. It came recently one chilly morning at this Army post south of Tacoma, right where it should have been -- on a military parade ground with a marching band, bleachers of waving families and rows of soldiers in neat formation on a wide green lawn.
Officially, it was the homecoming ceremony for the 600-plus members of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry "Manchu" Regiment, returned from their 14-month deployment as the northern arm of the "surge" in Iraq. But nine older men standing uncertainly to one side, in cotton shirts and summer suits, had been told it was their welcome home too.
"It's been a long time . . . but your service is no less appreciated in this nation than that of the men who stand before you," said Lt. Col. William Prior, who commands the current incarnation of the Manchus brigade, the same unit in which the older men served as young infantry recruits in Vietnam.
"Keep up the fire," responded Larry James, 62, who commanded a platoon of Manchus near Cu Chi, Vietnam, until 1969.
The two most unpopular American wars of the last century have found an intersection of sorts here in Washington, where an unusual friendship has taken hold between veterans of a war that ended in Southeast Asia 33 years ago and newly battle-honed soldiers with the "4/9" brigade, who shipped out for Iraq in March 2007.
Over the last 14 months, as the soldiers spread out through the date palm groves and dusty villages north of Baghdad, battling insurgents and building alliances with local leaders, they have been in constant communication with 4/9 veterans of the Vietnam era. They have exchanged photographs, e-mails and packages, and -- unit commanders hope -- established friendships that will help guide the returning servicemen through the newly difficult terrain called home.
"They always compare this war to their war," said Cpl. John Joss, 25, who lost a leg to a roadside bomb near Tarmiya, Iraq. "The enemy's the same, almost. It's not fighting like it should be. They just blow our stuff up and run off. I always knew when we went over that the Vietnam guys would be behind us, because they know what it's like to fight an enemy that doesn't fight right."
The Vietnam veterans say they feel a sense of kinship to their old fighting unit.
"As soon as I heard they were coming home, I told my wife, I said, 'I'm going. You coming?' She said, 'Yeah,' " said Johnny Guidry, 60, who flew in from Raceland, La. "They needed closure, just like I did. They needed a response from their people; they needed a response from their older brothers, like we are, and yes, a welcome home."
Much has happened between the fall of Saigon in 1975, after America had been paralyzed with demonstrations opposing the war, and 2008, which comes after the Sept. 11 attacks and a war on terrorism many see as vital to the nation's survival.
"I think the American people have realized they blamed the wrong people in Vietnam," said Doug Richardson, mayor of the nearby city of Lakewood, who attended the ceremony. "There's been a realization that if you are unhappy with the war, the fact is the military guys go because they were told to go."
Criteser is less convinced. He found himself wondering why no one but family members and Vietnam vets showed up at the July 1 welcome home. The answer, for him, was that things hadn't changed all that much.
"People today are extremely selfish," he said. "Why couldn't anybody from the community have shown up? You don't need a son or a dad or a husband coming home to come out and welcome them home."
The 4/9 traces its history to the 9th Infantry Regiment in 1799, and has fought in every major U.S. conflict of the last two centuries. It was the Boxer Rebellion in early 20th century China that gave birth to its Manchu nickname, and the long mustaches the soldiers adopted for many years.
