Vietnam Veterans’ reunion a key to recovery

Army Veteran Robert Shave was recently reunited with four of his squad members for the first time in 57 years. They had located Shave through an internet search.

Squad members Wayne Short and Robert Toporek traveled to Michigan from Pennsylvania. Ken Grimes and William Yates came in from Alabama.

They met in the garden area outside the Community Living Center in Battle Creek. Therapeutic Recreation organized the event and Community and Volunteer Service provided refreshments.

A shared history

Shave, a resident of the Community Living Center, was drafted and sent to Vietnam in 1965. He served as Ammo Bearer for the M60 machine gun on the weapons squad for 3rd PLT, Company B, 2/503rd IN, 173rd ABN.

Weapons squad members (left to right) Ken Grimes, Wayne Short and Robert Shave in 1965 (left) and in 2022 (right)

For a brief period, he shared something with these men that changed each of their lives forever. Now they had the chance to sit down and reminisce, once more together.

The period from 1965 and 1966 was a brutal year for Company B, and few escaped unscathed. Ken Grimes was Shave’s machine gunner and shared the same foxhole.

Grimes recalled a firefight when he was injured and bleeding from his ear. “Shave took over the gun and burned up a barrel during the fighting. After the shooting was over, he patched up my ear for me,” Grimes said. Wayne Short and William Yates were also injured during the fighting. Short received a concussion from a shell landing close to his position. Yates was shot through the shoulder and was pulled to cover by his machine gunner.

They lost many brave friends that year, but the most memorable was Milton Olive III, who threw himself on a grenade to save his comrades. Olive was awarded the Medal of Honor and was the first African American Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam.  The weapons squad keeps his memory, and those of their other fallen heroes, alive at every reunion.

Third reunion

This is the third reunion for the four members. The first was in 2015. Another squad member, Mark Mitchell, was unable to travel this year due to his health.

“During that first year in Vietnam, about 50 men from B Company lost their lives and many more were wounded,” said Toporek. “For those of us who survived, you would think the key to recovery would be to forget about the past. But sharing this experience with other survivors helps us to process these memories together. These reunions have had a life-saving impact on our squad. I believe more Veterans can benefit from events like this.”