From: Stuart Beeney (stuart.beeney@btinternet.com)
Date: Fri Sep 05 2003 - 00:55:14 PDT
Dear All,
I'm writing to you all to clear up some misleading information
and Bullshit concerning the group of Vietnam Vehicle owners and Re-enactors
from the UK.
Firstly the group has a official collective name which is Rolling Thunder,
The Vietnam Experience, within this name there are groups who portray
various areas of the Vietnam War, Please see below for a list of some of the
main groups
Rolling Thunder, The Vietnam experience.
Vietnam Historical Group
American Infantry Preservation Society
2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery (105 mm Howitzer Towed)
173rd Airborne Brigade
5th Special Forces Group Airborne
Indo China
8th Transport Group
7th Battalion Royal Australian Army
Charlie's Sanctuary (Collection of NVA VC Equipment)
25th Tropic Lightning
As well as those above we also have many individual members who collect
other areas of the Vietnam War including SEALS, Marines, etc etc.
Secondly I would like to dispel the Bullshit about our vehicles and I quote
"Their vehicles are mostly borrowed from persons like myself who would
rather not dress up in a uniform" This is totally un-true and a very
misleading statement especially as we have never borrowed this persons
vehicle and never will. All Vehicles are owned / maintained etc by members
who all wear appropriate uniforms for their type of vehicle. Its fair to say
that some members only have the basics to complement there vehicle where as
other members are full on collectors of equipment and clothing as well as
vehicles. The Second Bullshit quote is "THEY did not know why some of their
trucks had the pastel snouts either" Well all I can say about this statement
is its untrue, we can all hold our hands up within Rolling Thunder and say
we don't know everything about Vehicles or everything about the War, and if
I said we did then I would be lying. The Guys who own the Vehicles with the
Bonnet markings including myself have all spoken to Guntruck Veterans such
as James Lyles (Author of the Hard Ride Guntruck book) as well as other coll
ectors and veterans about markings with a aim of getting it right and not
being a insult to those who lost their lives. Alternatively if he means that
other members (Non Vehicle Members) aren't aware of the reasons behind the
yellow markings then that's a bit like expecting a collector of infantry
equipment to know everything about a US Navy SEAL.
As for the comments concerning our friends from Germany who derpict 25th
Tropic Lightning being a load of Drunks (quote "the case-of-beer-per-hour
Boys" and "I must say that I have never seen beer-bellies like theirs in any
of my pictorial records") I Agree that they do enjoy a drink but the fact
that its done tastefully out of sight and it during show closing times and
there has never been a problem with it seams again a pointless comment.
Concerning "beer-bellies " well all I can say to that is isn't that a bit
personal. I can think of some large characters within the group and they had
jobs that reflected this, one guy was a cook and the other was a storesman,
They do this for there real job and were more than happy to do this for the
group, plus they aren't the age to be "Grunts in the Field " and that's
their words not mine.
I'm sorry if anybody thinks that this is dragging on, but I haven't spent
the last year promoting Rolling Thunder for it to be attacked by unfounded
comments, which aren't necessary. We are always willing to listen to
comments whether they are good or bad as long as they are constructive.
Thank you for listening and if anybody would like to know more about what we
do then please contact me or you can visit our Web site at
www.rolling-thunder.org.uk
Regards
Stuart Beeney
Joint organiser of Rolling Thunder.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:24:24 PDT