On September 14th, 1969 when I was 14 years old my brother Jeff was killed in an accidental explosion
at Fire Support Base Gela in Vietnam. While he and other members of his recon unit were replacing a 40#
shape charge along the northwest perimeter of the base the charge accidentally exploded in their midst killing
eight of them.
When I was 14 years old I never dreamed that I would ever stand in the place where my brother died, however
I have recently been to Vietnam and have visited the former site of FSB Gela. Today all that is left of the firebase
rests serenely within the confines of a mature rubber tree plantation. Like calm and silent sentinels those rubber
trees are now the guardians that watch over and protect the ghosts of Gela.
I am a U.S Navy Vietnam veteran myself having served aboard the USS RANGER CVA-61 as a flight deck catapult crew member. I currently reside in Brownsburg, IN with my lovely Korean/Vietnamese wife Kim San Le, and work with Publishers ExpressPress - a book printer and manufacturer. (www.PublishersExpressPress.com). You can contact me directly at: red1pub@yahoo.com.
