Veterans Savor Tastes, Memories of Vietnam at Bittersweet Celebration

For Vietnam veteran Dave Adams, memories of dead comrades and villages destroyed by shelling are interspersed with a nostalgia for the “beautiful countryside and friendly people” he encountered during his one-year tour of duty.

It was the latter memory that Adams revived Sunday when he and his wife were among the about 30 former U. S. servicemen and their South Vietnamese counterparts who gathered for a pre-Veteran’s Day celebration at the Vinh Vietnamese Cuisine restaurant in Tarzana.

It was a time to drink a Vietnamese beer called “33,” swap stories, view color slides and pass around memorabilia. Guests also listened to the country’s haunting music while they watched a documentary produced by a Vietnamese-language newspaper.

It was early afternoon when the veterans began trickling into the dimly lit restaurant. Looking around for old acquaintances, they sniffed the spicy aromas and warmly greeted restaurateur Tuan Vinh, the party’s host.

Some wore khakis. Others sported civilian garb. Among the guests were a Vietnamese author, an American surgeon, a former lieutenant colonel in the South Vietnamese army and a Southerner who spoke fluent Vietnamese.

But it was Vinh, an animated South Vietnamese refugee who fled his country in 1975 when it fell to the Communists, who was the driving force behind Sunday’s event.

Vinh, who for many years worked with American soldiers as a South Vietnamese army officer, said he is strongly devoted to his former compatriots.

Vets Introduced

As he introduced the veterans to each other with a flourish of his cigarette, his enthusiasm showed in a brief, lyrical speech.

“We always remember the time we were in the service,” Vinh said. “It cannot be quickly forgotten. It is ingrained in our daily thinking and nightly dreaming. We may suffer with it but we are proud of it.

“We are proud to have honorably served our country. Mine was Vietnam. Yours was the United States. But we were allies . . . fighting on the same side, often side by side.”

John Spurney of Van Nuys said Vinh, a fervent anti-Communist, believed strongly in the war and in his friends, the American soldiers. It was to thank them that Vinh planned the party.

Ken Cauthern, 39, a veteran who now produces radio shows, said he was touched when Vinh invited him.

“He lost his country and he extends his hand to say, ‘Let’s recognize the veterans.’ He could be very bitter that the Communists had taken over, that maybe we didn’t do enough,” Cauthern said.

Like most of those in attendance Sunday, Cauthern has been an aficionado of Vinh’s restaurant for several years.

Veterans also appreciate Vinh because he encourages them to talk about old times.

“Until last year, Vietnam was either totally ignored or you got the sense that people didn’t want to talk about it,” said Adams of Woodland Hills, who works for a computer company.