(NEXSTAR) — Every veteran has a story and a different feeling about their time in battle — many probably rarely get the opportunity to return to the places wars took them in their youth. But recently, Nexstar’s Jeremy Hubbard got the opportunity to accompany veterans of the Vietnam War as they visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (formerly Saigon) to find out how the area has changed in the 50 years since the end of the war.
One of the people who helped make the trip possible is Vietnam veteran Ed “Tex” Stiteler, who served as a U.S. Marine during the war. Stiteler says he was shot “under the jaw and out the mouth” on Sept. 21, 1967. But Stiteler survived the shot and many decades later would co-found Vietnam Battlefield Tours.
The organization’s mission over the past 20 years has been to bring Vietnam veterans back to the war zone to help them heal the scars of war.
“I knew Vietnam was a beautiful place and we didn’t get to see it in that way,” says Stiteler. “In 1988, I started looking forward and one of the things that I did was gather the guys that I served with and the first time I came back, I had three of them with me — plus my wife.”
Stiteler said his first experience was so “special” he knew he wanted to keep returning with others. He’s now visited close to 50 times.
He added: “I know it’s a closure for veterans that will embrace it and come back and face the things that they have to face with it — with the support of other veterans.”
