HUNTINGTON BEACH : Group Unites Gulf, Vietnam Veterans

While patriotic parades are being held across the nation to welcome troops home from the Gulf War, some local Vietnam veterans are re-forming a support group to unite both groups of soldiers in sharing their traumatic memories of war.

Vietnam Veterans Reunited plans to begin meeting semimonthly, beginning this evening. The group, which is seeking new members, will meet at 7:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Elks Club, 7711 Talbert Ave. in Huntington Beach.

The organization, which originally formed in July, 1989, has revised its goals to include an outreach program for Gulf War troops, said Bob Kakuk, the group’s founder.

Although the recent war was brief and included little ground combat, Kakuk said he is sure that “things happened” in the Persian Gulf and “there will be times they’ll need to talk to somebody.”

Because of media restrictions covering the war and the nation’s preoccupation with celebrating an overwhelming military victory, Kakuk said he fears that the public might fail to realize that many of the troops confronted the atrocities of war.

“I think after the fanfare is over with, they’re going to have some stories of their own,” said Kakuk, a machine-gunner in a light infantry brigade in 1968-69. “I think people will be really surprised about the stories they come up with. . . . And they shouldn’t have to wait 20 years to talk about them.”

Kakuk acknowledges the different experiences of Gulf War troops and Vietnam-era soldiers, but he said he believes that it is important for veterans of the Vietnam war to support the returning soldiers.

“We didn’t have the veterans of other wars considering us as brothers,” said Kakuk of Huntington Beach. “That’s the kind of shunning we got. I, for one, said that’ll never happen again.”

Vietnam Veterans United, along with the Anaheim Veterans Center, are Orange County’s only support groups for men and women who served in the Vietnam War, Kakuk said. Along with his group’s new objectives, he said it will continue primarily as a support organization for Vietnam veterans.

“Our goals are to be there for one another, to watch each other’s backs and to promote public awareness of veterans and POWs from all wars.”