{"id":13192,"date":"2014-08-13T13:21:55","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T13:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=13192"},"modified":"2014-08-13T14:01:13","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T14:01:13","slug":"vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam buddies reunite after 47 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY JEFF HORVATH<\/strong>
\n Times-Shamrock Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Calvin<\/a>

Calvin Collins, of Georgia, leans on John “Jack” Caines, of Springville. The Vietnam buddies reunited after 47 years.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Civil War, or the War Between the States, perpetuated and reinforced many tensions between the North and the South, some of which survive to this day.<\/p>\n

For John \u201cJack\u201d Caines, a Meshoppen native and current resident of Springville, however, it took a different war between north and south, the Vietnam War, to forge a friendship that has withstood the test of an almost 50-year separation.<\/p>\n

In the fall of 1966 Caines met Calvin Collins, a native of Georgia, while the two were serving in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Both were drafted in September of 1966, and Caines and Collins bonded over a mutual love of country music while stationed at the U.S. Army base at Long Binh, located roughly 20 miles from the city of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).<\/p>\n

Despite coming from vastly different backgrounds, the two young soldiers became fast friends while working together at the base\u2019s ammunition depot. For six months, Caines and Collins would talk while loading pallets with shells and cartridges. The job was arduous, but the two found that they had much in common and, before long, their friendship developed into a relationship that both men now describe as being like family.<\/p>\n

It is in the nature of war, however, to separate friends, and Collins, following new orders, was reassigned to the city of Da Nang in late 1967. That was almost 47 years ago, and until very recently neither Caines nor Collins had any idea of what became of the other.<\/p>\n

That all changed earlier this year when, with the help of his brother Al and the internet, Caines was able to find Collins, who now lives in Villa Rica, Georgia.<\/p>\n

In March, Caines travelled to Georgia to reunite with his friend for the first time in nearly half a century. This week, Collins visited Caines in our area, marking only the second time that the two veterans have been together since the late 60s.<\/p>\n

The friendship began in Vietnam on one fall morning in 1966, when a weary Calvin Collins woke to a familiar sound. With sleep still in his eyes, Collins could faintly hear country music coming from a neighboring building. \u201cFor a second,\u201d he said last week, almost 47 years later, \u201cI thought the whole war was just a bad dream and that I was back home in Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took only a few moments for Collins to gather his bearings though, and he went to see where the music was coming from. Outside, Collins found Jack Caines, who was trying to recapture something of home through the radio.<\/p>\n

The rest, Collins said, is history.<\/p>\n

Caines and Collins were assigned to the same ammo depot, where they worked together for 12 hours a day.
\nWhen the two weren\u2019t moving ammo, they ate in the same chow line and frequented the same mess hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the time,\u201d Caines said, \u201cwe enjoyed just talking to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins remembered that he and Caines would often reminisce about home and family. \u201cHe had a big family and so did I,\u201d Collins said. \u201cWe talked everyday about home and work and family, and we realized that even though we were from different places, we weren\u2019t that different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins recalled that, when he first reported for duty, some of the boys from the north gave him a hard time because of his southern accent, using derogatory nicknames like \u201cJoe Hick\u201d to describe Southerners.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I had a guy come up to me trying to start trouble and say, \u2018We won the War Between the States\u2019,\u201d remembered Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just looked him in the eyes and said, \u201cdo you want to fight it again?\u201d Those remnants of Civil War hostility, however, never got between Collins and Caines.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriendships formed during wartime are different than regular friendships,\u201d Caines said. \u201cThey are a lot stronger, because you can lose friends over there so easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Caines nor Collins were exempt from witnessing the horrors of war, a fact that contributed to their closeness. \u201cThose relationships are unique,\u201d Collins said, \u201cbecause they went beyond simple friendship. You were looking out for someone\u2019s life,\u201d he continued, \u201cand they were looking out for yours.\u201d
\nThose of us who are lucky enough to have not seen combat or the tragic reality of war can hardly grasp what Caines and Collins experienced at the ages of 19 and 20, but it is those very experiences, Collins said, that forced him to become a man.<\/p>\n

Both men recall nightmarish scenes from their service, many of which continue to trouble them to this day. \u201cEspecially out on night patrol,\u201d Collins recalled, \u201cyou would see things that no one should ever see, but you had no choice. You have to deal with that, and there were guys over there younger than me and him (Caines), and they have to carry that with them, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be a man at 14 and a child at 40,\u201d he continued, \u201cand in war you have to be a man before you are ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caines agreed. \u201cYou do your best to forget about it and move on,\u201d he said. \u201cYou do your best to get a full night\u2019s sleep, but it is hard. Thank the Lord we made it home, but we made it home with plenty of nightmares.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vietnam War came during a very complicated period in American history, as hundreds of thousands of young men were cast into a conflict for which many other Americans still disagree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like it is today,\u201d Caines says. \u201cThere was no one waiting at the airport with a flag when we got home, nobody was looking into the effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) all you had were your friends, and you didn\u2019t know if they were going to make it out or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, for almost 50 years, neither Caines nor Collins knew if the other had survived Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Late in 1967, Collins was reassigned to the city of De Nang, near Hill 63.<\/p>\n

Caines spent his whole tour at Long Binh, where he worked as a prison guard until his father suffered a massive heart attack.<\/p>\n

Caines returned home after the emergency, and spent the remainder of his service time at the Tobyhanna Army Depot, unloading the bodies of deceased American servicemen. Due to the nature of his job, Caines was reminded often of the fatal consequences of war.<\/p>\n

In 1969, Collins wrote two letters to Caines, hoping to hear that his buddy had made it back home safely.
\nCollins didn\u2019t have an address, however, and the letters were never delivered.<\/p>\n

Caines\u2019 efforts to track down Calvin were equally unfruitful, and, still unsure of whether the other had survived the war, both men settled into their civilian lives, neither forgetting the other.<\/p>\n

In the last few years, Caines, taking advantage of the advances in technology and the internet, and assisted by his brother Al, took up the charge of tracking down his old friend.<\/p>\n

Al began searching for anyone he could find named Calvin Collins, and made contact with person after person who proved not to be the right man. Earlier this year, however, the intended Calvin Collins found a letter in his mailbox from a name he recognized: Caines.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart started to race when I saw the name,\u201d Collins recalls, \u201cand there was Al\u2019s phone number.\u201d
\nCollins called Al and asked, \u201cDo you have a brother named John who goes by Jack?\u201d When he heard \u201cyes,\u201d Collins started to cry. \u201cI\u2019m your man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Collins then called Jack. When a voice picked up on the other line, Collins asked, \u201cIf you had to go back to Vietnam to work in an ammunition depot, who would you want to work with?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack said \u201cCalvin Collins,\u201d and that was that.<\/p>\n

The two had finally gotten what they had waited for more than 46 years: the comfort of knowing that their best friend had survived the war that claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American serviceman.<\/p>\n

Caines visited Collins at his home in Villa Rica, Georgia, last March, and said that it was an amazing and joyful experience. \u201cI was welcomed with open arms, and I got to meet his whole family and enjoy their hospitality,\u201d Caines said. \u201cI wanted to make sure I returned the favor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Sunday (July 27), Collins made the trip north to spend a week in northeast Pennsylvania reconnecting with Caines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first saw him,\u201d Collins said of their meeting in March, \u201cI was overjoyed. I don\u2019t really even remember what we talked about. We didn\u2019t really talk so much about the war, but just about the fact that we somehow got together. It is like seeing a brother who you haven\u2019t seen in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, Collins was thrilled to see his brother again.<\/p>\n

Caines and Collins spent much of their time in Pennsylvania visiting Jack\u2019s family and seeing the area. Two of the days, Collins said, were spent just sitting on Jack\u2019s porch in Springville talking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is amazing that someone you haven\u2019t seen in so long can be so much like family to you,\u201d Collins said in a warm Southern accent. \u201cYou never know when you will see someone for the last time, but you have to take advantage of the time you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

After looking once more at his war buddy of nearly 50 years ago, Caines just smiled, \u201cI don\u2019t think we have changed much at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY JEFF HORVATH Times-Shamrock Writer   The Civil War, or the War Between the States, perpetuated and reinforced many tensions between the North and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nVietnam buddies reunite after 47 years - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vietnam buddies reunite after 47 years - PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY JEFF HORVATH Times-Shamrock Writer   The Civil War, or the War Between the States, perpetuated and reinforced many tensions between the North and the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-13T13:21:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-13T14:01:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/WGSI_Vietnam_buddies.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"421\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"286\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/\",\"name\":\"Vietnam buddies reunite after 47 years - PS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/psowegomedia.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/WGSI_Vietnam_buddies.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-13T13:21:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-13T14:01:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2014\/08\/13\/vietnam-buddies-reunite-after-47-years\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/psowegomedia.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/WGSI_Vietnam_buddies.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/psowegomedia.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/WGSI_Vietnam_buddies.jpg\",\"width\":421,\"height\":286,\"caption\":\"Calvin Collins, of Georgia, leans on John \\\"Jack\\\" Caines, of Springville. 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