European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By George Esper associated press Ore than 20 years ago in another time and Distant place . Marines trudged through the monsoons mud and hellfire of the killing Fields of Vietnam. Many just out of High school they fought from Khe Sanh where they withstood a bloody 77-Day siege to the streets of Hue where emperors once sat and Dong a a Dingy Frontier town shelled so much the marines called it rocket  one battalion the 11th marines 3rd Marine division helped Plant about 100,000 land mines to protect a string of . Outposts along the 17th parallel that then divided Vietnam into North and South. Now six former marines Are going on a sentimental bittersweet patrol into the past to places Halfway around the world once known on War maps As Camlo con Thien and Gio Linh to walk again those battlefields of their youth and to look into the eyes of the once faceless enemy. Concerned that Many of the mines they buried in the ground Are still in place and still a threat the sex marines Are returning to try to verify vietnamese claims that the explosives have been removed. Gene Spanos 39, now a Rosemont iii., police lieutenant organized the Mission. Other former members of the 11 the marines making the journey Are Frank Noe 40, a Stoughton mass., fireman Nate Genna 41, of Boston who works in the operations and maintenance department of a shopping mall William Johnson 41, of Manchester conn., an electric sign maker and Mike Wallace a 41-year-old Farmer from Langdon Kan. Joining them is Robert Dalton a 54 year old free Lance writer from Davidsonville md., who served three Tours of duty in Vietnam and Speaks fluent vietnamese. They Are scheduled to arrive in Hanoi Jan. 14 on a 10-Day tour of Vietnam reunified by the communist led Hanoi government of the North that toppled the .-backed Saigon government of the South. From the country s seat of government in Hanoi they travel southward As friends instead of foes to familiar War zones like Dong a and Hue capital of the Annam Empire established More than 200 years before Christ. Even though the vietnamese insist that they have cleared the mines and that the six americans Are visiting the country As tourists their return symbolizes the further Healing of wounds from America s longest and most divisive War. Vietnam has been opening its once closed doors wider and wider seeking to publicize its desire to establish diplomatic relations with the United states in a bid for economic Aid and medical and technical assistance. Washington says that won t happen until Vietnam removes All its troops from Cambodia which Hanoi has promised by 1990. The latest Mission is a private one paid for by a Benefactor whom Spanos will identify Only As a wealthy businessman. Spanos says his group will submit its findings to both governments. They Are Welcome says Nafe Genna 41, and Frank Noe 40, Are two of six former marines returning to Vietnam to visit the places in which they once fought bittersweet patrol ambassador Trinh Xuan Lang head of the vietnamese Mission to the United nations. Fiey return without any  in the past year More than 60 american delegations have visited Vietnam including veterans congressmen senators scholars journalists and tourists according to Lang. These visits will contribute to better understanding he says. The sex marines reconstructed mine Field maps and gave them to the vietnamese government last june. While in Vietnam they want to go to the areas with their vietnamese counterparts to take a firsthand look not Only for land mines but also any unexploded bombs and shells dropped by . Forces. The once Gung to marines mellowed by time Hope to visit a vietnamese veterans Hospital filled with soldiers like themselves and an orphanage crowded with malnourished children. They la carry Medicine badly needed by a medical system ravaged by five decades of War. I was bitter at that time Genna says of his combat Days at Dong a from january 1967 until january 1968. That whole War was wrong. Americans got killed and plenty of vietnamese got killed. I m not the 19-year-old kid i was then. This is a show of Good will people to people. We re trying to establish one More step toward normalizing relations and increasing understanding Between the two  Noe who served 18 months in Vietnam says the trip will help erase an already fading and unjustified image of Vietnam veterans As brutal killers who often aimed their shots at women and children. Many came Home to rejection spat upon and called baby  some turned to drugs and alcohol. Men who once fought against each other can heal old wounds and sit Down and maybe even talk about those Days says Noe. I think it will do us some Good and them also. I think in this country it s going to show Vietnam veterans Aren t what they be been portrayed Over the years that we re firemen police from every walk of life and do care about  hundreds of people some of them veterans have telephoned and written words of encouragement and Praise. Wallace who served  medic with the 11th marines says we re finding out it s a reconciliation a Healing process not Only for veterans but for their families. If you can redo some tragic part of life and replace it with Good memories it s got to be  the former marines say they never planted the mines with the intention of hurting civilians but rather to protect american lives. Barbed wire was placed around the mine Fields with warning signs in vietnamese and English. But after the War s end in 1975, poor vietnamese Farmers and scavengers apparently dismantled the valuable barbed wire exposing the mine Fields. Ambassador Lang says All of the mines have been removed at the Cost of thousands of civilians killed particularly during the three years following the end of the War when land was being cleared for farming and housing. Spanos says other veterans who visited Vietnam in recent years reported seeing children in hospitals who had been wounded by mines and unexploded shells. Spanos got the idea for the Goodwill Mission at the 11th marines first reunion in Chicago in september 1987 after Reading an article in the Boston Globe. . Greenway reported that he was told More than 3,000 vietnamese had died in one province alone from mines and unexploded shells Between 1975 and 85. Spanos reaction was if we re still killing these innocent people we be got to do something. Let s go  while the former engineers Are not so sure Dalton who has made three previous trips to Vietnam in the past two years says he is convinced the mines have been removed in the Northern areas although he cannot be As certain about other sections of the country. I think it will be a very Good thing not Only for the marines to go Back to close the door on past operations in their mind but also to allow the vietnamese who suffered in Clearing these mine Fields to see the americans return fully prepared to help them says Dalton. A1987 report compiled by the . State department based on estimates provided by vietnamese government and other sources said there were More than 300,000 people in the country who were disabled from the War including 15,000 amputees Between 7 and 15 years old. Further illustrating the desperate plight of the vietnamese officials estimate that half of the country s children Are malnourished. The . Government is forbidden by Law to provide assistance to Vietnam but has tried to make it easier for individuals and organizations to Send humanitarian Aid. More former Vietnam veterans Are planning to return this year if they can raise the funds including a group from the veterans Viet Nam restoration project in Garberville calif., whose goal is to build and equip medical clinics across the country. A one Man operation Bill Fero a 38 year old autoworkers and Farmer from Whitewater wis., is scheduled to make his fourth trip Back in two years carrying medical supplies. Fero had been filled with hate for the vietnamese after a Booby trap blew off both of his legs. He suffered through 11 operations and twice tried suicide. His return to Vietnam he says changed his life. The soldiers in Vietnam Are the same As soldiers in America. They had no Choice. I was met by 200 disabled communist soldiers like me at a Home in Hanoi most of them paralysed. They treated me with so much love., i could t hate  Page 16 the stars and stripes Friday january 13,1989