I certainly do not claim to be an “expert” on finding buddies I served with in Vietnam but I have had some marginal success and I thought it would be worth sharing.

One of the first places to start is a good look through old address books, letters, photos, etc. that may show the names, last known addresses and/or phone numbers of the subject of your search. Also, make note of names of family and friends of the person being sought. You may end up looking for a family member or friend that can lead you to your buddy. If the addresses and/or phone numbers were of the homes of record, try calling the numbers or writing a letter to the present occupant of the home. It could very well lead to a relative of the person you’re looking for. I’m sure they will be more than happy to share a current phone number and/or address with you. Remember that these people don’t know who you are or if you are a legitimate caller so you may just want to settle with leaving your name and contact information with the respondent and have them forward it on to your buddy. This is the same if you write to the last known address and address your envelope to “Occupant”. Leave your contact information and they might be able to help you. You just never know.

Finally, there is passive searching. There are a number of websites that employ bulletin boards and guest books. Look through them and you may run across a buddy you served with or someone you didn’t know but was in the same unit at the same time, before you or after you. They may be worth contacting because hey may have been contacted by others you may or may not know. Remember to leave a message of your own behind so your buddies will be able to find you. The 15th Field Artillery website maintains a pretty extensive bulletin board and is full of all kinds of information. The various infantry and armored unit associations maintain websites that employ bulletin boards and forums. Remember to leave a message in A Battery’s Guestbook.

In closing, let me leave you with this. This process is time consuming and sometimes may not yield any rewards for some time. Don’t get discouraged and do take “breaks” and/or “time outs”. You can get burned out but don’t end your searches. It took me years to find some of my buddies and I’m still looking for some of them. Some times, they’ll find you. You will be immensely rewarded for your tenacity and resourcefulness the first time and every time you share an e-mail, a telephone call with or a letter from someone you spent “time with in hell” so long ago. Experiment with your queries/searches. Google just added 1 billion new pages of information to their data base recently. A search today will yield something different tomorrow.

Good luck and “good hunting”!

Les Higa  February 28, 2004