November 10, 2009
60 Year Old to Write Book of New Zest for
Life, Aid to Vietnamese Children in Need
Alan
G. Zweifler, St. John’s University Director of Facilities
Operations, is lean in stature with mannerisms that befit a
soft-spoken, calm persona. He grew up in the turbulent times of the
Vietnam War, and found himself enlisting in the Army at the young
age of 17 ½ assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. Now 42 years
later at the age of 60, Zweifler needed to find closure and go back
to the place that has left so many emotional scars and physical
injuries to find an inner peace.
Not only did he find that peace, but he was so moved by the people
and youngsters he met on his recent trip to Vietnam this summer –
that he vowed to help his “war brethren” Cary Spearman and Vinny
Mangiero bring back supplies in an effort to help a Vietnam School
and Clinic thrive in Na Trang.
He is lucky to have survived the horrors of battle, proud to
consider himself a Veteran of War, passionate about his patriotism
and blessed by the grace of God to have a loving family and friends
around him to support his decision to move on with his life. The
following is his story.
Zweifler’s wife, Rose, and family members knew he could never find
true peace in his life until he embraced the white elephant that
Vietnam had become since he enlisted back in the late ‘60’s.
“Anytime anyone would ask me about Vietnam I couldn’t talk about
it. It was something I didn’t want to revisit and never wanted to
have to talk about again,” said Zweifler.
After constant prodding, his son Michael and daughter Jennifer
finally convinced him to confront the demons and take the next step
in accepting an invitation from Spearman to join him for his annual
trip to Vietnam and South East Asia.
“I owe it all to my family. I needed to do this for myself and
confront this head-on,” admitted Zweifler. “They helped me get to
that place.”
The plans were set in motion but the road would not be an easy one
for Zweifler. Memories began rushing through his mind, reliving the
nightmare and sleepless nights that had him questioning why he had
lived and why his fallen brothers had to die. He constantly recalls
how he “was not proud of the things he had to do” but when in
battle you do what you have to do to survive.
He booked the accommodations and flights and now had to begin the
preparation of getting ready for the mental and physical anguish
that would follow. The time had come to board the flight and begin
his trek back to his past on August 5, 2009.
“As we broke through the clouds at the end of my long flight to
Saigon, I saw the bunkers and anti-aircraft placements still in
place and I remembered seeing the tarmac at the airport with U.S.
flag-draped coffins of soldiers lined up waiting to come back to
the States,” recalled Zweifler.
The first couple of days in Saigon seemed like a nightmare. He
could not come out of the hotel, terrified of what he might
experience.
“I just couldn’t come out of the hotel. My wife finally convinced
me to go across the street and take small steps. That’s exactly
what I did and it helped,” said Zweifler.
He immersed himself in a tourist attraction visiting the
Reformation Palace (known as the Imperial Palace until it was taken
over by the Communists in 1975). While on the tour a young 18-year
old Vietnamese Tour Guide asked the crowd where they were from and
began speaking with Zweifler – who he spotted as a former soldier
from the tattoos on his arms.
“I told the tour guide that I had been in Vietnam before in the
military and the young man told me his family was VC (Viet Cong)
and that his Uncle died in Pleiku in 1968. I was in Pleiku during
The Tet Offensive in 1968 and at that time they (the VC) were the
enemy. I didn’t know how to take that, initially,” said Zweifler.
“He went on to tell me that ‘we hold no hard feelings about what
happened and that people were lost on both sides,’ but he hoped
that the United States could join hands with Vietnam in terms of
friendship. I felt good about that encounter.”
Before the reunion with Spearman and Mangiero in Na Trang –
Zweifler had a job to do. He still had kept in touch with families
of his fallen Army comrades and had two American Flags to plant in
the soil in Vietnam for friends Johnny Soto of the Bronx, NY and
Jimmy Saldano of Frehold, NJ. Guards were armed at Camp Plemer with
Ak-47’s and would not let him enter – so he planted the flags
outside the entrance to the camp, gave a goodbye salute to his
friends and was on his way – passing the guards and thanking them
for allowing him to perform this memorial gesture.
“I owed it to my friends and their families to plant those flags
and I would have done anything, even been arrested and jailed to
keep my promise to them,” admitted an emotional Zweifler.
On to Da Nang! There he would be reunited with Spearman and meet
Mangiero and Tung (their guide) who quickly became like a little
brother to all of them. These men had been responsible for bringing
medical supplies, microscopes, composition notebooks, book bags,
pencils and computers to aid the children of Vietnam, most notably
in Na Trang – where these men used their own resources to build a
clinic for the youth there who desperately need medical
attention.
“I’m committed to bringing back some of the supplies they need, to
do my own small part, in helping all of us meet the objective in
helping the children,” said Zweifler.
The rest of his trip, which took him through Cam Rahn and Hoi An,
felt like yesteryear, only this time he could enjoy the company of
good friends and not have to worry about rockets, mortars, and
enemy fire in the distance.
There was a serenity and peace, easy to describe but hard to
imagine in this land at this time in his life. And, although his
diaries chronicle his entire 17-day trip (unable to be fully
comprehended in this writing) there is a valuable lesson learned
for a retired Veteran of war. Through all of his anxiety,
revisiting memories of warfare like the 400-plus stitches and
staples it took to repair his stomach after a rocket propelled
grenade exploded, or a gunshot wound to the neck that took 60
stitches to close that almost cost him his life in a battle at Cu
Chi, to leg pain and countless stomach surgeries that have left him
in constant pain) nothing could have prepared him for this
life-altering trip down memory lane.
And in a way it was a good thing, the right thing to do for Alan
Zweifler – at this moment in time at this time in his life.
“I spent 19 months and 21 days there – was wounded three times and
still ask myself, Why? The 58,261 - that we know of - who were
killed there, 320,000 wounded and the families that were scarred by
a war that should have never happened – but it will never leave
me,” added Zweifler. “I met some wonderful people in Vietnam –
people who accepted me into their homes and I take away a different
view of these people now. My feelings have changed and I no longer
have a hate for the Vietnamese people who have endured so much for
so long. I wish the Vietnamese people, health, prosperity and good
fortune.”
Today Zweifler keeps himself active and is in the process of
writing a book based on his trip titled, “A Veteran’s Journey Back
to the Future.” He serves as a member of the Chapter 92 Disabled
American Veterans in Bayside, NY, and the Veterans of Foreign War –
Post 643 VFW in Forest Hills, NY and is also there for his fellow
comrades that seek counseling and a friend to talk to about those
experiences that still are tough to manage in their daily lives.
And, on November 11 (Veteran’s Day), he will be driving WWII vets
to Applebee’s in Rego Park and Fresh Meadows, NY, where veterans
will eat free to commemorate the day and have a chance to meet with
others and enjoy the day.
For Alan Zweifler his patriotism has never waned, his love and
respect for those lost in battle only grows day after day – but now
there is closure and it feels good. Good enough to refocus his
efforts to help the Vietnamese children (who, he stresses, had
nothing to do with the wars on the battlefield) receive school
supplies and medical equipment to aid his friends Cary Spearman and
Vinny Mangiero for their clinic. It has become one of his top
priorities and a mission to be carried out like any good Army
soldier as he moves on with his life – and at peace, for the first
time in a long time.