Vets tell Vietnam tale in their own words (with photo gallery & video)

LivingstonDaily.com: Vets tell Vietnam tale in their own words (with photo gallery & video)
Pinckney native and businessman John Colone has shared his unusual, near-death experience in the Vietnam War with family, friends and even the Daily Press & Argus.



On Friday, Colone shared the same story with more than 3,000 fellow Vietnam War veterans and supporters in "Our Vietnam Generation," a movie that made its world premiere at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit.

The film was made by Michigan native Keith Famie, also a past contestant on CBS' "Survivor."

In the film, Colone explains he was shot five times in the war before his rescue, and only years later learned he had been toe-tagged and placed in a body bag. His wife, Anne, provided an emotional account of waiting for her husband's safe return home while expecting a child.

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Vietnam vets honored

Prior to Friday's showing, John Colone pointed to upward of 14 Livingston County natives listed on a makeshift memorial wall at the theater's lobby.

"Most of them I knew," he said, somewhat overwhelmed by Friday's celebration.

John Colone is equally reflective in the two-hour-plus film when he's interviewed in front of a traveling replica of the Washington, D.C., memorial wall in Hamburg Township .

"Our Vietnam Generation" includes extensive footage shot in Livingston County, including from the Ride to Remember, Livingston County-based Rolling Thunder Michigan Chapter 5's recent memorial motorcycle ride from Brighton Township to the war memorial fronting the historical Livingston County Courthouse in downtown Howell.

The film also includes an extensive, emotional interview with county Sheriff Bob Bezotte, who served with the U.S. Army. Bezotte discusses a mid-1990s trip to the Vietnam War memorial
in Washington, D.C., which he said kept him in tears his entire visit.

The night clearly provided an opportunity for veterans of the Vietnam War — which claimed 58,000-plus American lives, including an estimated 2,600 Michigan casualties — to reconnect.

Highland Township resident Ralph Gapuz, also featured in the film and a Rolling Thunder member, was among several veterans who said Friday's recognition was welcome, but long overdue. Most Vietnam veterans contend they were treated with disdain, including from anti-war protesters, upon returning home

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