Veterans of the American Forces Vietnam
Radio and Television Network - [AFVN]
Internet: www.oocities.org/afvn
4615 Meadow Green Drive
Sugar Land TX 77479
Telephone for more information:
Emmanuel Harper [changed] [Indianapolis number]
Bob Morecook (281) 265-8060 [long distance number]
Television Photo Opportunity ? Press is Invited
Outdoor veterans reunion 1 pm to 3 pm Sat, April 27th 6450 Pleasant Woods Lane Lawrence IN 46236 [tel 293-6949]
Evening veterans reunion 8 pm to 10 p.m. Sat, April 27th Sheraton Four Points Hotel 7701 E 42nd St Indy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VIETNAM WAR RADIO?TV BROADCASTERS TO GATHER IN INDY
Radio and television veterans of the Vietnam War are gathering near former Fort Benjamin Harrison for a reunion of broadcast warriors. Members of all the Armed Services, they provided music, news, and sports via radio and television to the American fighting man and woman during the Vietnam War.
Deejays, newsmen, engineers, and administrators are meeting in Indianapolis to celebrate their memories of the Vietnam War -- and their support for American troops in the field, then and now.
Known as AFVN ? The American Forces Vietnam Network ? the radio television network was popularized in the movie "Good Morning Vietnam".
The military broadcasters? experience spans the length of the Vietnam War. Some served early in the conflict and provided music and news when the war was just beginning. Others provided music and news during the tortuous time of the Tet offensive of 1968, and the B-52 bombings of North Vietnam at Christmas 1972.
Some military broadcasters served at the main station in downtown Saigon, where they lived and worked among the civilian population. Others worked from portable radio and television stations in tractor-trailers far from population centers.
A number of AFVN?ers were captured in Vietnam when the Hue television station was overrun in 1968. They were marched to Hanoi where they spent five years as POW?s. Four AFVN veterans were killed in action ? three of them newsmen en route to cover a military news story ? one executed after capture by the North Vietnamese.
Host for the reunion is Lawrence businessman Emmanuel Harper. Harper served as the last radio-television news chief in Vietnam, and later as sergeant major of the Defense Information School at the former Fort Benjamin Harrison.
About 50 AFVN?ers and friends meet for an outdoor barbecue at Harper?s home on Saturday April 27th. That evening the broadcast veterans also gather for a banquet and ceremonies at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in north-east Indianapolis.
Attending the reunion is Nancy Steinbeck, widow of the late John Steinbeck IV, and their daughter Megan. Steinbeck, son of the Nobel Prize winning author of the same name, won an Emmy for his Vietnam War news coverage when he was a civilian. Steinbeck had earlier served as a soldier in AFVN?s news department in Saigon. Mrs. Steinbeck is attending the reunion with a video film crew and is producing a special about her husband?s distinguished career in journalism.
Two persons attending the reunion have former ties to Indianapolis television station WTTV. Steve Wiltsie and Bob Nelson both did production work at that station during the 1960?s. Wiltsie later served as a lieutenant in Vietnam and directed television from a Sarkes-Tarzian built portable television station in a tractor-trailer van ? created especially for the Army by that Indiana company. Nelson also worked at station WIFE during the 1960's. In Vietnam he served as operations NCO of the American Forces Vietnam Network. He also supervised radio and television broadcasting to American troops during Operation Desert Shield in Iraq and Operation Just Cause in Panama. He retired from the Army as a command sergeant major.
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PRESS PACK:
Videotape of Vietnam War TV Newscasts is available on request [vhs format]
A CD of AFVN Radio Jingles and news promos is available.
More AFVN background is at www.oocities.org/afvn - including old broadcasts.