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Wish of a Lifetime from AARP sent Mike Lowry, right, to Virginia to spend time reconnecting with John Lunsford, left. Together they visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to pay tribute to those they knew and lost during the war.
Chris Ferenzi/Wish of a Lifetime
After forging unbreakable bonds on a fateful night in 1969 in Vietnam, two men who ended up living 2,000 miles apart reunited more than five decades later and resumed their friendship.
In Vietnam, Spc. Mike Lowry, an air traffic controller, had been days from his 21st birthday, and Spc. John Lunsford, a communicator, was 24. The two soldiers fought for their lives alongside each other in spring 1969 at Landing Zone Oasis in Đăk Tô, about 20 miles east of the border with Cambodia and also near the border with Laos.
Both men, serving in the Army’s 366th Aviation Support Detachment, 1st Aviation Brigade, survived that night, which became known as the Mother’s Day battle because it fell on the U.S. holiday that Sunday, May 11. Both were honored with medals for their bravery, Lowry with a Silver Star for gallantry in combat, the third-highest armed forces honor, and Lunsford with a Bronze Star with “V” device, denoting valor in ground combat.
Four of their comrades were killed:
- Spc. Edward Barlow, 21, of Hebron, Kentucky
- Sgt. 1st Class Mills Beale, 33, of Franklin, Virginia
- Spc. Malcolm Bell, 18, of Milligan, Florida
- And Staff Sgt. Thomas Bumgarner, 36, of West Sacramento, California, who died of his wounds three days later
Seven other U.S. soldiers at The Oasis died in that battle. Three were captured and spent nearly four years as prisoners of war. About 100 North Vietnamese troops who attacked were killed.
Time on leave and a transfer pull the men apart
Soon after, Lowry went on leave. By the time he returned, Lunsford had left the unit.
They had no way of contacting each other, and it seemed as if their paths would never cross again. Both married, had children and went on to lead full lives.
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Lowry worked in construction out West before settling in Montana where he started a small plumbing shop in the Helena area. He and his wife, Jeniel, reared seven children.
Lunsford returned to Virginia and his job as a field representative with Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. He then had a 39-year career in banking. He and his wife, Sandy, raised two daughters.
Lowry spent much of the intervening five decades thinking about Lunsford and that night in both their lives.
“In fact, he was the best one, and he and I kind of hit it off because we had a lot of the same values, and so we helped each other out as far as living the kind of life we wanted to live while we were there,” Lowry said.
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