{"id":630,"date":"2020-04-03T04:35:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T04:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/?page_id=630"},"modified":"2025-05-21T18:14:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:14:59","slug":"vietnam-remembering-khe-sanh","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/concert\/featured-stories\/vietnam-remembering-khe-sanh\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam: Remembering Khe Sanh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div  class=\" wp-block-pbs-blocks-row no-image\">\n\n            \n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col has-image has-background-center-position has-parallax has-aspect-ratio\" style=\"background-image:url('http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_1659.jpg');\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                                                <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image has-aspect-ratio has-blue-background-color\" style=\"background-color:#1c2838;\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content has-pdt-90 has-pdb-90 has-pdl-90 has-pdr-90\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<h1 class=\"has-text-align-center has-gold-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\"><strong>VIETNAM: REMEMBERING KHE SANH<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background-color:#e1e7ec;\" class=\" wp-block-pbs-blocks-row no-image has-light-gray-background-color\">\n\n            \n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image\" >\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content has-pdt-15 has-pdb-15\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"> For many veterans, the journey to a new life purpose is not an easy path. Help is available through crisis intervention, mentoring programs, employment initiatives, adaptive athlete opportunities, family support programs, arts and healing projects, civic service activities and so many other programs dedicated to serving those who served in America\u2019s military. Find more information on getting and giving support in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/help-military-families\/reach-out\/\">Help Military Families<\/a><em> <\/em>section. <\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div  class=\" wp-block-pbs-blocks-row no-image\">\n\n            \n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col has-image has-background-center-position has-parallax\" style=\"background-image:url('http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_1717.jpg');\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                                                <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image\" style=\"background-color:#847461;\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content has-pdt-60 has-pdb-60 has-pdl-60 has-pdr-60\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-left has-white-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\">BILL RIDER STORY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\">In January 1968, fifty years ago, a truce was called in the middle of the Vietnam War in honor of the Lunar New Year, or Tet. In spite of the agreement, the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong troops launched a surprise, full-scale offensive on cities across South Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\">One of these targets was the remote Marine base at Khe Sanh in the Qu\u1ea3ng Tr\u1ecb Province. 40,000 enemy troops faced only 2,500 Marines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\">Among those fighting at Khe Sanh was the 1st Battalion 9th Marines, also referred to as \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d battalion due to having the highest casualty rate in Marine Corps history. Of the nearly 3,000 Marines who served with the 1\/9 in Vietnam, over 25% would be Killed in Action. One young squad leader, Sergeant Bill Rider, survived, but the memories of those he lost in Khe Sanh have haunted him for fifty years. It wasn\u2019t until 1999 that he was diagnosed with PTS and began to find healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color\">For his service in Vietnam, Bill Rider was awarded the Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation and Naval Commendation with a Bronze V for valor among other commendations and was nominated for the Silver Star.  <\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6174,"menu_order":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-630","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vietnam: Remembering Khe Sanh - National Memorial Day Concert - PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2018, the National Memorial Day Concert paid tribute to Vietnam veteran Bill Rider.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/concert\/featured-stories\/vietnam-remembering-khe-sanh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vietnam: Remembering Khe Sanh - 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