Our Rock Group, Xanadu spent 7 months in Vietnam during the war.

This picture is of me with a female bass player from the all-girl Korean group, ‘The Happy Dolls.’ This shot was taken in Chu-Lai, known as ‘Hell-on-Earth.’

I was an entertainer with USARV-MACV (United States Army Reserve Volunteers – Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. I spent 7 months ‘In Country’ touring all over the Republic as a Drummer with the Group, ‘Xanadu.’ In one picture, it shows us arriving at LZ Firebase in a Huey Helicopter. The G.I.’s were always willing to give us a hand.

Unlike other entertainers, we travelled to remote bases and the entire breath of the country. We owe our lives to so many chopper pilots, and many young soldiers who risked their lives protecting us as we were transported all over to wherever other entertainers would not go. We travelled dangerous roads that were attacked by the Viet Cong just hours earlier the same day. We got to live another day to tell our story.
The picture with cots was our sleeping quarters on one of the bases where Xanadu performed for the American and Australian personnel. Many troops gave me patches, insignia, badges. They would take their shirts of their backs. Our music provided some escape, from the horrors of war for the many soldiers who were homesick and lonely. I have one of the largest collections of rare patches, insignia, medals and memorabilia which was given to me by the troops after our concerts in Vietnam.

In the summer of 1971 Mike Yourous, a U.S. Army Aviator, helicopter pilot, assigned to A/227th, (call sign, ‘Chickenaman One-Seven’) was given the task to retrieve our band. He flew us to the facility known as Charang Valley a few miles inland from the coastal city of Qui Nhon. They loaded our musical equipment and troupe onto the Huey and flew us back to Pleiku. The flight crew was excited seeing the band girls in their outfits and to meet some, ‘round eye women,’ making the mission an unforgettable experience. Mike is pictured beside his ‘Dust-Off’ Huey in Vietnam, April, 1971.

In mid-1971 the withdrawal of American and Allied soldiers from Vietnam was well under way and the 498th Medical Company for whom Mike flew, was stood down. Mike was then transferred to ‘Chickenman’ based at Holloway Army Airfield in Pleiku. From there he flew a wide range of missions ranging from multi-helicopter combat assaults, (inserting troops into Landing Zones – L.Z.’s resupplying combat operations and remote fixed bases, transferring cargo and personnel from one location to another, (such as the Xanadu Group) aerial visual reconnaissance and Command and Control (C&C) mission – directing units visually from the air while engaged in combat operations.

The stories are real on Comes A Soldier’s Whisper Veteran tribute page. They are raw and take me right back to the moments in Vietnam. Many soldiers did not make it. We performed concerts for over 60,000l troops, some who took the time to share their moments with us. They will never be forgotten.

We toured the UK, Europe with many greats after Vietnam.
~ JD Owen Author aka Don Morrisson, Drummer Rock Group Xanadu and author of A Dangerous Place to Play

Comes A Soldier’s Whisper is grateful to JD Owen for sharing his story and encourage everyone to check out his published works on Amazon including, A Dangerous Place to Play: The True Story of a Rock Group in Vietnam. Please visit his Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/JD-Ow…/e/B01A9GEXFC/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0and follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/jdowen_author

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