Tips for finding your Buddies
Never give up looking, just when you think there is no hope something comes to you that puts your buddy a phone call or a e-mail away. Trust me it is worth all of the effort.
Do the following put your name and as much information as you can on your Units web site. If they do not have a web site or association site. List your info on one or all of the following sites and remember to leave a message in whatever format they have.
9th Infantry Division Web Page, one of the oldest and best sites out there for the 9th:
Mobile Riverine Force Association, they also have the names for men who were in the 9th:
9th Infantry Delta Dawgs, my site the newest and fasted growing:
http://www.9thinfantry.bravepages.com/index.html
Get your old orders and photos out. They are a source for a great deal of information. If you send me a copy I'll update my site list. You never know one thing may lead to another and you will make contact.
Some of the groups offer a service; you send them as much info as you can. They will send a letter to your buddy trough the VA or Social Security system. Do not pay for this, unless it is just a few bucks. I tried it and got nothing.
New I just found the Google Search Engine, http://google.com , you just type in anything and you get every reference that is on line. You should try to narrow down your searches: example if I type in Gubala I get 19 pages of internet hits. If I type in Frank Gubala, I still get 19 pages of hits but if I type in "Frank Gubala" I get 2 pages of internet hits. I would start with the 2 pages and only look at the 19 when I had time. Remember spelling is critical and think of all of the combos like: Bill, William, Willie, Willy, Will, Billy, Wil, etc.
If you remember where your buddy came from go to the internet phone books. Many men went home and still live in their hometown. I like the Yahoo phone book, http://people.yahoo.com/ start with just the Last Name and City / State. If you do not find too many names call one of the numbers and tell them who you are looking for. Sometime you will be surprised what people know, if nothing else you know who not to call or that your buddy does not live in that city. Also try different spellings of last or first names, like Meyer, Meyers, Mayer, Mayor, etc. Also you can try "Advance e-mail search" . If there are only a few people by the same Last Name send an e-mail to all of them you never know, someone maybe family to the person you are looking for. Here is one more Switchboard.com has millions of phone numbers. You can put a name in and get a list of everyone with that name. I have found a lot of people are in the south now. Classmates.com also has a military section, they have list by: Unit, Cities, Base Camps, 2rd Bn 60th Inf, Binh Phouc, try different combinations. You will need to register to get info or send e-mail.
Keep notes, you do not want to waste time doing something twice. Sometime writing it down will jog your memory. Write the names down now and come back to it in a few days. You make think your buddy was Walter Jones but when you come back to it you say no it was William Jones. Many of us only knew our buddies by Nicknames so if you go to a web site and leave a message do not forget to put that down. Dates are very important.
Always give as much info about yourself as you can. I get e-mails and all the person leaves is: "3/47 Ed looking for buddies". This does not help any one, give all the details you can. Full names (if you got them), company, dates, platoon, nicknames, descriptions of the person: white, hispanic, black, wears glasses, from the south, any thing you can think of.
If you sent your family letters from Nam ask them if they kept them. I found it hard to read them, but sometime we wrote things down that we forgot and it will open up your thinking. You might just find a clue to finding your buddies.
Ask for help, there are people out there like myself that enjoy doing this. We have been doing it enough that we can save you a lot of time and get you pointed in the right direction.
One of the hardest things I did was call the family of my best friend Francis Webster, KIA, May 15, 1968. I talked to his Mom, a few years ago for over 4 hours. She could not stop thanking me for calling her and telling her about her son. I will never forget that conversation till the day I die.
Know when to stop. Sometime people do not want to be found. I had that happen to me I just said I am sorry and turned another corner in my life.
I will be updating this information when ever I discover new links or aids in finding people. Please come back and check things out. Anything added will have New at the begging of the posting. Also if you have any ideas or suggestions please past them on to me.