Veterans History Project: Santa Clarita Valley Edition

Featuring: Bill Reynolds, US Army, Vietnam Veteran

Host: Christine Bitter

Taped February 8, 2010

Local Veteran Featured in NatGeo Documentary

SCVNews | July 22, 2015

The 2-hour documentary featuring a Santa Clarita man who served in one of the last combat infantry companies drafted and trained to fight in Vietnam is up for an Emmy Award.

From the National Geographic Channel, “Brothers in War” recounts the harrowing combat experiences of the men of Charlie Company.

Narrated by Charlie Sheen (“Platoon,” 1986), the film relies on gripping first-person accounts and digitally remastered archival footage, including the soldiers’ own home movies and personal audio tapes, to tell the story.

Featured in the film is Bill Reynolds, a longtime Valencia resident who, as a member of Charlie Company, was wounded in action in June 1967 and earned a Purple Heart.

Bill Reynolds (left) with fellow Charlie Company veteran Jack Benedick at Veterans Historical Plaza in Newhall. Photo: Lou Reda Productions.

The film is based on a book, “The Boys of ‘67,” which tells the story of Reynolds’ unit, part of “the only division to be raised, drafted and trained for service in the Vietnam War,” according to author Andrew Wiest, a historian and professor at the University of Southern Mississippi (Other divisions that fought in Vietnam were already active, vestiges of Korea and World War II; the 9th had been deactivated after WWII.)

“It’s the story of various troopers within the company who became good friends as we trained together for six months before traveling to Vietnam aboard a World War II troop ship,” Reynolds said, “and how we were bogged down in the Mekong Delta fighting the Viet Cong and enduring a number of battles and firefights, and the losses that we sustained in that year. And the book closes with the impact the war had on a number of those troopers.”

“We were in some pretty harsh terrain and fighting a determined enemy,” Reynolds said of his service. “And we always remember our fallen. We do that at all of our reunions. We’re all brothers, brothers in arms.”

“Brothers in War” is produced and directed by Liz Reph, with executive producers Madeleine Carter, Lou Reda and Scott L. Reda.

The 36th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced Wednesday and will be presented on Monday, Sept. 28, at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall on Broadway in New York City.