How it All Began

The Mike 3/7 Vietnam Association was started from a desire of George Martin and Tom Carter to get together with other men from the company they served with in 1966 and 1967.

 George Martin went to the dedication of The Wall in Washington D.C. and left a hooked rug with the inscription "Dedicated to the Officers and Men of Mike 3/7". The rug had his name and address on it hoping to meet someone he served with. When he got home that Sunday afternoon he received a call from Tom Carter in Georgia. It seems a local paper in Tom's area had written an article about the dedication of the wall and included a picture of the rug.

 Tom called information and got George's phone number. After about an hour of talking catching up, they decided to try and get a reunion together.

 With some names and old addresses they had, they sent out about 30 to 50 letters. They got some responses, but not a lot. But they began organizing and set the Marine Corps birthday weekend of Nov. 9-11, 1983 as the first official reunion and designated George's house as "base", not knowing how many would show up.

 Until about a week before this first reunion, he still wasn't sure how many would show up, and in fact almost canceled the whole thing. George was very concerned about "did anyone else feel about the company, their service in Vietnam, and Marine Corps, like I did" and "did anyone else want to remember their service in Vietnam?".

Thanks to his tireless dedication, we have the Mike 3/7 Vietnam Association today.