AN OPEN LETTER TO AN OLD FRIEND FROM THE QUADALAJARA ERA

David,

A long-overdue 'thanks so much for the book order.'

By now, I'm sure you've read the letter to the Mexico PVA editor that gives kudos to your 'Chaplain's Corner' (by David Carlson). It's ironic that it came from our Arizona PVA.

I held on to many old PVA letters and articles, as did Keith Ziegler and Ray Foland before him. It helps bolster my claim that Guadalajara during the 50's through the 80's was much more than a 'oceanside sex resort for Vietnam veterans', as depicted in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July and as described in other magazine articles by those who were mislead! Every time I watch that movie, with the seventeen minutes segment about "Villa Dulce" (I believe that the real Tom Cruise--Ron Kovic--stayed at Villa del Sol) minus the ocean, I become more infuriated that one man's experience, during his brief visit to Mexico close to four decades ago, still defines a thirty year period of time lived and experienced by countless hundreds of others!

Depicting ALL Mexican women in the movie as whores and prostitutes, as well as, misleading the public to believe that ALL the paras and quads who lived there to be alcoholic whore-mongering Vietnam veterans, is a grave injustice to both groups.

I don't know what it'll take to set the record straight, but I'll do my part to keep that special place in time from being forever forgotten.

Best Wishes,

Jack Tumidajski

http://www.quadmexico.com/

www.myspace.com/Quadalajara