Vietnam

The summer after Peyton Wooldridge of Chester, S.C. graduated from Mary Baldwin University in 1968, two of her female classmates went to Vietnam to serve during the war. One of those classmates wrote to her, encouraging her to also come and serve, saying, “This will change your life.”

After three months of explosive ordnance and heavy equipment training by the U.S. Army, 18-year-old Roger Thompson arrived for duty in Vietnam in March of 1968. During his service, he witnessed firsthand the terrors of war, which inspired his lifetime mission of helping fellow veterans who struggle with both the physical and mental effects of combat.

Deep within Fort Jackson's 53,000 acres are the remains of what could be the Vietnamese mock training village Bau Bang. The remains include a structure…