WHEATLAND – In a story that transcends and breaks the mold of expectations, Lt. Lee Alley was able to bring peace to his own mind, and arguably untold numbers of veterans. It all started around 20 years ago when he made the choice to open the dusty box of memories and experiences he had tried to ignore for decades.
After realizing the positive difference that decision made in his family, and in his own soul, he began opening up about his experience with local veteran groups, and at military reunions. The message was so impactful, he was encouraged to write a book, which he titled Back From War: A quest for life after death. The book was well-received by veterans, their families, and has even been used in high school studies on Vietnam to show another side of the Vietnam war: the lifelong impact on soldiers who have experienced the front line struggles of war.
In 2007, Alley went across the country on a book tour, and had several news outlet interviews in the process. One interview with Wyoming PBS stood out due to the quality of the questions and the insightful discussion that resulted from them. Alley said the gentleman that interviewed him about his book told him he wanted to “finish the last chapter of the book” by taking Alley back to Vietnam; however the idea did not come to fruition at that time, as the man passed away from natural causes soon after the interview.
In the ensuing years, Alley was a regular speaker at various veteran events in the region and across the country, encouraging veterans to be willing to talk about their experiences so they can be deal with them, possibly laying them to rest.
“I talk to a lot of veterans, and I am convinced anyone that has served has a secret trunk to hold their medals and memories. If they keep them there they think it will not haunt them, which is silly,” Alley said.
Alley shared his experience where he had a phone call from the daughter of one of his men who had died from complications of Agent Orange exposure. She told him she saw his name and phone number in her father’s room that said: “Call Lt. Alley.” She had also found a trunk with five Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars in it. “She asked me, ‘Why didn’t he tell me. I would have loved to talk to him about it.”
“When you get a couple calls like that, I say, ‘Dammit, get in the trunk and tell your kids and grandkids.’ I don’t want anyone’s daughter to have to call like she did that day. It’s very important,” Alley shared.
Around 2022, Alley was contacted by Vietnamese refugee John Nguyen, who wanted to thank him for his service. “He said Vietnam veterans have the worst ‘rap’ in the world, and his goal in life is to tell as many veterans as he can, they were not “baby killers,” but they were all heroes, and what they did mattered,” Alley said.
“Every soldier wonders, ‘Was it worth it? Should I have been there?’” Alley explained. “John has closed the gap for me. He is my ‘Why.’”
Two years ago, after speaking at the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, Alley was approached by Wyoming PBS, and with support from the museum owner Dan Starks, the ball started rolling on documenting Alley’s return to Vietnam.
Film director Matt Hames of Alpheus Media, based in Texas, agreed to take on the project “Home From the Vietnam War.” Hames filmed Alley for a year and a half as he gave speeches in locations across the country, including last year at Wheatland High School for their Veterans Day program. Then, after a lengthy process of receiving permission from the Vietnamese government, they scheduled a return visit to Vietnam.
“I felt this was an important story to tell because Lee showed not just courage on the battlefield, but an equal kind of courage when he started talking about the terrible memories that haunted him, his nightmares and the things he couldn’t get out of his head. He didn’t just speak up for himself; he organized other veterans who’d kept it all bottled up for years to share their stories too. His wife Ellen was instrumental in that,” Hames said.
“As a documentarian, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people over the years, and it usually takes a while to draw them out, especially those in the service,” Hames continued, “But Lee showed up ready. He was open, honest, and he talked about his real feelings. He also shared his friendship with John Nguyen, a Vietnamese American who’d fled the country during the war. Neither of them really were really jumping to go back to Vietnam; both had understandable apprehension about what they’d feel. The trip was quite a risk for everyone involved. I was deeply grateful that they trusted me to guide that journey back to the battlefields, meeting people who had once been their enemies and tried to kill them.”
The trip to Vietnam was a packed seven days in April, which were unforgettable for Alley.
He explained, it is expected in Vietnam to use local workers to film in the communist country, and Hames was able to secure the support of a well-respected and talented producer named Mr. Tú. After weeks of research and a lot of interviews with the locals, Mr. Tú was able to track down the locations Alley wanted to re-visit, and was even able to find some people who were there at the time Alley was serving in Vietnam. Alley said he appreciated the effort of the Vietnamese producer, because when he did go to Vietnam, everything looked so different – he would not have been able to find the places where he had served. Alley explained, when the line between north and south Vietnam was erased, the north Vietnamese flooded the more prosperous south, turning small villages into large cities, and re-naming many of the landmarks.
At the site of the battle of Firebase Cudgel, Alley was led to a tall monument in a park erected in memory of the battle that, according to the Vietnamese was a great victory for the Viet Cong and a turning point in the war; though Alley’s memories on the issue are a bit different.
The battle in that location was where Alley received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions of heroism on Nov. 18, 1967. He explained, after a night of battle when his 35-member reconnaissance team was attacked by a numerically superior force of Viet Cong troops who coordinated mortar and ground attack on the platoon’s perimeter, Alley had just eight men left.
“During the battle I felt overrun and I wanted my men to try to get across the river to safety. I said, ‘Guys, give me all the M16s and hand grenades. Then you guys go and I’ll hold them off.’ When I had used all the ammo and the grenades, I threw the rifles in the river and crossed the river myself,” Alley said, adding, they had left the radios in the bunker. When he next saw his commanding officer, Col. William “Bill” Steele (now a retired 2-star general), the colonel hugged him and said, “The Viet Cong were on the radio and I thought you were dead.”
When re-visiting the site of that conflict in 2025, film producer Tú asked if Alley was willing to meet three soldiers he found who were at that particular battle; when Alley answered in the affirmative, a bus pulled up with 35 Viet Cong soldiers in full uniform.
“I was in awe: they were coming straight for me and I was sitting with my mouth open. It seemed they couldn’t get to me fast enough, or hug me enough,” Alley recalled.
After a few minutes, one man tapped his hand and, through an interpreter, said, “I show you something.” He showed Alley a battlefield map drawn on the back of a VC communist calendar.
“I looked at it and I did not believe it: he had all the foxholes, etc. drawn exactly how I had drawn them in my after-action report 50 years ago,” Alley said, adding the man gave him the map to keep.
The man also saw me dump the rifles in the river, which he said he still had, because they went back the next day dressed as civilians and retrieved them. Another man was hugging Alley’s wife, and Alley remembers him saying, “That guy is very, very fast. I try to shoot him many times and couldn’t.”
“Then he asked me if I left my PR5 radios, I said ‘Yeah,’ and he said, he knew I did because he was the one talking on them after we left them,” Alley said as he described how overwhelmed he was with what was happening. “I kept thinking, this is not happening. This is not real.”
Then the most incredible thing happened.
Alley recalls, “One of them said, ‘I was very young, doing what my government told me. When you were young, you did what your government told you to do. Right or wrong, no matter.’ Then he asked me if I had nightmares at night; and I said, ‘Yes I do.’ Then he said, “You and I will no more have nightmares because we will bury it here. Now. no more nightmares because we bury it. We [cannot] go through life [paying back] an eye for an eye – we must stop today. You and I are friends forever.’”
“How can you tell people that. People ask me, and it is so hard to explain,” Alley said.
Each of those soldiers were interviewed at the monument for the PBS film, and at one point, one of them pointed to the monument boasting of the “great victory” for the Viet Cong and asked Alley, “Do you believe what it says?”
“I told him it doesn’t matter what it says. What matters is that you and I are now friends,” Alley replied.
With six months of dust settling since his unforgettable trip to Vietnam, Alley is still trying to wrap his mind around the experience, and whether or not it was real. But, when asked point-blank if the agreement he made to bury the hatchet with his former adversaries did make a difference in reducing the number of nightmares he has had, he paused and thought about it. Then, with a smile of wonder on his face (as much as a soldier will let through), he said, “It actually has.”
“Meeting those guys was life-changing,” Alley said in conclusion.
“What unfolded was incredibly emotional.. I think this film has the power to move a lot of people, not just those interested in Vietnam War history, but anyone living with pain or trauma they’ve kept inside, and show everyone ‘that’s what strength looks like.’ That’s what I hope people take from Lee’s story,” film director Hames said. “We’ll be premiering Home From the Vietnam War at festivals soon, but it feels right to first share an extended trailer with the people of Wyoming, Lee’s home state. And I really want to thank Wyoming PBS for helping us bring this story about one of their own to life.”
The Wyoming PBS documentary, Home From the Vietnam War featuring Lt. Lee Alley, including clips from the 2025 trip to Vietnam. An extended trailer open to the public will be played at the Governor’s Business Forum in Laramie on November 11. The screening is free to attend, but RSVPs (christina@wyomingpbs.org) are required by Nov. 6 to attend a luncheon with a panel discussion about the film. A full release will be held at the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois in March, followed buy a full release by Wyoming PBS.
A two-minute clip of the documentary can be seen at www.wyomingpbs.org/upcoming-productions/ .
“Wyoming PBS is proud to present Home From The Vietnam War to the citizens and our treasured veterans of Wyoming. Our state has the second largest share of veterans in the nation,” Wyoming PBS CEO Joanna Kail said. “Their dedication to our country comes with stories of valor, sacrifice, bravery and resilience. These experiences paint a picture of history that must be preserved and shared with future generations. We are honored and humbled by Lt. Alley’s willingness to share his experience in the Vietnam War with not just Wyoming, but the world.”
