Vietnam veterans who served together in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade — known as the Redcatchers — are gathering Tuesday for a mini reunion lunch at Boneshakers Restaurant in Portland, Texas.
The veterans, who live in Rockport, Ingleside, Odem, Portland, and Corpus Christi, are meeting at 11:30 a.m. at the restaurant at 1008 Wildcat Dr. to continue a friendship that has lasted more than 57 years.
The 199th Light Infantry Brigade was first organized in 1921 as part of the U.S. Army Reserve. It was reconstituted on March 23, 1966, in the Regular Army and activated on June 1, 1966, at Fort Benning, Georgia. The unit was designed as a modern light infantry counterinsurgency force — with the motto “Light, Swift & Accurate” — built for rapid mobility with minimal heavy equipment.
After training at Fort Benning and Camp Shelby, Mississippi, the brigade deployed on Dec. 10, 1966, to Sông Bé, Vietnam. It was the only combat unit to train at Camp Shelby during the Vietnam War. The unit operated mainly in the III Corps Tactical Zone, north of Saigon. The nickname “Redcatchers” reflected their mission to hunt down communist forces…