GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) - Randall Battles and Herb Cook last spoke to one another in a foxhole in Vietnam.
Over the heads of the two Army privates, a battle for the Long Bình ammo dump and communications tower raged, the start of 1968’s Tet offensive. The pair returned fire when possible - Cook recalled an order to fire “when we saw fit” - and hunkered back down when tracer rounds and mortars flew by. A Viet Cong force tunnelled into the base and set charges on a massive stockpile of claymore mines. The resulting explosion was the biggest Battles had ever seen.
Amidst the chaos, Cook raised his hand up and prayed: “Oh God, please let me and Randy get through this and go home.” A feeling of safety settled over Battles.
The pair made it out.
More than a day later, the fighting settled down enough for someone to bring food to the weary pair. Events are a little less clear in Cook and Battles’ memory here, when fighting settled and their adrenaline slacked, but both remember someone telling them to report to planes headed for the United States.
The pair had clung together through most of their time overseas, meeting after heckling one another for Battles’ Gadsden-born Southern accent and Cook’s own Massachusetts drawl, a bonding experience. They supported one another through the war and with problems back home. Battles had just married his wife, Jane, before leaving for Vietnam, and the distance was difficult. Cook and Battles went to USO shows and joked around, all the while working together in the motor pool.
“We had good times and rough times, but every time I turned around, it seemed like I had my friend right there with me,” said Battles.
The two soldiers left separately and without ceremony, leaving behind their gear, personal belongings and one another. It would be almost 50 years before the two reconnected.
Battles, now 70 years old with a snow-white beard, searched repeatedly for his friend in the following decades. He made contact with military officials and had a lawyer search for information about Cook. They all came back with the same story: Cook had been killed in action about a month after Battles left Vietnam.
“Something in my mind kept telling me to keep looking, because he was supposed to leave about the same time I was,” said Battles.
Cook searched, too, looking through phone books periodically to try and find Battles.
“I thought about this a million times, that I’d love to see Randy Battles again,” said Cook.
Decades of searching ended with a gift from Cook’s son: an internet-connected tablet. After being introduced to Facebook, one of Cook’s first searches was for Battles. He came across Randy Battles Jr., who put the two in touch.
“When he first called and asked if I was in Vietnam in 1968, I asked if he was the Herb Cook that kneeled and prayed for us in the foxhole,” said Battles. “He said ’Oh Randy, it is you! Thank God I’ve found you.’”
The two spent a few months catching up, sharing what they’d missed of each other’s lives over the years. Cook revealed he’d developed prostate cancer, which metastasized into bone cancer. Later, Battles lost family in a bad car wreck on Old Gadsden Highway in late September. The pair felt that a meet-up was essential.
Battles’ brother decided to fund the trip from Gadsden, and his daughter loaned him her car to save gas money on the drive.
The pair met up in the parking lot of a Nantucket resort, where Cook reserved a room for Battles, hunting for one another while talking on speakerphone. Battles’ wife, Jane, had just told Herb to turn around when Battles reached him, and Cook cried out, “Randy, it is you!”
The pair embraced, reconnected after decades of lost time. Jane and Cook’s wife, Teri, became fast friends, sharing herbal recipes and chatting while the men combed the beach with metal detectors.
Cook and Battles are now as inseparable as possible, given the hundreds of miles between the two. They’re only a phone call away from one another at any time. The two say that their friendship came back to them effortlessly, a fact Jane attests to.
“They talk to each other every day now, and if he doesn’t call Herb, then Herb calls him,” said Jane. “They’re just really excited to be back together.”
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Information from: The Gadsden Times, https://www.gadsdentimes.com
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