Lost to history: the Canadians who fought in Vietnam

At only 17 years old,B.C.'s Rob McSorley knew he wanted to go to war, and it didn't matter if it wasn't in a Canadian uniform.

Now, 45 years after his deathin the jungles of Vietnam, his sister is finally learning how much he mattered to the American soldiers with whom he served.

June-Ann Davies says in 1968, her brother was tired ofschool atTempleton Secondary in East Vancouver, and decidedjoining the military would cure his boredom.

The war in Vietnam was still ragingand Canada wasn't officially participating, butMcSorleywas determinedto be atthe heart of it.

"I think he wanted adventure, which he could get out of the U.S. military as opposed to the Canadian military," saidDavies, who now lives in Kamloops, B.C.

McSorley'sparents tried to reason with him:He wasn't an American, and it was actually illegal for him to fight in a war that didn't formally involve Canada.

But McSorleywas going to Vietnam, with or without their support.

"When they were putting up a bit of a fight, that's when he said, 'Well, you either sign the papers, or I'm goinganywaysand I'll lie about my age,' " Davies recalled.

His parents grudgingly signed theforms,andMcSorleytravelled just across the B.C. borderto Blaine, Wash., to enlist in the U.S. army,which was acceptinganyonewhocamethrough the door.

Two years later, what was supposed to bethe adventure of a lifetime ended suddenly.McSorley was shot byNorth Vietnamese soldiers.

Davies still remembers being in bed when the doorbell rang at their Vancouver home, and a telegram delivered the news about her older brother.

"It was awful. Terrible. Yeah, it was the worst day," she said.

"He only just started his life when it ended. Because he'djust turned 19 two weeksbefore."

According to Davies, her family felt isolated after her brother's death.No one they knew in Canadahad relatives who had joined the U.S. military, let alone gone to Vietnam.

"Afterwards, my parents didn't say a lot about it, other than to say that my brother was a hero," Davies said.

20,000 Canadians enlisted; at least 134 killed

McSorleywas certainly not the only young Canadian to fight and diein the conflict.

Canada never officially joined the fight with U.S. forces in Vietnam, and eventually harboured tens of thousands of American draft dodgers and deserters.

But much more quietly, a steady stream of young Canadians was crossing the border in the opposite direction.

The Canadian Vietnam Veterans Association estimates that about 20,000 Canadians enlisted, although other historiansthink thatnumber may have been as high as 40,000.

The association believes12,000 Canadians actuallyservedin combat roles in Vietnam.

Some were dual citizens who may have been living or working in the U.S., but many other Canadians volunteered, driven by a conviction to fight communism,or by alove ofadrenalin.

By the end of the conflict, it's believed at least 134 Canadians had diedor been declared missing in action.

To put that number in perspective,158 Canadiansoldierswere killed during the mission in Afghanistan.

Many Canadians camehome from Vietnamwith their lives completely changed.

"I'm proud of my service," saidCanadian RonParkes, who enlistedin the U.S. military during the Cuban missile crisis.

The Winnipeg veteran was deployed to Vietnam in the summer of 1965, serving with one of the first American brigades to join the ground war.

Today,Parkesis president of the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Association, which he co-founded in 1986.

Struggle for recognition by the legion

According to Parkes,Canadian Vietnam veterans were ignored or forgotten for years after the war.

"When I came back and brought up the subject, it was always 'Who cares?We weren't there. We weren't in it,' " Parkes said.

"When I went down to the Royal Canadian Legion, they wouldn't accept us, our service. So for many years they just forgot about it."

The government ofCanada has never formally acknowledgedthecitizens who were killed or declared missing in action in Vietnam, but according to Parkes,in 1994, the Royal Canadian Legion officially recognized Canadian Vietnam veterans for regular membership.

"It's been a long struggle to get the word out, but we've persevered and accomplished quite a few things now," Parkes said.

Canadian names still being added to memorial

The name of every Canadian who died fighting for the U.S.in the war is listedon the expansiveVietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Some, like McSorley, are officially on record asbeing from Canada.

Other Canadians aren't remembered that way at all listed only as being from the American towns or cities where they enlisted.

In 1995, some American veterans took upthe cause for their Canadian colleaguesand privately funded a memorial that was built in Windsor, Ont.

"The North Wall"Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial now lists the names of 138 Canadians who died in the war, but the number still grows today.

It includes 134 Canadians whowere killed in action for the U.S. military, and fourother Canadians who died in Vietnam while servingwith the International Control Commission, the three-country body charged with supervising the 1954 partition into South Vietnam and North Vietnam.

"The main thing is to remember those that made the supreme sacrifice," Parkessaid.

'Without Rob... I would be gone too.'

American BruceBowlandsays henever thought much about the idea that some men in the U.S. military were actually Canadian volunteers.

Bowland was only 19 years old when he was deployed to join the fight in Vietnam.

That's where he met and became fast friends with Sgt.McSorley from Vancouver, who at age 18 was actually younger than Bowland, but had already fought in a number of battles.

"Rob told me he was a Canadian and he enlisted in the American armyso that he could go to Vietnam,"Bowlandtold CBC News from his home in Gainesville, Fla.

"And I told him, 'You're crazy,'"Bowlandlaughed."He was agung-ho guy, man, a great man."

McSorley's U.S. ArmyRangers unitwas sentinto what was known as "Mission Grasshopper"in the AShauValley, when they were suddenly caught in a battlewith North Vietnamese soldiers.

"[Rob]said 'Wow, this is really cool. I feel like John Wayne!' " Bowland recalled.

"That's the type of guy he was. He knew his job, he did his job, and you knew he always had your back."

It was on that same mission on April 8, 1970, that Bowland was planning to "walk point," leading his team towardthe jungle to make sure it wassafe.

But he saysMcSorleywanted to be the leader that day, so he took the spot fromBowland, telling himhe was a more experienced soldier.

The young Canadian was checking the bush for signs of the enemywhen he stumbled upon a group of North Vietnamese soldiers.

They opened fire on each other, butMcSorley's gun jammed.He wassprayed with bullets and fatally wounded.

Bowlandsays his life was only spared because the enemy had their sights trained on his Canadian friend.

"Without Rob sacrificing his life for me, I would be gone, too. I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have a son and two daughters. Iwouldn'thave a grandson," Bowland said.

"Rob gave up a lot of things, and I often wonder what his life would have been like if he would have come back and got married and had children. Buthe sacrificed his whole life for us, and I'll never, ever, ever forget that."

'He didn't want to be a bystander'

In Kamloops, McSorley's sister June-Ann Daviesand her husband, Don, havespent many years learning about her brother's service in Vietnam.

Don Davies has spent many long nights researchingthe war storiesof abrother-in-lawhe was never ableto meet.

"I've got heavy into it, finding out about him, and I do find it very emotional. Even though we didn't meet face-to-face, I feel I know him as a man," saidDavies, holding back tears.

"He did what he thought was the right thing to do, and he didn't want to be a bystander.And that's Rob and everything I've heard about him."

Over the last decade, June-Ann and Don Davies have made contactwith Bowland and a number of the Rangers whofought alongside McSorley.

June-Ann Davies says their stories about her brotherhavechanged her life.

"Even after all these years, it's still emotional, but it's also healing."

PHOTOS:Memories of the Canadian soldierswho died in Vietnam

(Source for all photos and captions: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund)