“It was great shaking Glen’s hand and talking to him for a couple of minutes. ... 1966, that was a long time ago.” (Johnny Rivers)
Local veteran renews one of his few fond memories of Vietnam
It was a 110-degree day in Chu Lai, Vietnam, in the summer of 1966 when Springfield resident Glen Perales and his buddies headed over to their Marine base camp to see Johnny Rivers and Ann-Margret in a USO show.
Four months into what would be a psychologically grueling 13-month tour, it was a welcome treat despite the heat.
“Ann-Margret’s makeup was running,” remembered Perales, who was 20 years old at the time.
“Rivers and Ann-Margret put on a big show and signed autographs afterward,” Perales said. But the only thing Perales had in his pocket was a one-dollar MPC, or military pay certificate. Soldiers couldn’t use American money there, and had to rely on the government-issued MPCs.
So Perales asked Rivers to autograph his MPC, and the singer did.
“He said, ‘Be safe. After you leave Vietnam, look me up.’ ”
Forty-four years later, Perales did. But it almost didn’t happen.
Initially, after reading a concert preview in The Register-Guard, Glen’s wife, Christine, suggested they go to the Light of Liberty concert and fireworks show at Island Park on the Fourth of July.
“I said I wasn’t interested,” Glen said. “Explosions and fireworks get to me. I have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). I can’t be around a lot of loud noise like that.
“So I said, ‘We’re close enough, we can watch the fireworks out the back door.’ ”
Christine’s response: “It might be nice. Johnny Rivers is going to be there.”
That caught her husband totally off guard.
“Johnny Rivers?” he said. “Well, we’re totally going!”
Perales didn’t have to dig too deep to find his autographed MPC in a scrapbook.
“It took me about five minutes to find the picture album,” he said. “I knew exactly which one to look for. In that scrapbook, I have three pages of Vietnamese money and military money.”
It was a small piece of memorabilia from an otherwise horrifying chapter in his life. The USO shows were just about the only source of comfort for Perales during the war.
“My job?” he asks. “You maybe don’t want to know. I worked graves registration. I shipped dead bodies home.”
Perales has battled PTSD ever since leaving Vietnam in 1967. But after decades of not attending Independence Day fireworks celebrations, Perales and his wife decided they couldn’t miss Johnny Rivers’ concert right there in Springfield, where the pop superstar performed such classic hits as “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Slow Dancin’, ” “Memphis” and “Secret Agent Man.”
A couple of hours before the scheduled performance, Perales found the stage manager and showed him the autographed MPC.
“The stage manager took it to Mr. Rivers’ trailer. The manager came back and said it ‘freaked (Johnny Rivers) out.’ ”
Rivers had recognized his autograph immediately, and he knew where he had originally signed it.
After the show, Perales and Rivers met again, and had their picture taken together. Rivers signed the MPC a second time — 44 years later.
“He signed it right next to the original autograph,” Perales said. “The signature is a little scribbled, but sure enough, that’s his autograph.”
In a recent telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles, Rivers said Vietnam veterans often come to his shows all over the country. He said the Springfield show was indeed memorable.
“It was great shaking Glen’s hand and talking to him for a couple of minutes,” he said. “1966 — that was a long time ago.”
Rivers said he performed at “several” USO shows in Vietnam during his career.
“I know those guys had fun at the USO shows. And it was really important to them that we came over.
“For me, the highlight was just being with the guys. I ran into a lot of guys I went to school with who got drafted.”
Perales agreed that the USO shows were great morale-builders.
Regarding the Springfield concert, “I guess it came full circle, because after all the years he’s still entertaining, and there he was, a mile from my house.
Regarding the Springfield concert, “I guess it came full circle, because after all the years he’s still entertaining, and there he was, a mile from my house.
“I couldn’t believe it. When I was in Chu Lai, I couldn’t have predicted that I’d see him play again.
“But I always said, someday I’d find him again.”
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