HERMITAGE, PA. Sailor tells of 2003 visit to Vietnam

Brian Ondich maintains the ship's interior communications equipment.
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- A Hermitage sailor was aboard the first U.S. Navy ship to visit Vietnam since the cessation of hostilities there 30 years ago.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Ondich, son of Frank and Susan Ondich of Crawford Drive, handles interior communications aboard the USS Vandegrift, which visited Ho Chi Minh City in November.
The visit signifies a beginning to friendlier affiliations between the two countries.
Ondich, 20, a 2001 graduate of Hickory High School, maintains all communications equipment within the guided missile frigate, including its phone systems and the shipboard Information, training and entertainment television system.
During the visit, the ship hosted Vietnamese military, political and foreign business leaders for tours and an evening reception.
Cmdr. Richard Rogers, Vandegrift's commanding officer, said his crew had the opportunity to visit a country that few Americans have seen in the last several decades.
Appreciation
Ondich, in the third year of a six-year hitch with the Navy, said he has gained an appreciation of life from his visits to Vietnam and other Third World countries.
"People in America have no idea how well they have it in life," he said.
The port visit gave the Vandegrift crew a chance to learn about the Vietnamese culture and a chance to participate in sporting events, including a volleyball tournament with the Vietnamese Navy Technical School.
They also participated in community relations projects, helping to dig a foundation for a new kindergarten, painting a school and helping to deliver three pallets of toys, sewing machines and medical supplies to an orphanage of 300 children.
The gifts were organized through Project Handclasp, created in 1959 to give Americans a chance to reach out to other nations and deliver supplies through the Navy.