Dottie Rambo: The Gifted Songwriter of the Twentieth Century (Part 11)

My Father is a King



The First Million Years



I Just Came to Talk With You Lord



Constantly Aware of His Love



I Love the Name



Another Mountain, Another Valley



The Rambos in Vietnam

In February 1967, the Singing Rambos, which at that time consisted of Buck, Dottie, Reba Rambo and Pat Jones, traveled on a six week trip to Vietnam.  1967 also happened to be the year the Vietnam War was at its height.  At the time the Rambos had been singing gospel music for a number of years.  They were probably at the peak of their popularity at that time.  Ken Duncan, a friend of theirs who was a gospel music promoter in Southern Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana, contacted the Rambos to take a tour of Vietnam to sing for the military forces.  There was several yards of red tape that had to be cleared, esp. since Reba was 15 years old at the time they made that trip.  The Rambos would go into the combat zones to entertain the front-line troops.  They were cleared by the State Department to make that tour.  The clearance was easy because the year before in 1966 they made a six-week tour of northern outposts in Greenland, of Newfoundland, Labrador, and Iceland.  The State Department received a very pleasing response to that tour.  When Ken Duncan approached the State Department about the Rambos traveling to Vietnam, the State Department's response was positive because they remembered the adventure the Rambos had in Thule and the response was positive.

The Rambos departed from Andrews Air Force Base in 1967.  The flight lasted 22 hours, stopping in Honolulu, Guam, and finally Saigon.  Buck stated it was a jungle down there.  He said it was a terrible place to fight a war.  The foliage was so thick that the military had to cut its way through.  There were no front lines as such, only fighting areas.  The Vietcong was also great at boobytrapping, and many of the young men died in their traps.  According to Buck, it wasn't an easy place to conduct concerts.  Rain fell during the time they were there.  Most of the concerts were done off the back of a truck for a stage.  The men who would come to hear them sing would sit right down in the mud.  Dottie, Reba, and Pat Jones decided to wear the same kind of clothes they sang in back home.  They wore combat boots to the stage, then placed on high heels.  They weren't advertised as gospel singers; they were considered entertainment and were introduced as "The Swinging Rambos."  Those who were in charge of the tour didn't know how the gospel would be received, so the programs would start by Dottie playing "Wildwood Flower" on the guitar.  Then they would sing a song about home, then one about Mama, and then one about Jesus.  At the time the guys would accept anything the Rambos sang or said.

The Rambos sang in the Delta to the Green Berets.  They sang to the Cobra and Lancer helicopter squadrons, who were the unsung heroes of Vietnam.  In the DMZ, the Rambos sang to General Ryan's troops.  They also sang in areas where troops had not seen any live entertainment for thirteen months.  Like the troops, the Rambos slept in tents, ate C-rations packed in 1949 and Dottie lost 15 pounds while in Vietnam.  They visited field hospitals and sang to the wounded.  They prayed for and held the hands of the dying.  They also noticed the youthfulness of America's fighting men in Vietnam, which was a very hard blow to Reba. 

After four concerts aboard the Ticonderoga, they flew to the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk.  They sang there to 5000 men just before they launched the biggest air strike of the war against Hanoi.  They were taken to the ready room to pray with the outgoing pilots.  Eight of those men didn't return.  Dottie remarked that the ministry they did in Vietnam was the most wonderful thing in her life.  She enjoyed the opportunity to sing to the troops about Jesus.

The information taken about Vietnam comes from the book entitled, The Legacy of Buck and Dottie Rambo.