George W. Rebara

George W. Rebara

Company A 1/22 Infantry 1966-1967

1934 - 2007

The men of the Rebara family
George is in the top center

George W. Rebara is remembered fondly by the veterans of Company A
as "Staff Sergeant Rebara".

SSG George Rebara in Vietnam

Photo from harold Penxa

A Company 1/22 Infantry

Of his Father's time in Vietnam George's son Al writes:

It was indeed a life altering experience. My dad credits the army for saving his life by giving him direction and purpose.
He would eventually see action in Vietnam, deploying with the 4th Infantry Division in 1966. My dad never recovered
from that 12-month tour. The ghosts of his friends haunted him until his last days. He used to tell me all about
his experiences there, but the conversations never finished, they, just stopped because he would start to cry.
My dad lived through no less then 4 ambushes. Ambushes that killed not one or two of his friends,
but 15 or 20 of them each time. And he left country without one scratch. He would tell me about lying on the ground,
bullets hitting all around him, while he prayed and begged God for his very life.
His sister Merci told me several years ago. about how she had met some men who had served with my father in Vietnam,
and how they, had called him 'the grenade man" because he carried so many, grenades. He would use these grenades
to throw when they, came to areas that were good ambush points, in an attempt to thwart the ambush and save his men's lives.
I asked him about that, wondering why he'd give away his position on a hunch. He told me "It didn't matter
because they knew where we were all the time because we were so loud and undisciplined."
My dad, like everyone who goes to war. ended up fighting for his men more than any particular cause.

For a beautiful tribute to George W. Rebara click on the following link:

George W. Rebara

The 1st Battalion website is grateful to Master Sergeant Alfred M. Rebara
for permission to use the above photos and information about his Father

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