After 30 years, Vietnam vets are reunited

After 30 years, Vietnam vets are reunited

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP — Mike Amalfitano and Manuel Quintero met in Vietnam in 1970 when both served with the 101st Airborne Division. They became good friends even though Mike spoke no Spanish and Manny, who was from Puerto Rico, didn’t know much English.

“Manny spoke little English so I was trying to teach him the language and he taught me Spanish,” the 55-year-old Amalfitano recalled. “He became my best friend in Vietnam.”

When both men returned home after their tour of duty ended, they kept in touch. In 1973, Mike and his soon-to-be wife, Lorraine, visited with Quintero at his home in Puerto Rico. Then, through a series of moves on the part of both men, they lost contact with one another — until last Sunday.

“The phone rang and my wife answered it, and it was Manny, after 30 years,” Mike said.

Manny, his wife Ellie, and her two daughters were visiting New York, and Manny was determined to locate his old friend.

“I called 411 for Pennsylvania, and after the second try, they found Mike,” a jubilant Manny said in a phone interview as he prepared to visit Ground Zero in Manhattan.

A few hours after getting directions to the Amalfitanos’ Milmont Park home, Manny and Mike had a joyous reunion, seeing one another face-to-face for the first time in three decades.

“We were like brothers when we were together in Vietnam,” Mike said.

Manny, 54, shared that view. “He’s like family,” he said.

Mike laughingly told of how his three grown children all had plans for last Sunday but cancelled their own activities so they could be at their parents home when Manny arrived.

“When he got here, we just sat down and started talking like we were together all along,” Mike said.

Mike told of an amazing coincidence just prior to hearing from his old Army buddy.

“My mother, who is 93, was talking about Manny last week when a hurricane was on its way to Puerto Rico, wondering how he was, and the night before Manny called me, Lorraine and I were talking about him. And on Sunday, he calls,” Mike said.

Mike said he and Manny exchanged Christmas cards when they returned from Vietnam and then Manny moved from Puerto Rico to Florida. In the process of moving, he lost Mike’s address.

Thinking his old friend lived in the state of Delaware, Manny tried to locate him through directory information but was told there was no listing for a Michael Amalfitano.

Mike contacted the Army in an effort to track down Manny but was not successful. Last year his daughter, Rachel Parker of Ridley Park, went looking for Manny on the Internet but had no luck.

“And all the time Manny was looking for me,” Mike said.

Manny now lives in Vega Bata, Puerto Rico, and operates a restaurant. When he and his family took leave of the Amalfitanos, it was with the assurance that they would be getting together in the very near future.

“We’ll be going down to Puerto Rico within a year,” Mike said.