“It’s the Vietnam War bond. I felt I had an obligation to these guys to tell their stories.”  
 
The words of Vietnam War veteran and Ballard High School alumnus, Jerry Smith, ring true for many veterans. Many of them come back from serving with traumas, memories, wounds and a sense of solidarity in enduring a great sacrifice among their fellow veterans. For Smith this bond is apparent even between the men whom he never met, but especially the ones that went to his high school.  
 
With this link in mind, Smith recently took on the endeavor of telling each story of the 18 names on the Ballard High School Vietnam Memorial Plaque. He was going to compile his findings in a book called the “Ballard 18,” but in his research he found there was one name missing, one soldier from Ballard somehow lost to the memorial. What Smith discovered has added so much more to his book and has been instrumental in memorializing a soldier named Douglas Lee Zeller.  
 
“The book is an explanation about what each individual accomplished and what went on in their life from childhood until their loss,” said Smith, who served in Vietnam in 1969 to 1970.  
 
 “I kept a journal about my time there, and well, I thought what about the guys in my high school who didn't make it back and had been killed? Some of whom I had known.”  
 
Smith’s research began two years ago. He called the high school and asked Principal Keven Wynkoop for a list of names, and he received a photograph of the 18 names of the memorial. The memorial was put together in 1967. Smith went to work searching the archives of the Ballard Talisman, Ballard News-Tribune, Seattle Times, the Seattle PI and whatever collection he could get his hands on at the University of Washington Library and at Texas Tech University, which keep track of Vietnam War records. He also used the Vietnam Memorial Wall Memorial online to piece together their stories. He found family members and interviewed them, and while speaking with the third family listed on the memorial, Tom and Dianne Riordan, Smith was asked about Zeller. Tom Riordon’s brother, John Michael Riordon, was killed in Vietnam in 1966. They thought Zeller was also killed, but he wasn’t on the memorial list. Smith thought Zeller must have survived.  
 
“I promised them that I would do some additional research on Doug Zeller and find out what had happened to him.” 
 
 Smith found out the next day that Zeller had been killed during the Tet Offensive on March 19, 1968. Zeller was with the 19th Engineer Battalion. Smith reported that as an engineer Zeller worked on the major road infrastructure through the country – either road or bridge building.  
 
The Tết Offensive is known as one of the largest campaigns in the war and began January 30, 1968. Tết holiday is the Vietnamese New Year. The Tết Offensive was a series of surprise attacks on the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the U.S. forces. Smith said that a mine or hand grenade killed Zeller during an attack.  He was 21.
 
So knowing his work wouldn’t be complete without telling Zeller’s story, Smith went to work starting with telling Principal Wynkoop about Zeller and his findings so that his name would be added to the memorial.  Smith went looking in the archives and found that Zeller’s brother, Dick Zeller, was living in Edmonds.
 
The Ballard News-Tribune reached out to Dick Zeller, too, and he explained that Doug, or “Dougie” was the youngest of four boys and all the boys went to St. Alphonsus in Ballard.  
 
“A great school,” said Dick Zeller.  
 
Later, all four boys went to Ballard High School.  
 
“Dougie was by far the person that did well despite in growing up in conditions we grew up in – a darn tough son-a-of-gun and a good man, a good boy. The conditions under which we grew up were not the best; we were very poor, and he was able to move beyond that.”  
 
Dick Zeller had joined the military while Doug was still young and toured for several years while Doug was finishing school. Zeller was stationed mostly in the U.S.  
 
“I got back from my tour as he was taking off for his, so I didn’t get to see him much.”  
 
Zeller said that he had no idea his brother was not on the memorial, but was very happy to know that Smith was working on adding him and telling his story.  
 
“I’ve got to say I was so upset that he was not there, and then extremely thankful that Jerry was doing what he was doing. So I went from disappointment to joy. … For him to be put on the memorial at Ballard High School where all four boys graduated from is beyond my expectation. … I hate losing my brother, but to have him memorialized for my son and future grand children to see is perfect.”  
 
For Smith, he’s happy that he was able to discover Zeller and complete the stories of the nineteen lives from Ballard lost during Vietnam. He’s now calling his book “The Ballard Nineteen.”  
 
“Something got in my brain or whispered in my ear that we need to do something to honor the Ballard High School soldiers. I felt I had an obligation to these guys to tell their story. …But it’s not about the book, it’s about them,” said Smith.  
 
Smith himself graduated from Ballard High School in June of 1966. He volunteered for the army in December of 1966 and was stationed in California, Alabama, and Germany. Then in March of 1969 through March of 1970 Smith worked in Flight Operations for the 16th Combat Aviation Group, Americal Division at the Chu Lai Marine base 50 miles south of Danang. The Division was the largest in Vietnam and the Army aviation unit there provided helicopter support for all operations as well as medical evacuation.'

Photos courtesy of Jerry Smith.

 
Smith said his book will be published toward the end of this year, but he said that writing it, meeting the families of the fallen Ballard Beavers and learning about their lives has been a blessing.  
 
“I’ve made a lot of friendships, and there’s that common Vietnam bond we share, and it’s really a blessing to have talked to all the people I’ve met with, the families, and had I not talked to them through work on “The Ballard 18” we would have never been able to find Doug, and whether the book “The Ballard Nineteen” ever gets publishes or not, what matters is that Doug is memorialized.”  
 
The ceremony is scheduled for November 10th at 4 p.m. at Ballard High School.