City, Police Chief Pulled Into Sexual Assault Case Lodi Student Found At Bottom Of Pool Man Faces Murder Charges After Pursuit Death $10 Million In Cocaine Tied To Sacramento Bust Volunteers Needed To Help Wild Birds Kings Excitement At Fever Pitch New Video Cameras Used To Battle Traffic Woes Teacher Accused Of Providing Alcohol, Porn 2 Injured In Street Racing Crash Folsom Doctor Confesses To Rape Charges Controversy Swirls Around Expelled Kindergartener Man Acquitted Of Road Rage Charges Frog Fever Invades Calaveras County California Native American Museum To Be Built Fifth Inmate Kills Self At Sacramento Jail 'Star Wars' Fans Stay Up Late To Be First Davis Considers Public Alcohol Ordinance WINfirst Cable Company Faces Bankruptcy Sacramento Braces For Possible Kings' Celebrations

Vietnam Vet Makes Return To Rebuild

Clinic, Rose Garden To Be Built

ELK GROVE, Calif. -- A Vietnam War veteran is returning to the place that changed his life forever.

Thirty-five years ago, retired postal worker Bill McDonald was just 20 years old and a crew chief and door-gunner on a huey helicopter.

"When I left to go to Vietnam, nobody cared. When I came back, it was worse than nobody cared. They hated me. And now I am going back for a 35th-anniversary journey," McDonald said.

The decorated war veteran earned dozens of medals, including the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. It's an accomplishment he only recently recognized.

"They were totally meaningless to anybody up until just a few years ago when I finally said 'I am not ashamed, of what I was awarded'" McDonald said.

McDonald is now returning to Vietnam to rebuild what he and other soldiers tore down.

"Ultimately, you go back to someplace where you blew up the landscape, and you come back and help in some minor way, a clinic, and set up a rose garden, symbolizing peace," McDonald said.

The Sharon Ann Lane Clinic will treat the residents of a small remote village. And the rose garden will serve as peace offering. While in Vietnam, McDonald will also work closely with the same men he fought against 35 years ago.

"To meet their families and listen to their side of the story and have a meal together. It's very symbolic now," McDonald said.

The details of McDonald's return to Vietnam will be posted on his Web site, called "the Vietnam experience." To see it, click here.

Copyright 2002 by TheKCRAChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.