Philip Wavrek of Whitehall Township not only kept an almost daily account of his experiences as a U.S. Army soldier while serving in the Vietnam War but, many years later, used those accounts to author a book titled “The Third Herd: My Viet Nam Experience.”

Wavrek presented the book and gave a talk on his war experiences during a recent meeting of the Whitehall Historical Preservation Society.

The title of the book, Wavrek said, comes from the nickname given to the unit with which he served - the 188th military police company.

Wavrek, who served in the U.S. Army from June 1967 to June 1968, said he received the required paperwork for the draft in 1966, which he signed and returned. He later received a notice to report for the physical exam.

Despite being enrolled as a full-time student at Muhlenberg College in good standing, he was drafted.

“Nevertheless, I chose to serve,” he said.

Out of the 28 individuals drafted in his area, 20 had a minimum of two years of college, Wavrek noted.

Wavrek vividly recalled the monsoon rains in South Vietnam after touching down.

“We were walking in mud; it was nuts,” he said.

Wavrek also said the area in Vietnam he would initially live in was less than comfortable.

“My first impression was we were living in a garbage dump and landfill,” he said.

Initial duties included filling sand bags, changing tents and replacing bunkers, Wavrek added.

“As you can imagine, our hands and our muscles were sore,” he said.

Because he wasn’t sure he would ever see his family again, he committed himself to keeping in regular contact with them through letters.

“I made a decision; I was going to write home as often as possible,” he said.

Wavrek said his mother saved the 133 letters he mailed home.

The book includes 216 captioned photographs, which he took while serving.

Wavrek later graduated from Muhlenberg in 1970. Now retired, he had previously worked for Johnson and Johnson, Equitable Life Insurance, Bethlehem Steel and Bosch Rexroth Corporation.