San Antonio Spurs owner Peter M. Holt will travel to Vietnam next month as part of a humanitarian delegation to experience the country’s history and culture while learning about the ongoing effects of the Vietnam War, wrote the local San Antonio Business Journal on Tuesday.
Holt (pictured) is a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Army. This will be his first trip back to Vietnam since the war. Holt will travel with retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Founder Jan Scruggs and other veterans and their families. In all, nearly 30 people will be traveling as part of the group.
Holt is the CEO of Holt Cos., whose holdings include Holt CAT — the largest Caterpillar dealer in the United States. He also the majority owner in the Spurs, Silver Stars and Rampage professional sports teams.
Holt is also the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s chairman of the Campaign to Build The Education Center at The Wall, which is being built at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
McCaffrey chairs the fund’s advisory board for the Education Center at The Wall.
The delegation will reach Hanoi on Jan. 11 and will make stops in Hue, Quang Tri and DaNang before leaving from Ho Chi Minh City on Jan. 17. Delegates will meet with Vietnamese and U.S. officials, Vietnam war veterans and visit Project RENEW. Project RENEW is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s mine education and mine-remediation program in the Quang Tri Province.
More than 350,000 tons of explosive remnants of war remains in Vietnam even 30 years since the war ended.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund was founded in 1979 to preserve the legacy of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.