It seems odd that a solid friendship bonds two guys who were in the same place at the same time, but didn’t know each other until more than four decades later.

But St. Paul native Tony Jensen says he probably wouldn’t be here today without Rick Williams and his men.

The two were in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1970. Jensen was an Air Force officer in an intelligence unit. Williams calls himself a “mud Marine” protecting Jensen’s work and equipment. Williams’ sergeant warned him that if the enemy “gets past you, you’d better be dead.”

About five years ago, the two “collided, if you will,” on a tennis court in the Dayton, Ohio, area, Jensen says. The Vietnam veterans started to talk, which led to their Da Nang connection.

They share their story in a video created by public television in Dayton. It’s part of the “Vietnam Stories” project that followed filmmakers Lynn Novick and Ken Burns’ 17-hour Vietnam documentary this fall on PBS.

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Jensen lived in St. Paul until he was 10 years old, when his family moved to Long Island, N.Y. “Then I chose to return for college (St. Thomas),” he said in a recent phone conversation. “I still have lots of family there and I still have friends there.” He graduated in 1964 (after marrying Patricia Dobbs of Leonidas, near Eveleth, his senior year) and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force.

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Frogtown Community Center unveils new artificial turf field, playground and outdoor fun Jensen got Air Force intelligence training, was sent to Taiwan and then spent time in Maryland before he was sent to Vietnam in 1970. Jensen says he knew some of the guys in the Marine unit protecting the perimeter in Da Nang, but not Williams. The Marines were often served steak, Jensen says, but because they spent a lot of time in the field, it was difficult for their nervous stomachs, so they’d visit the Air Force mess for lighter fare like chicken.

In their “Vietnam story” video, Williams gets emotional talking about their friendship. Jensen says there’s good reason for that: “Rick left Vietnam with two purple hearts. There’s some shrapnel that’s still in his leg.”

Jensen and Williams live near Dayton but Jensen says he returns to Minnesota often — almost always for the Fourth of July. He has two sons and seven grandchildren living in Minnesota.