Born 1948 in Dallas, Texas, Paul Reed joined the U.S. Army in 1966 and trained as an infantry paratrooper. After serving stateside with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Braggs, NC he volunteered for duty in Vietnam. In early 1968, he was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was honorably discharged in 1969, having attained the rank of sergeant. After returning from Vietnam, Paul married in 1970. He and his father-in-law became co-owners of an established feed store business in Fort Worth, Texas. Four years later, a divorce forced him to leave the business and start driving. Trucks were like large magnets to Paul. He drove semi-tractor trailer trucks for seventeen years.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Paul served as newsletter editor for the Texas Chapter of 173rd Airborne Brigade Association. Around 1992, he started a web site (www.173d.com) that memorializes deceased paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The site encouraged veterans who knew the deceased and how they died to also write. Sometimes it’s cathartic for them and sometimes not. During those same years he became a contributing author to a book entitled, Vietnam: Our Story, One on One – a compilation of war stories from the Vietnam War.

During dinner one night Paul’s mother brought him a box he’d sent home from the war, placing it in front of him like a dinner plate. The box contained a small diary, the personal poem book of a North Vietnamese enemy officer. The tiny book had been captured by Paul during battle and sent home to his parents as a souvenir for safekeeping. For two decades it remained forgotten and out of sight until that night at the dinner table. Later, after the diary's translation to English, Paul discovered a different compassionate side of the enemy officer, 1st Lieutenant Nguyen Van Nghia, and consequently, a different, distant side of himself. Forgiveness was key, literally the key to unlocking his whole Vietnam experience.

Intuitively, Paul knows others could benefit from his experience so he started working on a new book. Finding descriptive words to wrap around the experience did not come easily as he was a trucker not a writer. Even so, the whole thing felt like something from the Holy Grail so he began writing. The book, unlike his first contributing co-authorship in the late 1980’s was to be a story not of war but of healing. It was Paul’s attempt at making public an unusual forgiveness and subsequent reconciliation event between himself and a man whose only goal in life at one time was to kill the other.

About halfway through the book, Paul had the opportunity to assist Steven M. Smith of Seattle with the production of two ITVS (Independent Television Service) 57 minute TV documentaries known as Kontum Diary and Kontum Diary: The Journey Home. The documentary productions were an invaluable aid in finishing the book. Smith’s first Kontum Diary production began broadcasting in 1995 and garnered several awards including an Emmy. In 1997 the sequel or follow-up broadcast of the IRVS forgiveness story became known as Kontum Diary: the Journey Home. Both human-interest ITVS versions were broadcast in many Public Broadcasting Stations (PBS) markets. Internationally, Kontum Diary was purchased for limited broadcast by NHK TV of Japan. Later, WorldlinkTV, an American cable TV network, reported that The Journey Home had become one of their most requested films.

Also in 1997, Paul co-authored and finished his book with Ted Schwartz, Kontum Diary: Captured Writings Bring Peace to a Vietnam Veteran. It was published in 1997 by Summit Publishing Group, with a foreword by General William C. Westmoreland and a prologue by Captain Gerald L. Coffee. In 2000 and again in 2001, CBS 48 Hours, hosted by Peter Van Zant and Dan Rather, broadcast their 16-minute version of the forgiveness story in a program called, “The Fight to Forgive”.

Paul Reed’s army honors include the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Air Medal, and, among others, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. From 2005 until 2007 Paul served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Chapter 542 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and received the ‘Patriot of the Year” award in 2007. His most cherished civilian tributes are the “Hero of Forgiveness” award from the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance (forgivenessday.org) and “the Legion of Honor” award from the chapel of Four Chaplains (fourchaplains.org) in recognition of his service to all people without regard to nationality or faith. In 2007, Paul remarried. He has two children, and now resides in Dallas, Texas. He speaks publicly about his unique forgiveness and reconciliation experience.