Public TV to air Ken Burns’ ‘Vietnam’, local interviews
“The whizzing sound of bullets sailing over your head is something you never forget,” I told the interviewer.
“You have a vivid memory,” said Timothy Bakken, production director of Pioneer Public TV of Appleton. “It’s hard to forget those kinds of things,” I told him.
Bakken and his crew were in Minneota last week to turn the tables on this newspaper publisher by interviewing me for a change. Most often my role is that of interviewer. Bakken and his crew, Ben Dempcy and Reese Prokosch are interviewing area veterans because Pioneer Public Television is in the process of collecting and recording stories from area Vietnam War veterans who are interested in sharing their stories.
Advance screenings of THE VIETNAM WAR documentary from PBS will be shown locally at the SMSU Conference Center in Marshall on September 12.
THE VIETNAM WAR is a 10-part, 18-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick set to air nationwide on PBS on September 17 - 23. THE VIETNAM WAR will feature testimony from nearly 100 witnesses, including Americans who fought in the war, others who opposed it and Vietnamese combatants and civilians from many different perspectives.
Segments of THE VIETNAM WAR will form the basis of facilitated dialogues carried out with assistance from the Minnesota Humanities Center, the South Dakota Humanities Council, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, local veterans service offices and several other local partners.
As for me, “It was an opportunity to share my story with Americans ... some who have a slanted idea about the war and others who just haven’t heard much about it.”
While I understand only a small portion of the interview I gave will be used, it was a healthy way to shed cloudy memories of my past.
In Vietnam, I was what was called an RTO, or Radio Telephone Operator. I carried this heavy radio (15 pounds) on my back and had to keep constant touch with every platoon in our unit. I was known as, “The Old Man’s RTO.”
Essentially, I was the main communicator for the Captain (old man) of our unit. As a result, I was always aware the enemy, the VC (Viet Cong) as we called them, had a first priority to shoot the captain and wipe out his communication system ... and that was me.
Stories still vivid, shared in the interview, include the severe wounding of a fellow RTO by the VC and his badly wounded leader, a young lieutenant.
The officer asked me to give him a cigarette, which was in his pocket. But his pocket and part of his leg had been blown away. That was a moment that sent me to tears. His RTO was hit in the face and would lose an eye. It was a moment that cause me to lose my ability to think straight and brought me closer to God.
There were nights of loneliness — nights on ambush when I’d lay on the cold ground thinking about those at home. I knew they were going to movies, out to eat or just having fun and I doubted if they ever gave one thought about me lying on this cold, damp ground, praying I didn’t have to shoot anyone, or get shot.
Perhaps the most startling moment for me came when our unit was deep in the hills, searching for downed helicopter pilots. We’d been shot at earlier, and now it was my turn, along with three others, to guard a very large trail deep in the woods on a mountain side.
The rest of our unit left to rescue the pilots and we were left all alone. They saved the pilots and we watched from afar as they were excavated, but then night fell and the four of us were all alone.
We decided to sit “back-to-back” in the center of the trail. Soon we heard someone crawling through the brush toward us. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would jump out of my body — and I knew we were about to have a fight.
Fortunately, it was our own men finding their way back to us. My worst moment was over. I also nearly drowned in Vietnam. Yes, the memories linger — and maybe sharing them will help others understand why we did it, why we went there. We went to keep America FREE. I still believe in that cause.
The area screening will by from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, September 12, at the Southwest Minnesota State University Conference Center, 1501 State St., Marshall, Minnesota. Contact: Justin Guggisberg, Regional Veterans Service Coordinator at 507-537-7213 or justin.guggisberg@my.smsu.edu.