Sunday, October 1, 2017

Agent Orange puts a new generation at risk in Vietnam

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: how two men hear and are driven by the echoes of their time in Vietnam, one a Marine combat veteran, the other a conscientious objector who went to help the people of that country.
They are bound together now, working to help a new generation terribly affected by a war that ended before they were born.
Special correspondent Mike Cerre reports.
MIKE CERRE, Special Correspondent: At the height of the Vietnam War in 1968…
ANNOUNCER: Before the parade, mass draft card burning was urged.
MIKE CERRE: … and the protests against it that divided the country, two young Americans made very different decisions that would make Vietnam parts of their lives for the next 50 years.
LARRY VETTER, Vietnam Veteran: After I graduated from Texas A&M, I went to the Marine Corps basic school. And then, when I got out of that, in a few months later, we were off to Vietnam.
DICK HUGHES, Conscientious Objector: I was just wrapping up my acting studies at Boston University, and, at that time I was pretty concerned about the war, upset by the war.
So, I decided to do two things, that I would go down and take my physical in for the draft, but I would refuse induction.
MIKE CERRE: Larry Vetter, the volunteer, ended up serving two tours of duty in Vietnam as a Marine infantry and recon officer, much of the time on the front lines.

No comments:

Post a Comment