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.
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