- [Announcer] Funding for
"In Country: A Vietnam Story" was provided by UPMC. (gentle music) - [Announcer] By
supporting the arts, we celebrate the
richness of life. UPMC Presents. (helicopter blades whirring) ♪ But come on all
you big strong men ♪ ♪ Uncle Sam needs
your help again ♪ ♪ Got himself in
a terrible jam ♪ ♪ Way down yonder in Vietnam ♪ ♪ Put down your
books, pick up a gun ♪ ♪ We're gonna have
a whole lotta fun ♪ ♪ And it's one, two, three ♪ ♪ What are we fighting for ♪ ♪ Don't ask me, I
don't give a damn, ♪ - No, it wasn't no joke, but
I'm saying it wasn't real. It can't be, it can't
be here, you know? That what I'm saying
to myself all the time. But, the fighting and the bombing, it was scary. But you get so used to it,
'til it didn't matter anymore. You'd say, "But, I'm going
home or I'm not going home." ♪ You know that peace
can only be won ♪ ♪ When we've blown 'em
all to kingdom come ♪ ♪ And it's one, two, three ♪ ♪ What are we fighting for ♪ ♪ Don't ask me, I
don't give a damn ♪ - I thought it was surreal. All you heard were helicopters,
paca, paca, paca, paca, they were going overhead
left and right all the time. When they opened the door to
the airplane the heat hit you in the face, even in
January, it was sweltering. ♪ And it's five, six, seven,
open up the pearly gates ♪ ♪ Well, there ain't no
time, they wonder why ♪ - In the bush you didn't
get the necessities. You might get water, there
might be a fresh water into you. You wouldn't even see a ration, you got a hot meal occasionally. And you didn't sleep in a nice
area containment, whatever. You slept on the ground,
you slept in a hole. (horns blaring) - [Chris] Thing I can't get over is all these beautiful squares and buses
- Man, that's right. - Look at that dealership. - [Chris] Ford, Ford in vietnam. - Dealership, wow!
- Go ahead, Ford. - This is some trip,
it is some trip. ♪ Come on a Wall Street,
and don't be slow ♪ ♪ Why man, this is war a-go-go ♪ ♪ There's plenty good
money to be made ♪ ♪ Supplying the Army with
the tools of the trade ♪ ♪ Just hope and pray
if they drop the bomb ♪ ♪ Drop it on the Vietcong ♪ ♪ And it's one, two, three,
what are we fighting for ♪ ♪ Don't ask me, I
don't give a damn ♪ - [Leroy] I'm just as lost
as a pig in a laundry. - Pig in a laundry. - Yeah. - [Chris] A pig in a laundry? - A pig in a laundry. You remember this
traffic circle, Boone? - [Chris] I do not
remember a traffic circle. - [Andrew] I'm lost, I don't
know nothing about a traffic. - [Chris] Big city. ♪ Come on generals,
and let's move fast ♪ ♪ Your big chance
is here at last ♪ ♪ Now you can go out
and get those reds ♪ ♪ The only good commie
is the one that's dead ♪ - I'm sorry everybody,
but I can't help it. - [Leroy] Yeah, don't worry
about that, man, shoot. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. - You my man, you
know that, don't you? - Yeah. (both laughing) (soft music) - [Chris] I was in
Vietnam with a lot of men, but two were there for
almost divine intervention. And they're headed
back with me now for the first time in 35 years. War makes friendships
that often last longer than the conflicts themselves. It's why I couldn't go back
to Vietnam without them. I'm Chris Moore, and this is
"In Country: A Vietnam Story." ♪ Morning glory ♪ ♪ With pride upon his pedals ♪ ♪ Gun smoke and palm leaves ♪ ♪ And I'm shaken with my
fingers upon this trigger ♪ ♪ I'm crying out ♪ ♪ But it's too late ♪ (soft music) - I'm proud to be a veteran. I feel a very special
obligation about that. I've always wanted to
go back to Vietnam. The memories are
etched in my mind. I came to Vietnam
January 4, 1970. Wide-eyed, 20-years-old,
didn't know anything. And, the bluest sky I
ever saw was in Vietnam, the reddest dirt, it was a
surprise, it was a eye-opener. It was a totally
different environment. Let's see, what is
this, what's in this? My friends Leroy Perry,
Andrew Boone and I served in Vietnam 35 years ago. This when you with
the Big Red One? - [Andrew] Yeah, mm-hmm. - [Chris] Now we're headed back. - [Leroy] I don't know
what it's gonna be like if we get over there. - [Chris] Looking at old photos we talked about what we
might expect upon our return. - You won't see nothing
like this at all this time, and it's good. - But you'll know,
'cause the road to Xuan Loc'll go this way
and the bypass goes around it. - That's right.
- You know where the split is. - Yeah, you need to
mark that for him. - [Chris] Andrew Boone
is the gentlest soul you'd ever want to meet. But in Vietnam he
went through hell. He spent a total of
18 months in country and a year that was with
the 1st Infantry Division. Most days for him it
was kill or be killed. That's Boone with his head
just chilling like Plato, contemplating his existence. - I constantly think about
how my mother thought about when I came home
and she was sick. And she was saying, I could
remember just as good, she said, "Look what they
done did to my baby." Because I was withdrawn. Now, I could talk to you, 'cause
me and you was over there. I could talk to him
'cause he was there. But my family and other people,
I couldn't even talk to 'em. They'd talk to me
and it was just like, a tongue to that wall. - Look, about squished the
tires down on it, flat. - I wanted to take a ride. - [Chris] My other good
friend, Leroy Perry, was our Platoon Sergeant
and a career military man who did three tours in Vietnam. He still deals with the
after effects of the war, like the time he was
ordered to dig a mass grave for Vietcong dead with
a front-end loader. - And see the thing behind that
too, you really don't know, you don't know if there's
murders in that group or what? You know? 'Cause you're talking about all they wanted was
the body count, right? But these guys
that's still missing, who's to say what
happened to these guys? What did do we do to put 'em
when we put 'em in the back of these dumps, or
whatever, right? 'Cause they doing a mass burial. You don't know who was in
those holes, you have no idea. - [Chris] Despite all of this, we'd talked about
Vietnam for years. After all, it enforged
our friendship. See, we all met each other
in D Company, 46th Engineers, The Dump Truck Platoon. - [Leroy] What was happening
with the Big Red One before you got attached to
us, what was your life like? - Really, I didn't
even think about it. All I was saying, I was there. I mean, the way I felt was
like, I'm going back home one way or another. I'm gonna be in a box, or
either I'm gonna walk back. And that's the way I feel, I never thought about
it no other way, I just lived day to day. You didn't try to make
friends with anyone because if you did, you
would subject to get killed quicker than he would,
because if he get hurt you was gonna try to go get him, and then that's where
you gonna get killed. - Ooh, look at that, right
through the top of it it! It didn't burn it, it
just exploded inside? - [Andrew] It blowed it. - And killed him inside? - [Andrew] The guy that
was at the microphone. - [Leroy] See, that's what
we were talking about, - From a desk.
- You think you got - a good job, you
behind the desk, you in a air conditioned
Quonset hut, but, if the rocket come for you. If your name come
up on the roster, that's it.
- That's right. - [Leroy] Vietnam is
a beautiful country. - [Chris] It is, it was always beautiful.
- It was always beautiful. - 'Cause even during the
War you could hit some spots it was just as peaceful
looking, you wouldn't think there was a war going on. - [Chris] That's
Sergeant Leroy Perry. We always saw him
as a leader of men. Tough as nails, but in reality
he still is mama's baby boy. - And then I went
back the second time she started raising sand. She said, "Look, "why you got to
go back to Vietnam "you been over there
one time already?" - I said, mama I'm
in the military, the Army sent me over there. I didn't tell her, God
forbid she see this thing, I never told her
that each time I went I had volunteered to go. And she don't know today
that I had volunteered to do this thing
- She know now. - She know about this trip. But them other two
times, she never knew. - [Chris] That a
third time you went you volunteered?
- The second and the third time
that I had volunteered. - [Chris] And what
happened the third time? - I volunteered, she never new. She never used to have
to call the government, I called the Army. - [Chris] I met
both of these men when they were hardened vets. Boone spent a total of
18 months in Vietnam. And by the time I
got there in 1970, Perry was on his third tour. Both of these men, much
more worldly than I, would become more
than my friends, they were like my big brothers. - Chris came in and we met him. He was just a young
kid, couldn't be no
more than about 19. He a little wild. And some of the things
that he would do, you know, we would tell him,
"No, you can't do that." "Because you get in trouble." "You can't do that,
you gonna in trouble." - And Chris came in, a
little young college kid looking like I said,
a little lost puppy. I don't know for
something about him, Boone and I just took to him. I guess, put him under our wing, and brought him through. And one thing about it, he
stood with us and everything. We taught him a lot, and a
lot of stuff we didn't know, we taught him a lot, we didn't
teach him nothing wrong, we taught him the right way. So he can truthfully say
that we never went astray. Not with him. - They're like my
older brothers. We probably sound
like brothers too, the way we talk to one another. We cuss each other out,
we talk about each other. But, as life goes on I
don't know what I'd do without these two men. And we were separated
for like 27 years. And when we found each
other, it was just like we hadn't seen each other
for about two minutes. And now we were
going back together. (upbeat traditional music) - Look at that park right there. - What is it a motorcycle
park in the corner? Oh, that's the
Presidential Palace, man. - It is Vietnam out here. - But what it look like, fellas? Did you ever think you'd come
back here after three tours? - Never!
- It look just like America to me. - [Leroy] I never thought
I'd make a fourth trip back. Never this one.
- They got look like high rise and everything else. - [Chris] We were
looking for our past, and we found it in
Ho Chi Minh City when we went on what we used
to call a recon mission. It ain't big as them D9s
- No, no, no, no.
- and drones they would pull, it's a lot smaller than that. The War Remnants Museum focused from a
Vietnamese perspective on the history of
aggressive military action against the people of Vietnam. for the three of us it
brought back vivid memories. - I wonder how
many VCs out here? - [Andrew] Say what? - [Chris] Probably a whole lot. - I wonder how
many VCs out here. There's so many reasons I had pros and cons
about coming back. And the closer we got, I think
a few times I could feel it. I could tell it. I don't know, you
get really emotional. And especially coming
in, what am I going into? Or what's gonna happen
when I get there? What am I gonna see? How the people gonna react? - That one right there,
picture right there, is when you laying on your
back, and you said, "Lord, say, "if I ever get back home,
I'm a do everything right." "I ain't gonna never
do nothing else wrong." That's the lies you tell
when you pinned out there. - 'Til you get out of there. - [Andrew] When you get
outta there you go back doing the same thing. - Now, you talk about
a hell of a weapon. You see the duds laying
right there, look. Some of 'em are empty, and
some of 'em didn't go off. But you didn't wanna
see that thing. You think it's a 60? - That's what it is. - Well, you outta know,
you carried 'em, wasn't it? - That's what it is, see the
tripod on the end down there where it's standing up? - Uh-huh. That's a 60.
- And then belt, yeah. - Boone, there's your
patch right there. - [Andrew] That's me? - [Leroy] Big Red One. - [Andrew] Look at 'em
got 'em there, that's me. (somber music) - [Chris] When you was looking, I know you had to
come out of there. - Yeah, that's why I came out. 'Cause I seen it so many times. It get to you when you see
something like that on the wall 'cause they bring back a whole
lotta memory that you saw that things could have
been prevented at the time. 'Cause frankly
being, I think, me, it's just a senseless war. What did we accomplish? Nothing. You got a lotta people killed. And when I walked
in there just then and walked around the corner,
it looked like my insides just turned inside out,
like I wanna throw up. And I just walked outside,
I said I can't look. When I told you, I
can't look at that. - [Chris] Our time at the
museum really affected Boone, so we cheered him up
the way we always did. - Boone, (speaking
in foreign language). - What that mean? - I didn't give you that name. - Big Black Boone. - I didn't give you that name, you don't know who
give you that name? - Who? - Wa. - Wa. Wa the one, I thought
you gave me that name? - No, uh-uh, Wa
gave you that name. - [Chris] I wonder why. - [Andrew] Uh-huh. (Chris laughing) (horns blaring) (upbeat traditional music) - A madhouse. (laughing) A madhouse. Unbelievable. But I love it. Boone, Boone! - Yeah? - [Chris] Mama said,
"You a big one." (both laughing) She said, "Boone." (speaking in foreign language) (Chris laughing) Boy, look at this
tree lined boulevard! Daylight, and our
recon mission continued 20 miles north to Long
Binh, our old military base. And onto a little
village called Xuan Loc. Well, which way is Xuan Loc? - [Leroy] It shoulda been
straight ahead, Xuan Loc. - Are you sure? - Yeah.
- I don't remember that curve being that deep.
- Me either. - Oh, that might be the
old road right there. Maybe that's why. 35 years ago this road,
QL1, or Highway 1, was red dirt and very dusty. We paved it. Well, as a truck driver they
put me in the engineers, not a transportation company,
which was a blessing, 'cause transportation companies
got ambushed all the time. And if you were pulling a truck with a trailer full ammunition or a trailer full of
JP-4 aviation fuel, you could die very
quickly and very fast if you were attacked. And so, they put me in the
engineers and we built highways. We were construction engineers,
not combat engineers, and we built QL1 from
Long Binh all the way to a little place
called Gia Rai. I don't recognize
nothing around here. - [Andrew] Me either. - Now things have grown
up so much around it, we can't place where we are. Look at that gate that's there. It's sure looking different
than that concertina wire wouldn't it, though?
- That's right. We used to have bunkers
all up and down this road up here and everything.
- That whole hill, what? Every, what 100 feet
or so, was a bunker. - Was a bunker.
- Yeah, uh-huh. - Machine gun outpost. - And all this was
concertina wire, where we riding right
now was all land mines. It was amazing. A huge military installation
that when we were there housed over 30,000 troops had
now become an industrial park that was home to 80
international corporations. The crowning touch
was an old water tower now remodeled into
a VIP restaurant. I don't recognize anything. It's like you've been dropped
down on Mars somewhere and they told you this was home. - The last time I was in
here had a machine gun in it. - Not in this part. - No? No, but I'm saying,
- Not in this part. - the last time I was
here I had a machine gun. - [Chris] It's great,
I mean, it's great. This is a lot better
use of the land than what we were doing with
it, as far as I'm concerned. Look, there it is, QL1! 20 miles later on Highway 1 we finally found something we recognize.
- What's that? - QL1, that's it! There was nothing here,
this was open field. We cut down all the trees,
the main road to Xuan Loc goes right in here. And then, we just
bulldozed all this stuff and made a bypass. - [Andrew] When I was
driving truck I used to stop many times here, many
times I stopped here. (horn blaring) - [Chris] Whoa! - [Andrew] Old boy got that
big truck humming ain't he? - Look, - Back in the days. - that's what we used to
do, I hate to tell ya. We'd come through laying
on that horn like that. - He ain't driving fast. - No, he was going too slow. (laughing) - [Andrew] Look like
a lawn mower, hold up. Look like a lawnmower. - [Chris] The good thing,
we used to use the bypass in the daytime, in the
night they would use it. - [Leroy] It is a lawnmower. - [Andrew] Yeah,
like a lawnmower. Look at him, look
it, he's ready. - [Leroy] Or a tiller. - Yeah, a tiller. Made him one, look. (both laughing) Good one. Number one, number on truck. - You talking about modern
technology, you can't beat it. - [Chris] Boy, look at that. (horns blaring) - To Saigon, the Saigon express. - Yeah. Look at him barrel
down the highway, man. - He got emergency brake on. (Chris laughing) That could be the
town taxi, huh? - [Chris] Could be the what? - [Leroy] The town taxi. - [Chris] All
right, y'all ready? - Ready! - All right, that's
the shot, brother. You're in the marketplace
in the old city of Xuan Loc. Where you can get
anything you want. Xuan Loc was a dusty little
village 35 years ago. Today it seems to be
a full-fledged town and we all wanted to
visit the Xuan Loc Market. (upbeat traditional music) I can't believe they
ride down there. - I coulda farted and
blew that thing down. (all laughing) - [Chris] You'd a blown
everything over down there. - Gold. - Yeah. - Pure gold? (laughing) No.
- No. - Oh no, uh-huh. - No. - I know, not real. - A nice one, very nice. - [Chris] We headed
back to Ho Chi Minh City and stopped at what
used to be Ambush Alley. Supply convoys were
hit all the time on this stretch of road. We believe that we saved a lot
of lives by clearing trees, straightening and
paving the road, and essentially cleaning
out Ambush Alley. Then our past caught
up with us, literally. - The dirt was in there before. - Oh, look at
that, look at that! Oh, oh, oh, where's my camera? - [Leroy] About a five ton. - [Chris] Oh, it's a five ton.
Oh, look at that, a wrecker! - 243. - [Andrew] And that's ours. - Oh, golly, I missed it.
- 243, that's the light one. - Oh! Seeing that old military
truck brought back a flood of emotional memories. And I came over a hill and
I started passing a bus with probably 100 Vietnamese
packed into a little small bus, and a small Lambretta was
coming up in his lane, and I was gonna run
him off the road, and I was headed right for him, and he just stopped in his lane. Little narrow two-lane street, no shoulders or
nothing like that. So the only option was to
squish him flat as a bug, or run the bus off the road and probably kill
48, or 50 people. I don't know,
something got into me and I locked the truck
up, and it skidded, trembled to stop, and I stopped almost as
close as I am to you, and he looked right in
my eyes and I could tell he was cussing me out. And I said, you stupid gook. And then something came over me, and I don't know
what it was, but, I think it was the realization that I was on the wrong side
of the road, in the wrong, in his country, getting
ready to kill him or run over on the bus and kill a lot of other
women and children. And that I was
behaving very badly. And I stopped doing that. And I just cannot believe
when I think about it what we used to do. In terms of, we would go down
the road blowing the horn fast as we could go. We were the biggest thing
unless it was a piece of armor on the road, we just go right
down the road barreling, and everything had
to move out the way. It was stupid! We were young, we were GI's,
we thought we ruled the world. We were in these
people's country, and
we did stupid stuff. And I can only ask God to
forgive me for it, I really can. 'Cause it was stupid. - I think during that time
we were gung-ho, young, and didn't care or
whatever, and I guess, I don't know, you get over
here you get kinda loose. 'Cause a lotta stuff we did
was wrong, we know that. And you can tell it more
now than you did then. It's going into a
person's backyard. You don't go in a person's
backyard and mess with 'em. - [Chris] It was at that
moment that I realized you don't come back
to Vietnam alone. Only these men knew what
I was feeling right now. That need for healing
and reconciliation. - Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you. - [Chris] It's what
drives some veterans like the members of
The Friends of Da Nang. - How are you? - Fine, thanks, how are you?
- Hello. - We highly appreciate
the cooperation and the assistance of
Friends of Da Nang. - [Chris] The Friends of Da Nang is a humanitarian organization
headquartered in Pittsburgh. - I feel more welcome
than the previous time. - [Chris] Tony
Accamando was an officer with the Signal Corps
during the conflict. - To also congratulate
you for the wonderful. - [Chris] George D'Angelo
flew close-in air support in F-4 Phantoms. - [Woman] From
Myanmar to Thailand. - [Chris] Noreen Doloughty,
who was only eight-months-old when her father was
killed in a firefight. - The projects that we do
currently and future projects. - [Chris] Roger
Costello, an Australian. He was in Special Operations attached to an Armored Squadron. Dr. Ed Kelly, orthopedic
surgeon who served with the 3rd Medical Battalion. - [Le] Hello, how are you doing? - Hello, hey, Le, Le!
- Yes. - I remember. - [Le] Hello. - [Chris] This medical
clinic was the first stop on the Friends mission of mercy. - This equipment
which was donated by Mercy Hospital in
Pittsburgh helps me to assist in the recovery of Vietnam
from our presence here. And I think the country
is still recovering from the years that they
suffered consequences as a result of the
conflict going on in this part of the world. - This is a retractor. - [Chris] Dr. Yong Le,
the clinic director, is grateful for this gift. - Because we here in Vietnam
we cannot get such instruments. They're very costly in Vietnam
and we cannot get such. We try to make it, but it difficult to have
surgical steel like this. - [Chris] We were surprised
to meet another American at the clinic. (speaking in foreign language) - My name is Sandy Do, I
am a physical therapist. I work in New York
City, in Manhattan at New York
Presbyterian Hospital. But I've had nothing but
wonderful experiences from Vietnamese people here. They've been very welcoming,
and very interested, and curious about who I
am and where I'm from. (speaking in foreign language) Last year, my first time
here, I was a little anxious. I wasn't sure how a
Vietnamese-American would be perceived coming back. If there would be
resentment or envy. But, when I came back
it was wonderful. (speaking in foreign language) - [Chris] Sandy and her
patients aren't the only ones to benefit from these programs. However, none of this
would be possible without the generosity of
The Friends of Da Nang. Though they're not all veterans, they shared dedication to
this land and its people. - Has your group
really increased since you first
started this operation? - It has increased. But it's also changed. It's increased in numbers
maybe by 10 or 12. But what's happened to
some people have gone off and done other things,
they have moved, but other people
have come aboard. And even younger people
have come aboard, Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese,
veterans and non-veterans. And the most impressive
thing to the veterans is that the non-veterans,
particularly the women who are involved in our work, they had no military
association with Vietnam, but just appreciate the
good work that we're doing. - Right, right. - But the great thing
about these facilities is they have an
opportunity to be diagnosed in the little village or
hamlet closest to their home, and based on that diagnoses
the decision's made what to do with them next. Wouldn't you think, Ed? - Yes. We might see some primitively
constructed walking aids, for instance, the
last time we were here they used a bamboo
stick for a crutch. (soft traditional music) - [Woman] Come with me. (people chatting) - Who's that? That's you, yeah. (camera shutter clicking) (laughing) (people chatting) This is the end result
of what happened from when we were over
here, so sad, so sad. We are so blessed to
live where we live and to see this 37 years later. (soft traditional music) - Some of these infants
have what we call in the United States,
cerebral palsy, and what they refer to over
here as movement disorders. One child has Down's
Syndrome, and, as I said, a couple of the individuals
that we see here have been effected by
the mother's exposure to Agent Orange which causes some characteristic
deformities at birth. (soft traditional music) - I don't know about y'all,
but that eats me alive. - That's right, you know why? 'Cause it remind me when we
was over here 35 years ago how they used to run around
and we'd have food and stuff, and the MC rations in our
bag, and they wanted it and they'd just have a
fit, eating it and doing. But some of the
kids were so hungry, they didn't know what to do. - [Chris] It looked like they
was getting to ya in there a minute ago, when you were
looking at that third one. - [Leroy] Yeah, it was. - [Chris] What
were you thinking? - Where did we go wrong? I'm still thinking
the same thing, man. (people chatting) - You're all right, man. You know that? - It's all wrong. It's all wrong. - All right, I got the point. - Go ahead on! - [Leroy] Go ahead. - [Andrew] You got
it too, by yourself. - I got the right
flank, go right ahead. - I got left. Just keep moving. - Keep moving.
- Keep moving. - [Andrew] Keep on moving. - We are visiting the homes of two children
with disabilities. And these two children were
born with disabilities. Maybe they have
the birth defects. When World Vision
received the support from The Friends of Da Nang, we implement the Let
Them Walk Again Project in assistance for the
children with disabilities. - [Chris] Fong Nguyen Huong
is the project director for Let Them Walk Again
World Vision Da Nang. World Vision has been helping some of the world's
poorest people for more than 50 years. - He can't wait, can he
get those little toes moving around all over
the place, you can't wait to get to that, you happy now? (dramatic traditional music) (barking) - [Chris] Not too
far down the road we visited another family who'd benefited from Let
Them Walk Again programs. - We have a support for the
surgery with orthopedic surgery, and according to the
doctor, or the surgeon, this is to keep the
arm's stabilization. After a few months then
they put into the arms with a metal pin. And after a few months we
need to do the surgery again to pick out the metal pin. That's why she request
for our support with financial support for
her to have the surgery again. (soft traditional music) - [Chris] It may seem
like a small thing to us to have surgery on your arm. But in rural Vietnam
having full mobility enables a child to help
with every day task. That means something here. It's odd to walk these roads
with a different purpose. Knowing that we're here as
friends rather than enemies. Yet our minds can't help
but wander back 35 years. Well, tell you the truth,
we only went on two patrols, but this was what it felt like. (laughing) - It just wasn't as cold. - As a matter of
fact, it was hotter, it wasn't as cold, right? - And it wasn't
this close together. - You right. You would not walk
this close together. - If you did you were dead. - Yes, sir. - Must we need to
do everybody in? - But did you Aussies
go out on patrol? I thought y'all
just rolled around in those fancy looking
trucks you had. - We tried to not go out there, but they sent us
out there, yeah. (all laughing) We ambushed a lot. - [Leroy] Did you? - [Man] We went up and down
the north of the borders, to Laos and Cambodia. - [Leroy] Okay, so you
were trying to interject the Ho Chi Minh Trail
wherever it ran, huh? - [Roger] Yeah. - There's one Aussie
who rented a dump truck with a kangaroo on the side,
they gave it Humping to Please. (all laughing) - A long time ago,
gentlemen, a long time ago. - Yeah.
- It was. - I think I weighed
165 pounds soaking wet. - I was exactly the same,
I was exactly the same. We were skinny,
what do you expect? We only had bloody ribs
and a couple of skin on us. - [Chris] Yeah, that was it. - I'm probably about
150 pounds heavier now. (all laughing) - I'm about 300 pounds heavier. (all laughing) - But you could still
hump that rice patty if you needed to, right? - Aye, if it was incoming
I believe I could. (all laughing)
- Or get up under this water. - Give me a piggyback, would ya? - [Chris] It felt great
to laugh about the things that used to be so serious. Maybe it was just
being on a mission that we could all
feel good about and realizing that it's
never too late to give back. Like the new wing of
the Hoa Son School. Built with donations from
The Friends of Da Nang. Where 600 kids were
as anxious to meet us as we were to see them. (all talking) - Which one, one? Woo! (all clamoring) Hey, careful, careful, relax. - Everybody back up! (upbeat traditional music) - [Chris] The students gathered
in the school's courtyard and performed a
special dance for us. (singing in foreign language) (all clapping rhythmically) - This school is dedicated
by the partnership of the Vietnam Children's
Fund as a living memorial to the 2 million Vietnamese
men, women, and children who lost their lives in
this country's recent wars, and as a gesture of
reconciliation and healing between the peoples of
Vietnam and America. - [All] Hello! (horns blaring) - All of Vietnam is alive. The place jumps from Ho
Chi Minh City to Hanoi. In Da Nang there are literally
millions of motorcycles which seems to be Vietnam's
favorite mode of transportation. Somehow in a sea of traffic
bicycles, motorbikes, cars, buses, and huge
trucks all seem to co-exist. Being back in country I
couldn't help but think about all the people who'd never have
a chance to make this trip. Over 58,000 Americans died
during the Vietnam conflict, including James Doloughty. His daughter Noreen had
joined us on our journey to pay her respects to the
father she'd never known. Somebody told me that
friends are just strangers who never met. - Yep, yep. - So, hello, friend. I think that applies
to Noreen and me. On the bus as we
travel to a cemetery for Vietnamese War
dead in Chu Lai, near the area where
her father died, we felt comfortable talking
to each other about her dad and life's what ifs. You ever think what
your life would be like if he had come home? - On one hand I
think about it a lot, on the other hand I try
not to think about it. What if he'd come home but
he had come home wounded. Since I don't remember
my dad, I was so young, I don't have any
of my own memories or anything that
feels like it's mine. And, as I kinda learn more,
and I kinda understand who he was, it kinda
hurts more that this isn't just some figment
of my imagination, this was a person that
is not here with me. And I was the only kid I knew who had lost a
father in Vietnam. And you can't really talk to
people in your family about it 'cause it's too painful. (somber traditional music) - [Chris] We couldn't
go to the exact spot where her father was
mortally wounded, but we did visit this cemetery
for Vietnamese War dead where nearly 1,000 graves
are marked unknown. Do you suppose it was close
to here that your father died? - Yeah, it was
somewhere, I mean, it was right off of
that road we've been on. Here, I mean, this is
something I've wanted to do for a long time. Can heal to a point of
being able to function, and, you know, be
better about it. But that's never
gonna totally go away. - You all right, man? - Yeah, I mean,
it's just hurting. People just don't even know whether they family here or not. Don't know where they
husband, they loved one, or they kid, or what, they don't
know, they just don't know. It is really hurting me when
I look at stuff like that. - We made it bro,
and we made it back. - That's what I was talking
about, I said I coulda be one the same way, I could be
laying there and nobody know where I'm at. It's just a miracle. But I'm thankful that I am,
but I would love to know, who, is it America
there or what? - [Chris] Yeah,
who's down there. - I'm sorry, but I can't help it.
- Don't worry about that, shoot, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. You my man, you
know that don't ya? - Yeah. - [Leroy] Don't be making
them ugly faces though. - Yeah. - All right? - Yeah. - Huh? - Yeah man, it's
something out there. Yeah, I'm okay. - [Leroy] I know you okay. - Get it out my system. - [Leroy] Let it
out, let it out. Let it out. You straight? - [Andrew] Yeah, I'm
straight, I'm all right. - [Leroy] You messed up my
hanky, I didn't bring but one. (all laughing) And give me the dry side. (all laughing) (engines roaring) (horns blaring) - [Chris] I can't believe I'm
walking through the streets of old Hanoi City alone. (speaking in foreign language) People are everywhere
doing any and everything that one could imagine. (speaking in foreign language) But it's taken almost
a full week in country for me to get over the feeling
that I'm not safe here. That I need a weapon
to walk these streets, but the people are very
friendly, and as I walk, I'm just a brief curiosity. - What are you doing there? (laughing) - I constantly have my
home video camera rolling and I captured these
shots in Hanoi. American Jeep still in use. Lovers in the park
doing what lovers do. Kids just being kids. And of all things in
this communist country, the decadent art of
breakdancing being practiced, all under the watchful
eye of Ho Chi Minh, who's massive tomb sits atop this hillside
overlooking Hanoi. A place the Vietnamese
fiercely defended. (artillery blaring) Shooting down many
American planes and taking our pilots prisoner
for long, torturous stays in the Hanoi Hilton. (speaking in foreign language) But hatred caused
by war seems lost on many of the city's residents as they go about their business. (horn blaring) I'm so emboldened now that
I decide to get a haircut. How long? Tell him how long? How long? Go ahead. (speaking in foreign language) How you gonna cut it? - [Barber] Move away. - Glasses off? Okay. This is what I call
being on the block. I've had my haircut
on the block, but this is really on
the block, in Hanoi. (upbeat traditional music) Our trip back to
Vietnam is almost over. We head north to Halong Bay
just off the Tonkin Gulf where the Vietnam War
supposedly started with an attack on the USS
Maddox by Vietnamese gunboats. And it's a place of
incredible beauty, and our day there
was shrouded in fog. Everyone seemed to be thinking
of the journey we'd shared. - A small problem can result
in wars if you're belligerent and not understanding. But if you are understanding,
and you empathize with others, and you're more prone to see
their side of the problem and try to solve it. And you know what we
thought when we were here, and how we referred to people. Can you imagine doing that now? I can't even imagine it. - I've come back
with my eyes open and looked at the
people for what they are and the country for
what it is today. I'd say to any vet,
you need to come back, you need to come back. You need to come
back and get closure, and that's what
it's taken for me. (upbeat music) - [Chris] This is all part
of a veteran's legacy. We appreciate better than most the honor and privilege
of serving our country. As younger men we went to war believing that what we were
doing was right and necessary. Growing older and returning
the Vietnam to see its beauty and the beauty of its people
has brought us full circle, but with a better
understanding of what it means and costs to be free. - This is the truth at the time, and this is what I signed
on for, and you do it. And now, my whole idea of
war is quite different, as you know, and I'd
probably wouldn't be enlisting these days. I think there's plenty of
other alternatives to war. And it's a matter of working
to find those alternatives. - I think my wishes
are, if we could just not have all these wars
and then become friends. We've done it with the Japanese,
now we're their friends. We had wars with the Germans,
now we're their friends. Today America's Vietnam's
largest trading partner. So it makes me wonder
what it was worth? - I can't speak for
anybody other than myself, and those who have said to me that once they've come back
to Vietnam as a veteran it has certainly helped them
come to grips with the past, and even more so for the
future of their lives. - I know other people
who've come here to see where their fathers
died, and most of them have told me they just feel
such a sense of relief about it, and such a peace about it
that they didn't expect. But, at least now with this
trip I can have my own memories of the country and the people. I feel like this
is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. - It's hard to talk about
stuff like that, you know? 'Cause it brings back memories. I could look in that
book there and show you a lotta guys that was with
me, they're not with me now. They were left over there. To me, I wasn't around a lotta things like killing, and then when you go in
the Army you do things that you don't wanna do, but
you have to do 'em to survive. (soft music) - Anybody you in the
combat zone with you bond, its really, it's
thicker than blood, it's thicker than blood. And there's stories
that we could tell that we wouldn't tell. Things that we have
done we'll never tell. I met Boone, I met Perry, they were like my
older brothers. They were street and
world-wise guys who just took a little young
wet-behind-the-ears kid like me, who turned 21 in Vietnam, and helped give me some
self-control and some maturity. That's what they did for me, and I'll always love
'em for that, always. (chuckling) (crying) I don't even think they
know what they mean to me. I don't even think they know. (soft music) War is a brutal, ugly,
hurtful business. The pain and suffering
stayed with us long after the battles are over. But we keep other things too. There are friendships
and respect, and a deep connection that
says "Were you in country?" "So was I." A pundit once said
that "Veterans make
the best pacifists." I see that sentiment
personified in Boone, Perry, and the rest of the
folks on this trip. We're well aware of the fact
that there are other vets who don't share our views
on war, and its value. For us at least, this
journey has been a way of making peace with
Vietnam, with ourselves, and with our past. ♪ Imagine a place where the
children don't think of war ♪ ♪ Peace is always
in their eyes ♪ ♪ You may say that I'm dreaming
and I don't understand ♪ ♪ But I'm not the only one ♪ ♪ Ho oh oh ♪ ♪ What is war, I wanna know ♪ ♪ Who will the next
one be fought for ♪ ♪ Courage take my
trembling hand ♪ ♪ And guide me
through the darkness ♪ ♪ Let love be my candle ♪ ♪ And let peace shelter me ♪ (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funding for
"In Country: A Vietnam Story" was provided by UPMC. (soft music) - [Announcer] By
supporting the arts we celebrate the
richness of life. UPMC presents.
