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Barry Hirschberg

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As in other wars, the grunts in Vietnam in some ways viewed their enemies as less than human. There was always a pejorative term and, to be successful in combat, you had to see it as it's either him or me. That's just war. But as Vietnam was beginning to wind down, the brass began to play games with a new statistic, the body count. (7:17)

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Talk about lucky! Not only was the 9th Infantry the first unit scheduled to go home, but the last month of his tour, Barry Hirschberg was made company armorer. That meant he didn't have to go out in the field. (4:26)

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It was a nice reel-to-reel tape recorder. Barry Hirschberg had bartered for it as his unit was scrambling to leave Vietnam. It never made it to the States and it took him a while as well. First they sent him to Schofield Barracks where he did a lot of weed whacking. When he did get home he had to remove his uniform to keep from getting hassled in his own country. (7:12)

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For Barry Hirschberg, Vietnam wasn't a war but an era, part of the vibrant mosaic of the Sixties. A musician himself, it was the music of the Sixties that, in his mind, would always be the best music there is. When he thinks about his days in Vietnam, he has empathy for anyone there whose life he may have affected. (7:04)

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When Barry Hirschberg was asked to lay a wreath at a Veterans Day commemoration, He wondered if he would be asked to speak. Just in case, he wrote a poem. (2:54)

Ambrose Fayard

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Ambose Fayard's mother passed away when he was a lad and he nearly wound up in an orphanage. He was a goalkeeper on an Irish hurling team when his cousin came from Chicago and said they needed a goalie there. So it was off to America. (2:57)

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Four lanes going one way! Ambrose Fayard could not get over how big and different everything was in America. He had come over from Ireland and was a Green Card holder which, as it turned out, did not protect him from the draft. After basic training, the Army made him a cook. (5:52)

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The troop transport was packed with thousands of men and endured a typhoon on the way to Vietnam. Army cook Ambrose Fayard was assigned to an artillery battery up in the Central Highlands. He marveled at the way Agent Orange cleared out the brush where a fire base was needed. (4:46)

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In training, the commander of the 155mm artillery battery decided that all personnel would have two jobs in the unit. That meant cook Ambrose Fayard was also on a gun crew. In his capacity as cook, he was proud of his version of that old classic, SOS. (4:04)

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There were a couple of singers and a couple of comedians, among others. Ambrose Fayard reminisces about his friends in the artillery battery back in Vietnam. He feels lucky that his tour was up well before the Tet Offensive hit. (4:02)