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Dennis Smith

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Someone in Dennis Smith's squadron found a Vietnamese orphanage that was run by Buddhist nuns. Conditions were not good there and the men took it on themselves to supply it with baby formula. The money was becoming a drain on their paychecks but one day they captured a nine foot python. They didn't know it yet but that python would become the kids' meal ticket. (3:30)

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After his tour in Vietnam, Dennis Smith continued his Air Force career in Space Track. He served in Germany where an over-the-horizon system covered the entire Soviet Union. He was there during the Yom Kippur War which was nowhere near but which caused the highest level of alert. (4:08)

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It was 1990 and Dennis Smith had put in his retirement papers. That was when he learned about Stop-Loss. The general had one more job for him. (4:54)

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Dennis Smith recalls the return from Vietnam as being worse for the guys who were getting out of the service than it was for him. Nobody was getting a good reception but they were getting rudely treated by the military on their way out the door. (5:45)

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It took years but Dennis Smith finally became involved with veterans groups and causes. He noticed that veterans seemed to stick with those from the same war. He remembered something his dad told him that explained this. (7:48)

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Dennis Smith feels sure that the South Vietnamese service members he worked with during the war were executed after it was over. He feels badly about that but he did make a return trip there as a tourist and that had the effect of settling his mind. (5:28)

Dennis Trudeau

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His father went north of the border to work for the railroad in Canada, so when war broke out, Dennis Trudeau enlisted in the Canadian Army as soon as he could talk his way in. The seventeen year old went to basic training and then let his parents in on it. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (5:27)

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Canadian Army recruit Dennis Trudeau's friend played a trick on him by volunteering him for a special forces unit, so Trudeau returned the favor. Both of them became paratroopers and were soon in England, training hard for the coming assault on the mainland of Europe. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (4:19)

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They knew that the time was close. Equipment was being loaded. Then they were bused to a highly secured camp near an air field. Canadian paratrooper Dennis Trudeau had trained hard and now he was told his mission. His targets were in a small town just inland from the Normandy coast and he would be in the first wave. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (4:27)

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He could not see anyone else. In the predawn, he gathered up his parachute and began a futile search for his unit and his gear, including his weapon. Canadian paratrooper Dennis Trudeau joined with an American captain he found on the road and they made their way toward the small Normandy town which was his target. Suddenly, there was the ominous whistling of aerial bombs right on top of them. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (6:30)