WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Welcome to Veterans Radio. My name is Dale Throneberry. 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:06.360 I want to thank you for tuning in today. Myself 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:08.480 and the rest of the crew, we're all really busy 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:12.240 out at Radio on the River. Today is Sunday, September 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.820 28th, 2025. And this is our fourth annual fundraiser, 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:20.469 Radio on the River. And we're All of us are busy, 00:00:20.629 --> 00:00:23.350 so we've kind of decided to reach into our archives 00:00:23.350 --> 00:00:27.609 to bring you a program from January 2016 entitled 00:00:27.609 --> 00:00:29.870 We've Gotta Get Out of This Place, The Music 00:00:29.870 --> 00:00:32.869 of the Vietnam War. My guest on that program 00:00:32.869 --> 00:00:35.729 was Vietnam veteran and award -winning author 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:38.609 Doug Bradley. This was Doug's first appearance 00:00:38.609 --> 00:00:42.030 on our program and he's appeared with us many, 00:00:42.049 --> 00:00:44.950 many times since then. So let me quickly thank 00:00:44.950 --> 00:00:47.450 our sponsors and we can get started with today's 00:00:47.450 --> 00:00:50.590 program. We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans 00:00:50.590 --> 00:00:53.329 Specializing in Veterans Disability Claims. Call 00:00:53.329 --> 00:00:57.890 Legal Help for Veterans at 800 -693 -4800 or 00:00:57.890 --> 00:01:00.829 go to their website LegalHelpForVeterans .com. 00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:03.799 The National Veterans Business Development Council, 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.719 better known as NVBDC, is the nation's leading 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:09.299 third -party authority for certification of veteran 00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:11.819 -owned businesses. For more information go to 00:01:11.819 --> 00:01:14.900 their website nvbdc .org or give them a call 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:21.650 at 888 -237 -8433. PuroClean, known as the paramedics 00:01:21.650 --> 00:01:24.430 of property damage, each PuroClean office is 00:01:24.430 --> 00:01:27.370 independently owned and operated. In fact, PuroClean 00:01:27.370 --> 00:01:29.989 is one of the nation's leading restoration franchise 00:01:29.989 --> 00:01:33.150 networks and because you are a veteran you can 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:36.950 get 25 % off their franchise fee. For more information 00:01:36.950 --> 00:01:40.870 go to PuroClean .com The Irwin Prescott and American 00:01:40.870 --> 00:01:43.930 Legion Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam 00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:47.269 Veterans of America Chapter 310 both of Ann Arbor, 00:01:47.489 --> 00:01:50.349 Michigan. If you'd like to support Veterans Radio 00:01:50.349 --> 00:01:53.370 you just go to veteransradio .org and click on 00:01:53.370 --> 00:01:57.069 the donate button. So here we go and now from 00:01:57.069 --> 00:02:00.870 2016 here's we got to get out of this place. 00:02:05.709 --> 00:02:09.569 All across America and around the world, this 00:02:09.569 --> 00:02:16.250 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:20.330 now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 00:02:25.409 --> 00:02:27.789 And good afternoon, America, and welcome to Veterans 00:02:27.789 --> 00:02:31.949 Radio. Everybody put your VHS on record so you 00:02:31.949 --> 00:02:34.050 can pay attention to what's going on during the 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:36.659 football games. You also have to get your tique 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:38.759 or tiac, however you pronounced it when you were 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:41.199 in Vietnam, out and put in the two big giant 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:43.759 reels and hit record because we're going to be 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.460 playing a lot of music from the Vietnam era and 00:02:46.460 --> 00:02:48.860 I want to say to all of our veteran brothers 00:02:48.860 --> 00:02:51.259 and sisters thank you for your service and welcome 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:53.979 home. From all of us here at Veterans Radio we 00:02:53.979 --> 00:02:57.599 thank you and so this program is dedicated to 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.889 you. We are going to be playing music from the 00:03:00.889 --> 00:03:03.229 Vietnam era. The name of the program actually 00:03:03.229 --> 00:03:05.330 is We Gotta Get Out of This Place. Nobody really 00:03:05.330 --> 00:03:08.110 remembers that song too much, right? The soundtrack 00:03:08.110 --> 00:03:10.189 of the Vietnam War. This is a book that has been 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:13.530 written by our guest today. There were supposed 00:03:13.530 --> 00:03:15.330 to be two of them and maybe we'll get to second 00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:18.110 one in. But Doug Bradley is going to be on and 00:03:18.110 --> 00:03:20.530 Craig Werner put together the book We Gotta Get 00:03:20.530 --> 00:03:22.289 Out of This Place. It's the soundtrack of the 00:03:22.289 --> 00:03:25.009 Vietnam War and it talks all about the different 00:03:25.009 --> 00:03:28.009 music that was being played from 1964 up until 00:03:28.009 --> 00:03:32.199 1973. And you're going to be amazed by the diversity 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:35.360 and I think the changes in style and the changes 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.560 in the environment in Vietnam. I was shocked. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.479 Actually, I was shocked when I was reading the 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.439 book. I guess I was very naive. I was unaware 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:46.759 of a lot of things that seemed to be going on 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:50.960 while I was in Vietnam in 1969. But then again, 00:03:51.020 --> 00:03:53.400 I guess as a helicopter pilot, I went, I got 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:56.219 to go back to the barracks and I didn't have 00:03:56.219 --> 00:03:58.319 to do guard duty and all the other things that 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.879 many, many people had to do. So I think that 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.080 you're going to find it a very interesting program. 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:05.719 We're going to take a real quick break, and then 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:08.400 we'll be right back with Doug Bradley, one of 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.379 the authors of We Gotta Get Out of This Place. 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:52.970 You're listening to Veterans Radio. And that 00:04:52.970 --> 00:04:55.350 is Detroit City, and that was by Bobby Bear, 00:04:55.550 --> 00:04:59.410 and that was recorded in 1963, just before the 00:04:59.410 --> 00:05:02.629 beginning of the Vietnam War. And joining me 00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:05.149 on the line right now is Doug Bradley, one of 00:05:05.149 --> 00:05:07.230 the authors of We've Got to Get Out of This Place. 00:05:07.689 --> 00:05:10.750 So, Doug, welcome to Veterans Radio. Thanks, 00:05:10.910 --> 00:05:13.889 Dale. Honored to be with you and with our brothers 00:05:13.889 --> 00:05:16.769 and sisters, who hopefully will jump in and participate 00:05:16.769 --> 00:05:20.149 in the conversation. And mine was in a CHI. AKA 00:05:20.149 --> 00:05:22.410 IDEC. I've got it lined up. I'm ready to go. 00:05:22.769 --> 00:05:26.129 Okay, you got that on extended play? Uh -huh. 00:05:26.449 --> 00:05:29.550 It's on extended play, right? Yes, of course. 00:05:29.709 --> 00:05:31.629 You can record, you know, I forget those are 00:05:31.629 --> 00:05:34.129 like eight inch reels of tape or something. Oh 00:05:34.129 --> 00:05:37.129 yeah, it was just amazing. So tell me a little 00:05:37.129 --> 00:05:39.329 bit about how you got involved in putting this 00:05:39.329 --> 00:05:41.829 book together. I found it was a fascinating read 00:05:41.829 --> 00:05:46.379 for me. Well, I'm glad you liked it. We talked 00:05:46.379 --> 00:05:49.920 to a number of warrant officers and some of your 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:54.060 fellow pilots, so we tried to get around as many 00:05:54.060 --> 00:05:58.139 people as we could. The reality is, Dale, that 00:05:58.139 --> 00:06:00.920 one of the sad, perhaps the saddest legacies 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:05.660 of the Vietnam War was the lack of welcome home 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:09.600 and reception and sort of attention that Vietnam 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.339 vets received. for a variety of reasons, which 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:14.180 I don't think we need to belabor and go into 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:17.720 some places we're still fighting that war. And 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:21.000 what we found, because I'm a Vietnam vet, I was 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:26.180 in, long been in 70 and 71, came back, did a 00:06:26.180 --> 00:06:28.019 lot of work with veterans, set up a storefront 00:06:28.019 --> 00:06:30.540 service center in Madison that I think helped 00:06:30.540 --> 00:06:34.139 become one of the examples and models for the 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:38.449 vet centers that exist now. You know, so I stayed 00:06:38.449 --> 00:06:41.170 around with it and we just found one time Craig 00:06:41.170 --> 00:06:43.670 and I were both together as a professor at the 00:06:43.670 --> 00:06:46.750 UW. We were talking about music because he teaches 00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:48.810 a lot of classes about music and he had a segment 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:51.810 of the course devoted to the war and asked me 00:06:51.810 --> 00:06:54.050 what I thought about the tunes that he had for 00:06:54.050 --> 00:06:56.069 that part of the course. And I said, well, you 00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:57.670 know, my soundtrack's a little different. Here's 00:06:57.670 --> 00:06:59.850 when I was there. Here are the songs that I would 00:06:59.850 --> 00:07:02.670 include. Next thing we knew, this is a little 00:07:02.670 --> 00:07:05.600 holiday gathering at a vet center. We had six 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:07.699 or seven vets around standing around us saying, 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.379 what about this song? Or no, I remember this. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:13.160 And there was a band that covered that. And we 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:14.540 sort of looked at each other and said, you know 00:07:14.540 --> 00:07:18.439 what? There's something going on here. And the 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:21.420 more we talked to those guys and then the more 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:23.980 that circle expanded and we talked to people 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:26.920 around the country, we realized so many men and 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:29.379 women still had not been able to talk about their 00:07:29.379 --> 00:07:33.300 experience, had not been listened to or encouraged 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:36.180 to talk. but they could talk about a song. And 00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:37.899 in the course of talking about a song, whether 00:07:37.899 --> 00:07:41.279 it was Detroit City, or Jet Plane, or Fortunate 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:44.259 Son, or Dr. Bay, or Boots for Mates and Walkin', 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:46.439 they started then to talk about their experience. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:49.579 And we sort of came away with this notion that 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:52.360 music, our music, the best music, I think it 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:54.319 was, frankly, it was the best of country, it 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:56.139 was the best of soul, it was the best of rock, 00:07:57.500 --> 00:08:00.319 that helps to sustain us. It connected us as 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.160 a generation. It connected us to one another. 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:05.519 You could form communities around it. It was 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.540 a way you could sort of survive and keep your 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:09.660 act together. And then for some, it was a way 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:12.920 to heal when they got back home. So it was a 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.920 joy to do this. We are just so glad that the 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:17.819 200 plus people that we talked to over the course 00:08:17.819 --> 00:08:19.839 of 10 years invited us into their lives and shared 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:22.779 their stories. Well, that's for sure. And the 00:08:22.779 --> 00:08:27.040 music did evolve dramatically over that 11 year 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.079 time period. And we're going to cry and try and 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:32.840 keep it. somewhat chronological as we're talking 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.220 about the different kind of music that was there. 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:37.100 In fact, I was just reading a little bit this 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:40.899 morning again of, you know, when the conflict 00:08:40.899 --> 00:08:43.980 broke out, the conflict, yeah, the war broke 00:08:43.980 --> 00:08:46.720 out, you know, with the Gulf of Tonkin incident 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:48.299 and all these other things that were occurring 00:08:48.299 --> 00:08:50.500 there. I mean, many of the people that were in 00:08:50.500 --> 00:08:52.980 Vietnam were career officers. The draft really 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:56.519 hadn't kicked in as far as sending people over 00:08:56.519 --> 00:09:00.710 there. And so we're looking at older soldiers 00:09:00.710 --> 00:09:03.669 and veterans, and they're still listening to, 00:09:03.669 --> 00:09:05.950 you know, 40s and 50s music, not necessarily 00:09:05.950 --> 00:09:09.129 the new -life music either. Yep. Yep. No, you're 00:09:09.129 --> 00:09:11.129 absolutely right. And the other interesting thing, 00:09:11.269 --> 00:09:13.610 Gale, is that sometimes some of those songs, 00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:17.809 like Detroit City, you talk about 63. I'm there 00:09:17.809 --> 00:09:21.149 in 70 and 71. I never heard that song when I 00:09:21.149 --> 00:09:23.710 was growing up. I grew up in Silly in Pittsburgh. 00:09:23.809 --> 00:09:27.509 I was more of a... urban kind of soul r &b guy 00:09:27.509 --> 00:09:31.110 and you know American dance point city was played 00:09:31.110 --> 00:09:35.330 on every jukebox every band Filipino band you 00:09:35.330 --> 00:09:39.029 know Korean band Taiwanese band Vietnamese band 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:41.990 played it and covered it so it's like for me 00:09:41.990 --> 00:09:46.169 that song is 70 and 71 not just 63 so some of 00:09:46.169 --> 00:09:48.700 that you're right the soundtrack Really changed 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:50.480 radically, but I mean when you look at some of 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:53.080 the stuff Detroit City out in 63 We got to get 00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:56.919 out of places popular in 65 those songs stayed 00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:00.960 in in the in the Vietnam jukebox if you will 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.559 well, yeah, you mentioned this at all of all 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:11.149 of the bands a band a band that we saw I've got 00:10:11.149 --> 00:10:14.750 to be careful here with these bands that we saw, 00:10:14.789 --> 00:10:16.330 you know, had these cover songs and they played 00:10:16.330 --> 00:10:19.309 everything from the Beatles all the way up, you 00:10:19.309 --> 00:10:21.230 know, probably after I left, you know, into the 00:10:21.230 --> 00:10:24.230 Jimi Hendrix age. Absolutely, absolutely. And 00:10:24.230 --> 00:10:27.470 it was, sometimes it was, you know, really good. 00:10:27.509 --> 00:10:29.009 Some of them were excellent. I mean, the Beatles 00:10:29.009 --> 00:10:32.090 were very popular at the beginning of the war 00:10:32.090 --> 00:10:34.789 also, you know. And, you know, then they kind 00:10:34.789 --> 00:10:37.730 of fell by the wayside because they're, I don't 00:10:37.730 --> 00:10:40.080 want to say their stuff was... I don't know. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:42.799 It wasn't as powerful, I guess. It didn't make 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.980 you think as much until later on in their career, 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:51.899 initially. But when you were playing the Bobby 00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:56.519 Bears and Detroit City and one of the other ones 00:10:56.519 --> 00:10:59.039 that I thought of that we put on the list, I'm 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:00.879 not necessarily going to play all these, but 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:03.519 the Green Green Grass of Home by Porter Wagner. 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:06.480 Actually, I'm more familiar with the Tom Jones 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.690 version. Right right of that song. Yeah. Yeah, 00:11:10.750 --> 00:11:14.470 and both were hits and You know again and you're 00:11:14.470 --> 00:11:16.389 hitting on something else here, too You know 00:11:16.389 --> 00:11:19.370 that was very curious about this, you know journey 00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:22.470 that we took with these Conversations and then 00:11:22.470 --> 00:11:25.110 writing the book is that you know a lot of people 00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:27.350 I mean Hollywood did a thing of sort of reinventing 00:11:27.350 --> 00:11:29.350 what we think about Vietnam and everybody thinks 00:11:29.350 --> 00:11:32.210 it's sort of it's for what it's worth by You 00:11:32.210 --> 00:11:35.129 know Buffalo Springfield, you know, it's it's 00:11:35.129 --> 00:11:37.779 country Joe It's a feel like I'm fixing to die 00:11:37.779 --> 00:11:39.860 rag. It's the doors, you know, with a cockroach 00:11:39.860 --> 00:11:43.440 now. But, you know, more often than not, the 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:45.820 men and women we interviewed talked about Detroit 00:11:45.820 --> 00:11:48.580 City, because that line, I want to go home, of 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:50.960 green, green grass at home, because it's about, 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.940 you know, being away and missing your family 00:11:53.940 --> 00:11:55.860 and missing the girl that you were in love with. 00:11:56.539 --> 00:11:59.440 So some of these songs, you know, that maybe 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:01.820 wouldn't have had a lot of staying power or didn't 00:12:01.820 --> 00:12:05.759 have a reason to, because of the lyrics and the 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.240 message. I mean, Sloop John B. You know, I mean, 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:11.039 that's not about Vietnam, but you know, I want 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:12.620 to go home. This is the worst trip I've ever 00:12:12.620 --> 00:12:16.159 been on. Some people just sort of clung to songs 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.299 like that. So it's really kind of interesting 00:12:18.299 --> 00:12:21.539 when you sort of look at, you know, the chronology 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:23.980 and the changes, but also the stuff that stuck 00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:27.240 and stayed. Anything about home, about missing 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:29.620 somebody. I mean, songs about, you know, like 00:12:29.620 --> 00:12:32.279 Gloria, because it's a guy's... Wife's name's 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:34.259 Gloria, so that's going to be his favorite song. 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:36.720 There was a lot of karaoke going on, but it wasn't 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:40.960 called karaoke at the time, which would be really 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.580 embarrassing. I got an email this week from Al 00:12:44.580 --> 00:12:47.360 Wood, who was a dog handler for the Australians, 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:54.960 and he had recorded, he said, a bunch of AFVN 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:59.759 programs on his big giant recorder, and so he's 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:02.409 going to send me all of those. Oh my God. Which 00:13:02.409 --> 00:13:05.490 I definitely will forward them on to you because 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:08.710 I think this is something that is fascinating 00:13:08.710 --> 00:13:11.570 to me when we are talking about listening to 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:14.049 the radio. And again, we are talking with Doug 00:13:14.049 --> 00:13:15.929 Bradley, one of the authors of We Gotta Get Out 00:13:15.929 --> 00:13:19.590 of This Place. And we really do. I realize this 00:13:19.590 --> 00:13:21.009 is a football day and it's probably going to 00:13:21.009 --> 00:13:23.730 be tough. But I would like you guys, men and 00:13:23.730 --> 00:13:27.009 women out there, because nurses were very important 00:13:27.009 --> 00:13:30.320 over in Vietnam as well. I'm looking at the list 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.139 that I sent you and you said how difficult it 00:13:33.139 --> 00:13:36.659 was to come up with the soundtrack for Vietnam. 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:41.299 There are hundreds and hundreds of songs that 00:13:41.299 --> 00:13:46.100 are so important. Since I talked to you earlier 00:13:46.100 --> 00:13:50.080 in the week, I think I've just been on this quest 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.580 to hear as many as I possibly could. My head's 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:58.169 about to explode. on all these things, because 00:13:58.169 --> 00:14:00.629 I was talking with Nina, who's our assistant, 00:14:00.750 --> 00:14:02.929 who gave you the call, and I was saying, I said, 00:14:02.990 --> 00:14:06.110 every song on this list or any other list that 00:14:06.110 --> 00:14:08.330 I was reading about in the book, there was a 00:14:08.330 --> 00:14:10.549 place and there was a time and there was an event 00:14:10.549 --> 00:14:12.649 and there was something else that was tied to 00:14:12.649 --> 00:14:17.769 that. And, you know, as a helicopter pilot, we 00:14:17.769 --> 00:14:21.129 were fortunate enough that we could listen to 00:14:21.129 --> 00:14:25.370 Armed Forces Radio all the time. Yeah, I mean 00:14:25.370 --> 00:14:27.549 we had four radios going all the time but the 00:14:27.549 --> 00:14:29.769 one that is lowest and kind of the theme of the 00:14:29.769 --> 00:14:34.190 whole day was we had AFVN on our automatic direction 00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:35.909 finder, I guess is what it was called at the 00:14:35.909 --> 00:14:40.570 time. And so as we were flying a compass needle 00:14:40.570 --> 00:14:42.830 would point to where the signal was coming from 00:14:42.830 --> 00:14:45.629 and in our case it was coming from Saigon because 00:14:45.629 --> 00:14:47.769 I was also stationed in Long Bend and we'll talk 00:14:47.769 --> 00:14:50.830 about that in a little bit. But so the needle 00:14:50.830 --> 00:14:53.659 always pointed to Saigon. And if we ever had 00:14:53.659 --> 00:14:55.720 gotten into any trouble, we'd say, you know, 00:14:55.799 --> 00:14:57.960 we're having a force landing, we're on a 320 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:01.539 radio out of Saigon, you know, going down, you 00:15:01.539 --> 00:15:04.159 know, 75 miles out, something along those lines. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:08.360 So we always knew where we were and this running 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:12.940 musical theme was there just every day. And as 00:15:12.940 --> 00:15:15.720 soon as... Yeah, I think that's a really, that's 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.059 a great point. And I think, you know, it's, I 00:15:18.059 --> 00:15:20.899 mean, we know... the guys that were out in the 00:15:20.899 --> 00:15:23.940 field, you know, in combat, on patrol, you know, 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:26.460 they don't have the benefit of the AFVN and what 00:15:26.460 --> 00:15:29.080 we're doing. But even guys that we talked to 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:32.100 and interviewed, you know, grunts that we talked 00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:33.919 to, and guys that really did some of the heavy 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.919 lifting and fighting, they had a song in their 00:15:36.919 --> 00:15:39.059 head sometimes. And sometimes, Eric, one of the 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:41.059 stories, a guy in there saying, you know, I had 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:45.039 this song in my head. you know, from Leslie Gore, 00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:47.220 you know, and I had, I wanted it out of my head 00:15:47.220 --> 00:15:50.100 because it was distracting me from paying attention 00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:52.759 to what we were doing. That's my party, right? 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:55.700 Yeah. I think, and I think the other thing, Dale, 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:57.299 about what you were saying before is, you know, 00:15:57.299 --> 00:16:00.679 this isn't unique to this situation and this 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:04.139 war and these soldiers. Everybody, you know, 00:16:04.139 --> 00:16:06.460 has musical associations. I'm sure kids are running 00:16:06.460 --> 00:16:08.159 around now and they'll say, do you remember the 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.740 first time I heard Taylor Swift or, you know, 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:14.600 Kanye West? But, I mean, because that's the way 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:17.639 the brain's wired. You know, we've learned since 00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:20.139 and some great studies have been done that where 00:16:20.139 --> 00:16:22.759 memory is in your brain is right near where music 00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:25.679 is and where you hear. And so the association 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:29.399 is great. But for us, what we think makes this 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:33.779 even special is that because of the trauma of 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:37.840 a war and the kind of war that was and what people 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.059 needed to do in order to sort of get through 00:16:40.059 --> 00:16:44.149 that the music took on an even greater power 00:16:44.149 --> 00:16:47.549 and meaning and sometimes songs that you know 00:16:47.549 --> 00:16:49.129 i'm sure we can talk about today or we'll come 00:16:49.129 --> 00:16:51.769 back on you take a song like chain of fools by 00:16:51.769 --> 00:16:54.549 erika franklin which sort of means one thing 00:16:54.549 --> 00:16:56.990 if you listen to it in the states if you're white 00:16:56.990 --> 00:16:59.409 another thing if you're listening to it in the 00:16:59.409 --> 00:17:02.210 states if you're black and then another if you're 00:17:02.210 --> 00:17:04.589 in vietnam and you're black and so it's just 00:17:04.589 --> 00:17:07.740 yeah so this became you know, for us like even 00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:11.119 more of a revelation and I think speaks to the 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:14.940 power of music and memory and also of the ability 00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:17.059 of music to help us to get back home. Right, 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:20.799 I want to play a little segment of Aretha Franklin's 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:24.619 Chain of Fools and that came out in 1967. So 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:27.000 we're all set, let's hear a little bit of this. 00:18:01.940 --> 00:18:03.940 Okay, so we're gonna let that kind of play under 00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:07.039 while we're talking and as you said that this 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:12.720 song means things to different people right and 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:15.619 You know Arisa was you know, I mean she was the 00:18:15.619 --> 00:18:17.859 queen of soul. She was on the cover of Ebony 00:18:17.859 --> 00:18:21.940 magazine she was she was the big R &B star of 00:18:21.940 --> 00:18:25.059 her generation female and You know, so it's funny 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:27.099 because sometimes when you talk to guys about 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:29.769 an Arisa song I mean, it's like with Hendrix 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:32.650 and Aretha and CCR, I'd say, it's almost just 00:18:32.650 --> 00:18:35.309 who they are, not, you know, I mean, some people 00:18:35.309 --> 00:18:38.390 like different songs in the person's work, respect, 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:43.170 you know, you know, chain of fools, etc. But 00:18:43.170 --> 00:18:45.950 I mean, she was enormously popular and with the 00:18:45.950 --> 00:18:49.230 troops. And what's amazing is I heard that song, 00:18:49.349 --> 00:18:52.549 I was in college in 67 in the US, and I liked 00:18:52.549 --> 00:18:55.250 Aretha. And for me that was just, you know, she 00:18:55.250 --> 00:18:56.950 had done respect about, you know, give me some 00:18:56.950 --> 00:18:59.269 respect when I come home. It was her again saying, 00:18:59.509 --> 00:19:01.750 you know, standing up to a guy, if you're going 00:19:01.750 --> 00:19:04.230 to lead me around and play me like a fool, you 00:19:04.230 --> 00:19:05.789 know, I'm going to break up with you. I mean, 00:19:05.829 --> 00:19:08.470 it was like almost like pre -feminist, you know, 00:19:08.730 --> 00:19:10.470 one of the strong woman statements. Absolutely. 00:19:11.210 --> 00:19:14.950 Well, you know, some of the black men and women 00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:17.349 that we interviewed for the book, they talked 00:19:17.349 --> 00:19:19.730 about if they were back home and they heard it, 00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:22.130 you know, a whole different You know, I mean, 00:19:22.190 --> 00:19:25.869 that meaning was there, sure. But chain, and 00:19:25.869 --> 00:19:29.029 when you think of chain and slavery, was out 00:19:29.029 --> 00:19:31.630 during the civil rights movement. Aretha wasn't, 00:19:31.630 --> 00:19:34.589 you know, very political or out front with her 00:19:34.589 --> 00:19:37.049 politics. But like other black artists, like 00:19:37.049 --> 00:19:38.789 Sam Cooke and others, they would do a thing called 00:19:38.789 --> 00:19:41.170 masking, where she's saying once they do a white 00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:44.130 audience, but the black audience that knows there's 00:19:44.130 --> 00:19:46.150 a different meaning there. And they took that 00:19:46.150 --> 00:19:49.549 about breaking the chains of slavery and being 00:19:49.549 --> 00:19:52.359 a pro -civil rights song. Well, then you get 00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:55.039 to Vietnam with all that overlay and everything 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:57.920 was going on racially in the country that was 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.960 compounded and even more challenging in Vietnam. 00:20:02.099 --> 00:20:03.980 And, you know, we talked to guys, black guys 00:20:03.980 --> 00:20:07.619 in there, in Vietnam who heard that song, and 00:20:07.619 --> 00:20:10.859 it was about the chain of command. And, you know, 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:13.119 we all talk about the Tet Offense of being the 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:15.460 turning point in the war, you know, about what 00:20:15.460 --> 00:20:17.619 it did with the media, even though you know, 00:20:17.859 --> 00:20:21.160 the North Vietnamese suicide mission. They didn't, 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:23.819 you know, they were in tatters after that, but 00:20:23.819 --> 00:20:26.500 it was psychological victory. And everybody talked 00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:29.500 about that. Black GIs talked to us about the 00:20:29.500 --> 00:20:31.740 death of Martin Luther King as being their turning 00:20:31.740 --> 00:20:34.299 point in the war. You know, if we couldn't keep 00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:37.519 their black leader alive back home, what in the 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.359 heck were they doing over there? What were they 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:43.210 fighting for? And one guy said, You know, when 00:20:43.210 --> 00:20:45.890 he heard about King's assassination, he wanted 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:47.569 to go out and shoot the first white guy he saw. 00:20:47.710 --> 00:20:50.269 He was so angry. But then he went back to his 00:20:50.269 --> 00:20:53.869 hooch. He put on a resa, came to Chain of Fools, 00:20:53.970 --> 00:20:56.250 and he sat there and he said, yep, he said, that's 00:20:56.250 --> 00:20:58.509 just it. You know, that line, one day this chain's 00:20:58.509 --> 00:21:00.250 going to break. He said, that's it. You know, 00:21:00.250 --> 00:21:02.609 I'm not doing this anymore. It's going to be 00:21:02.609 --> 00:21:04.990 different. I'm not going to follow the rules. 00:21:05.210 --> 00:21:07.269 It's not to condone that or say it's the way, 00:21:07.269 --> 00:21:11.029 but it's how somebody was feeling. talk about 00:21:11.029 --> 00:21:13.930 the power of the interpretation of a song. Oh, 00:21:13.930 --> 00:21:16.809 absolutely. I was going to kind of... When we 00:21:16.809 --> 00:21:19.829 think about just living through that decade and 00:21:19.829 --> 00:21:22.210 all of the changes that were happening not only 00:21:22.210 --> 00:21:24.609 in Vietnam but also at home... Everywhere. ...with 00:21:24.609 --> 00:21:29.549 the assassinations and the riots and so on and 00:21:29.549 --> 00:21:33.529 so forth, music also played a part in recruiting 00:21:33.529 --> 00:21:35.190 just a little bit. And I want to play just a 00:21:35.190 --> 00:21:37.470 little thing of the Ballad of the Green Beret 00:21:37.470 --> 00:21:40.329 because this is... Absolutely. Let's hear this 00:21:40.329 --> 00:22:07.940 one for a second. I think that song was played, 00:22:08.140 --> 00:22:11.200 I can't imagine how many hundred times that I 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:13.519 heard that even when I was in flight school. 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:16.740 I think it was the only song in the jukebox. 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:21.039 And then, you know, this came along and then 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:24.339 we also had the movie, The Green Berets. Yep. 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:26.619 And if you were in Longbeam, probably at the 00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:28.819 other end of the base from where I was, that 00:22:28.819 --> 00:22:34.059 was the movie probably four nights a week. I 00:22:34.059 --> 00:22:37.240 saw. first and only time, well I've seen it since 00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:39.279 we showed up to a class that we had in Madison, 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.119 but first time I ever saw that movie was in Long 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:45.799 Beach. Projected up against, you know, a white 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:49.359 wall and, you know, and everybody, you know, 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:51.259 all the guys are sitting there and they're going, 00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:54.380 don't go in there, don't go down there, you know, 00:22:54.500 --> 00:22:57.539 like watching, you know, a mystery novel. And 00:22:57.539 --> 00:23:00.859 then the next night, oh, I felt like I was in 00:23:00.859 --> 00:23:03.359 MASH when that program came out. Well, this is 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:05.099 the only movie we have, so this is the one we're 00:23:05.099 --> 00:23:10.720 going to watch. But the idea was that the ballad 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:13.799 of the Green Berets, even though it, when did 00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:18.480 that come out? 66. 66. 50 years ago this week, 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:22.460 in fact. Right. And I'll bet you that the Special 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:24.579 Forces of the Army and the Green Berets still 00:23:24.579 --> 00:23:27.490 sing this song. Oh, I would not be surprised. 00:23:28.690 --> 00:23:35.190 It raises such interesting and differing perspectives 00:23:35.190 --> 00:23:38.490 from people, but also when you think of that 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:41.589 song, out then at that time when The Beatles 00:23:41.589 --> 00:23:43.470 and The Rolling Stones and the whole British 00:23:43.470 --> 00:23:46.410 Invasion was going on, Motown had The Supremes 00:23:46.410 --> 00:23:48.890 and The Temptation, The Four Tops, The Mamas 00:23:48.890 --> 00:23:50.549 and The Papas came on the scene. What was going 00:23:50.549 --> 00:23:53.430 on with music? That was the number one song of 00:23:53.430 --> 00:23:56.450 the entire year. about the Green Berets with 00:23:56.450 --> 00:24:01.769 the top song of 1966. And, you know, we have 00:24:01.769 --> 00:24:05.369 a number of different takes on that and different 00:24:05.369 --> 00:24:07.509 interpretations. You know, we had a guy from 00:24:07.509 --> 00:24:12.950 Wisconsin who was an ROTC captain who, you know, 00:24:13.529 --> 00:24:15.809 went and was going over and that was his song. 00:24:15.970 --> 00:24:17.950 And he thought it was like, because of that march, 00:24:18.250 --> 00:24:20.329 you know, you get the Fuhrman and later you get 00:24:20.329 --> 00:24:23.670 the bugle call. He thought it was like, it was 00:24:23.670 --> 00:24:26.029 like on Wisconsin, you know, our fight song. 00:24:26.150 --> 00:24:29.069 We were going to march across South Vietnam and 00:24:29.069 --> 00:24:31.210 win the day and go to the end zone and score 00:24:31.210 --> 00:24:34.150 a touchdown and win for democracy. But you know, 00:24:34.329 --> 00:24:36.130 his attitude about that song changed after he 00:24:36.130 --> 00:24:38.869 was there because he had some problems with the 00:24:38.869 --> 00:24:40.369 way we were fighting the war at the time when 00:24:40.369 --> 00:24:43.690 he was there in 65. I think probably as soon 00:24:43.690 --> 00:24:46.490 as he landed at Tonza -Newton, they opened the 00:24:46.490 --> 00:24:48.549 door of the airplane and he went, wait a minute. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:52.660 This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. And the 00:24:52.660 --> 00:24:54.519 other funny thing was, including your fellow 00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:58.000 helicopter pilots, this was the most parodied 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:02.539 song that I think that ever existed because the 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:04.980 Marines had their own song about it, different 00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:07.019 branches of the Army had their own song about 00:25:07.019 --> 00:25:09.000 it, the Air Force had a song about it, the Navy, 00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:11.259 because everybody made fun of the song. There 00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:14.769 was one of my, and I remember... Even my buddy 00:25:14.769 --> 00:25:17.289 Marty Hoyer, who's in the book, who was a helicopter 00:25:17.289 --> 00:25:19.829 pilot, high -priced help. He was an officer, 00:25:19.910 --> 00:25:21.730 so he called his folk group, the high -priced 00:25:21.730 --> 00:25:24.089 help, the lines they had. And it was, silver 00:25:24.089 --> 00:25:27.170 wings upon my chest, I fly my chopper above the 00:25:27.170 --> 00:25:31.190 best. I can make more dough that way, but I can't 00:25:31.190 --> 00:25:36.750 wear no green beret. We had some we couldn't 00:25:36.750 --> 00:25:39.130 reprint, you know, the take -offs on this song. 00:25:39.630 --> 00:25:43.460 Well, yeah, that's understandable. I can't remember 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:45.140 the lyrics that we came up with it. I'm sure 00:25:45.140 --> 00:25:48.759 that it was just as bad at the time. But, you 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:51.859 know, and that's what we did. The songs were 00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:54.559 very powerful to us and they were very important 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:57.380 to us. And there were, as you've mentioned before, 00:25:57.460 --> 00:26:00.200 they were very, you know, important songs and 00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:02.819 they were interpreted different ways by, I just 00:26:02.819 --> 00:26:04.460 mentioned this a couple of weeks ago in the program, 00:26:04.740 --> 00:26:06.759 they were interpreted differently by enlisted 00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:09.440 personnel to, you know, non -commissioned officers, 00:26:09.579 --> 00:26:11.559 to warrant officers, to officers, to generals. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:15.819 How did they interpret these things? We're going 00:26:15.819 --> 00:26:17.380 to come up on a break here in about a minute 00:26:17.380 --> 00:26:20.960 and a half. When we come back, I want to talk 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.480 a little bit more about Armed Forces Radio and 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:26.940 how Good Morning Vietnam was a great flick, but 00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:32.740 it wasn't exactly true. No, not close. To everything 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:35.220 that occurred when we were listening to the music 00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:38.619 over there. In fact, every time I watch Wheel 00:26:38.619 --> 00:26:47.640 of Fortune, Pat Sajak was a DJ. He was on one 00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:50.730 of the great shows over there. He was a DJ. Yeah. 00:26:50.950 --> 00:26:53.150 Right. And it's always amazing, the people that 00:26:53.150 --> 00:26:55.829 we're unaware of. Well, I'm going to play a little 00:26:55.829 --> 00:26:58.750 song as we go out and into the news break. And 00:26:58.750 --> 00:27:00.730 so I'm going to tell the people across the hall 00:27:00.730 --> 00:27:05.250 here, let's go with number 10. And that would 00:27:05.250 --> 00:27:10.690 be Fortunate Son. Credence. Great song. OK. So 00:27:10.690 --> 00:27:13.019 we're going to... Play this out and then we'll 00:27:13.019 --> 00:27:15.160 come back after the news and talk some more. 00:27:15.299 --> 00:27:17.799 Yeah, and if the game's out of control, maybe 00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:22.779 people will call in. Maybe. Yay. 734 -822 -1600. 00:27:22.920 --> 00:28:19.069 You got a song. Give us a call. Okay, we decided 00:28:19.069 --> 00:28:20.650 we weren't going to play the Woodstock version 00:28:20.650 --> 00:28:23.430 of that one for everybody. Everybody knows that's 00:28:23.430 --> 00:28:27.069 Country Joe and the Fish and the Fixing the Dye 00:28:27.069 --> 00:28:31.269 Rag and that's kind of the switch over, I think. 00:28:32.609 --> 00:28:35.569 In the music of Vietnam we're talking with Doug 00:28:35.569 --> 00:28:37.450 Bradley, one of the authors of We Gotta Get Out 00:28:37.450 --> 00:28:39.170 of This Place, the soundtrack of the Vietnam 00:28:39.170 --> 00:28:43.289 War. Doug, that actually is one of my favorite 00:28:43.289 --> 00:28:47.089 songs as weird as it sounds. Well, you're not 00:28:47.089 --> 00:28:50.269 alone in that Dale and it's not as weird This 00:28:50.269 --> 00:28:51.910 is an amazing thing because when you think of 00:28:51.910 --> 00:28:54.210 the public persona and that this image that people 00:28:54.210 --> 00:28:58.150 have of Joe and the fish and especially Joe and 00:28:58.150 --> 00:29:01.369 of course the lyrics of that song When we met 00:29:01.369 --> 00:29:03.089 him we went out to interview him and meet him 00:29:03.089 --> 00:29:05.450 and we took a subway got all you picked her up 00:29:05.450 --> 00:29:07.529 in his car to go to his house He interviewed 00:29:07.529 --> 00:29:09.289 he when he introduced himself to us. He said 00:29:09.289 --> 00:29:13.190 I'm a veteran first and a hippie second. I mean, 00:29:13.210 --> 00:29:15.650 I don't think many people do I don't think many 00:29:15.650 --> 00:29:16.869 people knew that he was a veteran. I don't think 00:29:16.869 --> 00:29:18.569 a lot of people knew that. He was in the Navy. 00:29:19.210 --> 00:29:21.230 He had to have his mom sign the papers when he 00:29:21.230 --> 00:29:23.690 joined when he was 18. He had just turned 18 00:29:23.690 --> 00:29:25.869 because he wanted to see the world. This was 00:29:25.869 --> 00:29:28.589 an option. And as we were going to break, you 00:29:28.589 --> 00:29:31.150 know, two of the guys in Credence were in the 00:29:31.150 --> 00:29:33.470 military. Jimi Hendrix was in the military. So 00:29:33.470 --> 00:29:35.529 it's like, you know, people forget that this 00:29:35.529 --> 00:29:38.130 is a generation where, you know, our fathers 00:29:38.130 --> 00:29:40.730 at one were two and they all had served. So, 00:29:40.910 --> 00:29:45.220 you know, even sometimes the circumstances notwithstanding, 00:29:45.779 --> 00:29:48.460 we signed up and a lot of us went and participated. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:55.160 And so Joe, he was in pre -Vietnam, and he intended 00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:57.339 the song as Gallo's humor. I mean, it doesn't 00:29:57.339 --> 00:29:59.619 get darker than that, but I think part of the 00:29:59.619 --> 00:30:02.720 reason it appealed to us was he, you know, it's 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:06.640 sometimes when things are bad and there's a chance 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:09.890 they'll get worse. we used to laugh in the military. 00:30:10.190 --> 00:30:12.230 I mean, we would joke about our situation, and 00:30:12.230 --> 00:30:14.769 that's what Joe intended with this song. Well, 00:30:14.769 --> 00:30:17.390 a lot of people never got the joke. He still 00:30:17.390 --> 00:30:21.130 gets hate mail today for that song. But you and 00:30:21.130 --> 00:30:24.369 others, me, other guys that were there, Colonel 00:30:24.369 --> 00:30:27.470 Bo Gritz, you know, who was a rough and tumble, 00:30:27.470 --> 00:30:30.710 you know, kind of hawkish guy, he used to play 00:30:30.710 --> 00:30:32.970 that song for his soldiers to sort of fire them 00:30:32.970 --> 00:30:38.109 up. So, you know, It can take on some different 00:30:38.109 --> 00:30:40.329 meanings and have different associations for 00:30:40.329 --> 00:30:42.410 people depending on their circumstance. Well, 00:30:42.609 --> 00:30:44.690 absolutely. I mean, in a gallows humor, sometimes 00:30:44.690 --> 00:30:47.869 it's the only way you can survive. Right. I mean, 00:30:47.869 --> 00:30:49.430 if you thought about what could happen to you 00:30:49.430 --> 00:30:51.910 all the time, it could, you know... You'd go 00:30:51.910 --> 00:30:53.269 crazy. Absolutely right. It would be a little 00:30:53.269 --> 00:30:55.769 depressing. And the guys that were out in the 00:30:55.769 --> 00:30:59.509 field without the ability to listen to music, 00:30:59.730 --> 00:31:02.710 although they got themselves fairly creative, 00:31:02.710 --> 00:31:07.859 it sounds like. Let's talk a little bit about 00:31:07.859 --> 00:31:12.259 armed forces radio network that really was, you 00:31:12.259 --> 00:31:15.319 know, to boost up our morale. Can you talk a 00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:19.220 little bit about it? Yeah, and you know, I'll 00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:22.319 give them credit for it because, you know, there 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:24.559 was a great book out and, you know, this is later 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:27.119 in the war, I realized that, you know, especially 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:29.339 post -Vietnamization, when Nixon came in and 00:31:29.339 --> 00:31:31.000 we know we're leaving, we're turning the ground 00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:33.440 war over to South Vietnamese. We're getting out 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:37.720 of there. In order to keep our morale up, the 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:39.480 book that this woman wrote is called Arms with 00:31:39.480 --> 00:31:44.440 Abundance. She talks about how they gave us a 00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:47.359 lot of stuff and access to a lot of stuff. When 00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:52.319 you look at maybe a hooch in 65, 66, as opposed 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:55.619 to a hooch in 70 or 71 like I lived in, it wasn't 00:31:55.619 --> 00:31:57.799 air conditioned, but the officer working with 00:31:57.799 --> 00:32:00.640 the brass was. But we had fans, we had hooch 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:05.519 maids. You know, we had music. We had tape decks. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:08.220 We had tons of music. We had a little bar in 00:32:08.220 --> 00:32:11.920 the hooch. And I mean, we had some of the comforts. 00:32:12.259 --> 00:32:15.359 And I think one thing they were right about was 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:17.660 that music was going to keep our spirits lifted. 00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:20.920 So they did what they could do and went as far 00:32:20.920 --> 00:32:23.019 as they could with the format on AFEN. Some of 00:32:23.019 --> 00:32:25.690 these guys started sounding like the... The DJs 00:32:25.690 --> 00:32:28.369 from back home, the playlist evolved. There were 00:32:28.369 --> 00:32:30.269 still some songs that were banned and censored, 00:32:30.269 --> 00:32:33.970 but they did what they could. And, you know, 00:32:34.069 --> 00:32:37.150 and then we had tape decks, we had cassette decks, 00:32:37.250 --> 00:32:41.990 we had live bands, we had USO shows, we had people 00:32:41.990 --> 00:32:45.349 touring, Nancy Sinatra, Johnny Cash. So music 00:32:45.349 --> 00:32:50.049 came to us in just like a tsunami and it was 00:32:50.049 --> 00:32:52.829 there to keep our spirits lifted. And I frankly, 00:32:53.029 --> 00:32:56.559 it did. For me, Music was huge, obviously. The 00:32:56.559 --> 00:32:58.539 book is a testament to that. But even before 00:32:58.539 --> 00:33:00.819 I even thought about writing this book, music 00:33:00.819 --> 00:33:03.700 to me had enabled me to sort of connect with 00:33:03.700 --> 00:33:06.420 the guys I was with, the people I was away from, 00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:08.940 and to survive the experience. And then when 00:33:08.940 --> 00:33:10.940 I got back home, they helped me to get back home. 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:14.359 Well, there was, there were a lot of, obviously 00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:16.259 a lot of music over there. There were stations, 00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:19.039 you know, the armed forces radio stations in 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:21.809 Saigon and up. up north there was one up in there. 00:33:22.049 --> 00:33:24.170 Yeah, all over. All over the place. But there 00:33:24.170 --> 00:33:28.450 were also some pirate stations out there. And 00:33:28.450 --> 00:33:31.329 these guys were getting music faster than I think 00:33:31.329 --> 00:33:33.569 the DJs in Philadelphia were doing, it seemed 00:33:33.569 --> 00:33:36.970 like. You're absolutely right. This is the funny 00:33:36.970 --> 00:33:38.569 thing. We have a guy, one of the guys that's 00:33:38.569 --> 00:33:41.329 in there that talks about a lot about Hendrix. 00:33:42.569 --> 00:33:45.589 And he knew or so that, and it was the way, you 00:33:45.589 --> 00:33:49.700 know, that things were sent over. The short story 00:33:49.700 --> 00:33:53.519 was that he would get copies of popular music, 00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:56.880 especially from the LA and San Francisco area, 00:33:58.279 --> 00:33:59.940 before disc jockeys in the States would have 00:33:59.940 --> 00:34:02.319 them, because this guy was into the music industry. 00:34:02.839 --> 00:34:05.940 And you're absolutely right. I mean, some guys 00:34:05.940 --> 00:34:08.280 still talk about the music Hanoi Hannah play, 00:34:08.539 --> 00:34:11.380 and that they listen to. And others talk about 00:34:11.380 --> 00:34:14.579 the Pirates, or guys just going on a different 00:34:14.579 --> 00:34:17.739 band. at frequency on the radios that they had 00:34:17.739 --> 00:34:20.699 and playing music there. You know, we wanted 00:34:20.699 --> 00:34:24.300 to hear this stuff. It kept us going. You know, 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:26.480 there was a lot about it that we liked. So, man, 00:34:26.519 --> 00:34:29.679 we were going to find any way we could. And I 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:32.360 want to thank the Donut Dollies who DJed and 00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:34.420 the Red Cross Nurses at a lot of the, you know, 00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:37.559 a lot of the bases around Vietnam. Music was 00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:40.719 coming and we were taking it. Absolutely. In 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:43.019 fact, I wanted to, I'm going to have them play 00:34:43.019 --> 00:34:44.659 another little thing here because it was mentioned 00:34:44.659 --> 00:34:48.079 in the release on this and it's going to be cut 00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:51.639 number 16. And in it, you mentioned that a Marine 00:34:51.639 --> 00:34:54.219 was, you talked earlier about not being able 00:34:54.219 --> 00:34:57.179 to get a song out of your head. Yeah. And this 00:34:57.179 --> 00:34:59.760 is one of those songs that we couldn't get out 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:01.800 of our heads once we heard it. So here we go. 00:35:42.730 --> 00:35:46.050 And of course that was our generation's Sinatra. 00:35:46.989 --> 00:35:51.630 That was Nancy Sinatra and that was from 1966. 00:35:52.150 --> 00:35:54.730 Boy, that was a big year. Another one of those 00:35:54.730 --> 00:35:58.110 big years. And as you mentioned in the book, 00:35:58.610 --> 00:36:00.030 this Marine who's out in the boonies couldn't 00:36:00.030 --> 00:36:06.510 get this out of his head. Sometimes we couldn't 00:36:06.510 --> 00:36:08.489 get the images of Nancy Sinatra out of our heads 00:36:08.489 --> 00:36:14.590 either. Absolutely. Absolutely. The guys talked 00:36:14.590 --> 00:36:17.110 about, I mean, they were pushing this song so 00:36:17.110 --> 00:36:20.010 strong and Nancy, to much to her credit, and 00:36:20.010 --> 00:36:23.369 I think it's why she is held in such high esteem 00:36:23.369 --> 00:36:26.130 to this day by Vietnam Vets, because she went 00:36:26.130 --> 00:36:30.030 there and she has spoken very eloquently herself 00:36:30.030 --> 00:36:32.369 about that was like a defining moment in her 00:36:32.369 --> 00:36:34.300 life and we're seeing change when things change 00:36:34.300 --> 00:36:36.679 because part of what stars like her did when 00:36:36.679 --> 00:36:39.500 they went there and performed was they also went 00:36:39.500 --> 00:36:43.380 to the hospitals to visit the guys. And that 00:36:43.380 --> 00:36:48.519 has forever changed Nancy Sinatra. But man, the 00:36:48.519 --> 00:36:50.900 song and the way she looked then with the go 00:36:50.900 --> 00:36:53.980 -go boots and the short skirt. The tall white 00:36:53.980 --> 00:36:57.730 boots. But it's just amazing that for some of 00:36:57.730 --> 00:36:59.489 these guys, you know, we come back and guys talk 00:36:59.489 --> 00:37:01.030 about it. And of course, you know, you've got 00:37:01.030 --> 00:37:03.909 all that I just mentioned to the appeal. But, 00:37:04.250 --> 00:37:06.289 you know, the other thing was that for some of 00:37:06.289 --> 00:37:07.909 these guys, when they think about it, they remember 00:37:07.909 --> 00:37:10.849 how essential boots were to their survival. You 00:37:10.849 --> 00:37:12.429 know, if you remember the foot gear in Vietnam 00:37:12.429 --> 00:37:15.289 and how it evolved and adapted, that was, I think, 00:37:15.369 --> 00:37:18.150 one of the best design. combat boots ever I mean 00:37:18.150 --> 00:37:22.030 because of the way it would air out and you know 00:37:22.030 --> 00:37:25.789 to handle water and to handle the heat and the 00:37:25.789 --> 00:37:29.329 jungle and I mean they were and but a lot of 00:37:29.329 --> 00:37:31.230 these guys would just tell us you know that song 00:37:31.230 --> 00:37:33.829 sticks in my head because my boots were essential 00:37:33.829 --> 00:37:36.570 to my survival, my boots weren't working, I wasn't 00:37:36.570 --> 00:37:41.289 working and so you've got Nancy her appeal the 00:37:41.289 --> 00:37:44.190 fact she went to Vietnam it's a great song but 00:37:44.300 --> 00:37:48.619 then you also have just a real direct indication 00:37:48.619 --> 00:37:51.239 that this is a part of your equipment that you 00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:55.619 need in order to be a soldier. Well, it is fascinating 00:37:55.619 --> 00:37:58.320 what these songs mean, as you mentioned, to different 00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:00.519 people. I want to play another one. This is by 00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:03.699 the Sherrells, and this is Soldier Boy. So let's 00:38:03.699 --> 00:38:43.630 hear this one. So and that came out, you know 00:38:43.630 --> 00:38:46.409 in 1962 this is even before everything started 00:38:46.409 --> 00:38:50.590 and I can remember that song from high school 00:38:50.590 --> 00:38:54.369 But I can also remember hearing it a lot in the 00:38:54.369 --> 00:38:56.409 in the officers clubs with about it with the 00:38:56.409 --> 00:39:00.590 bands Yeah, yeah Well, and you know, it's funny 00:39:00.590 --> 00:39:04.070 because you mentioned it's a song that was not 00:39:04.070 --> 00:39:07.210 necessarily Vietnam songs It's pre Vietnam in 00:39:07.210 --> 00:39:10.530 many ways, but it's a song we all knew Um, it's 00:39:10.530 --> 00:39:12.710 been in movies, Oliver Stone has a great scene 00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:15.269 in that and born on the 4th of July. But again, 00:39:15.369 --> 00:39:17.349 it's back to the thing of what the Sheralds are 00:39:17.349 --> 00:39:20.010 talking about is what happened to a lot of young 00:39:20.010 --> 00:39:22.510 men growing up in those days. And that is they 00:39:22.510 --> 00:39:25.010 would go in the military and they believe they're 00:39:25.010 --> 00:39:26.730 sweethearts. Maybe they go to Germany like Elvis 00:39:26.730 --> 00:39:28.949 Presley, but they went in the service and they 00:39:28.949 --> 00:39:31.030 served. And this is the whole thing about you'd 00:39:31.030 --> 00:39:33.449 miss them, you'd say goodbye. But you know, a 00:39:33.449 --> 00:39:35.590 song like that sort of sticks around and hangs 00:39:35.590 --> 00:39:38.929 with you. So even though Again, you know, it's 00:39:38.929 --> 00:39:41.710 it's an older song. It was played there people 00:39:41.710 --> 00:39:44.429 would sit and then now we become soldiers and 00:39:44.429 --> 00:39:48.030 that song is Talking to us, you know, like the 00:39:48.030 --> 00:39:50.210 we talked about, you know, mr. Lonely by Bobby 00:39:50.210 --> 00:39:52.369 didn't same thing Yeah, but there's nothing to 00:39:52.369 --> 00:39:55.389 do with Vietnam, but you know, but in that line, 00:39:55.489 --> 00:39:57.449 you know, I'm a soldier I'm a lonely soldier, 00:39:58.030 --> 00:40:00.650 you know I mean those are the association to 00:40:00.650 --> 00:40:02.829 connections people make and it makes it strong 00:40:02.829 --> 00:40:05.510 and hey If it got you through a day or a couple 00:40:05.510 --> 00:40:08.750 days Thank goodness that you had that song. That's 00:40:08.750 --> 00:40:10.349 right. In fact, I've got another one that follows 00:40:10.349 --> 00:40:14.110 up on that one and you'll recognize this. This 00:40:14.110 --> 00:40:43.300 is the letter by the box stops. And we got a 00:40:43.300 --> 00:40:45.860 lot of letters, a lot of letters, and unfortunately 00:40:45.860 --> 00:40:48.099 some people got bad letters, you know, they're 00:40:48.099 --> 00:40:51.480 basically the Dear John type letters. And I know 00:40:51.480 --> 00:40:54.900 myself as a helicopter pilot, we had figured 00:40:54.900 --> 00:40:58.760 out how much fuel we would need to fly from Vietnam 00:40:59.079 --> 00:41:01.820 to California. We just didn't quite figure what 00:41:01.820 --> 00:41:03.900 we were going to do with the over water flight 00:41:03.900 --> 00:41:07.699 stuff. But we were working on it. We were working 00:41:07.699 --> 00:41:13.139 on it. Well, you knew. And as you mentioned earlier, 00:41:13.500 --> 00:41:19.760 Nixon came in with his plan to get out. Ho Chi 00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:22.260 Minh died in 1969, so we figured this thing was 00:41:22.260 --> 00:41:26.059 going to end soon. Unfortunately, it didn't really 00:41:26.059 --> 00:41:28.019 too much. It kept going. Right. That's right. 00:41:28.529 --> 00:41:30.170 Fine, you know, I think you're absolutely right 00:41:30.170 --> 00:41:33.670 about, you know, that song, lonely days are gone, 00:41:33.730 --> 00:41:35.789 I'm going home. Of course, you know, and it's 00:41:35.789 --> 00:41:38.630 something that, you know, I want to mention here 00:41:38.630 --> 00:41:40.690 while we're there. Well, you know, like you said, 00:41:41.230 --> 00:41:43.510 the lyrics themselves say that, and the notion 00:41:43.510 --> 00:41:46.429 of letters. I mean, mail call, I was lucky enough 00:41:46.429 --> 00:41:48.610 in the rear we had it twice a day. And, you know, 00:41:48.630 --> 00:41:50.989 we lived for it. I mean, you know, we... I mean 00:41:50.989 --> 00:41:53.050 not for the Dear John letters that came but you 00:41:53.050 --> 00:41:55.570 know if you're getting something from your folks, 00:41:55.710 --> 00:41:58.110 you're getting a care package, your girlfriend, 00:41:58.250 --> 00:42:01.429 your wife, sweetheart, your brother, your sister, 00:42:01.510 --> 00:42:04.630 your friends from back home. It was great, the 00:42:04.630 --> 00:42:06.869 letters kept us going and we didn't have email, 00:42:07.010 --> 00:42:09.829 we didn't text, we wrote letters. And it took 00:42:09.829 --> 00:42:13.690 10 days. Yeah, but the other thing is that there 00:42:13.690 --> 00:42:16.789 were other things that we talked about a little 00:42:16.789 --> 00:42:20.269 bit with the Green Berets and that March. and 00:42:20.269 --> 00:42:22.630 and the bugle call and there's there were there 00:42:22.630 --> 00:42:24.949 are some songs and this is where Hendrix really 00:42:24.949 --> 00:42:28.110 comes in and he's later but that sonically you 00:42:28.110 --> 00:42:30.469 know it's it's some you know you can talk about 00:42:30.469 --> 00:42:33.010 all along the watchtower purple haze you know 00:42:33.010 --> 00:42:35.369 and we probably have time to get into those today 00:42:35.369 --> 00:42:37.309 we'll do it another time we're going to talk 00:42:37.309 --> 00:42:39.849 about it again but you know the sat you know 00:42:39.849 --> 00:42:42.989 the sound of Hendrix was very much like via he 00:42:42.989 --> 00:42:45.190 has a song called machine gun you know if you 00:42:45.190 --> 00:42:47.670 listen to his star spangled banner of woodstock 00:42:47.670 --> 00:42:56.400 he does you know, the call for, you know, whatever 00:42:56.400 --> 00:42:59.460 the naval call is, the stress signal. And I mean, 00:42:59.579 --> 00:43:02.260 so it's like, so we, you know, lyrically, a lot 00:43:02.260 --> 00:43:04.219 of this stuff we talked about with Bobby Bear, 00:43:04.539 --> 00:43:06.599 we just mentioned about with letters, you know, 00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:09.860 boots, meaning boots, but other times just sonically 00:43:09.860 --> 00:43:13.719 things made you and reminded you of Vietnam. 00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:17.719 You know, anything and when, of course, we know. 00:43:17.800 --> 00:43:20.250 I mean, if you hear any of us here a helicopter, 00:43:20.650 --> 00:43:23.409 we're there. I mean, because that's everything 00:43:23.409 --> 00:43:26.510 in Vietnam, choppers all over the place. That 00:43:26.510 --> 00:43:29.650 is true. We have to take another break. But we're 00:43:29.650 --> 00:43:31.570 going to be right back in just a moment. And 00:43:31.570 --> 00:43:33.349 on our way out on this break, let's see what 00:43:33.349 --> 00:43:37.570 we can play with this one. Let's do Brown Eyed 00:43:37.570 --> 00:43:41.670 Girl, number 21. OK, so we're all set to go. 00:43:41.769 --> 00:43:43.469 I got to stretch while we're loading it up into 00:43:43.469 --> 00:43:46.230 the computer. But here we go. So we're going 00:43:46.230 --> 00:43:48.789 to take another break. Stay tuned. Come on back. 00:43:48.869 --> 00:43:52.170 We've got more music after this brief message. 00:44:37.550 --> 00:44:39.849 here listening to Inagata Da Vita with the same 00:44:39.849 --> 00:44:43.550 headphones I was wearing 50 years ago. They're 00:44:43.550 --> 00:44:48.989 as big as tin cans and that to me was the, it 00:44:48.989 --> 00:44:50.690 wasn't really the changeover, but it was the 00:44:50.690 --> 00:44:53.050 changeover for me as far as music was concerned 00:44:53.050 --> 00:44:56.829 because that came out in 1968 and that was by 00:44:56.829 --> 00:45:00.530 Iron Butterfly, folks. And then we're going to 00:45:00.530 --> 00:45:03.230 key up here in just a second, number 24, which 00:45:03.230 --> 00:45:06.550 will be Jimi Hendrix. We're talking with Doug 00:45:06.550 --> 00:45:08.710 Bradley. His book is We Gotta Get Out of This 00:45:08.710 --> 00:45:11.110 Place, the Soundtrack of the Vietnam War. And 00:45:11.110 --> 00:45:14.070 we're only touching just the surface of some 00:45:14.070 --> 00:45:17.789 of these songs and what they mean to the Vietnam 00:45:17.789 --> 00:45:20.929 veteran and to everybody else. In fact, I was 00:45:20.929 --> 00:45:23.190 talking with Nina earlier and she said that this 00:45:23.190 --> 00:45:26.690 music is outselling today's contemporary music. 00:45:27.130 --> 00:45:32.489 Still. Yeah, yeah. You know, because I was downloading 00:45:32.489 --> 00:45:34.269 some of these things that were all remastered 00:45:34.269 --> 00:45:37.110 from, you know, 1960s, whatever. You know, the 00:45:37.110 --> 00:45:39.829 amazing thing is, Dale, that we teach this course 00:45:39.829 --> 00:45:43.550 about this at UW -Madison, and these kids are 00:45:43.550 --> 00:45:47.650 born, like, in, you know, 94, 95, 96. Did you 00:45:47.650 --> 00:45:49.789 want to play a song and then have me talk? No, 00:45:49.789 --> 00:45:53.190 no, no. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. And so, you 00:45:53.190 --> 00:45:54.989 know, it could be the Peloponnesian Wars for 00:45:54.989 --> 00:45:57.300 all they know, but they know the music. And through 00:45:57.300 --> 00:45:59.380 the music, we tell them the veterans' stories 00:45:59.380 --> 00:46:02.920 and we let them hear about the war through the 00:46:02.920 --> 00:46:06.519 men and women who fought it. And it's so ironic. 00:46:06.719 --> 00:46:09.639 And we have two TAs, and they're both post -911 00:46:09.639 --> 00:46:12.280 vets, and they listen to this music because their 00:46:12.280 --> 00:46:14.980 soundtrack was their own. Individual, they put 00:46:14.980 --> 00:46:17.019 on a headset, they had their iPod, they played 00:46:17.019 --> 00:46:19.440 their own song. They didn't share it. Ours was 00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:21.579 shared. I mean, even if you weren't in Vietnam, 00:46:21.739 --> 00:46:25.059 you listened to Inagata Da Vida and The Letter. 00:46:25.289 --> 00:46:27.889 and Brown Eyed Girl and all the songs we talked 00:46:27.889 --> 00:46:30.510 about. So it's like radio was our internet and 00:46:30.510 --> 00:46:34.309 we all listen to the same music. Right and so 00:46:34.309 --> 00:46:36.510 what I'm having them do right now is we're going 00:46:36.510 --> 00:46:39.010 to start off with a little purple haze here and 00:46:39.010 --> 00:47:15.579 we're going to bring it up. This drove my platoon 00:47:15.579 --> 00:47:20.340 leader crazy. He couldn't stand it. That's why 00:47:20.340 --> 00:47:22.960 we had to wear the headphones. When we'd start 00:47:22.960 --> 00:47:26.300 playing it and everybody's dancing with each 00:47:26.300 --> 00:47:31.000 other, he would stick his head into our bar area 00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:33.920 and tell us to turn it off. So then we would 00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:36.400 go to something just as loud and obnoxious as 00:47:36.400 --> 00:47:38.739 we could think of, which is just what happens 00:47:38.739 --> 00:47:42.340 when you're 19, 20, 21 years old, right? Exactly. 00:47:42.460 --> 00:47:44.980 Exactly. We were kids. So you know what's amazing 00:47:44.980 --> 00:47:48.559 is that, again, here's another guy. People don't 00:47:48.559 --> 00:47:50.840 know it. Hendricks was a soldier. He was a bad 00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:53.840 soldier. The army got rid of him. But he was 00:47:53.840 --> 00:47:56.280 a screaming eagle. And, you know, so it gives 00:47:56.280 --> 00:47:59.039 a whole different maybe definition to, excuse 00:47:59.039 --> 00:48:01.920 me while I kiss the sky, you know, if you listen 00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:04.300 to, if you know that Hendricks was in the military. 00:48:04.760 --> 00:48:07.000 But this is another one of those songs, you know, 00:48:07.000 --> 00:48:10.440 because when Purple Haze, I was in college and 00:48:10.440 --> 00:48:13.320 that song came out, there was a form of acid. 00:48:13.469 --> 00:48:15.289 that was going around for people who were doing 00:48:15.289 --> 00:48:17.750 those sorts of things, psychedelics. It was called 00:48:17.750 --> 00:48:21.429 Purple Haze. So, you know, sure it's a drug song. 00:48:21.610 --> 00:48:24.710 Well, you know, you talk to guys in Vietnam and, 00:48:24.789 --> 00:48:27.690 you know, we had the M18 smoke grenades and what 00:48:27.690 --> 00:48:30.469 was one of the colors? It was purple. So for 00:48:30.469 --> 00:48:36.110 some guys, it's an LZ rescue. It's in the landing 00:48:36.110 --> 00:48:39.570 zone. So then Purple Haze is associated with, 00:48:39.590 --> 00:48:41.650 you know, being safe, getting out, getting away 00:48:41.650 --> 00:48:47.309 from something. So, again, here's a guy who knows 00:48:47.309 --> 00:48:51.530 exactly what Hendrix is, but the song can have 00:48:51.530 --> 00:48:54.190 some different manifestations depending on where 00:48:54.190 --> 00:48:57.010 you were. You mentioned in the book there's a 00:48:57.010 --> 00:48:58.710 story about a tunnel rat and that's what he would 00:48:58.710 --> 00:49:01.170 think about. Oh, man. I can't imagine being a 00:49:01.170 --> 00:49:02.989 tunnel rat myself, but he would throw smoke grenades 00:49:02.989 --> 00:49:06.730 in there and that was the Purple A's. Yeah, and 00:49:06.730 --> 00:49:08.030 he would play the song because he didn't want 00:49:08.030 --> 00:49:10.849 anybody... He would put his little cassette down 00:49:10.849 --> 00:49:12.849 there because he didn't want anybody, you know, 00:49:13.309 --> 00:49:16.250 he wouldn't want anybody. Here I come. Yeah, 00:49:17.429 --> 00:49:20.989 I mean, as we've said already, we're going to, 00:49:20.989 --> 00:49:22.489 you know, probably try and do another one of 00:49:22.489 --> 00:49:25.510 these with different songs. But, you know, because, 00:49:25.510 --> 00:49:27.969 you know, and different units had favorite songs 00:49:27.969 --> 00:49:32.170 also. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Ours 00:49:32.170 --> 00:49:35.230 were the Ghost Riders of the Sky. And that came 00:49:35.230 --> 00:49:39.550 out in 1949, originally. I only thought of the 00:49:39.550 --> 00:49:41.969 Johnny Cash version, but this is a Von Monroe, 00:49:42.610 --> 00:49:45.230 and I forgot about him. And you know, the amazing 00:49:45.230 --> 00:49:47.050 thing about that, there's just another one that 00:49:47.050 --> 00:49:50.769 you're picking like that, and you know, that 00:49:50.769 --> 00:49:55.489 it's set to the same melody as when Johnny comes 00:49:55.489 --> 00:49:57.929 marching home. So maybe that's another reason 00:49:57.929 --> 00:50:00.889 it sticks in our heads the way it does. And you 00:50:00.889 --> 00:50:03.889 know, Robbie Krieger of The Doors, says it was 00:50:03.889 --> 00:50:08.309 the inspiration for Riders in the Storm. And 00:50:08.309 --> 00:50:10.369 that was a song that was out when I was there. 00:50:10.469 --> 00:50:12.489 Boy, if that didn't have like a Vietnam feel 00:50:12.489 --> 00:50:14.909 to it, everybody thinks of the apocalypse now 00:50:14.909 --> 00:50:18.510 in the end with the doors. But for me, it's Riders 00:50:18.510 --> 00:50:21.969 on the Storm. I mean, and it's like Ghost Riders 00:50:21.969 --> 00:50:24.730 in the Sky. Oh, that was it. That was an anthem. 00:50:24.949 --> 00:50:27.110 I mean, everybody would stand up for that one. 00:50:27.150 --> 00:50:30.829 And the Skypile is another song by The Animals. 00:50:31.340 --> 00:50:35.480 Yeah, yeah. Great stuff. It's an amazing book, 00:50:35.659 --> 00:50:38.940 Doug, and I really want to thank you and Craig 00:50:38.940 --> 00:50:42.059 for putting this together, and I strongly encourage 00:50:42.059 --> 00:50:45.139 our listeners to go out and get it. I mean, it's 00:50:45.139 --> 00:50:48.659 great reading, it's great stories, especially 00:50:48.659 --> 00:50:50.880 for you guys that were on the ground. You're 00:50:50.880 --> 00:50:54.099 going to find a lot of people like you out there. 00:50:54.300 --> 00:50:55.719 And there were some things going on in Vietnam 00:50:55.719 --> 00:50:58.719 that I didn't even know what was going on. I 00:50:58.719 --> 00:51:01.300 guess I was... I wasn't paying attention, I guess, 00:51:01.360 --> 00:51:05.920 which is nothing unusual. But that's what I want 00:51:05.920 --> 00:51:10.480 to know. Where can they get a hold of this? Everywhere, 00:51:10.599 --> 00:51:16.079 right? Yeah, everywhere. I mean, hopefully your 00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:18.760 local bookstore will tell them to get it. I think 00:51:18.760 --> 00:51:20.699 we heard that Barnes & Noble is going to have 00:51:20.699 --> 00:51:22.900 it displayed in many other stores around the 00:51:22.900 --> 00:51:26.199 country. It's, of course, available on Amazon. 00:51:26.199 --> 00:51:29.929 You can get it that way. You know are for my 00:51:29.929 --> 00:51:32.349 publisher, you know I could maybe help get people 00:51:32.349 --> 00:51:35.030 at discount but and we've also put together our 00:51:35.030 --> 00:51:37.349 own website For what we would hope today and 00:51:37.349 --> 00:51:39.690 you know people are there's there's a snowstorm. 00:51:39.690 --> 00:51:44.989 There's football But if it's the WGG ootp, it's 00:51:44.989 --> 00:51:52.389 basically initials of it WGG ootp .com and we 00:51:52.389 --> 00:51:54.769 tell men and women go there and share your story 00:51:54.769 --> 00:51:57.469 We got it. We got a thing on that site says what's 00:51:57.469 --> 00:51:59.869 your song? And we want to hear from people because 00:51:59.869 --> 00:52:01.610 we couldn't get to everybody. What's your song? 00:52:01.809 --> 00:52:05.130 Tell us. Right. Oh, and you guys could be doing 00:52:05.130 --> 00:52:09.449 podcasts for years on these different things. 00:52:09.449 --> 00:52:11.489 I'm glad I got a chance to talk to you and thanks 00:52:11.489 --> 00:52:14.150 so much for having me on. I'm not quite done 00:52:14.150 --> 00:52:16.489 with you yet because I've got about a minute 00:52:16.489 --> 00:52:20.510 or so to go. We're going to play another song. 00:52:20.650 --> 00:52:22.190 Well, we're going to go out on San Francisco 00:52:22.190 --> 00:52:27.079 by Scott McKenzie. Oh, wow. I don't know, it's 00:52:27.079 --> 00:52:30.199 still a very emotional song. Anytime I hear this 00:52:30.199 --> 00:52:34.320 song, it almost brings tears to my eyes because 00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:36.820 of course San Francisco is where I came back 00:52:36.820 --> 00:52:39.940 into the country. Yeah, I'm here. And it's where 00:52:39.940 --> 00:52:43.380 I left the country. I'm here, yep. And of course 00:52:43.380 --> 00:52:46.699 Tony Bennett with his... When I left my heart 00:52:46.699 --> 00:52:49.880 in San Francisco, yep. And so all these songs 00:52:49.880 --> 00:52:52.619 have so much meaning and I want to get together 00:52:52.619 --> 00:52:54.800 with you and Craig after the football seasons 00:52:54.800 --> 00:52:57.500 are all over and we'll set up another program 00:52:57.500 --> 00:52:59.699 so that we can get you on and maybe get some 00:52:59.699 --> 00:53:01.960 of the people that you interviewed in your book. 00:53:02.860 --> 00:53:05.400 That would be fun. That's a great idea. That 00:53:05.400 --> 00:53:08.260 would be very cool. Let's try that. Yeah, because 00:53:08.260 --> 00:53:10.960 some of your, what you call solo, the articles 00:53:10.960 --> 00:53:13.099 that they wrote about their memories of this 00:53:13.099 --> 00:53:15.739 music and so forth is really, really important. 00:53:16.059 --> 00:53:18.710 And as we always say, here on Veterans Radio 00:53:18.710 --> 00:53:20.230 is that we want to make sure that we get the 00:53:20.230 --> 00:53:22.550 people that were actually there to tell their 00:53:22.550 --> 00:53:25.190 stories because sometimes authors kind of get 00:53:25.190 --> 00:53:30.030 confused and don't necessarily know what it was. 00:53:30.829 --> 00:53:33.670 I know what you're saying. Doug, thank you very 00:53:33.670 --> 00:53:36.909 much for being on Veterans Radio. My pleasure, 00:53:37.050 --> 00:53:39.449 Dale. Welcome home, everybody. Welcome home to 00:53:39.449 --> 00:53:42.039 you too. All right, ladies and gentlemen, this 00:53:42.039 --> 00:53:44.039 is the end of Veterans Radio for today. Stay 00:53:44.039 --> 00:53:46.219 tuned for just a second though. We're going to 00:53:46.219 --> 00:53:49.059 play the entire length of San Francisco by Scott 00:53:49.059 --> 00:53:54.400 McKenzie. Until next week, not yet. I'm hearing 00:53:54.400 --> 00:53:54.599 it.