this is about one hour. spent a good afternoon. thanks for telling a vote onda the tuesday afternoon. we have mr. wright here her today during vietnam instead

of giving you the cliff notes will the of the author talk about it. [applause] >> thank you philip. is an honor for me to participate in this program committed to protecting and sharing the united states navy is a particular pleasure to see veterans and friends about the vietnam war i am honored to try to contribute to that. i do want to talk about my

book why i'm here today in the hope that is why you're here today the best way to do that is to describe what i was trying to do. last year my wife susan and i attended a performance of hamilton in new york and that stayed with me but one of them kept running through my head elisa hamilton the chdow saying with a chorus of founding fathers who lives, who dies, who tells your story. this is relevant to my remarks into my book because

within the armedarmed confrontation the first question is who lives and who dies? so with those purposes in the goals of for this is the fundamental human question for those that go to war must face and is a cruel purpose of for of who lives and who dies while i have had so much trouble's whi in recent years talking about boots on the ground as a metaphor for sending in combat troops keep pointing out we're talking about

flesh and blood and asking of them who lives and dies. but after all the shooting stops is the lingering question who tells your story? that shared the narrative of the dead forever young and theyo memories of the survivors is critical for framing that story to provide the assessment of why lives are lost and reminds us of who they were and the survivors

that knew them to carry their memories. i believe in the most perverse and cool wave that may be nothing more human of war testing courage in values and testing themselves in doing so much instinctively they have been told all their lives and they must confront the basic i intion who lives and dies by interviewed in number of people for the book with who did not go to movies and on himself he lived in the

small town in pennsylvania there was a knock on the door when he was home alone werethere were two soldiers last of his parents were home and he said no they should be back in 15 minutes so he joined them on the w porch and he was so enthused to have them there and said i have a brother in the army he is a helicopter pilot and in vietnam. i am so proud of them and he will be home in a couple of months and cannot wait to see him. do you know, my brother?

then he was struck by the fact the soldiers did not say much or acknowledge his questions his parents came home and of course, they informed them that his brother would not be coming home as his helicopter wasng shot down. he ran into the woods thinking about his brother when they would inform the family will need to assist in the responsibility of caring and sharing the stories they need to become indebted more with a human

face of war with those that serve with them also importuned reflections touche share in need to have an opportunity to do that than o rather than remain burdened with this violent memories so the narratives have been subdued since world war ii. deci so that declining interest there is no doubt those been known veterans were seldom celebrated related to the

fact their war had become unpopular rollo the unpopularity of the war but the all right hostility toward the men whose served was not widespread to link aid to them or talk to them if americans really did not know what was happening is the case we're not here to learn that through the veterans so there story remains largely untold so of

that wish shared by a sailor down in the delta april 69 watched day by the diver in their boat was ambushed at wusses hostile territory the sailor had gone to saigon one month later and described in his diary watching a storm c'mon to the city the sky is black illuminated by a lightning

people bustling about him before the curfew so the city will become quiet people will move in side to watch that monsoon or some will reflects so some perhaps will reflect that i can assure you those that were there have never stopped reflecting is long past time to understand

something and olivetti is reflecting on the burden that we share so the years of that war are now ended to discuss that human experience and in 1965 with the american ground war beginning president johnson sent marines with significant army units throwut out the spring. the dominant public image

was of young heroes fighting communism in the jungle of southeast asia and there was protest and isn't -- dissent with the ground troops americans so within a few years with american casualties increase significantly as the draft pick up drawing more americans into the army and as people read stories of the of the things that were happening in the vietnamese as a result in as people began to have confidence the

attitude toward those serving changed not in a negative way but considered to be the very ill-advised war and after the story became public late 1969 those that were fighting became a the perpetrators the stereotype of those psychotics of vietnam in the apocalypse now image i have,

described the movie as vietnam meets would stop and may be a good movie but it is not the story of the vietnam experience. the few weeks ago in bin burbank the first question from the members of the audience is i was a screenwriter on the movie and it was accurate to you worked very hard i did not debate that point with him so except in for some remarkable books particularly the of fiction of people like tim o'brien a few of those accounts recognize those who serve

they were scared kids. you signed up for very scary assignment. we knew them as the baby boomers the anti-war protesters the stereotype hippies to challenge the boundaries of american culture but it is also clear to meet the this was the of the full face of thisne generation for example, about 40 percent of the '60s generation served in the military and henderson went to vietnam.went

so maya book tells a story of the members of that generation enriched by over 160 interviews between men and women and i really did focus on the ground action to combat the war fighting in vietnam led described inn greater detail today think of the say pivot point. i talked about the experience of serving in vietnam in a talk to them

about being with friends in coming home in their experience when they came home and also interview members of families of those were told their son oror daughter would not be coming home so s&l personally inscribed copies to the 160 people to tell them they were collaborators with my effort to tell the story. to describe what it was like to grow up with the baby boomer generation about the

exciting america in the expansion end of possibility in opportunity with the emphasis on education but i also detailed a scary world in which this generation grew up worried aboutne impending nuclear attacks we were warned regulate it could happen anytime to talk about duck and cover we had in the schools with small midwestern towns trying to get under the desk if the

nuclear bombs started to hit in that conviction in the shared fear the world is at war and the reminder that they had to be prepared to fight the inevitable war that they need to step up and all of us have to assume the responsibilities that came with citizenship in was an era of the peacetime draft in my high-school graduating class 25 boy is 13 of us in listed five ofat us in the marines the wrists still going into the serviceg it

as part of life in the culture though i am not in this book sympathetic to political leaders to to attest to vietnam but to assess the form policies and commitments for president truman to nixon other historians have done this and more will provide this history the interest is in relating in a world that was described as the place we all needed to be prepared to stand up for freedom. world war ii veterans, this indelible lesson of world

war two failing to stand up to dictators only encourages more. these are the parents of the baby boomers born in what would happen in this country did not respond to challenges and threats.lenges john kennedy at his inauguration said asked not what your country can do for years to put what you can do for your country. so of this summons was a response to the well-being of the republic was quaint in 2017 it is not in 1961. . .

uniform with the south vietnamese troops. and cents out to the valley which was a desolate place in the northwestern part of old south vietnam's a few miles from laos. after orientation so why are we here? and the vietnamese commanders said this outpost is your to provide protection to guard the air strip and he said that makes

sense but tell me why is the air strip their? and the south vietnamese officers said the air strip is there to supply the outpost. and colin powell would go there in the '60s said he was unsure he ever heard a better explanation as circular as it was for what we were doing. working on this but in addition to my research than reading and intellectual framing i certainly knew i needed to visit vietnam. not just a thriving city but to the delta and the high country out to the far

reaches. where the baby boomer generation fought there were some of the men i was describing had died for gore visited the delta even today you can understand while patrolling the waterways and canals were scary. traveling up the river i went to the only means of liberty bridge that so many americans who had served there in the old areas of the marines called dodge city and a left behind some

mementos for those marines killed in two different ambushes' with the third battalion seventh marines one in july 1968 in 2nd less than 2 miles away. and to be the site in winnipeg is the old demilitarized zone names that i can assure you that most americans never know they are seared into the of

the very of the outpost. i walked around the field as it was soaked in blood 1968. i visited the thailand's -- thailand with the old airstrip with the 299 combat engineers with steward -- was the vicious attacks in 1969. i climbed hamburger hill late summer heat is humidity. i never in in the morning of north vietnamese veterans in the village. i was surprised when they accepted an invitation to climb with me.

they call a hamburger hill because they would grind them up like a hamburger grinding machine. to be sleep -- a steep and slippery i sweated and slipped and i wondered how those scared young men had climbed the hill they 1969. no one was shooting down enemy and i was not carrying 50 pounds of equipment to detect a small group to reach two hours and it took them 10 days. for those who reached the

top. at 70 and 80 percent casualties before the fight was over. while on top of the hill i told the north vietnamese shall -- soldiers and wanted to share a story with them i had grown up in an old midwestern mining town called galena it was a lead mining town for settled in the 1820s i worked in the minds after i got out of the marines one of my bosses was a world war ii veteran i had tremendous regard in keen to

have an affection for his son and picked up a couple of pieces to keep on my desk a few years later i learned my boss's son was killed on hamburger hill ayatollah the north vietnamese soldiers about him i'd put out -- i pulled out some of lead sulfide and i said i will bury this on the top of the hill where my friend never reach the top penelopes of his hometown was here and i've assured them that the

of lead sulfide would last as long as the klay soul is in many ways with the hot humid it triple canopy the research and personal biography to remember those who'd died they all overlapped. i have a chapter on hamburger hill so represents a and symbolizes so much about the war and to share

stories i have found it troubling that perhaps the name that they knew was lt. william was the commander of that unit so there were truly impressive kids who served in vietnam they did remarkable things to demonstrate as much courage as anyone who fought in any of our wars but vietnam was a war without heroes but not

a war without heroism. they did this on our behalf because the war was something we preferred not to talk about. i share with you my dedication dedicated to the american generation who on verbally served in this book's eludes those who deserve to be known in their lives remembered. to make their willingness to have the sacrifices that we made the greater and not the lesser. think of what they did when

they were asked to serve. not all were eager to serve i can assure you but they did. they knew the war and it was likely it would be one in a traditional sense. and as a silent in saigon reminded us to do i talk to a young marine officer and was a platoon leader. in the infantry unit. is in country orientation he was told the critical thing for an officer is not to cry. never to cry. never to show that a motion.

one of the top men was killed in ambush and how he struggled so hard not to cry when he learned he was dead. this marine just died in the last month and he encouraged me to be sure to tell the stories and his wife shared with me some things he had ridden about 10 years ago when he was riding in a diary in sharp detail about this young marine who was killed in the ambush. he did not forget. tell the story of a young massachusetts man who join the army asking what options

were that you are a college graduate you could apply to be an officer the neck to serve two more years in the recruiting sergeant said you could either be inside the officers' club drinking a cold martini or outside walking on guard duty for those who are inside drinking the cold martini. he decided he would be an officer for cry don't know if he ever had a cold martini in vietnam. idle think so. i know he had warm beer and

now the fourth door 50 and hamburger hill -- fourth or fifth day on hamburger hill being hit one unit was badly wounded so they stopped and helicopters could not kong in to medevac they had to go to the bottom. the young man from minnesota would lead it then they were hit by another rocket three more were killed and another badly injured. sullivan said we will get you down. we will get you to a hospital. you will be okay and organize another party and the sergeant said no

fertilizer looking at jordan right now with a band of angels coming after me. and they said we will get you to the helicopter is starting to carry him down in three different men tell me they still remember the powerful voice swinging low sweet chariot and is dead by the time they got to the bottom of the hill. i remember interviewing a woman from iowa she and her husband both oppose the war but he got the draft notice rather than go to air canada

he said i will go. i will never kill anyone and look after myself he died shortly after he got there afterdamp bush. the army organized a funeral in the small iowa town and she said to the contingency no firing squad please. there has been enough gunfire around him. no more. i interviewed family members part of a strong irish free culture he delayed going in

because girl friend persuaded him to stay but the following winter of 19681 of his dear friends was in that original group was killed during the tet offensive so jimmy and his friends dropped out before they graduated he was in vietnam an early 69 and killed in the day -- may northeast of liberty bridge bridge, dodge city. there is a square in quincy massachusetts named after jimmy key and 19 other squares in that city remembering young men dying in vietnam.

jimmy hickey ogle -- was remembered by feeling members to be very sentimental and richman and wrote a poem called domestic course the family shared the :with me in a printed in in the book. it tells the story when jimmy was growing up he insisted he had a magic horse that no one else could see and he kept tied by his bed at night. it protected him to mr. burns told the story aisle will leave you home on your read to course. along with puff the magic dragon dragons live forever

but not little boys. one than they were hit by ambush swinging back with heavy firepower immediately they get the ammunition dock and there was a huge explosion in seeing to bodies flying up in the air and how he and the men did a high five the next several years telling people about vietnam the would fly at --

you get the little bastards they would fly through the year. we got them. but in 1979 he was on a church retreat in the shenandoah valley and this was to go through a maze of the church grounds and he started to think about this two bodies lying in the air may be if we did not kill them they would kill us and that is what war is but you should not celebrate that. they have families at home eagerly waiting for them to come back. i killed two men they should

pray for them rather than celebrate. he started weeping and was crying so hard he had to go into the words out of the way. and came back and said i never celebrated death. but the face of war is the heart of war with the types stories that need to be told. and often have no end i spoke on veterans day 2009 at the vietnam veterans memorial. and to speak their own very special day was a moving experience standing in front of that wall with a cool

rainy day with goldstar mothers in front of me with those veterans but i concluded my remarks with a plea and a reminder that frames my engagement of this book so i said casualty's of for not as those abstractions or casualties or numbers entered into the books so we need to ensure that in his place of memory

those with a smiling human faces and engaging personalities with dreams to pursue. into descend upon the war. and try to remind people of what i of been doing but to sing along with delays of hamilton let me tell you what i wish i had known to have no control over who lives or dies or tells the story.

i hope through telling the stories someday somebody can say do you know my brother? with those veterans who were here think you for your service and sacrifice their only to join and tell the stories and most importantly to learn from these stories. thank you for joining me i am prepared to answer any questions. [applause]

>> how did you get involved yourself?. >> headed is an interesting book that i had written before but thinking logically and then writing books i want to write something about it this does not fit to in the op-ed even between the covers of the book so maybe i will try another book. >> can you talk about the experience coming back to a

civilian life? it was a different time following the vietnam war. >> they had of wild people applaud them when they see them in the thank them for their service in vietnam veterans don't have that experience i am not sure they know too much we're asking these kids to do i am not sure we fully appreciate the nature of these complicated missions with the rules of engagement letter necessarily a part of

these wars of multiple the planet's because they're older than the of the unknown generation is a different military today. those the unknown veterans were not treated as warmly. some did experience that's that widespread hostility but there was some difference. we worked our way through that trying to of knowledge of them in some ways says we look upon that and then we say bless you we know more

rarely are blessing somebody than being thank for our service in vietnam. and so that vietnam generation and those that have contributed significantly and they still bear a lot of these memories of most people of wanted to know. >> can here merck on a the practices associated with a native language welland present conflict in a foreign country.

>> i am not sure i have that much authority very few people knew vietnamese. >> there was illiteracy but in fact, most of those veterans came to appreciate very early they want them to be there they did not want them. >> what about the conflict with north korea?. >> we have trouble understanding i think it is very difficult isn't always rational i think the concern is the misunderstanding or the of this calculation

given the of vulnerability of the north vietnamese. >> what do you think to have a concept of national service in my person from new hampshire they could teach cooler do anything in entering of vietnam war and

only 40 percent of that generation did not for a variety of reasons why an over 75. 52 percent of us are veterans. ) there is less than 2 percent and it will not turn around so if we have a draft today it would have to be a lottery and told they could be any other way but in 2010 it was 4.5 million then turned 18 but the military has 180,000 per year. so which of those are going

to serve? i think the military would prefer to have those that want to serve as there is a study pointing out not only representative of our society but they increasingly is a military caste system and they serve and the military are children of those. so could we have a national service for those other 4.2 million 18 year-old? into

agreeing on some pretty basic things in to make certain with that objective. in is how to implement the practice. in to do something for the common good. >> we would like to present you with this desktop version. >> [applause] [inaudible conversations]