you can start. be a part of this documentary because you want to be a voice your community. >> thank you, ashley. if you want more information on our documentary contest, go to our website. next on american history tv, we hear from two silver star recipients from the vietnam war and the korean war. the silver star is the third highest military combat decoration that can be awarded to a member of the u.s. armed forces. this 45 minute talk is part of the three-day conference hosted by the american veterans center. >> our next panel is titled "american valor, legends and trailblazers." moderatorhave as our jonathan allies, a journalist at dc anden in washington

host of a weekly segment spotlighting military heroes. civilian, he is also an instructor at the u.s. army war college, where he teaches kernels, for the most part -- colonels, for the most part. i also found out before the program that he and his wife have been very active in helping wounded warriors. ed a charity that helps them in a variety what -- variety of ways. they provide al qaeda different services. he told me one particular -- they provide all kinds of different services. i commend you for all that you do to our military and i welcome you to the panel. [applause] thank you.

as an instructor at the were college, i deal with senior command, so in my class i only have lieutenant colonels and above. of young faces, it inspires me. also, i interview folks from all different wars. i know that you guys have to read a ton of stuff, and some of it does not translate for you. you don't smell it or hear it, none of it is real. it is words and stories. but when you hear people in front of you and you talk to people, it is living history. you sit there and say, we tell you it is the british in duration and i look out and see you, who is to say that you are not the greatest generation? these folks were exactly your 19-year-oldsolds,

being told to go overseas and fight in a war. they may not have understood the implications or the historic value, only knew is that they were being told to fight and they were going over there. i have yet to meet anybody who is engaged in any battle prior that was saying bring it on, they were terrified. and when the battle started, they were still terrified, but they ran toward the battle. they were gallant and her relic in their efforts and that is why we can sing their praises. -- when youyou, not have this opportunity, listen to them and their stories. when you hear them pause a moment, the attention to that, that means it is hard to talk about. sometimes you have to pry it out of them, they will not just tell you what happened. they don't necessarily want to share it. when they do, it is a valuable tool to you. these are valuable tools that

you can put in your shed. it is an amazing tool for all of us. with that said, let me introduce to you james mccutchen -- both of these men are going to sit here and talk and i will let them talk as long as they want to. we are going to feel out what it was like being a young man going into that oh, but their backgrounds are interesting, as well. james mccutchen, silver star, multiple purple hearts with a distinguished background. he has been an author, an actor, a character for sure. he is a lot of fun to talk to. he has award-winning novels, he is pretty much done it all. a round of applause. [applause] >> and vincent, he was born in

1943 to an american family of japanese origin and interred during world war ii. rounded up -- japanese after pearl harbor as a themjerk reaction and put in internment camps. we stripped them of everything they had, took their jobs and livelihoods and put them in these camps. be a war man would your free united states military speaks volumes. his family was put in a camp in arizona. he became a second lieutenant in the u.s. army after college and after that he went to ranger training and went to vietnam, serving as a routine -- platoon leader. he would be awarded the distinguished service cross, also awarded the silver star, bronze star and purple heart. he is a hero. [applause]

both of you gentlemen have microphones on. backgroundgive us a of what inspired you to join the military and tell us about your service and the kind of things that are forever with you, perhaps good and bad? child -- i am the 10th child born to japanese immigrants. my older brothers served in the military. the two eldest were in world war ii. another brother volunteered for the marines and fought in the korean war. as a kid, my older brothers were my heroes and i could not wait until i was old enough to follow in their footsteps. when the vietnam war started heating up in the 1960's, i felt that was my opportunity to prove myself, to go off to war and

come back and be able to stand with my brothers and drink beer with them as an equal. most people who have experienced combat would say it is not what you imagined it would be like. the number is a different world, it was a separate universe with its own heroes and villains. it had its own vocabulary. after serving a year in vietnam, they called the jetliner that would take them home, you refer to it as the freedom bird, because they felt they had been locked up for a year. they referred to america as their home. in counterpoint, vietnam was such a strange place that was not of this planet. gravity did not exist in vietnam.

you stayed on the ground because the whole country sucked. [laughter] >> again, because of my older brothers, because of my mom and japan, came from feudal i was born in america one of the things i was most proud of was my parents having lost forything and then interned over three years. they were not bitter. if there was a war, we were told that you went to war. my older brothers were in the military, so i thought i had to. what was an experience you had that you will never forget, both good and bad? important,is especially for young sailors and

serviceman -- i have to be careful of all of the branches, i am used to the army, so i apologize. we have a lot of young, shining faces out here. serveheroic that you will our country and i tip my hat to you. i think it is good to hear an amazing experience, it also a horrible experience that made you question what you are doing and why you were doing it. >> i was 23 years old when it went to vietnam, and at the time, the rhetoric of john f. was a value to me. i felt we were doing the right that americanst had to defend their country. i volunteered for vietnam. so i volunteered for vietnam.

being a lieutenant in vietnam was almost like being a child molester. had beenn your platoon in the country longer than me. they had more experience than me. that was normally the case for any young second lieutenant. the new guys were called "fng's." [laughter] >> you can clean that up as friendly new guys. he was ignorant anyways of the jungle and walked into an ambush.

again, they really were a threat. until that at and g proved to -- until that fng proved themselves, they were a pariah. ift of the grunts in vietnam they were going to get killed, it was in the first two and a half months they were there. timewas just about the ,hey knew what they were doing where they became jungle wise. they were rotated home. in vietnam, there was a anotherg door, reservoir of experience. we had to fight a 10 year war in

vietnam. we fought a one year war 10 times. i think there is merit to that statement. i was not treated with open arms when i reached my platoon infield. no one really talked to me. conversedne who i with was my radio operator. he had to talk to me because he was always with me. , aftery first firefight my first wound, things started to get better. there is an old saying in the military academy and all the other military institutions. not to get too friendly with your men, because you're going to have to order them to do things that could probably get them killed. that is good advice, but it is

hard to follow. , young,ond lieutenant 22 years old, you do become friends with your men. they start showing you pictures of your girlfriend. they share cookies that they got from their mom. they tell you about your future hopes and dreams. you grow to love these men, maybe more than euro biological brother's -- than it your own biological brothers. the understanding you are embarking on a path that will be difficult in a time fraught with danger, and the difficulty will be not just for you, but your family. i think all the veterans here will extend their gratitude and respect, because you are going to be defending our country.

in some circles that may sound corny, but that is what you are. you are defenders of our country. there are young men and women. much like you that are staying at their posts in remote corners of the world protecting us from those who do harm. speak,mind people i especially to civilian people, i say i know you love going down the street and getting your double cappuccinos with latte that is, whatever, gluten-free. you have the freedom to do that because young men and women like yourselves who go out and defend our nation. the folks ahead of you who have been doing it, and the folks ahead of them. that says something right there. the preservers of our freedom. james, let's talk about what you did in korea, which is been called the forgotten war. can you imagine serving, losing

fighting for something, only to be pulled out and then later find out it is called the forgot a more -- forgotten war? you served at a time when this country was just coming off of world war ii. they did not have a lust for battle. they did not treat the warriors the way they should have treated them. tell us about what your experience was. >> you have a few things mixed up there. when i enlisted in the army, it was because of the fact that my brother-in-law came home one day in 1946, i think it was, and he had on this uniform, which to me looked almost like it was something from another world. ribbons that he didn't have ribbons, but it was a u.s. army uniform.

, i reached my 17th birthday. the first thing i did was find someone they could tell me how to join the army. i ended up on whitehall street in new york. i went through all the exams. before you know it, i found myself in fort dix new jersey, ready to take up the position in the world as a soldier. there is something magical about being called a soldier. you caught me at a particularly sensitive time. i have just returned from korea two weeks ago. by a invited over there four-star general who was the commanding officer of our troops on the korean peninsula. he thought i needed to get over there to get a little r and r.

down in plane touched , something strange and developed may. i did not realize i was so sensitive to war. let me backtrack and say that i have written a couple books having to do with the military. i am not here to plug the book, but just to tell you about how was it the time during that period about blacks in the military, which you really can't do until you talk about the day that the army decided it would .orce integration i was particularly happy with the outfit i was in. i don't know if it was necessarily the right thing to do was to be with the whites or their company. i eventually wrote a book about

it. to jump forward again to dr. going to korea -- to talk about going to korea, i didn't realize i would be so frightened or these memories would come back from the valley. they did. i remember going up to the 38th that whennd all of all those things were occurring about the korean war. later that night when we got back to the hotel, i almost started going to pieces, because , it waseen those things just a little bit too much for me to take. >> what kind of things were flashing in your head? were these things you had put away? >> i was one of these guys full

of braggadocio that you could go anywhere and be anything you wanted to be, etc. i didn't know there would be someone pulling me back to yesteryear. that was those feelings i had in korea. you wake up in the middle of the night when you get home, screaming and carrying on and your wife would be afraid that you want to do something dangerous. eventually you deal with it and it is all over. i was kind of seriously wounded. i was saved by a young blonde was justy who miraculous in the way he saved me. i was wounded in three different places -- the left eye, the right thigh, and that a bullet

mood here which i still have shrapnel in my chest between my ribs. explosion --hat .ow you could see him saving you over and over again. as i have written in the screenplay that i have written .bout the incident it still falls into that one night where you are almost a goner. it affects a lot of the other things that you do such as important religion. anything else, something to reach out.

something to hang on to. next question. >> what would you say would be the most powerful message you could pass along to the young people in front of you today about serving, and also about war? >> i think what i would say is that you have to be of whatinarily proud you have done. you have to be proud, or you should be proud of having served . with all of its faults, this great family called the united are goingamerica, we through some awfully troubled times. what you have -- and i was talking to a couple of young guys last night to see how ready they are and how prepared they are to surrender or to give all -- be proud ofy

what you do. to have agoing welcoming mat out for you when you come back. some of your friends not even know you were gone. to a large extent they do not care. there is something inside of you and such my god, such a thing happened and it is just wonderful to say i defended the united states of america. korea --s that in we're talking about the period where the army wasn't even integrated at the time -- they would look at a black soldier, and then in japan they would do the same thing. you really didn't exist, or who are you? not necessarily what planet are you from, but who are you? and you say i am an american soldier. i would just say be proud of who

you are. back and say my god, it was a wonderful thing that i did in the service. i am 86 years old. i couldn't possibly think of even coming close to thanking i was able life that to inject a thing called serving in the united states army. >> what makes you most proud today, given all that you have that hased, what is it made you so proud or continues to make you very proud? with. men i served unpopular.very sense to fighten in vietnam, it was tough on

them. some had girlfriends who said if you go to vietnam, forget about it, because i think it is a bad war. at ucla, at the field, you could see size reading signs that say students," andt women holding signs saying "girls say yes to men who say no." it was a bad war. they're sending you away from you loved ones, your family. you're scared, you are always tired. but vietnam, the hard thing was sitting down and talking about should we be here? is this a necessary war? is this a moral war? a largeestions to extent are still relevant today.

i feel terribly proud of the men i served with, 19, 20-year-olds, some high school dropouts, who were willing to fight for this country. most of these guys in the , theyry could not type could not drive a truck or bake a cake. they are put into the infantry where it was kind of the bottom of the barrel as far as intelligence and qualifications. so long as you could pull a trigger, you are welcome in the infantry. they led the most wretched existence that you could imagine. seven days a week, no holidays off, monsoon season where it rains on you for four months, it is really difficult to have a cigarette because it will just turn to mush.

i wish i had bought stock in marlborough. smoke. you didn't if you had been in the jungle for a month or so, you see friends being killed, maybe they got a piece of your tail. smoking was something everybody actually did. youn, i cannot explain to just the bond that i formed with the men in my platoon and the men in my company. they were magnificent. they knew what they did was not just thankless, but in some circles, wrong. but they continued to fight, and they did it not for some cause, not because of the eloquence of richard nixon or mom's apple by -- apple pie.

they fought and they bled because they did not want to let their buddies down. that is not anything i have ever seen replicated in civilian life. those of you who are wearing uniforms, understand that your goals are not going to be a big house at a fancy car. you are going to an institution where you will become supervisors of controlled violence. , but in ally probability, you will see the obscenity of war. you do not know that yet. but i get it. i want to tell you how proud i ,m of you, because our society some are lionized further great wealth and political power or social position. some are renowned for athletic abilities. others are accorded celebrity

status. of all the titles in the world, the proudest is that of veteran, because it refers to an individual who was willing to give up everything for america. all you young people give yourselves a big hand. thank you. [applause] same thoughts from you james, then we will open it up for questions. >> one of the things i would like to say that was just touched on, you will not always be appreciated for what you do. even here in the military, those who are in the military, they can be so shallow and there thinking that they do not even say we have the same quota memorial day that occurs every year for some reason. i have given speeches before members of congress, before

baseball stadiums, you name it. not once have i ever been called upon to do it for the military here. ship, i was a the soldier wearing my uniform, the korean war uniform, the people in the navy were not necessarily enthralled to see me here, because it should be the navy that is honoring the navy. they were wise enough to choose me to be a part of the ceremonies. i started to mention the memorial day concert. i have tried and my assistant has tried for years to have me to participate in that. whoever the powers that be are,

basically won't do it. they simply won't do it and will not allow me to go on to say what i want to say. -- you asked me about some of the things that i some of the about, things that you think about that put you in the position that you are. i open my screenplay up -- and by the way, this is not my first time writing. i wrote with steven spielberg. he never shot it. the acceptanceou you have is a writer. i opened the screenplay up with the guys conscience talking to him. he is tossing and turning in bed, and his opening line is the why arece says "james, you going through this?

why do you put yourself through this? don't forget when you go to war, i as your conscience go to war with you. you must stop that." and then we go on further explaining what is the guys problems -- what his problems are. that myred to me usutenant who let us -- lead on this patrol, that he made a mistake -- no, i should not even go there. let's just say that the confusion that you have in your mind whenever you get close to going back to the war zone, it doesn't let up, it continues to be there. everybody ok if you speak up? you want to throw that microphone down here to the front?

we should have a nerf microphone that we just toss. >> we have both of you receiving multiple purple hearts, and with a nation now that actually says the flag is just a flag, what do your purple hearts mean to both of you individually? >> i think the person that desecrates the flag, whatever this person does to the flag, you should do it to him [applause] . him.u should do it to [applause]

flag, even on my jesus knows that it should not be stepped on. if you burn my flag, then i am entitled to burn you. what goes around comes around. that is what i feel. >> i don't think i could improve on that. [laughter] [applause] >> just an interesting observation. ever since decided to take a knee -- ever since kevin cap or nick decided to take a knee, it has been an absolute juggernaut and the ratings. if you make millions and billions of dollars, everyone smiles and just walks to the bank. ratings have fallen for the nfl by 30%. everyone is scrambling and saying what the hell is happening here? they never thought that would be happening.

clearly they struck a nerve and now there scrambling to try to figure out why this is happening. these two gentlemen just told you eloquently why it might be happening. >> what was it specifically about your experience that those drove you to share feelings in looks and screenplays? made you feel like it had to be spread in that format? it happened because i was wounded in such a fashion i could not take care of myself. this blonde haired boy came virtually out of nowhere. after having gone back to korea, was a jesus? i don't know.

i was saved. unfortunately, there is a shell in you that reminds you every now and then that there is a higher power that rescued you in your darkest hour. you could've been the guy. guy come i never thought of his name. -- i never got his name. he laid me down at the forward aid station. i said to him i never got your name. we had been out struggling all morning long trying to get back to our lines. and he said i never got yours either. and he said well maybe we should

just keep it that way. he said names have a way of changing things. and i believe it just happened that way. outfit.ack to my i went awol from the hospital. i didn't want to live out my and having itital without thinking this guy. i had to go find him. i never found him, and my lieutenant was killed. and it hurts. >> i have a question about the internment camps. i'm from washington state. internmentlaced our camp with now the state fair. i want to know to thoughts were on replacing or covering up

historical areas that might be hard for us to member because we are the ones that caused the pain? >> i have no independent recollection of it. my impressions are based off of the stories of my brothers and sisters. my mom and dad would never talk to me about it. in retrospect, it was unconstitutional. in retrospect, it caused a lot of pain and suffering that should not have been involved. life,nything else in individually and collectively as a nation we make mistakes. that was a mistake. what i'm most grateful to my parents about is that instead of being bitter being locked up for three years and having lost their home and their businesses, they still said this is our country. you weregrown here --

born here. we come from samurai stock. we are warriors. warriors go to war. . have no bitterness i think it is a good lesson. not to letry emotions take over from sanity and common sense. >> hard to imagine if you have ever been out of the deserts of california, there is a cap there as well. well.ampt there as the next a you know you have been processed as an enemy of the state. your house, your business, your belongings gone. after three years, they say you can go back home and there is nothing to go back to. this is all a part of our history. when he says a mistake was made, i think it was clear that we weren't there.

how many of you were born and remember 9/11? how old were you? six years old? december 7, 19 41, when the japanese bombed pearl harbor, this country went completely crazy. you had farm kids out of kansas wanting to sign up for the army but couldn't because they were not old enough. to september 11, 2000 one, you had kids that want to do join our military ranks as well. when you poke the bear, that their response. for you to join up without that burned into your psyche, i think that is a real testament to who you are and what you stand for. i grew up in a military family as well. i grew up in the country out of the desert in the middle of .owhere by air force base racism wasn't a big thing in the country.

these are brothers and sisters around you, and i want to look around and shake your hand with the person from another branch. get to know them. the only color that matters is red, and that is the color of blood. it may be a different wrapping, but what you are inside is blood, and you you have the warrior blood which is fantastic. i can point to dozen people that will never amount to anything and never stand for anything. we have two things in common. we will all pay taxes and die. it has been a pleasure. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, sir. interested in american history tv? visit our website. you can see our upcoming schedule or watch a recent program.