coming. up we're going to go say hi to my good afternoon gentlemen how are you doing good what's your name be bruce i'm steve just a real. piece pretty cool ah. you guessed. mystery oh sit. you can tell dear really impressed well you want to have some fun i need some help we take him for a walk. thanks buddy yeah. he can probably go right down there by the water. and bruce jr and rios set up to have some good clean fun. while you do it so bruce as i understand it the old no here is one of your frequent hangouts of my correct yes well. you're like me brother. you're

a little smarter than maybe you look. for thank you is that it yeah it is beautiful it's fantastic told me some more about this neighborhood this town because we've been mean some of the folks and just the folks in massachusetts just seem so nice so nice that they have the self-proclaimed nickname mask it's the west minister of the town it's very nice town it's. very quiet small town as you see right now it's very quiet peaceful well as are you too except for that. people go to yours yes they did. where you were you born i was going one hundred forty eight forty eight i was born in sixty six. close. nineteen fifty eight forty eight all not even close. to the reason of just the host of the program yet. we can agree more when you go to school. in lexington school system

graduated then got drafted it was nineteen i was drafted in one nine hundred sixty eight right and i school. the kid i was to wow drafted right into the military one nine hundred sixty eight take me through after the draft tell me the story i was drafted in the spring i went through basic training i went down to fort dix new jersey then i was in fort bliss texas far in advance individual training and went from there to california and was shipped so be it all in the same year and what aspect of the military was it was in the i mean i was in a small outfit were. called quad fifty's it was cool fifty caliber machine guns mounted on the turret which was on the back of a deuce of

a half four or five times that i know of that us. and what division where you went and all that she battery sixty fifth that till. i where did you go first and be it no denying then i was shipped up to. and everywhere you went it was just nuts. you know i was on the front line ninety percent of my time. leave mostly i was in national valley i don't know if you ever heard of hamburg until. i was on eagle's nest which overlooked the valley we were surrounded one night and they brought off the magic dragon puff the magic dragon. that was a c one thirty seven napalm c one thirty had many guns and the whole underneath of the c one thirty full of ammunition. that told you i was just to shoot just to shoot and push everybody back to protect you got. you know

they show it on night and then when they ran out of ammunition they brought in clover and they shot. they were our only protection. and then i guess they drove the sea away and then they went up i think to hamburg a film and then that's when that whole fiasco started there both hamburger hill. and then were you outside of the hamburger hilson are you or did you have miles away. they had us around if it wasn't here force coming in and helicopters we wouldn't. even know they feel. i don't know couple of miles away that was overrun before i came out to this particular. position. they lost almost everybody on that hill and then of course hamburger hill that was a massacre. we lost guys there to

a lot of your guys in the whole movement all of us were were ok we just hunkered down lucky. hey man. i don't believe in luck. i believe in god. absolutely now let's check in with real to see how they're doing on their. looks like it's going to. tell me the story you had some problem with a fellow soldier we were out on. had been. placed on the side of the mountain they give you fifty thousand. that it. was at the time.

that hit. they were better bad. so they had a guy. as a. top of my helmet and told. he. yeah. yeah. yeah. yeah. and did he respond yeah good yeah see now it just goes to show you bruce these days you want to just give your kid a little spank on the bottom in the twenty first century there's probably better ways to discipline your children what i do is take the phone away or the tablet works even better yeah you don't whack little bruce on the head with a tablet you know. better when you're in somebody else's easy to hit somebody

else's then you know you should probably avoid that as well my question is so. with you and your comrades who are over there what do you do for downtown where you're playing cards where you yeah basically. when you had the opportunity to go sleep because they would attack at night. and we would sleep during the day you know kids night you could smoke because that would be zero in for them be a cause to shoot at you really see the cigarette they see the flash and they just shoot. yeah and they shoot at that point so at night even if you smoke you smoke like this couple. so that they couldn't see the cigarette because that lights up a dead giveaway that could have been a big problem yes but script now. eighteen years.

you're a smart man. either they're doing laps around the restaurant or they've only traveled twenty feet in that time. a lot of famous movies about vietnam. and there's one movie that shows like this helicopter coming for some entertainment for the troops you know him or experience one of them no. i'm sorry i haven't the only thing i didn't bring the playboy bunnies into hamburger hill. know what they did was they brought to us so girls in to opposition. for i guess a half an hour and we're just stared in from like a hundred yards away now we got to talk with them and they just were nice and they were just nice and we just like sit down and just having a conversation so to speak because we didn't have anyplace else to go actually

because the position we were at was on top of a mountain. and then they. lifted him back out. how long were you. active in vietnam that was the first tour i was always only there for one tour i extended my time so i could get in early out of the service i stayed fourteen months total because i only had two years of the service if you had eighteen months when you return to the united states or to get out of the mess which you and i had enough. but you did just got lucky and just did what i supposed i did the last two months. burning the what we used to call the and light the showers. were sent me as well as out houses and they had. fifty five gallon drums cut in half and under me and that's where you went to the bathroom they had holes in the outhouse that was

my duty the last two months. so you finished up the eighteen months. i go lucky i got home and nine hundred seventy tell me about that. word that we got when we were still in vietnam as we didn't want anybody to know where you came from. because it wasn't a very popular. so i went and got my tickets. when i had my uniform on and then i took my uniform off . and got on the plane went home. i called my family from boston and they came up and got me. obviously there's a lot of bad memories. associated with. that being an unpopular war. so how long after you got home could you even start saying yeah i was i was

i'm a veteran i fought in vietnam. i would say. up until a couple years ago. despite its tough going into history deceive us union has dominated international sport however little it was never about the numbers of those champions from the. right on the charts number. the warm beer with the been bored me just remembered you three brothers describe. your workers she was the first to be reserved for your were built the first some of

your lympics team of thousand nine hundred fifty two when she did siege survivors concentration camp prisoners and frontline soldiers which still think maybe even though it's good to go from here with europe sure because you are much better than the ship because you're worthless but you're in for the one for yourself or we have to get out of with you if you think that the area we're going to go with. the variations you're pushing rupert through personal first your enthusiasm will go when you do when you're at the national we're going to be through you're there with the workers here we are and that will free up guys you know can we. run it up close to the best out of georgia. and if the high says it's not a pain to perform i have actually passed myself to die. said

he'd won the necessary trust. when i asked. you to snow in home. time to. her. scanty clothes. she had a good. so we'll see if you think. it was that he could would. not yes get me she also told me she. twenty b.s. . i. that's in american interests to not see any russians die in terrorist attacks as it is in russian interest to prevent any terrorist attacks in the united states or elsewhere

in the world so i don't think there's any dispute on that in congress and i think maybe some of the posturing is frankly political as opposed to substantive. so how long after you got home could you even start saying yeah i was i was i'm a veteran and i fought in vietnam. and i would say. up until a couple years ago. so probably in the last ten years. since they've been coming out with veterans. and recognizing that ignites back so it's kind of it's a good thing yeah it is now. can you look back on all that and say.

you know. with all of what was reported in the way all the story happened is there a party maybe now that understands the confusion in your heart and mind you say to yourself it doesn't matter i was serving my country. i can understand. because in the beginning it was it was botched then. as the war went on people were against it so i can understand. the change of heart or feel that. they did. they wanted us to come home. they just wanted to just not. put guys like you were stuck in the middle of that you know she got home. and you laid low and would do after that if you work.

well actually. i bought a new truck a new boat and went fishing for ten months. i love what you catch oh i was going close striped bass anything that i could catch itself down on cape caught oh yeah. oh it's your fish ocean i just want to fish i would go out and make enough money from the fish and. to buy. gas for the truck the boat. buy some beer. what more was there. what kind of beer to drink st pauli girl i drink the same product but non alcoholic i have an allergy to alcohol so. i break out in handcuffs. ok. and just me and. my luck with. mine did too i don't drink anymore

but you still fish. i just hope i get to come back some time and visit your good take you fishing. i'm sure they would be best friends speaking to best friends let's check in with rio and his new pals. on their thirty ninth lap around the old mill. tell me about your son bruce he's walking in rio the pomeranian how old is he he's twelve. is big boy for twelve yeah he's growing like a we like to restore them you know what's it been like for you the reality of bruce jr coming into your life and then how that's affected things up until now well it's been your single dad yeah his mother has had some problems and that's why he's with me it's just been tough to. take care of him and then having cancer. my goodness you know whole cancer when i was in the service. i was exposed to agent

orange. how long after that did you find out about i just found out. to see both a year and a half ago you were exposed to agent orange fifty years ago yeah so it was in my body all that time i didn't know. i just couldn't sleep one night when in the hospital. they did a bunch of blood tests and they came up with the fact that i had bone cancer the doctor told me that. i had only about a year to live because it was stage pool right he asked me if i had been in the service and i told him yes then i wanted to know what branch were you when i said i mean he asked me was vietnam i said yes he said they've been or i said really didn't look good i had stage four and i had to go in the chemotherapy treatments and. i guess the chemotherapy can really mess up in my course.

process and i was at the point where i didn't know who i was where i was i was double checking everything i was doing because i was you weren't sure if you forgot yeah and i thought maybe i didn't have all the time and sort of dementia because my memory wasn't there how old are you sixty nine i'm fifty one. and i got the worst dang memory bruce no kidding you just asked him that ten minutes ago if my kids and my wife make fun of me and i'm fifty one i'm going lord what lives did you just prayed outside yeah it's a a it's a you worry about it it's a little bit so in the times you got we got more to be worried about so we forget more yeah. and how you doing today good it's been four months since they had a stem cell transplant today. the technology they have the stem

cell transplant see if i was diagnosed ten years ago would have been a death sentence what did you learn about that how how did this help you in addition to maybe normal chemo or any of that you go through an awful lot to get the stem cell done i went into the hospital they cut a neck and they put a tube down and they had three poor. so that they don't have to keep sticking you when you're in roscoe had to lay in a bed for about six hours. and the. blood through a machine just goes in a circle and they take the stem cells out and they put them in a bag and then they freeze it. and then when you go to have the transplant i had three days. chemotherapy high dose chemotherapy then they take the stem cells so far out of them out and then they put the stem cells back in chemotherapy kills all disease and all the cancer in your body after

that. when they put the stem cells back in those stem cells a cancer free to run so that when they put it back in. their strength and because the cancer has been beat back so what helps your bones get healthier and stronger faster is the rejuvenated stem cell yes. man in that something yeah it is magic if i told you then after you got back from vietnam we could do something like that you wouldn't believe why would i believe i had cancer in the first place through veterans affairs and all that did you have everything you needed you were taken care of no i had to fight for everything. as i've been going it took me quite a while to get recognition stating the fact that yes we acknowledge that you were exposed to agent orange in vietnam and that's what's caused the cancer and that you are one hundred percent disabled and they finally recognize the fact. february

that's when i received my first check and a letter. and they're going to cover all those costs to pay all those bills now. i go to fitch which is the next town over and go to the v.a. and they take care of anything and everything. fine that's the way it should be my friend. so is it accurate to say it's been four months you've been cancer free yes. that's good stuff right well i've noticed within the last. four months as i progress on my treatment. what a difference i can now balance my checkbook. i got lucky again somehow. miraculously the cancer didn't come sooner it just happened to come out whenever it

came out like fifty years later so you can. we go in and get the treatment he needed so that yeah ten years ago they would have been able to deal with they'd go into this mess up you know. it's nice to sense. that. you're at a place of peace it seems to me like you're content you're ok with all of it now you can just. do your best to take it one day at a time and stay in the solution you know on the right. so to speak. as we wrap up our interview with bruce. and stephen is distracted by a sound that's here to listen to. these bikers are on a pilgrimage of their own and worked up quite the appetite. and it looks like bruce jr has finally gotten tired of walking steven's dog. from. my. theory is here's my memory no. thanks bruce educated you to hang out

a little bit if you like my body real he's the prince of the pilgrimage. you come sit here young man thank you so much. god bless you guys don't get up bruce you got to shake hands with the rio de janeiro. i'll see you take care of me you too buddy. good afternoon how ya doing a nice day for a bike ride a herd the engines a little bit ago i used to ride bikes and i was younger i'm steve but your name from nice richard rogers is what your screw about offering to help a time when he takes shelter dogs and train them and give them to our veterans a stress test on friday and that's also totally cool i've heard of service dogs for vets but i never heard of what work is shelter dogs being you know taken out cared

for trained which they were good organization called. reapers most likely we're in boston massachusetts or well tell me more about delta actually i have a brochure from the event today oh well there's a little bit further up we're still stuck to that we actually are innocent charity we're going today to raise money for the our our children station out there twitch will be presented to them. i'm going to stay. where they have one of their larger events to be old school to the support of the beautiful so today the blue reaper is did a bike ride as a fundraiser for operation delta dock correct how many bikers are on the run twenty one year to fall i think it's so amazing i would love to hear more about it if it's already you guys have a safe ride and if it's a rick and i circle back with you on this one later we'll stop and i'll be in touch and i appreciate it thank you chip. after meeting with learning about the long term effects of the vietnam war and also continue

running into another group of veterans who are sponsoring a charity that's close to students' hearts it's time for steven to hit the road and meet back up with max who was filming the kaiser. and with our heroes reunited they head into being in town to learn what it means to be boston strong. next time on the great american pilgrimage there were two of our friends who are running the marathon and. heard the first bomb go off and how it sounded like a cannon going off a few minutes later the second one off and the building shot as saw people just running running and people with blood and were like what the hell is going on you know when i took the picture of the two the two brothers were in the picture. yet. i still have a you want to see it. across

europe municipalities are taking their water supply back from private companies to me to keep out the cells with simple song alone even some company else where they can find private companies to take over the utilities anybody tell us they're all post a lot from us you guys we got booked video violent up there might be book by ben this is a map of us to quote them out. for you man but the lift bill brought up locals are

ready to stand up for the basic human rights of access to water it's about water but it's also over much more and more it's about the hurt and the redistribution of all of west birds and their date downwards the want of. some my money and entertainment have become blurred that in our culture and we have children grow up playing playing war games on the computer this war has somehow been to mystic cited as entertainment to russia there's nothing funny about it is so serious russia will be the last to give up nuclear weapons because russia regards nuclear weapons as the. against inflation a waltz by the superior competition of force.

in america. a college degree requires a great deal. decades debts from. studying so hard it requires. going through humiliation to enter an elite society. and paci sometimes quite literally. want other true colors of universities in the us.

in stories and shape the week the twenty eighteen winter games kick off in south korea but dozens of russian athletes have had their hopes dashed just hours before the opening ceremony as their appeals against a doping related ban were injected. as frauds by the u.s. led coalition hits syrian pro-government forces reportedly killing nearly one hundred people the pentagon claims it was carried out to defend an american but group. pays jets out to washington to hold the biggest social media firms over the coals about suspected russian medley considering breck's it but come away empty you know.