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Oh, come on, all you Big strong men.

Uncle Sam, need your help again?

He got himself in a terrible jam way down yonder in Vietnam.

Put down your book.

Pick up a gun.

Were gonna have a whole lot of fun.

And it's one, two, three.

Why do we fight for.

Don't ask me.

I don't give a damn.

It wasn't a joke, but I'm saying it wasn't real.

It can't be.

It can't be here.

You know what I'm saying to myself all the time.

But the fighting and the bombing was scary.

But you get so used to it, you know, to.

It didn't matter anymore, you know?

You see, when I'm going home, I'm not going.

You know that peace can only be And its one two three What are we fighting for?

Don't ask me, I don't give a damn I thought it was surreal.

All you heard were helicopters going overhead, left and right all the time.

When they opened the door to the airplane.

The heat hits you in the face.

Even in January, it was sweltering.

And it's five, six, seven.

Open up, pearly gates.

Well, there aint no time.

In the bush, You didn't get any Saturdays.

You might get water.

They might get fresh water until you eat ATC ration.

You got a hot meal occasionally, right?

And you didn't sleep in a in a nice confinement area or whatever.

You slept on the ground.

You slept in a hole.

Thing I can't get over, love is beautiful square with me.

Look at that dealership for Ford Villas.

Well, go ahead ford.

This is some trip.

It is some trip.

Come on, Wall Street.

Dont be slow, I man, as far as go go.

That's plenty good money to be made.

Supply the army with the tools of the trade.

Just say a prayer, They dropped the bomb dropping on the Viet Cong and ask one, two, three.

What are we fighting for?

Don't ask me.

I don't give a damn.

Im just as lost as a pig in the laundry.

Yeah, a pig in a laundry?

A pig in a laundry.

You remember the traffic circle?

Boom.

I do not remember the thing I don't know.

I'm lost.

I don't know anything about it.

Yeah.

Just makes see.

Come on, generals, let's move fast.

Your big chances are here at last.

Now you cant go out, Get those reds.

Only good Tommy is one that.

I'm sorry.

Hey, don't worry about him, man.

Dont worry about it.

Youre my man, you know that, dont you?

I was in Vietnam with a lot of men, but two were there for almost divine intervention.

And they're headed back with me now.

For the first time in 35 years, War makes friendships that often lasts longer than the conflicts themselves.

It's why I couldn't go back to Vietnam without them.

I'm Chris Moore, and this is in-country.

A Vietnam Story.

Morning glory with the blood upon his petals from Gunsmoke and Palm leaves And I shake him with my fingers.

Upon this trigger, I'm crying.

I'm proud to be a veteran.

I feel a very special obligation about that.

I've always wanted to go back to Vietnam.

The memories are etched in my mind.

I came to Vietnam January 4th, 1970.

Wide eyed.

20 years old, didnt know Anything.

And, the bluest sky I ever saw was in Vietnam.

The reddest dirt.

It was a surprise.

It was eye opening.

It was a totally different environment.

Let's see.

What is this?

What's in this?

My friends, Leroy Perry, Andrew Boone and I served in Vietnam 35 years ago.

This when you would be in one?

Yeah.

Now we're headed back.

I don't know what's going to be like looking at old photos.

We talked about what we might expect upon our return.

You probably won't see anything like this at all.

This time.

And this is good.

But you have no road to Swan Lake to go this way.

And the bypass goes where you know where the split is.

You need to mark that.

Andrew Boone is the gentlest soul you'd ever want to meet.

But in Vietnam, he went through hell.

He spent a total of 18 months in country, and a year of that was with the first Infantry Division.

Most days for him, it was kill or be killed.

That's Boone with his head just chillin like Plato, contemplating his existence.

I can't think about how my mother thought about when I came home when she was sick, and she was saying I could remember just the good.

She said, look what they did to my baby because I'm withdrawing now.

I could talk to you cause you mean you was over there?

I could talk to him cause we knew he was there.

But my family and other people, I couldn't even talk to them.

They talked to me.

And it was just like, tongue to their wall.

Look at twisted ties.

Now I know I wanted it.

I wanted to take a ride.

My other good friend, Leroy Perry, was our platoon sergeant and a career military man who did three tours in Vietnam.

He still deals with the after effects of the war, like the time he was ordered to dig a mass grave for Vietcong dead with a front end loader, and see the thing behind that, too.

We really don't know.

You don't know if there's Americans in that group or what?

You know, because you're talking about.

All they wanted was the bodies counted, right?

But this guy that's still missing, who is, say, what happened?

These guys, what did we do to them when we put them in the back of this dump?

So whatever we could do in a mass burial, you don't know who was in those holes.

You have no idea.

Despite all this, we talked about Vietnam for years.

After all, it had forged our friendship.

You see, we all met each other in D company, 46 engineers, the dump truck platoon.

We were.

What was happening with the big red one before you got attached to us?

What was your life like?

It.

Really?

I didn't even think about it.

All.

I was seeing, I was there.

I mean, the way I felt like.

I'm going back home.

One way or another.

I'm gonna be in a box.

Either I'm going to walk back and that's the way I feel.

I never thought about it.

No other way.

Id just live day to day.

You didn't try to make friends with anyone because if you did, you would get killed quicker then he would because you if he get hurt, he was going to try to go get it.

And then that's where you going to get killed.

Oh, look at this.

Right through the top of me.

It didn't burn it.

It just exploded and so bloated and killed him.

Yeah, that's the guy.

That one had already the microphone.

So that's what we were talking about.

I think you got a good job.

You behind a desk.

You an air conditioned Quonset hut?

Yeah.

If the rocket come for you.

Yeah.

If your name come up on the roster.

That's right.

No.

Vietnam is a beautiful country.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, it was always beautiful because.

Because even during the war, you could hear some spicy.

But this is peaceful.

Yeah.

You wouldn't think there was a war going on that Sergeant Leroy Perry.

We always saw him as a leader of men, tough as nails.

But in reality, he still his Mama's baby boy.

And when I went back the second time, she started raising Say You're Right.

As they look.

Why you got to go back to Vietnam?

You've been over there one time.

I really, as a mom, you know, I'm in the military now.

They sent me over there.

See it?

I didn't tell her.

God forbid.

You see, this day.

I never told her that.

Each time I went, I volunteered to go.

And she don't know the day that I have volunteered that she knew this day.

Right.

You know, but this trip.

But the other time all the two times, she never knew that.

The third time you went you volunteered?

The second and third time I volunteer.

What happened the third, I volunteered.

She never knew.

She hasn't used that girl a girl, and I call her, I met both of these men when they were hardened vets.

Boone spent a total of 18 months in Vietnam, and by the time I got there in 1970, Perry was on his third tour.

Both of these men, much more worldly than I would become, more than my friends.

They were like my big brothers.

Chris came in and we met him.

Even just young kid, couldn't have been no more than about 19. in a little while and some of the things that he would do, you know, we would tell him, no, you can't do that, you know, because you get in trouble, you can't do that and you can't get in trouble.

And Chris came in a little young college kid looking like a, like I say, a little lost puppy out of love for something to bother Boone.

And I just took to him.

All right.

I guess.

Put him under our wing.

And brought him to.

And once that buddy, he stuck, he stuck with us and everything, right.

We taught him a lot.

A lot of stuff we didn't know.

We taught him a lot.

We didn't teach him nothing wrong.

We taught him the right way so he can truthfully say, we never we never went astray.

Not with him.

Their like my older brothers, we probably sound like brothers too the way we talk to one another.

We cuss each other out.

We talk about each other.

But, as life goes on, I don't know what I'd do without these two men.

And we were separated for, like, 27 years, and when we found each other, it was just like we had hadn't seen each other for about two minutes.

And now we were going back together.

And it was it was like a motorcycle in the park?

Oh, that's the presidential palace man.

It is Vietnam out there.

But what it look like, fellas?

Yeah.

I'm thinking, come back here.

Doesnt feel like American to me.

I never thought I'd make a full trip there again.

And it has like high rise and everything else.

We were looking for our past, and we found it in Ho Chi Minh City.

When we went on what we used to call a recon mission and ain't big as a D9.

Say, we pull that is a lot smaller.

The War Remnants Museum focused from a Vietnamese perspective on the history of aggressive military action against the people of Vietnam.

For the three of us, it brought back vivid memories.

I wonder how many VC is out here?

So when brought a whole lot we want to have when we see this is when the reason I had pros and cons about coming back and the closer we got I think it a few times it.

But I could feel it, you know, I could tell it.

I don't get very emotional.

No, especially coming in.

What am I going into?

What's going to happen when I get there?

What am I going to see how the people going to react?

That one.

Right.

This picture right there when you land on your back and you say, Lord, I say, if I ever get back home I'm gonna do everything right.

And you'll never do nothing else wrong.

that the lie you tell when, when you been out.

But you get out of there.

And when you get out of there, you come back doing the same thing.

You talk about a hell of a weapon.

Yeah, I know you can see it.

Does land, right?

Yeah.

Look, some of them empty and some of them didn't go out, but you didn't want to see that thing.

All right.

Look like you think it's a 60.

That's what it is.

Well, you ought to know.

You carried one.

That's what it is.

Senior transport.

Me and Army would set it up.

And then that's the said.

Yeah.

Boom.

Theres your crest right here.

That big red one got him there.

That's me.

But then when we were looking, I know you had to come out of it.

Yeah, that's why I came out.

It's.

Yeah.

You know, because I seen it so many time.

It get to you when you see something like that on a wall because it they bring back a whole lot of memory that you saw that these could have been prevented prevented at the time.

It can affect me.

And I think to me you just in a simple war.

What did we accomplish, nothing.

You got a lot of people killed.

And when I walked in that just then and walk round the corner and look like my inside just turned inside out, like I want to throw up.

and I just want to.

I can't look, when I told you that, I can't look at that.

Yeah.

Our time at the museum really affected Boone, so we cheered him up the way we always did.

Send up.

What did I give you?

Nothing.

I didn't give you that black moon.

I didn't give you that name.

You don't know who.

Give me that name.

Who?

Wha wha what would you.

I thought you gave me that.

Well, I'll give you that.

I wonder why, A mad house.

A mad house, unbelievable.

But I love it.

Oh, Boone, Boone!

Yeah.

Mama's having you a big one.

Oh.

She said Boone's and.

Boy, look at this tree line.

Boulevard.

Daylight.

And our recon mission continued 20 miles north to Long Bend, our old military base, and on to a little village called Swan Lac.

Which was is Swan Lac?

Straight ahead is Swan Lac.

You sure?

Yeah.

I don't remember that curve being that neat.

Oh, that.

That might be the whole road right there.

Maybe that's what, 35 years ago?

This road, QL1 or highway one, was red dirt and very dusty.

We paved it.

Well, there's a truck driver.

They put me in the engineers, not a transportation company, which was a blessing because transportation companies got ambushed all the time.

And if you were pulling a truck with a, trailer full of ammunition or a trailer full of JP for aviation fuel, you could die very quickly and very fast if you were attacked.

And so they put me in the engineers and we built highways.

We were construction engineers, not combat engineers.

And we built QL1 from Long Bend all the way, to little place called Jireh.

I dont recognize nothing.

Me neither.

Now, things have grown up so much around it, we can't place where we are.

Look at the gate just there.

That sure looking different than that, Constantino.

Right.

We have to look now.

Is that whole hill?

What?

Every 100ft or so was a bunker?

Well, Machine gun.

That was Constantine and wire and land.

Well, we ride right now was all landmines.

It was amazing.

A huge military installation that when we were there, housed over 30,000 troops, had now become an industrial park that was home to 80 international corporations.

The crowning touch was an old water tower, now remodeled into a VIP restaurant.

I don't recognize anything.

It's like you've been dropped down on Mars somewhere.

And they told you this was home.

The last time I was in.

Had a machine gun in it.

Not in this part.

No, no no, not Atlanta.

Ever had a machine gun.

It's great.

I mean, it's great.

And this is a lot better use of the land.

Then, then what we were doing with it, as far as I'm concerned.

Look there it is, QL1 20 miles later on highway one, we finally found something We recognized.

QL1.

That's it.

There was nothing here.

There was.

This was open field.

We cut down all the trees.

The main road to Swan Lac goes right in here.

And then we just bulldozed all this stuff and made a bypass.

And I was driving a truck.

I used to stop many times.

Yeah, many times.

I stopped here.

Whoa.

Oh boy, I got that big truck.

Look, that's what we used to do.

I hate to tell you we got Food Lion over here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rabbit fat.

No, he was going too slow.

It like a lawn mower.

Look.

The good thing, like a lawnmower.

We used to use the bath fast in the daytime.

In the night they were using it.

Yes It is a lawn mover.

Like a lawn mower.

Like you look hes ready.

or a tiller.

Yeah a tiller.

Made him one look.

Good of you, number one.

I mean, what you talking about?

Modern technology.

You cant beat it.

Look at this.

Yeah.

This, Saigon Express.

Yeah.

Look at it.

Barrel down the highway, man.

You got a mercy break on.

That could be the town taxi huh?

Yeah, it could be the what?

The town taxi.

All right, y'all ready?

Ready.

I all right, all right.

Thats a shot brothers.

You in the marketplace and the whole city of Swan Lac.

Will you get anything you want?

Swan Lac was a dusty little village 35 years ago.

Today, it seems to be a full fledged town.

And we all wanted to visit the Swan Lac market.

Gold?

Yeah.

Pure gold.

No.

No.

Oh.

I know that's not real.

Nice, very nice.

We headed back to Ho Chi Minh City and stopped at what used to be Ambush Alley.

Supply convoys were hit all the time on this stretch of road.

We believe that we saved a lot of lives by clearing trees, straightening and paving the road, and essentially cleaning out Ambush Alley.

Then our past caught up with us.

Literally.

The day you never.

Oh, look at this.

Oh, oh, oh, wheres my camera?

Oh, look at that.

A rack up to 43.

Thats ours.

Oh, I missed it.

That's the late one.

Seeing that old military truck brought back a flood of emotional memories, and I came over Hill, and I started passing a bus with probably 100 Vietnamese packed into a little small bus, and, a small Lambretta was coming up in his lane, and I was going to run him off the road, and I was headed right for him, and he just stopped in his lane a little narrow two lane street, no shoulders and nothing like that.

So the only option was to squish him flat as a bug or run the bus off the road and probably kill 40 to 50 people.

I don't know if something got into me and I locked the truck up.

It skidded.

It trembled to a stop and I stopped almost as close as I am to you.

And he looked right.

My eyes and I could tell he was cussing me out.

And I said, you stupid.

And then something came over.

Man, I don't know what it was, but I think it was the realization that I was on the wrong side of the road, in the wrong in his country, getting ready to kill him or run over on the bus and kill a lot of other women and children.

And that I was behaving very badly and I stopped doing it.

And I just cannot believe, when I think about it, what we used to do in terms of go, we would go down the road blowing the horn fast as we go.

We were the biggest thing unless it was a piece of armor on the road.

We just go right down the road barreling and everything had to move out the way.

It was stupid.

We we were young.

We were GIs.

We thought we rule the world.

We were in these people's country and we did stupid stuff.

And I, I can only ask God to forgive me for it.

I really can, because it was stupid.

I think of doing that time.

We were gung-ho young and.

Didn't care.

Whatever.

And I guess I don't know, you get over here, you kind of, you get kind of loose because a lot of stuff we did was wrong.

We know that, you know.

And you see, you can tell them more now than they did, than this just going into the person's back yard.

You don't want to give person back yard and mess with him.

It was at that moment that I realized you don't come back to Vietnam alone.

Only these men knew what I was feeling right now, that need for healing and reconciliation.

It's what drives some veterans, like the members of the Friends of Danang.

How are you?

We highly appreciate the cooperation and the assistance of Friends of Danang.

The Friends of Danang is a humanitarian organization headquartered in Pittsburgh.

Feel more welcome than the previous time.

Tony Accamando was an officer with the Signal Corps, during the conflict.

To also congratulate you for the wonderful George D'Angelo flew close in air support in F4 Phantoms.

From Myanmar to Thailand.

Norine Dougherty, who was only eight months old when her father was killed in a firefight.

The projects that we do currently and future projects.

Roger Costello, an Australian, he was in special operations attached to an armored squadron.

Doctor Ed Kelly orthopedic surgeon who served with the third Medical Battalion.

Well, hello.

Hey, Lee.

Lee, I remember this medical clinic was the first stop on the friends mission of mercy.

Yeah, yeah, it's this, equipment which was donated by Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Helps me to assist in the recovery of Vietnam from our presence here.

And I think the country is still recovering from the years that, they suffered consequences as a result of the, the conflict going on in this part of the world.

This is, retractor.

Doctor Yeung Lee, the clinic director, is grateful for this gift.

Oh, there you go.

We here in Vietnam, we cannot get such instrument, very costly in Vietnam.

We cannot get that instrument.

But, we try to, we try to, to make it difficult to have a surgical steel like this.

We were surprised to meet another American at the clinic.

My name is Sandy Doe.

I am a physical therapist.

I work in New York City, in Manhattan, at, New York Presbyterian Hospital.

I've had nothing but wonderful experiences from, Vietnamese people here.

Yeah, they've been very welcoming and very interested and curious about who I am and where I'm from.

You know, last year, my first time here, I was a little anxious.

I wasn't sure, how a Vietnamese American would be perceived coming back, if there would be resentment or envy.

But when I came back, it was wonderful.

Sandy and her patients aren't the only ones to benefit from these programs.

However, none of this would be possible without the generosity of the Friends of Danang.

Though they're not all veterans, they share a dedication to this land and its people.

And, you know, a good group really increases to first time in this operation.

It has increased.

But it's also changed, it's increased the numbers maybe by, 10 or 12.

But what's happened is some people have gone off and done other things.

They have moved, but other people have come aboard and even younger people have come aboard, Vietnamese, and non-Vietnamese.

Veterans and non veterans.

And the most impressive thing to the veterans is that the non veterans, particularly the women who are involved in, our work had no military association, with Vietnam.

But just appreciate the good work that we're doing.

Right.

But the great thing about these facilities is they they have an opportunity to be diagnosed in the little village or hamlet closest to their home.

And then based on that diagnosis, the decision is made what to do with them next.

Wouldnt you think Ed?

Yes.

We might see, some primitively constructed walking aids.

For instance, last time we were here, they used a bamboo stick for a crutch.

This is the end result of what happened when we were over here.

So sad.

So sad.

We are so blessed to live where we live.

And to see this 37 years later.

So some of these infants have what we call United States cerebral palsy, and what they refer to over here as movement disorders.

One child has down syndrome.

And, as I said, a couple of the individuals that we see here have been affected by the mother's exposure to Agent Orange, which causes some characteristic, deformities at birth.

I don't know about y'all, but eats me alive.

Thats right.

Know why?

Cause it reminds you of when you were over here.

35 years ago, had to run around, and we have food and stuff, and they wanted to.

You get have a fit, you know, eating it and doing.

So many kids were so hungry.

They didn't know what to eat.

Very looked like it was getting to you in a minute.

Looking at that therapy.

Yeah.

It was.

What do you think?

But where do we go wrong?

Im still thinking the same thing man.

You know.

Youre alright?

You know that?

It's all wrong.

All right.

I got point.

So go ahead on.

All right.

Yeah, I guess I got the right flank.

Right, I got left.

All right, let's keep mosey.

Move move move move.

We are visiting the homes of two children with disabilities, and these two children were born with disabilities.

They maybe they have the birth defects When World Vision received the support from the Friends of Danang, we implement the Let Them Walk Again Project in assistance for the children with disabilities.

Feong New-An Hung is a project director for Let Them Walk Again World vision Danang.

World Vision has been helping some of the world's poorest people for more than 50 years.

He can't wait.

Can you get those little toes moving all over the place?

You can't wait to give her that.

You're happy now.

Not too far down the road, we visited another family who'd benefited from Let Them Walk Again programs.

We have a support for the surgery with orthopedic orthopedic surgery.

And according to the doctor, the surgeon, this is get to keep the arm stabilized after few months they put into the arms a metal pin And after a few months, we need to do the surgery again to pick out the metal pin.

Thats why she request for our support, our financial support for her to have the surgery again.

It may seem like a small thing to us to have surgery on your arm, but in rural Vietnam, having full mobility enables a child to help with everyday tasks that means something here.

It's odd to walk these roads with a different purpose, knowing that we're here as friends rather than enemies.

Yet our minds can't help but wonder back 35 years.

Well, tell you truth.

We only went on two patrols but this is what it felt like.

a matter of fact, it was hot.

Yeah.

When it's cold, right.

When it close together.

You right.

You would not walk this close together.

But if you did, you were dead.

Yes, yes, sir.

I think we need to go back in.

We are here to help you out.

She's go out on patrol.

I thought you I just rode around in those fancy looking trucks.

Yeah, we tried to not go out there, but they sent us out.

We ambush a lot in areas.

We went up and down the north for the borders.

Lagos and Cambodia.

Okay, so you trying to interdict the Ho Chi Min Trail were it ran.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's one us running a dump truck with the kangaroo on the side, humping to please.

A long time ago, a gentleman a long time ago.

Yeah.

I think I think I weighed 165 pounds.

soaking wet.

Yeah, exactly the same.

Were 7A What do you expect?

You know, we only had bloody ribs and a cup of skin That was it.

I'm probably about a 150 pounds heavier now.

Im about 300 pounds heavier.

But you can still hump that rice paddy if you needed to, right?

And you coming.

I believe I could.

Give me a piggyback.

It felt great to laugh about the things that used to be so serious.

Maybe it was just being on a mission that we could all feel good about, and realizing that it's never too late to give back.

Like the new wing of the Wa-son School, built with donations from the Friends of Danang with 600 kids, were anxious to meet us as we were to see them.

Hey, careful, careful.

Relax.

The students gathered in the school's courtyard and performed a special dance for us.

This school is dedicated by the partnership of the Vietnam Children's Fund as a living memorial to the 2 million Vietnamese men, women and children who lost their lives in this country's recent wars.

And as a gesture of reconciliation and healing between the peoples of Vietnam and America.

Hello, hello, hello.

All of Vietnam is alive.

The place jumps from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

In Danang, there are literally millions of motorcycles, which seems to be Vietnam's favorite mode of transportation.

Somehow, in a sea of traffic, bicycles, motorbikes, cars, busses and huge trucks all seem to coexist.

Being back in country, I couldn't help but think about all the people who never have a chance to make this trip.

Over 58,000 Americans died during the Vietnam conflict, including James Doloughty His daughter Noreen had joined us on our journey to pay her respects to the father she'd never known.

Somebody told me that friends are just strangers who never met Yeah, yeah.

So, hello, friend.

I think that applies to Noreen and me on the bus as we traveled to a cemetery for Vietnamese war dead in Chuly, near the area where her father died.

We felt comfortable talking to each other about her dad and life's what ifs.

You think what your life would be like if hed come home.

On one hand, I think about it a lot.

On the other hand, I try not to think about it.

You know what if he come home, but he didnt come home wounded Since I don't remember my dad, I was so young.

I don't have any of my own memories or anything that feels like it's mine.

And as I kind of learn more and I kind of understand who he was, you know, it kind of hurts more that, you know, this isn't just some figment of my imagination.

This was a person, you know, was not here with me.

And I was the only kid I knew who lost a father in Vietnam.

You know, you can't really talk to people in your family about it because it's too painful.

We couldn't go to the exact spot where her father was mortally wounded.

But we did visit this cemetery for Vietnamese war dead where nearly 1000 graves are marked unknown.

Do you suppose it was close to here that your father died?

Yeah, it was somewhere.

I mean, it was right off that road we've been on.

Here.

I mean, this was something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Can heal to a point of being able to function.

And, you know, be better about it, but it's never going to totally go away.

You with me?

Yeah man, its just You know, people don't even know whether the family here or not.

Don't know where they husband they loved one.

They killed or what?

You don't know.

They just don't know.

It really hurt me when I look at stuff like that.

We made it brother.

Yeah.

And we made it back.

Yeah.

Well I was talking about how I could have been one the same.

I could be live now and nobody know where I'm at.

You know it's a miracle.

But I'm thankful that I am.

But I would love to know who it is in America.

The way it was down.

You know.

I'm sorry.

Hey, don't worry about it, man.

My man.

You know, it, dont you?

You make a name on the faces.

Do you want to?

All right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is something out there.

Yeah.

I'm okay.

I know that he's not my system, man.

Let it out.

Yeah.

Let it out.

I'm all right.

They messed up my hanky I only bring the one.

Give me the driver's side.

And.

I can't believe I'm walking through the streets of old Hanoi city alone.

People are everywhere Doing any and everything that one could imagine.

It has taken almost a full week in country for me to get over the feeling that I'm not safe here.

That I need a weapon to walk the streets, but the people are very friendly and as I walk, I'm just a brief curiosity, I constantly have my home video camera rolling and I captured these shots in Hanoi.

American jeeps still in use.

Lovers in the park doing what lovers do.

Kids just being kids.

And of all things in this communist country, the decadent art of breakdancing being practiced all under the watchful eye of Ho Chi Minh, whose massive tomb sits atop this hillside overlooking Hanoi, a place the Vietnamese fiercely defended.

Shooting down many American planes and taking our pilots prisoner for long, torturous stays in the Hanoi Hilton.

The hatred caused by war seems lost on many of the city's residents as they go about their business.

I'm so emboldened now that I decided to get a haircut.

How long?

Ask him how long?

How long?

Go ahead.

Are you gonna cut it out This is all okay.

This is what I call being on the block.

I've had my haircut on the block, but this is really on the block in Hanoi.

Our trip back to Vietnam is almost over.

We head north to Hi-Long Bay just off the Tonkin Gulf, where the Vietnam War supposedly started with an attack on the USS Maddox by Vietnamese gunboats.

It is a place of incredible beauty.

And our day there was shrouded in fog.

Everyone seemed to be thinking of the journey we shared.

A small problem can result in wars.

If you're.

If you're belligerent and not understanding and you know youre.

But if you are understanding and you empathize with others, and you know you're more prone to see their side of the problem and try to solve it.

And you know what we thought when we were here and how we referred to people?

Can you imagine doing that now?

Can you imagine it?

I'd come back with my eyes open, and looked at the people for what they are and the country for what it is today.

I'd say to any vet, you need to come back.

You need to come back.

You need to come back and get closure.

And that's what it's taken for me.

This is all part of a veteran's legacy.

We appreciate better than most.

The honor and privilege of serving our country.

As younger men, We went to war believing that what we were doing was right and necessary.

Growing older and returning to Vietnam to see its beauty and the beauty of its people.

has brought us full circle, but with a better understanding of what it means and cost to be free.

This is the truth at the time, and this is what I signed on for.

You do it.

And now, you know, my whole idea of war is quite different, as you know, and I probably won't be enlisting these days.

I think there's plenty of other alternatives to war, and it's a matter of working to find those alternatives.

I think my wish is that we could just not have all these wars and then become friends.

We've done it with the Japanese now, with their friends.

We had wars with the Germans.

Now we're their friends.

Today, America's Vietnam's largest trading partner.

So it makes me wonder what it was worth.

I can't speak for anybody other than myself and those who have said to me that once they've come back to Vietnam as a veteran, it has certainly, helped them, come to grips with the past and, and, and even more so for the future of their lives.

I know other people who've come here to see where their fathers died.

And, most of them have told me they just feel such a sense of relief about it and sense of peace about it that they didn't expect.

But at least now, with this trip, you know, I can have my own memories of the country and the people, and I feel like this is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.

It's hard to talk about stuff like that because it brings back memory.

You know, you look, I can look at that book and show you a lot of guy that was with me.

They're not with me now.

He left over there.

You know, mean, To me, you know what?

I wasn't around a lot of things, like killing, you know?

I mean, when you go in the army, you do things that.

You don't want to do, but you have to do them.

to survive.

Anybody you in in the combat zone with you.

A bond is really is is thicker than blood.

I know it's thicker than blood.

And they just do it the way that we wouldn't tell them.

Things we had done that we will never tell.

Amid.

Boone, I met Perry, they were like my older brothers.

They were street and world wise guys who just took a little young, wet behind the ears kid like me who turned 21 in Vietnam and helped give me some self-control and some maturity.

That's what they did for me, and I'll always love them for that.

Always.

Think they know what they mean to me?

They know.

War is a brutal, ugly, hurtful business.

The pain and suffering stay with us long after the battles are over.

But we keep other things too.

There are friendships and respect and a deep connection that says, Were you in Country?

So was I. A pundit once said that veterans make the best pacifist.

I see that sentiment personified in Boone, Perry and the rest of the folks on this trip.

Were well aware of the fact that there are other vets who don't share our views on war, and it's value.

For us at least, this journey has been a way of making peace with Vietnam, with ourselves, and with our past.

Imagine a place where the children don't think of war.

Peace is always in their eye.

You may say that I'm dreaming.

And I'm gonna miss that.

But I'm not the only one.

Oh, what is a war?

I want to know who will the next one be fought for?

Courage.

Take my trembling hand and guide me through the darkness.

Let love be my candle.

And let peace shelter me.

Funding for in-country A Vietnam Story was provided by UPMC.

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