He was the radio man on the front lines calling in th air strikes and support when fire fights were too heavy. He lost his hearing in one ear because of it. He never wanted to talk about Vietnam, especially that to us teenage boys who were clueless about life, but he was always willing to watch any war movie my friend (his son) and I rented growing up. I think it was somewhat therapeutic to him, and because most movies couldn’t ever really nail what war was truly like on film, it was prob just enough for him.

When saving private ryan came out and we watched it, he sat in the same exact position for the entire movie. Leaning forward, elbows on his legs, chin resting on his fists.

After the movie ended, he said to the 3 of us teenage boys: “that’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to describe what I saw in the war.”

That was it. But that was all he needed to say. Sobering.