Discussion group assesses war
the films they watched. They saw heads swathed in bandages; POWs handcuffed together on parade past jeering North Vietnamese; the desperate young men in fox holes during the 1968 siege of Khe Sanh; TV newsmen Chet Huntley and David Brinkley delivering the nightly war news; a USO show of glittery gals, one singing “Silent Night.” The camera panned the sea of troops, many of whom sang along, looking suddenly like the little boys they were a few years earlier.
Audrey Hafner wagged her head at the unspoken implications of footage showing 18-year-olds, one after another being shorn of his hair. She was raising her kids and working full time when the ground war was raging. The TV news carried war footage, but she turned it off to shield the children.
“I’m in this class because when all this was going on, I missed everything,” she said.
Stephanie Silver was intrigued by the class, having been a nurse practitioner whose patients included Vietnam veterans. She had considered moving to Canada during the war, she said, “because I didn’t like what was happening in this country.” She had young sons at the time. Had they been of draft age, she said, “I’d have gone.”
Diane Vrabel grew up consuming the ’60s as a kid — war protests, civil rights marches and combat footage on TV, she said, “but I had never done any reading about the war and had no idea of the horrible conditions.”
The group also talked about inanities that characterize some war experiences. Mr. Percherke cited a personal example: “Our radioman was killed, and they said to me, ‘Chuck, you’re the new radioman.’ And I said, ‘How can I be a radioman?’ My qualification was that I was seen talking to a radioman.”
At one point, the discussion turned to whether soldiers were properly prepared for what they were getting into.
“Chuck, how long did it take you to adapt?” Mr. Werner asked Mr. Percherke, who answered, “I don’t know if you ever do. Every day’s a different experience you just try to get through, waiting for that calendar to run out.”