Walking on Air

IN WARTIME, A YOUNG SOLDIER BENDS THE RULES TO LISTEN IN ON HISTORY.

WHEN THE LUNAR LANDER reached the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin aboard in 1969, I was in Vietnam with the 65th Engineer Battalion, which was attached to the 25th Infantry Division at the Army base in Cu Chi.

I was about to start my shift on guard duty in the motor pool. Not wanting to miss the milestone of the first man on the moon, I’d slipped my transistor radio into my uniform pocket just before my shift.

Transistor radios weren’t allowed on guard duty, so I hid under a truck to keep an eye out for the sergeant while I tuned in to the broadcast.

I’ll never forget the excitement of listening to the moon landing while lying under that truck.

The surge of patriotism and pride running through me was wonderful. I was lucky that the guard sergeant didn’t make his rounds then, because I was so caught up in what I was hearing that I probably wouldn’t have noticed him.

The experience remains my best memory from my time as a combat engineer in Vietnam—and one of the best of my life.

Succeeding generations may never fully appreciate how momentous the moon landing was at the time and continues to be for my generation. Having lived through so many tragic events for America since then, from school shootings to terror attacks, we cherish the positive memory of that historic moment.

“I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

—NEIL ARMSTRONG