After an unexpected contentious return home from the Vietnam War 50 years ago, Brad Kennedy and Ernest “Pete” Peterson finally get the welcoming home they deserve at the 30 Anniversary of the PBS National Memorial Day Concert. Although the spotlight was on their longstanding friendship and heroic sacrifices, the Vietnam veterans used the opportunity to spread several key messages such as, “We can not let the memory of these guys who died and served be forgotten.”
By: Heather Newgen @hnvoluntourist
It’s just two hours until show time and Kennedy and Peterson, who were both honored, eagerly awaited in the lobby of a busy Washington D.C hotel stylishly dressed anticipating sharing their story. As we enter a private room to chat, Kennedy jokes, “When I met Joe Mantegna he gives me a big embrace and I whispered in his ear, “Joe, I don’t want you to take this personally, but I really had requested Dennis Haysbert to portray me” [at the PBS National Memorial Day Concert] He sort of pushed me away a little bit, smiled and said, “We drew straws and you lost,” Mantegna teased back.
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 26: Acclaimed actor Dennis Haysbert (L) and Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna (R) onstage at the 2019 National Memorial Day Concert at U.S. Capitol, West Lawn on May 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capital Concerts Inc.)
It’s easy to see why the men are friends. They’re both funny, highly intelligent, articulate, easy going, but understandably emotional and serious when talking about their time in Vietnam. While serving together in the 11th U.S. Cavalry, an unshakable bond developed that deeply connects them and other Vietnam veterans together for life.
“Sometimes we were covered in blood and sometimes it was blood of our fellow soldiers. In other cases it was a Viet Cong blood mixing in with our blood. So we’re all blood brothers in a very real sense and we’ll never let that go,” Kennedy explained to The Voluntourist.
The two joined the military for different reasons, but came out with the same perspective, “the people who created this [war] realized they made a major mistake,” Peterson stated.
“Like a lot of blacks in the south we come from a tradition of military families because the army was a way out. Normally what would happen was you’d finish high school and you’d go into the service. If there wasn’t a war going on, you’d come out and then go to college. That’s how you got your tuition money. Unfortunately, Vietnam came along and wiped a lot of us out,” Peterson said.
He added, “Brad was the sharpest guy in the battalion. Brad had been to Drew University and he didn’t have to be out there with the enlisted guys. Brad could have been an officer, but he chose to come out there to be in the field and be an enlisted man.”
The admiration is mutual.
“I’m so glad to be doing this with him because he has wisdom and he always has. I was very happy to be associated with him then and serve with him and to have been reunited again after so many years. We have far more to unite us than what divides us,” Kennedy gushed about his friend.
When coming back from Vietnam, there were no parades in their honor, parties and or any sort of appreciation. Instead the troops were met with ridicule and anger.
“Upon 50 years reflection I’ve reduced what the American people need to hear about the Vietnam War to three things:
The first, they accept and recognize that when we went over there, we thought we were right.
The second thing is you can’t confuse the man with the mission, the soldier with the policy.
And lastly, whatever we did, for better or for worse, was done in the name of the American people and all Americans, even those who weren’t born at the time, share a responsibility for it. It doesn’t just fall on our shoulders. Until Americans make clear to Vietnam veterans they accept that responsibility there will never be harmony or peace in our minds.”
“We returned from Vietnam, nobody wanted to know what we had been through, and there’s a scene [in the PBS trailer] where it shows us as young guys over there in the jungle trying to take care of one another. Then there’s another scene where it shows us today–us old guys coming up from the wall and when I look at that I think, “Damn we’re still taking care of each other.” That meant a lot to me,” Peterson said.
A hostile return home wasn’t all Vietnam veterans encountered. Thousands faced serious health issues that couldn’t be explained.
“My biggest problem wasn’t that I was rejected. So many of us were coming home. We could take care of each other. Our problem was we didn’t want to admit there was something wrong with us. We lied to ourselves, we drank, we did anything except for admit there was something wrong with us. For those who went to the VA to see what was wrong they didn’t know. They played the game and said, “y’all got agent orange,” Peterson revealed.
Vietnam veterans also dealt with personal struggles.
“I had a busted marriage, I drank, everything you do to try to medicate yourself rather than saying to yourself something ain’t right up here. You work your way through it and that’s how we cope. We helped each other. Us young kids–we were just boys. We weren’t men, but when you see guys helping each other [in war] and then you fast forward 50 years and see some of these same guys pushing their brothers in wheelchairs, to me that speaks volumes about what we did for one another. We didn’t wait for the country. We realized they couldn’t really help us because they had to admit they screwed this up. Having said that, I’m still pro military. I still believe in the United States because for me as a black man, the military has already been the forefront of social changes in this country.”
The Vietnam veterans were separated for a decades after the war, but they reunited a five years ago and get together every year.
“We see each other on Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day. We can not let the memory of these guys died and served be forgotten. George Santayana said that those who fail to remember or learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. The price is too steep to allow that to happen,” Kennedy said.
To see more of their story, watch the PBS National Memorial Day Concert here or watch on Demand until June 9, 2019.