The Vietnam Soldier's War Life. Why PTSD.

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The Vietnam War changed America and many of those who fought in it forever. Vietnam Vet David Bowman published a book describing what happened to him as a young soldier titled The Vietnam Experience. He also contributed to Dear America - Letters Home from Vietnam (the book and DVD) and to The Fifty Greatest Letters from America's Wars featuring his and others' letters home.

Bowman served as an infantryman from September 1967 through September 1968, with Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and 1st Cavalry Division (Airborne)—the highest-decorated unit in the Vietnam War. When he returned home, he joined the San Francisco police in the late 1960s as a street cop with a beat.

I got the chance to interview David Bowman in 1989 as part of my 1990 television series on the 1960s. my team and I interviewed more than 200 individuals and ask each to describe what he witnessed and what effect it had on them. Bowman's experience was quite unique because after his time as a warrior in Vietnam, he took a job in San Francisco during the late 1960s when there was tension in America evidenced in San Francisco and Berkeley and Oakland by constant protests against the war and other forms of rebellion.

He describes the similarities between protecting his base in Vietnam and protecting the police department facility in Golden Gate Park. He describes hippie families and confronting political radicals. He remembers a time when radicals planted a bomb that killed several of his colleagues.

Of course every story is unique and my channel presents various experiences at that time for and against the Vietnam War and what the American government was doing and saying. I appreciate David not only for his service as a soldier and as a police officer but for his ability to articulate his experiences with such intensity.

If this interview has meaning for you, please click the super thanks button on the right side below the video screen and support my efforts to present more clips from my personal archive.
Thank you
David Hoffman filmmaker

[johnmoles]

This is why The Vietnam Memorial Wall was so important for veterans. In an era before social media and cell phones, It was the first time many vets could find out if their friends lived or died.

[phil]

A friend of mines older brother, Berndie, went to Vietnam. When he came back, he was never the same. He was self medicating himself all the time with drugs and booze. He lasted about five years before an overdose killed him. His parents and his brothers were terrified, but nobody could help him. Everything they tried, failed to reach him. What he saw, had to do to stay alive, stepped in, felt, had splattered on him, and smelled must have been horrendous. Berndie was the most mellow dude I ever met, dealing with just relentless demons. They finally got him. Rest In Peace, Berndie. We miss you.

[charlesray]

My father relived the Vietnam war every night while he slept.. i would hear him screaming and talking in his sleep.. i would go into his and hold his hand and immediately he would calm down and be at peace and back to deep sleep

[geomundi]

my dad had talked about how this happened to him and how he always attended vietnam conferences hoping to meet other vets from same units etc. i remember as small kid going to a few but we never had luck finding anyone. later in life he really needed those people and would have made good friends because they could have understood what he went through

[rose_city-o]

That happened to my old man in Vietnam. His war buddy, that he spent almost his whole deployment with, got injured and had to be choppered out. My father never saw him again and it killed him for decades. Once social media came around, he was able to find to him on Facebook, but he never sent him a message or anything. I asked him why and he said “just knowing that he made it and has a loving family, is good enough for me.” I think he was really overthinking it tbh with you. It’s not easy thing to reconnect with someone like that after so much time has passed. I really wish he made that decision before his passing, but if it really made him happy just knowing his buddy was alive, than I’m happy he was able to get some kind of of peace out of it.

[ilwill]

My Dad is a Vietnam Vet. he still has to talk about it to help with life but he said that the nightmares don't happen as often anymore. All Glory and Honor to THE FATHER THE SON & THE COMFORTER!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[katherineguthrie]

My Dad did 3 tours in Vietnam. & Hell yes he had PTSD.

[paulkersey]

It wasn’t until early 2000s and the internet was in our home, did I start finding men my father served with. At the time he just gotten some money from the VA. It was his mission after that to reach out to them, and get those men VA benefits. He helped about 7 of his old comrades get benefits. He passed away from the effects of agent orange. And I miss him everyday.

[avzeolla]

My father and my uncles served in Vietnam, and all I can say is that I respect you tremendously

[jonmurphy]

This is why my Dad used to tell me you don't have any friends... No real ones cuz they can disappear at a moment's notice like they were never even there. You really have to live through an experience like that to understand it to wrap your head around it.

[VedadSmjecanin]

I survive Sarajevo '92-'96 as a kid..
1425 days of this story...
All day everyday...Life with bombs, grandes, snipers..Hell..Hell..

[kimschelble]

Such a great description of the living hell war can be. It’s like losing a family member every day and not knowing what happened to them. That is incredibly tough.

[StonedBarbiee]

I interviewed a man named Robert Parker who was in Pearl Harbor. He cried telling me some of the things he witnessed. He was a gentle soul who had seen a LOT. No one knows what soldiers back then truly gave up and left home with … war is a disgusting reality of earth.

[davidwilliamson]

In 2010 I made contact with a guy from my platoon. (C co. 2nd battalion 327th Infantry. 101st Airborne Division) since then 4 more of us have gotten together and have been gathering every year in September. It’s the most important part of my year. Our wives are now friends and as we say…”we owe it to ourselves”. We saw brutal combat, death and sorrow but we all lived although we’ve all got Purple Hearts. Our bond can not be broken.

[teamthoth]

Mr.Hoffman. thank you for sharing these veterans stories.

[dellyoung]

My father is still dealing with this. He's a Vietnam vet. He still has night terrors. Vietnam vets are discarded. They were failed by our country. PERIOD!!!

[AlecMorand]

What was even worse was after coming home wounded
I MEDBOARD out and know Ill never see these people ever again

Its trauma bonding and then bye bye forever

I turn 33 this year
Was in Kandahar in 2011
I was 19 when I got hit
Turned 20 in the hospital / wounded warrior connex sections on the FOB

I miss everyone thats here and gone.

4-4 CAV 1ID. I love and miss yall
SPC Morand

[andreatowne]

My dad is a Vietnam vet, nd he was spit on when he came home, has nightmares to this day, the one good thing that actually brings tears to this brave mans eyes is when a random person comes up to him today nd shakes his hand nd says thankyou! ❤ thankyou random people for loving nd honoring these brave

[JEFFREYSOWELL-ljtu]

I'm a Marine that never went to war or prepared for war . So my sympathy for any veteran of any war. Around this world we are going to have to do better....if for nothing else than being better people

[stevefromyellowstone]

My grandfather was on one of those small patrol boats going up and down the river seizing arms from the Vietcong, and one day an ambush happened leaving everyone but himself and one of his buddies (they were all best friends) dead. My grandfather described this exact experience of never knowing what happened to a person after a war because his buddy was air lifted off and not seen again until 2004. Dude showed up at my grandparents door and immediately knew who each other were and just embraces and cried for hours over drinks. Tough night. I was 11. My grandmother took me back home that night cause I wasn’t used to seeing my grandfather like that at all. Fuck war . Fuck politicians . Thank you to all that have served .