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I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Alright. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. Yeah. And we return to our American stories.
Up next, a story from Carl Merlantis. Carl is a recipient of the Navy Cross and the author of the best-selling books Matterhorn and What It Is Like to. go to war. Two books he wrote after his service in Vietnam. A service he didn't talk about until after undertaking the process.
of putting pen to paper. Let's get into the story. Here's Carl talking about what he did immediately after the war. First of all I hid. I mean, I avoided.
talking about it with anybody because I did have the feeling. And I think that's shared by a lot of veterans, not all veterans, but I did have the feeling that people wouldn't understand. particularly the dark side of things. There's a thrill. to war.
There's a thrill to crack cocaine too. and there's enormous, enormous costs. I would never want to pay the cost to get that thrill, but to deny the thrill is False. How do you tell somebody who's, you know. I don't know.
you know, somebody that you're trying to date and she's a college girl and you just come back. I mean, how do you talk about that? You don't because you're just first of all back in the Vietnam era, you would be just you know, if people really were horrible to us, you know, like we were really criminals, you know.
So why would you even want to open yourself up to that?
So I mean, I just, you know, I never told anybody I was in the Marines or in Vietnam. Just didn't.
So that was one way of handling it. It's not right. Because you've got to talk about it for two reasons. One is for your own. Mental health.
You gotta get these ghosts out. where you can see them like Friend Joe Bobro calls it turning ghosts into ancestors. They're part of you, but if if you don't deal with them, they'll haunt you. The reason that you're getting bar fights and your marriage breaks up and you start doing too much alcohol is because you're being driven by a ghost. And you're not conscious of it.
You've got to get it out. And one of the ways of getting it out, I did it by writing, but a classic way is just talking to people, people who you trust. And that would be like your spouse or your brother or your sister. We didn't even do that. The other side is If you don't tell people what they're actually asking 19-year-old kids to do for their country, They'll ask them for really trivial bullshit.
I think half of the military is from seven southern states. The people that are fighting are, you know, their mom and dad works for Walmart. They're not partners in big city law firms. If you don't get these stories out, the people who are making the big decisions, and most of them have never even been in the military. We'll have no idea what they're asking, and we'll continue to sacrifice our kids for really trivial reasons.
Anyway, I just clammed up. It's the wrong way of doing it. I use this analogy. Um Most men, I would say a vast, vast majority of men, don't understand, and young women who have not done the experience, what it's like to have a child. What is it like to go through childbirth?
If the women who have gone through childbirth feel that they're somehow superior to the rest of us, that's a horrible tragedy for the human race. And luckily for us, the women don't do that. But they've been through an experience that young women and men have no clue about really. other than what you read in stories or what you hear people talk about. But if you listen to your mother or your sister, or in my age, your daughters.
talk about childbirth. and they talk about it freely. You get an idea. You'll never really understand it. But you get an idea and if it wasn't for that you would have no idea.
I think that veterans, and I often tell combat veterans, Don't leave that chip on your shoulder because It is true. I don't think anybody can understand it unless they've done it. I just think that's just the case. You can get close. I mean, good storytelling, good writing, you know, good poetry.
There's been some wonderful songs. They get close, but You'll never get there. And you and I will never understand really childbirth. The only people that understand are the ones who've done it. It's the same with combat.
But the the key is that That can't puts you into a category where you think that you're better than other people. You just have had a different experience from other people. And that's a very important thing to understand. Like I say, I use the example of women who've had babies. They're not superior to the women who haven't.
And I think that that's the right attitude. superior inferior just different and the you won't ever I don't think you'll ever be able to bridge the gap. Just that simple. Yeah. I had to deal with this Bronze star, I got for pulling the kid out from underneath the machine gun.
I was written up for that, you know. you know, did a heroic deed. brave deed in front of a whole bunch of people and so I got written up for a medal. Uh And I I have that one. It's on It's in the shadow box on the wall in the living room.
I had to deal with it. I wouldn't have been able to talk to you about that without having written it first. Because The feeling of, I wonder if I killed him, I wonder if I killed him, God, I could have done it, oh God, I don't know. I mean, it would haunt me at night. I'd wake up in the middle of the night.
But oh Jesus, did I put that bullet hole in it? We'll never know. Because the bodies were blown up. And uh I wish I'd have known then, but I'll never know. But having written it down and got it out, I remember literally bawling and snot hitting the keyboard.
I mean, I was bawling, I wasn't crying, I was bawling. You know when you're bawling, is when you're running out of both nostrils as well as your eyes. Uh and uh Writing it down got it out, and I could examine it and take responsibility for what I might have done. or didn't do. Uh and it was clearly a Ease it because after I wrote it, first of all, I can talk about it without.
I mean, I think that before I'd written. about it. I I just start shaking. literally start shaking and would have to shut up. couldn't carry on.
I don't have that problem. And I think that having written it The ghost is turned into an ancestor. It doesn't haunt me anymore. Oh, it's just part of my life.
So The writing was important for those reasons. And also it was important. for the other side of it, which I said that people who haven't had the experience. I wanted to tell our story. Our story.
19 year old kids are trying to grow up and be Marines and be in combat all at the same time. And it wasn't easy. And uh You know, unless our story gets told, no one will know. That mean I This is kind of a funny story, but a woman came up to me at a reading. Yeah.
You know, it was lying to sign the books, and I was signing books, and her turn came up, and she was sort of, I'm really embarrassed and sort of hemming and hauling. Oh my gosh, I don't know what to say. I said, What's wrong? What do you want to talk about? I said, Go ahead.
And she said, Well, you know. See, I was in college during the Vietnam War, and I just hated it. It was wrong. I hated the war. And I was a protester.
I protested every chance I could get. I protested. And then I read Matterhorn. And I didn't know you guys slept outside. I about fell out of my chair.
But you see There's a college-educated woman. college educated. and didn't know we slept outside in Vietnam. I'm going like, there's a large, large gap between, you know, the military and the civilians. And that writing helps close it.
And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks to Colmorlantes. And by writing these things down, he was able to turn ghosts into ancestors. But more importantly, I think he was connecting warriors' lives with civilian lives. Just as Stephen Ambrose did with Saving Private Ryan, interviewing all those men and women.
who put their lives at risk in World War II. Calm Orlantis. Turning ghosts into ancestors. Here on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here.
As we approach our nation's 250th anniversary, I'd like to remind you that all the history stories you hear on this show are brought to you by the great folks at Hillsdale College. And Hillsdale isn't just a great school for your kids or grandkids to attend, but for you as well. Go to hillsdale.edu to find out about their terrific free online courses. Their series on communism is one of the finest I've ever seen. Again, go to hillsdale.edu and sign up for their free and terrific online courses.
This message comes from the International Rescue Committee. The IRC has been providing humanitarian aid for more than 90 years. The International Rescue Committee helps refugees whose lives are disrupted by conflict and disaster, supporting recovery efforts in places like Gaza and Ukraine, and responding within 72 hours of crisis. Donate today by visiting rescue.org slash rebuild. That's rescue.org/slash rebuild to learn more and donate today.
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