The people and the civil militia arrested a major, american major john mccain, who was shot down with the american plane. It was shot down near the electricity, near the power plant. During the day, 10 american planes were shot down during the same day. John mccain here. This monument. Brian that is a picture from hanoi and the voices of mr. Hung, the cspan minder while we were there for the four days in hanoi. That is a monument to john mccain, on behalf of john mccain. What are we looking at . Sen. Mccain i never understood that. In the middle 1970s when that was built. Im not sure exactly why. Course, there are a few mistakes. I was in the navy and they called me a major and i was a lieutenant commander. Whathey erected it and significance it has to them i never really quite figured out. I complained a couple of times when i heard the grass was overgrown and there might have been some bird droppings around it. They thought i was serious. I dont complain anymore. Lake. Down right in that as he mentioned, the thermal power plant we were bombing and i was hit over the target. , i landedjecteejected right on that lake and that is why they put it up there. And theyly injured swam out and pulled me in. I can tell you the natives were less than friendly on my arrival, and understandingly so. We just finished bombing their city. I dont hold any grudges against them because of that. Sometime in the 1970s, they built that particular the boreal memorial and frankly i am glad they havent. I went it. I went back on the 10th anniversary of the fall of saigon. And iarch, phil graham went back for a few days and we visited again. We also went down to saigon. Brian is it hard to go back now . Sen. Mccain no. It was a long time ago. Friendsany vietnamese who were on the other side. There is no reason for me to hold a grudge or anger. There is certainly some individual the ne vietnamese guards that were very cruel. There is no reason for me hating the vietnamese. The people are very basically gentle, decent people. A victim throughout history partially due to geography of oppression and wars that have gone on for a couple thousand years. Being occupied by another country such as the chinese, japanese, the french. I hold no ill will towards them. I dont like the communist system. I think they will fall sooner or later just like the rest of communism is falling throughout the world. But overall, i hold no personal i dont like the communist system. Grudge. Brian that geo over some of the statistics. You are in the navy for how many years . Sen. Mccain a total of 22 years. I graduated the Naval Academy in 1958 and left the navy in early 1981. Thegrudge. Plane went down october 26, 1967. I was hit over the city of hanoi. We were bombing in thermal power plant. It was the first time we hit a bombing target inside of hanoi. As many of the viewers will remember, they were very heavily defended. They had many surface to air missiles. I counted eight in my direction and one of them hit me. Brian it was the first time we a bombing target inside of hanoi. How badly were you injured . Sen. Mccain broke both my legs and arms on ejection. When i was pulled out, my damaged whenbadly i was bayoneted. They were quite restless. Fortunately for me, the army picked me up and took me. Ride to thee minute prison. That is another example of waste of taxpayer dollars. Here i was shot down in the center of hanoi and a fiveminute drive to the prison. All that training was for naught. Brian how many years and how many different prisons . Sen. Mccain i was in three different prisons. One was when we called the plantation that you have taken films of and the other is the old french prison which we will see later on. The rough translation is furnace of fire. It was built by the french in the 1943 and that is a real prison. We were taken out to a punishment camp for about nine months in 1970 because we had had some we wanted to have church services. Where itaken back stayed until we were released. Treatmentd 1970, the in the prisonese changed dramatically. A lot of theories as toa lot ofe went from small cells to large cells. It was a wonderful change. How many prisoners of war are there in the United States congress . Sen. Mccain none in the senate, two others in the house. Pete peterson and sam johnson. Brian did you know either want . Sen. Mccain very well. Sam johnson more than pete deiterp how many prisoners of wr are there in the unitedpeterson. There anything about being in prison that makes you a republican or democrat . Thereccain i think that was some resentment back in 1968 when Lyndon Johnson stopped bombing. We assumed that there would be some accommodation made for the pows because we were bombing and captured. There was resentment about that. And also i think there was intht 19711972, much more encouragement and help to the families by the Nixon Administration than there had been before. We can look into reasons for that but there was clearly more help for the families and victims. Know, military people have a tendency to be more conservative. Brian we have a map here. This shows indochina and vietnam. Still a rough overview where was the carrier you were flying . Sen. Mccain we were further north than that. Hyfung. Not too far from raids, bombings missions we would go on would be 45 minute missions. Takeoff on the ship, 15 minutes to the shore, drop off and then return. There was no real threat to the ships, we sometimes stayed close to the North Vietnamese. Brian let me show the audience were this is. You are talking about being in china up here. Then you come down and there is the hanoi area. There is laos. Sen. Mccain move over to thailand. You can see the air force bases were near the vietnamese border. Udorn, uban. You would fly out of those bases into hanoi and hyphung. You can see they were very Long Missions that the air force had compared to ours. Time during the war, vietnam was basically divided in the line northsouth between hanoi and the air force had the responsibility on the western side and the navy on the side. N time during the later in the war, we went on coordinated strikes. Brian the 17th parallel is right there which means this is north and that is south. B52ve some videotape of a crash site which has become a mini tourist area. Have you been there . Sen. Mccain i have not. I have seen pictures of it before. The b52s did not fly north until the christmas bombing of 1972. There were 10 or 12 that were shot down during christmas. But it was an incredible display firepower that had basically taken up the vietnamese ability to defend themselves as far as airstrikes. Brian firepower we want to shoe neighborhood. You see pictures of this from time to time. It was about 100 degrees. In the middle of the swap with houses around it is wreckage from a b52. You have to pay a little mind. Sen. Mccain the Free Enterprise work. At brian take a little car back in this area but they let us shoot it. Any reaction when you see it . An american b52. I particularly accept the hope that the group would have gotten out. Also, i must say you can make an argument that the b52s were not used correctly during the vietnam war. They bombed the jungles and the ho chi minh trail. When they went north, they had a devastating effect. They literally took out of the air defenses of North Vietnam where we were using tactical air not totally very successfully. The b52 is an awesome weapon of war. I noted with some interest that some of them were used even during the persian gulf effort. Brian what was the difference in the size of your plane and the size of this plane . Sen. Mccain it was like 1 50th the size but perhaps more important, the bomb range of the a4 i was flying has about seven or eight. I dont know how many hundreds come off the b52. The firepower is very impressive. The 1st united were very dangerous for the b52s until they took out the air defenses. Brian this is in the middle of hanoi. Our guest is senator john mccain, and prisoner of war for five and a half years. We will show some videotape in a moment from the prison cell, two of the places he was located. Neighborhood that is fairly easy to get to. I guess one of the things people want to know is if we actually bombed civilians during the war . Sen. Mccain we did not. There was a famous incident of a wasital in hanoi which supposedly struck with all of these casualties. It turned out that was not the case. There was precision bombing and civilian casualties were minimal. At the same time, i have to add, civilians are going to be hurt. Civilians were not injured and there were casualties, war would be a more attractive kind of business. The casualties were minimal, but some civilians were killed. Brian any idea how much a b52 cost . They have been in service for how long . The 1950s since and they have turned out to be an incredible workhorse because they were originally designed as the Strategic Bomber to carry nuclear weapons. I do not know the cost, but i would say to do duplicate Something Like that, you are talking about 1 billion. I think the b52 was a great investment. They flew level and depending on the electronic countermeasures, where recent tactical airplanes you can dodge. Brian that is a plaque on the wall where it says 52. That is a plaque on the wall from the site where you can go and tourists can go. They seemed to ignore us when we were there. They did not pay much attention to us. Tourists. Toheother are you surprised they would do Something Like this . Would we do the same thing here . Sen. Mccain i dont think we would. At least for a time, we wanted to have those visible symbols of victory. Look at how terrible those conditions are. Today isem in vietnam they have made these enormous sacrifices and yet nothing has come of it. That is a bitter pill to swallow. Brian why do you think they have not been able to do better . Sen. Mccain their system of socialism, Central Government control of the economy. Brian why do you think they have not been able to doas we me economy of saigon, ho chi minh city, is much more thriving because there is capitalism and Free Enterprise. Even in North Vietnam, it is improving a little bit because they have loosened controls but their system is such as any other communist country. They cannot improve unless they allow the Free Enterprise system to function. The people who still run North Vietnam are the old ho chi minh, 80yearold generation, though they recognize they have to change. Brian you have said you were mistreated. Is that endemic to the southie and thes vietnamese people are what . Us. Mccain they viewed understandably as an enemy. They called us air pilots. We had bombed their cities and towns and they believed that. They were very naive people. I understand why they would dislike us. I would understand even why they would mistreat a captured pilot to get military information. The resentment i hold towards the vietnamese is they attempted to exploit us for propaganda reasons. That is not in keeping with the geneva conventions. Frankly, they were trying to use us as an extension to the battlefield because they knew very well that militarily they would never prevail but they ho chi minhl as said in the streets of washington, d. C. , detroit, chicago and san francisco. Most of the mistreatment was to make tapes and confess crimes. Brian you are senator john s. Mccain iii. Youyou know i knew your father because when i was in the navy, the first admiral i met was john s. Mccain, jr. Who was he in what role did he play in this war with the . You . Brian bothsen. Mccain both my r and grandfather were navy admirals. My grandfather was the navy aviator in world war ii. My father was a submarine officer during world war ii and worked, and was promoted and commander in chief of the pacific during the vietnam war during the time i was in prison which was very difficult for him. Much more difficult on him than it was on me. Brian what year did he die . Sen. Mccain he died in 1980. Brian did he see you elected to the senate . Sen. Mccain he did not. Brian did he know you were going to run . Sen. Mccain he did not. Brian you got out at what rank . Sen. Mccain as a captain. I was a Navy Liaison Officer to the senate. Brian that give you interest . Sen. Mccain exactly. It made me very interested in life, life, not because i found it particularly attractive, but certainly when i saw what a person can achieve as a member of congress, it became very attractive to me. Brian we are continuing our many our special, vietnam revisited. Our guest is senator john mccain iii. He is here to talk about his experience as a prisoner of war in the vietnam war. We now have video that will take us we drove around what is called they all call it hanoi hilton . Sen. Mccain the immediate called it hanoi hilton. We had different names. The plantation was one. The hilton we knew of was the old french prison which i think we will see later on. There was another large prison. The only one we called the hilton was the old french prison. The one we are driving around now we called the plantation. Brian this is a complete around the block of the prison. Does this look familiar to you . Sen. Mccain the outside is not because i never saw it from the brian outside. Whenever we were taken someplace, we were always blindfolded, handcuffed and taken at night so i never saw the outside. Brian when you went back in 1985, what was the purpose . Sen. Mccain they asked me because it was the 10th anniversary of the fall of saigon. A review of the whole u. S. Involvement. It was a great thrill for me to spend time with a man like Walter Cronkite who was an incredible individual. I dont have to tell you how knowledgeable he is. Brian how long again were you inside this prison . Sen. Mccain this particular prison, and i was there about two and a half years. Brian what is your strongest memory . Sen. Mccain i think my strongest memory is the heat. N i think about all of the starting in about march or april, it gets very hot in hanoi, as you noticed when you were there. Our rooms were not ventilated. They did not want us to see each other. It used to get incredibly hot in those rooms. Of course, we didnt have any hygiene. Youd get boils, dysentery. It would be a very difficult p eriod until the rain would start around july or august. Brian when you went back in 1985, did you go back to this prison . Sen. Mccain yes, i did. I tried to go to the prison we will see later on but that is still being used as a prison. That is a real prison. There were stocks on the wooden beds. I dont know how the french did architecture, but they built a pretty good prison. Brian did you hear much of this noise we are hearing now . Sen. Mccain we used to hear a lot of noise out on the street. There was also a railroad. Brian someone said in some article somewhere they were anxious to go back here so they can find out what noise they were hearing every day. They found out that some of them belonged to the vendors of the different products that would come along. Like the cream sickl cicle people. Good humor man. Sen. Mccain yes. When thed was First Americans were shot down, they kept them all in the old french prison. As the prison population increased, there were two others. This one we are about to see and one other that they kept the pilots in. Brian how many people were with you . Sen. Mccain in that camp, 50 to 60 people. For some reason come we never understood very well. The vietnamese would move us around from time to time and we never understood why they did that. Generally speaking, it was soup and a piece of bread. In the last year to year a half, the food improved significantly as part of the change in treatment. None of us have quite understood except for a combination of things including International Pressures to treat us better and the efforts of millions of americans on our behalf. Brian you were there in 1985, what other time . Sen. Mccain a year ago last april. Brian april of 1991. You are a member of the select committee sen. Mccain yes. That are you one believes that pows or mias are still living in vietnam . Sen. Mccain i believe we have americans alive until we have the first account. I have not seen hard evidence that there are americans alive. I am somewhat phased that the progress that has been made. Brian who were those most anxious to lift the embargo and those not . Business in america is very interested in having the embargo lifted. Those that are opposed to it feel that the business vietnamel have not been totally forthcoming in their effort to resolve the pow issue. I think it is generally agreed that the vietnamese have complied with our demands, that they move forward with a peace process. In cambodia as well with their withdrawal. I think the pow issue still remains a significant issue to many. Brian would you have been elected to the senate if you had not gone through this . Sen. Mccain i dont know the answer to that. I think clearly my service gave me some advantage. At the same time, many former military and former pows have run for office. I think the American People express their gratitude for past the service but i think most elected officials on what they think they will do for them in the future. I think it helped me frankly being elected to the house. I dont think it had that much affect on my election to the senate. Brian were you in a cell with anyone else in this one we will see right now . Sen. Mccain i was by myself. Brian did you talk to anyone . Sen. Mccain i tapped on the walls. Next door to me one side was empty we put a cup against the wall and wrapping it in the shirt to talk to each other. Brian who . Sen. Mccain a guy named bob craner, the most wonderful man i ever known. They are talking to you on the beeper. We have a lot more to talk about. This is being taped for the audience and wondering why you are here over the holiday weekend. This is about nine minutes and 43 seconds long. You will see a gentleman who is the head of a film studio. He says it was a film studio before and afterwards. He agreed to allow us to go to your prison cell if you would watch a film after it was over. He would not let us tape the film. He said we have to pay for it. The film, i suspect, it was 30 minutes long and black and white enemies havehe be beethe vietnamese have been so helpful allowing americans into the country to dig up the main. Remains. Sen. Mccain i think the last six months to a year, they have helpful, much more helpful than the past. The particular event was a setting up of an office in hanoi se helpful, much more helpful than the past. Staffed by americans and allowing americans to go anywhere in the country. Brian by the way, when do you think the embargo will be lifted . Sen. Mccain i would think if progress continues in the way that it has, that you can see it sometime after the elections, but i think there are a lot of things that need to be resolved. Brian which nationally recognized group sen. Mccain there are various staffed by americans and allowingorganizations, some thae more mainstream like the National League of families. Viewedre others that are by some as wintes splinter groups. I think the league of families has a position and they have to have great credibility and i believe they have great credibility. There has been a great deal of progress. We should thank the vietnamese for that although we have not done the full cooperation, particularly in the area of laotian, the laos problem. There were hundreds that went down to laos and very few returned. Brian as a way of explanation when cspan went tothere were ht down to hanoi, we asked our guide provided by the government, you will see him in this video, we asked the minute we got there if we can go to the prison that senator mccain was held. He said we will get you one way or another. One afternoon, he said it is time to go and we had plenty of time to do it. What you will see is haphazard, adhoc, we walked in and visited with a gentleman in the army. Our cameraman was greg. We took off into the prison. I wanted to go up to the corner of the prison to get a listen to see what you could hear. We will see if that is there because we have not talked to our producer if that made it. This is about nine minutes and if you dontthis is about nine d if you dont mind watching, we will come back and get your reaction to it. Vietnamese] the section over there. Forward, it is newly biuilt. From here to the board, it is intact. These are cells here . G vietnaming the ese] this is storage of the film studio. The daily life at this position. The behavior. Were the american pilots out here on this courtyard . Yeah, they are here in the courtyard. They would know this house. Brian that building was not there . This is the courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard, there is a shelter. When the american planes were the american pilots went down to the bomb shelter. Brian there was a shelter underneath . In the middle. [speaking vietnamese] this was on top of the bomb shelter and we moved it over there. [speaking vietnamese] this building this is the cell where mr. John mccain was being kept. Brian how long . [speaking vietnamese] not in [speaking vietnames. Himself . Himself . This was during john mccains time here. [indiscernible] [speaking vietnamese] just for one person shelter. If they cannot manage to go there, they could go down to the shelter. Brian the shelter is underneath here . What is the room used for now . Shelter. Brian just a working place. [speaking vietnamese] brian these out here . No, this other door. Not this one. Someone also in here with white hair. He was sleeping, mr. John mccain, the same room. Brian where we just talked. Over there is the kitchen. For american. Od brian where is the kitchen . For american. Brian where is the kitchen . [speaking vietnamese] for this is also cell for american pilots. This is newly built. There are two beds and maybe therree beds in one cell. Lets go to the kitchen. [speaking vietnamese] this is kitchen. There is another section of the kitchen over there. Another section was destroyed. Over there is the water. This is the place where american ots [speaking vietnamese] this is bathtub. For american pilots. We turned the bathtub into Water Reservoir now. The vietnamese people do not use a bathtub. Brian is that a street out there . A street over there. Brian edit a bit. The windows were all bricked over. The only ventilation came from small holes. When they say the windows were there with the bars on it was not true. Sen. Mccain there were windows with the bars on it but they put bricks over it. Isolated and did not one us to see or talk to each other. There was no bomb shelter that i saw in the two and a half years i was there at the prison or did we go to a bomb shelter, because obviously we would be together and they did not want that to happen. That was true about the bathing area. He would close you in and you would have a cup and you would pour water on yourself. And part in frequently of that was not because of any cruelty but there was an erratic supply of water. In the summertime, they just didnt have water in the city. Large houses in the background, a couple of times, that is where we would be taken for interrogations in the area. They had several rooms where they could interrogate more than one prisoner at the same time. That area you saw where the trucks were, that was not there. There was a central courtyard with dirt. The rest of it was fairly accurate. He suggested that you all got together at the courtyard. Sen. Mccain i remember one time it was Christmas Day and maybe 1968, or 1969, when they allowed each of us separately to stand outside of ourselves for about five minutes. It was a wonderful event. No, we did not spend any time in the courtyard together. Not so much out of cruelty. They know to keep people isolated, do not let them exercise. Not so much out of cruelty. You break down resistance much easier. Brian do you think he is telling untruths or he does not know . A combination of both. A combination of both. I understand the other prison, they have flowers all around it and it looks real nice. I think it is probably a combination of both. You break down resistance much easier. It was a little different. Brian how has this changed since you were back in 90 nay 1985 . Did you go back last year . Sen. Mccain i did not last year. The shed that was built with the trucks underneath was about the only change. Brian which prison had the better conditions . Sen. Mccain that one clearly. The french prison which much smaller, much tightly guarded. We believe they kept the people that they treated as special prisoners there. One because my father was an admiral and others because they attempted to escape. It was a tough environment. Brian over five and a half years, you were in three prisons, how much mail did you get . Sen. Mccain i received about three letters from my family. Three were all when the vietnamese were offering the release. Brian how many letters did you sent and how many got back here . Sen. Mccain about 40 to 50 i sent and i think they got about 10. Brian when did you get back to the United States . Sen. Mccain march 1973. I had to go to the hospital and get two operations on my leg. Then i went directly to the National Brian for those who have us, five and a half years you were in the hanoi prisons. Sen. Mccain 1967 to 1973. Brian why didnt you get out of the service . Sen. Mccain i loved it. I was able to continue flying which took some skill to do. After a certain number of years, i failed my flight and physical so had to get out my flying physicals. My injuries caught up to me. Brian we read and heard a lot about the impact on individuals with postvietnam stress syndrome. Has that impacted you at all . Sen. Mccain i have never had a nightmare. I never had a flashback. Any particular memories except the friends i made and the wonderful relationships we forged together. I hold no anger. I would attribute part of that fact that i was 29 years old when i was shot down and captured. I was a professional military pilot. I findof the people that we that have had difficulties, many of them were the 18, 19yearold young dra draftees o wereand serve and frankly very badly treated on their return, in my view, and not home, afterlcome which we belatedly gave them. The legacy of vietnam . Never again should we go into a conflict unless we are clear in our goals and prepare to do what is necessary to win victory as rapidly as possible. In retrospect, maybe 100 years from now, it will have been good for america to define limits of power. Up until that time, as you know, we could go anywhere, bear any in the world, in the words of john f. Kennedy. We understood and i hope we understand the limits of military, use of and althoughr, desert storm was a wonderful success, we have to be very selective where we send young fight and die. The last bit of tape to show you. This is the hoa lo prison, which in a different part of the town. What do you remember about this you look at it . Well, this prison that youre gonna see, as i mentioned, was 1943 by the french. It was wellbuilt. P. Has a lot of cells in it all of them solitary cells. Theyre small. They have many of them have the wooden bed. They have small open, little for the guardss to look through. And i think it would have been a very tough place to live for us, also for the vietnamese, where the french had that prison. It is still used, i am told, as a prison by the vietnamese. Of theseeing one entrances there, i believe, to the prison. And there was no exercise area or any open area like we saw in the other prison. It how many were there with you . Was about i think there was about 50 or 60 of us at one time. Then after they moved us all into large you cant tell from the camera, but this prison covers a very block. Ity very large city block. We were where the individual cells are. 1970 and 71, they moved us into large cells with 40 or 50 which was in another part of the prison. Say, the large cells were quite nice as compared with the small ones. To say the least. We were there on a couple of different days. I wasmber one day when there i dont have the tape right now, but standing, looking at the prison, and there arent many cars in hanoi. All of a sudden a 20car procession came by with the minister of malaysia. He had a 200person delegation hanoi, all for the purpose of setting up a trade relation. You saw that the entire time the entiresaw it time in vietnam. The Prime Minister of singapore while we were there. Does it worry you, on the trade side, that we may be waiting too embargo . Ift this it does worry me. Clearly those countries, especially japan, are moving those markets and they have shown that they are fertile markets. The vietnamese, when given the opportunity, look what theyve done here in america. Very industrious, productive people, as long as they dont have this communist doctrine guiding them. At the same time, i think we have to face reality. The American People are not prepared to extend that to the vietnamese until theres a full accounting as possible of those who are still listed as missing the action. Id also point out, its a very poor country. Theres not an instant market there. Its one of the Lowest Per Capita incomes in the world. When we talk about all this market there, a lot of it is natural the form of resources. As you know, theres the belief that theres oil and gas there. Companiesk american could take advantage of that. I also think that sometimes we cannot just put commercial interests paramount to all others. They have to be balanced against a lot of other issues that face this country. To pointts also well out one other fact. A lot of Americans Still resent the fact that vietnam was the that inflicted the first defeat on this country. And we have to get over that it too, which i think we are with the ending of the cold war. Will you go back . I would go back, if it would do some good. The reason i didnt go back this senator carey and smith was because i had been there the year before, and i particularlyything beneficial to going back this time that they couldnt do. Other thing is, i always have to be a little careful that dont try again to use me for their own purposes. You just have to be rather to that. They are its interesting how name is known around vietnam. Its amazing. Ha ha cans you know, anybody travel there. Any american, although american and im not sure what the last couple of weeks has been, but they have to go an australian travel agent or hong kong or whatever. To veterans ord even people who have never been there to go . Country. Lovely there are parts that are magnificently beautiful. I think many of our veterans be verynd it to therapeutic to travel back to vietnam. I think they have enormous tourist potential if they had the right kind of system, again. I would recommend that people go so choose. I think they should understand, one, that the conditions are as hygieneood as far and that kind of thing, as i think you will attest. Understandave got to that accommodations are still very poor. And they also have to understand that the vietnamese are going to off, every chance they get. You notice they have their hand driver,every car, every every you know, youre kind becauseeir mercy, theres no rental car, that kind of thing. It was much more prevalent in in the tothan it was north with the handouts. Pure hands out. In hanoi, than there were in saigon. Thats probably true. You have to understand that it is really roughing it, although as you noticed theres a Floating Hotel in saigon that the australians have brought i understand are good accommodations. I stayed at the old rex hotel, of our veterans will hotel. Ze was an r and r it hasnt changed a bit. The bar on the top of the roof. Leap backwards about 20 years historically. But i dont think theres any will improve in their tourist facilities, et cetera. To many Vietnam Veterans who felt it was a great and healing experience for them back. I strongly recommend they do so, if they feel that thats best for them. Others thatto some say, look, i never want to see the place again. Old,t does is dredge up terrible memories. I think its up to the individual. I do believe there are parts of as you know, the bay, i believe it is, some others that are really lovely places. But, again, the accommodations much. In hanoi, theres a new renovated hotel. Weres there when you there, but the french have come in and renovated it. 109 rooms. 00 a night 100 per night. Owned by the french and 60 by the vietnamese. Although its very run down, city of hanoi is very pretty, with the trees and the allfrench buildings and that. If they could spruce it up, get some paint, it would be a very pretty old city. Senator mccain, were out of time. Thank you for sharing this, your experience with us on this special vietnam revisited. Thank you. I say on memorial day, its monday, when a lot of this shown, we should appreciate the service and sacrifice not only of those who are still around but those who are not. We will always cherish their memories. Thank you. 50 years ago, the United States was at war in vietnam. This veterans day, american looks back with 48 hours of coverage. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern on reel america. A special report. Whether its due to the enemys clever tactics or the bad fighting conditions or the terrain, it seems clear that the American Military offensive has bogged down, like the marines in the mud. On american 00, artifacts, well tour the archives exhibit. And at 8 00, on the presidency, president lyndon b. Johnson vietnam war press conference. We made our statement to the would do if wee had communist aggression in that the world in 1954. We said we would stand with face ofople in the common danger. And the time came when we had to put up or shut up. We put up and were there. Watch the vietnam war, 50 later, this weekend on American History t. V. On cspan 3. Up next, photojournalist frank johnston, who worked for United Press International in 1960s, and for the Washington Post for 35 years. He tells the story behind an iconic vietnam war photograph journey to identify the marine. This 20minute excerpt is from histories interview recorded for American History, at the university of texas at austin. Of course, youre an exmarine. Weve established that. And you find yourself covering 1967. Etnam war in and in the course of that,