What You Never Heard About Vietnam’s Combat Radiomen

Larry grew up in and out of foster homes across the West and landed in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love — homeless, drifting, and certain he was headed nowhere good. He enlisted in the Army looking for structure. He got Vietnam instead.

Assigned as a radio operator (RTO) with the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, S2 Intelligence, Larry humped a 20-pound PRC-25 through the jungle near the DMZ, took part in the relief of the siege of Khe Sanh, moved into the A Shau Valley, and later shifted south to Tay Ninh near Black Virgin Mountain. He survived combat, multiple bouts of malaria (including the nearly fatal falciparum strain), and losing close friends in the field — then came home in 1969 to an Army that had no name yet for what he was going through, and no plan beyond antipsychotic medication.

This is a conversation about all of it: the war, the radio, the friends he lost, coming home to a country in upheaval, addiction, 31 years of service as a VA employee, activism with Vietnam Veterans Against the War, recovery work that took him as far as Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the long, ongoing work of healing.Content note: This episode includes a firsthand account of an interrogation Larry witnessed in Vietnam. Listener discretion advised.

⏱️ CHAPTERS:

00:36 — Growing up in Salt Lake City, foster homes

01:06 — Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, 1966–67

05:22 — Enlisting in the Army

06:22 — Boot camp, Fort Lewis

07:48 — AIT at Fort Ord, orders to Vietnam

09:50 — Arrival in-country, Camp Radcliffe

13:19 — Joining the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry

14:45 — Becoming an RTO, first days in the field

17:08 — The interrogation

19:47 — Search-and-destroy patrols, snakes, helicopter insertions

21:49 — Relief of Khe Sanh and the A Shau Valley

22:19 — Moving south to Tay Ninh, Black Virgin Mountain

23:18 — First bout with malaria

26:36 — Radio relay duty, isolation on the mountain

33:54 — Losing a friend — the Claymore mine

37:01 — Coming home, May 1969

39:47 — PTSD before it had a name

42:07 — An interracial marriage in the Deep South

43:29 — Transfer to Germany

47:56 — Discharge and the search for work

50:31 — Hired at the VA — the start of 31 years

54:34 — Protest and activism in Salt Lake City

59:02 — Addiction and getting clean

01:02:05 — The birth of his daughter and a turning point

01:05:00 — Recovery work in Russia

01:09:55 — Family, aging, and loss

01:13:51 — Final reflections on Vietnam, enemies, and peace

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