In the deep reaches of the night . . . [View all]

I returned home from Vietnam in early 1970 after a year in the bush. I had no flashbacks or bad dreams.

For a while.

Then, one night about a year later, my wife waked me up. It was past midnight, I was standing on the back deck of our house, facing the woods. Ghosts and voices were coming out of the woods. I didn't even know where I was, did not know when or how I got out of bed and went out on the back deck.

Same thing happened at odd times over the next few years. Gradually it stopped. But still 55 years later and at age 81, from time to time I sit up late, after the house -- now the apartment -- is quiet. And sometimes the ghosts appear.

The ghosts are 18, 19, 20 year old kids that I helped put into body bags. Hell, I was a 24-yr-old kid.

Watching Lawrence tonight. He opened with a segment that featured the father and sister of Army Specialist. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa. Coady was a student at Drake University in Des Moines. His father and sister spoke on Lawrence's show. I do not know how they had the strength to speak on camera.