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I was a journalist in Vietnam in the Fall 1970, and got some great stories from various sources, including the late Don Rochlen (JUSPAO II). Don’t know if this is true or not, but it sounds great.

When John Wayne went to So. Vietnam to see the country before filming “The Green Berets” in the Philippines (visit confirmed to me by George “Sulu” Takei”), he was out with a group of American soldiers when what sounded like a sniper shot rang out.

Wayne (reportedly), grabbed an M16 and started spraying the nearby treeline.

No confirmation or photos that I know of but I still liked the sound of it. It WAS JOHN WAYNE.

Won’t even begin to list other noted journalists who hated CBS newsmen including Dan Rather, Morely Safer and Don Webster.

Had a good laugh with Gen. Chappie James (USAF) after a lousy “5’O folly” news briefing at the Pentagon. Got a BS answer to a valid question I asked based on a news item in the Daily Clips of that day. Never went back.

To make that day even worse, I was sitting next to Bob Schieffer. He was so full of himself that he needed two chairs to sit on, one for his ass and the other for his ego (also full of shit).

My “celebrities” from VN were the guys who served there with honor including those from Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace (John O’Neill, later of the Swift Boat Veterans organization; Bruce Kesler; Mike Benge (former USMC; USAID/POW), 5th SF Jim Kerns; Glen Siegel, USA; etc), and those great guys in the Swift Boat group who exposed John Kerry.

I’ll throw in the late Nick Rowe (”Five Years to Freedom”), a SF POW who escaped after 5 years in tiger cages of the Viet Cong.

Other POWS in the Hanoi Hilton - “Larry Stark, civilian engineer; Jerry Denton, Admiral; Budd Day, Col.; Benge (who gave the NVA guards a lot of shit, and in Vietnamese); Paul Galanti, USAF; etc).

Capt. Stephen Harrison, the intelligence officer of the USS Pueblo. Tortured in No. Korea along with much of the crew.

Actor William Windhem (”To Kill a Mocking Bird”; Star Trek - Commander Dekker, “The Doomsday Machine”) - 503rd Reg./101st Airborne, WW2 - Normandy

Not celebrities: My father, Chemical Warfare Service, WW2 - 4.2 Chemical Mortar and gas masks; my father-in-law, four Pacific campaigns/landings including Iwo; my son, one of the first across the Iraqi border at the start of OIF.

ALL ARE “CELEBRITIES” IN MY WORLD, BUT UNLIKE HOLLYWOOD, WE CALL THEM HEROES, OFTEN UNSUNG HEROES, WHERE I COME FROM.