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>>So David, the Charlottesville 
community knows you

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as a feature writer 
for the Daily Progress

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but I'd like to start 
out talking a little bit

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about your past.

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Tell us about joining the Army.

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>>No, I can't tell 
you about that.

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>>(laughs) You'd 
have to shoot me.

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(laughs)

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That's sort of true.

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>>I was somewhat of a disaster.

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Well, I was a disaster 
in high school.

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I decided to join the 
Army when I was 17

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and my parents were happy

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to sign off on that.

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And I went in

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and my first tour was in Korea.

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And then I came back,

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and I wasn't back 
but a couple months

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and I was assigned to 
First Calvary Division

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and they'd come 
down with the orders

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and this is 1965 for Vietnam.

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So I went over.

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Started there, really.

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>>So you stayed in the Army

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for a couple of years, left

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and then came back

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to join the Jump School?

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>>Yeah, I was in for three years

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and then I had a break 
of about nine months

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and that wasn't 
really working out.

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There was a lot of 
residue left from Vietnam.

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I'd been in some major battles

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and coming back 
from that I remember

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when I first got 
home the first night,

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I kept opening up 
the refrigerator and 
shutting the door

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because it was so foreign to me

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that I could just reach in 
and grab a cold whatever

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and just the lights and all that

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because I had basically been 
in the field for a year.

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>>Right.

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>>So, I just didn't adjust.

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And after nine months 
I decided to go back in

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and there'd been a lot of 
paratroopers in the First Cav

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and I really liked those guys.

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And so I said, if 
I'm going back in,

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I wanna, you know, at least 
try to be a paratrooper.

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So when I was in Jump School,

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the instructor came up and said,

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if any of you guys think 
you wanna be snake eaters

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which we call 
special forces guys.

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>>Okay.

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>>That guy'll, you 
know, talk to you.

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So everybody 200 guys go over.

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Out of those 200 
guys took the test,

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six of us came down for 
orders for special forces.

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And out of those six guys,

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two of us graduated

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>>Oh.

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>>about a year later.

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>>Why do you think you made it?

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>>It was a miracle.

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This is a completely...

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You can watch as many 
programs on television

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about special forces training

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but until you actually 
go through it,

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you have absolutely no idea.

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And every day, you're being 
tested in one way or another.

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And the perfect example 
of this is I was there

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for about a month in training

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and I was changing a light bulb.

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A light bulb had burned out in 
our hallway in the barracks.

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And one of the Glow 
in the Dark Guys,

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these are the guys 
that teach us.

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These are the guys who have 
to accept you into the family.

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And he said, "Give me that."

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And so handed him 
the light bulb.

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He smashed it on the floor.

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He picked up this 
big shard of glass.

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He handed to me 
and says, "Eat it."

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And I took this shard of glass

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and I put it in my mouth

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and I bit down on it fully 
expecting it to cut me up.

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But it turned into 
little granules of sand,

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completely harmless,

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which he obviously knew.

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But this was a test,

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and he just kind of 
nods and walks away.

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>>Try to explain to 
me the difference

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between a soldier 
and the Green Beret.

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>>In our creed, it says,

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"We will never surrender 
though we'd be the last."

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Which means we die in place.

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We don't surrender.

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We die in place.

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It doesn't matter 
if we're the last.

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And I think a country has to 
have those kinds of people

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with that kind of mentality is

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that we don't surrender.

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And if you're gonna take us on,

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you're gonna pay

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and you're gonna pay dearly.

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>>So now I didn't 
hear this from you,

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but I saw a photograph of 
you wearing a Purple Heart.

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You wanna tell us about that?

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>>That's just obviously a 
medal that you don't wanna get.

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But we were on a mission 
into North Vietnam

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and on the fifth 
day we're supposed

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to be getting 
pulled out that day.

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And it was around noon.

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And we'd been 
surrounded by these guys

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for that whole 
time that we're in,

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but I heard some noise

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up to the side of our position.

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And I went down there to...

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Crawled down there basically

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to see what was going on.

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And I heard some rustling.

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I knew it was some 
NVA coming up there.

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We were on a ridge.

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And so I pulled out a grenade

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and pulled the pin 
out of the grenade.

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And about that time I heard 
a thump up in front of me

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and the NVA down below 
me had thrown a grenade

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up towards me

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and about then it goes off.

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And I feel a searing 
pain in my neck.

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And so my first thought was 
to get rid of this grenade

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with the pin out of it.

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And I knew where that guy was

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and then put it down there

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and got him

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and then everything erupts,

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and we get into a big gunfight.

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So at one point I was 
up against the tree

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and these bullets 
started to hit right

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above my head in the tree.

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And I rolled over on my side 
to get lowered to the ground.

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And the blood that had 
pooled in my lap just poured

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onto the ground like a bucket

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because I bled that much 
in a short period of time.

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And then I just started 
to go into shock

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and my vision started 
to close down.

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And fortunately, Hanger 
and Trepier, got up to me,

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put a pressure bandage on there

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and got the bleeding to stop.

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But when the helicopters 
came in finally,

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and I can tell a 
story without saying

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how courageous those guys were

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because this was bad 
news all the way around

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but they did,

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and we got back to Da Nang.

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And I consider it my 
best day of my life

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because everybody was 
there was hugging us

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and, you know, that whole, it 
was just a magnificent moment.

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>>Your best day.

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>>Yeah, definitely my best day.

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>>All right, so 
after nine years,

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you left.

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Tell us a little bit about that

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and how you ended 
up as a writer.

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>>I had told myself

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when my dear friend 
Bill Brown was killed,

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and I'd just come back

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and they told me

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that the whole 
team had been lost.

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And I took it 
stoically at the time.

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I just nodded

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because, you know, I'd heard 
that kind of news before.

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And, but that 
night I was walking

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by his hooch

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and it was his 
parents had sent him

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a little artificial 
Christmas tree.

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And before they went 
out on the mission,

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we had trimmed this 
Christmas tree.

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And that night I'm 
walking past the hooch

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and the wind blew the door open,

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and I looked in the hooch

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and there was a 
Christmas tree lit up.

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And I just fell to my knees.

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It was the only time I 
ever cried in Vietnam

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almost three years 
I spent there.

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And I just fell to my 
knees and I sobbed.

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And,

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when I got up,

185
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I said that someday somebody 
was gonna have to know

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about these people.

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And I decided then I was 
gonna write a book about this.

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And when I got out,

189
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I went to college thinking

190
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that they could 
teach me how to write

191
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and quickly found 
out that they can't.

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And...

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00:08:27,373 --> 00:08:29,175
(Terri laughs)

194
00:08:29,175 --> 00:08:32,879
But I also found out that 
I had the gift of writing.

195
00:08:32,879 --> 00:08:37,116
And I would sign that 
first sentence of that book

196
00:08:37,116 --> 00:08:38,684
for five years.

197
00:08:38,684 --> 00:08:40,686
And I was doing 
this nowhere jobs,

198
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just keeping myself alive.

199
00:08:42,889 --> 00:08:44,524
Every night coming home

200
00:08:44,524 --> 00:08:46,659
and trying to start this book.

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00:08:46,659 --> 00:08:48,427
When the first sentence came:

202
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"At 25 yards,

203
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the front side of the machine 
gun nearly covered the back

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00:08:53,099 --> 00:08:55,434
of the resting 
soldier's head..."

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That's it.

206
00:08:56,269 --> 00:08:57,537
It started

207
00:08:57,537 --> 00:08:58,771
and I wrote a whole 
book in nine months.

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00:08:58,771 --> 00:09:00,840
>>And had you not 
had that experience,

209
00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,543
you might not have even had the 
calling to write, who knows?

210
00:09:03,543 --> 00:09:05,545
>>Well, that's exactly it.

211
00:09:05,545 --> 00:09:10,550
So, I consider the three 
major blessings in my life

212
00:09:11,150 --> 00:09:12,251
to have been,

213
00:09:13,653 --> 00:09:16,756
one being accepted in 
the special forces family

214
00:09:16,756 --> 00:09:19,592
which is 
extraordinarily special.

215
00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:23,829
The second blessing a lot of 
people don't understand this

216
00:09:23,829 --> 00:09:26,165
but is Vietnam.

217
00:09:26,165 --> 00:09:27,033
Because,

218
00:09:28,401 --> 00:09:32,505
Vietnam provided the 
atmosphere for me

219
00:09:32,505 --> 00:09:35,775
to have the best friendships 
I will ever have in this life

220
00:09:35,775 --> 00:09:37,843
and the deepest friendships.

221
00:09:37,843 --> 00:09:41,013
And the third blessing is 
here at Daily Progress.

222
00:09:42,615 --> 00:09:44,216
I love the daily progress

223
00:09:44,216 --> 00:09:46,686
and it has given 
me the opportunity

224
00:09:46,686 --> 00:09:49,555
to do the most amazing things

225
00:09:49,555 --> 00:09:51,223
for all these years.

226
00:09:52,391 --> 00:09:55,227
To be standing right 
next door or next

227
00:09:55,227 --> 00:09:59,298
to a surgeon harvesting a liver

228
00:09:59,298 --> 00:10:02,768
in a hospital in 
Beckley, West Virginia

229
00:10:02,768 --> 00:10:05,705
and flying back with him 
and standing next to him

230
00:10:05,705 --> 00:10:08,874
as he puts the good liver

231
00:10:08,874 --> 00:10:10,943
in a person here at UVA.

232
00:10:10,943 --> 00:10:15,381
And, you know, it's just 
endless all these opportunities

233
00:10:15,381 --> 00:10:16,682
that you get as a journalist

234
00:10:16,682 --> 00:10:19,251
that you wouldn't get 
in any other jobs.

235
00:10:19,251 --> 00:10:21,787
So, it's just a great blessing.

236
00:10:21,787 --> 00:10:25,324
And, you know, you get 
people read your stuff.

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00:10:25,324 --> 00:10:26,859
(both laughing)

238
00:10:26,859 --> 00:10:29,095
So, well what's better 
for a writer than

239
00:10:29,095 --> 00:10:30,730
to have people doing that?

240
00:10:30,730 --> 00:10:33,866
>>What's one of the most 
risky projects you've ever,

241
00:10:33,866 --> 00:10:35,101
you know, attacked?

242
00:10:35,101 --> 00:10:37,103
>>Well, I'll tell you 
the one that jumps

243
00:10:37,103 --> 00:10:41,273
to mind immediately is I did 
this guy who's coming here

244
00:10:41,273 --> 00:10:46,112
to the area to have these 
people walk on coals, right?

245
00:10:46,112 --> 00:10:47,313
>>Oh, oh okay.

246
00:10:47,313 --> 00:10:50,149
>>The 1200 degrees coals

247
00:10:50,149 --> 00:10:52,718
and it was who do 
their thing, you know,

248
00:10:52,718 --> 00:10:56,656
so, everybody else 
is like taking a run

249
00:10:56,656 --> 00:10:59,625
and going tippy tippy 
there off of 'em, right?

250
00:10:59,625 --> 00:11:02,595
But I said to myself, you 
know, I can't do that.

251
00:11:02,595 --> 00:11:04,330
You know, I'm a 
special forces guy,

252
00:11:04,330 --> 00:11:06,932
if I'm gonna walk on the coals,

253
00:11:06,932 --> 00:11:08,634
I'm gonna walk on 
the coals, right?

254
00:11:08,634 --> 00:11:09,869
>>Okay.

255
00:11:09,869 --> 00:11:14,407
>>So, I step off onto 
these 1200 degree coals

256
00:11:15,474 --> 00:11:18,210
and surprisingly enough,

257
00:11:18,210 --> 00:11:20,513
it felt exactly

258
00:11:21,881 --> 00:11:25,484
on my bare feet like burning 
hot coals would feel.

259
00:11:25,484 --> 00:11:27,620
(Terri laughs)

260
00:11:27,620 --> 00:11:29,622
And I'm going, I'm 
in trouble here.

261
00:11:29,622 --> 00:11:30,790
(laughs)

262
00:11:30,790 --> 00:11:33,125
But what was really 
interesting is

263
00:11:33,125 --> 00:11:35,995
that it didn't 
really burn the soles

264
00:11:35,995 --> 00:11:37,730
of my feet like you would think.

265
00:11:37,730 --> 00:11:39,198
>>And you did write the article?

266
00:11:39,198 --> 00:11:40,466
>>I did indeed.

267
00:11:40,466 --> 00:11:42,201
>>Be interesting to 
see what you wrote.

268
00:11:42,201 --> 00:11:43,436
(Terri laughs)

269
00:11:43,436 --> 00:11:45,838
>>Yeah. yeah. I'll have 
to revisit that one.

270
00:11:45,838 --> 00:11:48,074
>>Yeah, we'll definitely 
have to do that.

271
00:11:48,074 --> 00:11:49,375
David, thank you.

272
00:11:49,375 --> 00:11:50,776
>>You're welcome.

273
00:11:50,776 --> 00:11:53,646
(orchestral music)