For Vietnam veteran Brian Delate, saying goodbye to a wartime friend came after the fighting had ceased.
We turn now to a US soldier from another war, Brian Delate fought in Vietnam. When his teenage daughter had some questions about his service during that war, his answers were recorded by StoryCorps. This project has been recording everyday Americans' talking about their lives. Brian Delate spoke with his daughter Tirsa in New York.
Remember when you were asking me, hey, dad, were you in a war?
Yeah.
I was in the war in Vietnam in 1969, and it was very hard as either bored or terrified when I was over there. But I feel very fortunate I had some of the best friends ever. And my friend Don, he and I went to high school together. We both were getting drafted at the same time. We went in the same day. And we went through basic training together. Guess I was gung-ho kind of. But Don was sort of a hippy with a short haircut. And when we were in basic training, he just wanted to get through it. And one drill sergeant was really mean and he used to get in our faces and he say, ''Hey man, don't you mess with me.'' or words of that effect. And if I was getting really serious, Don would come up to me and he elbowed me a little bit and go: ''Hey man, don't you mess with me.'' You know, until I would start laughing and then I'd say, don't you mess with me, and we laugh and we laugh.
When you got out of war how did it change you?
When I came back, I was really, I think very angry and my friend Don he was very depressed. I went to college and I talked him into going too. And he went for a couple of weeks, and he just couldn't do it. Not long after that, he had a job driving a forklift and he got killed driving the forklift. A few months after that, I had a dream that I was floating in space and I could see my friend Don. He was floating in space too. As we got closer he started laughing at me and he said, "Hey man, don't mess with me.''
Hehe...
I said, ''No man, don't you mess with me.'' And we laughed and we laughed and then I said to him, ''Are you ok? '' And he said, ''yeah, I am good.'' And then he said to me, he said, ''How are you? '' I said, ''I am ok.'' And we smiled then he went off and I went off and I think that was our way of saying goodbye in a dream. He was a special guy, a good friend.
Brian Delate and his daughter Tirsa, at StoryCorps in New York City, all of these interviews are archived at the Library of Congress, you can subscribe to the StoryCorps podcast at npr.org.
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