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Meet the Vietnam War veteran whose job it was to notify loved ones about casualties

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Time now for StoryCorps's Military Voices Initiative, recording and sharing the stories of service members and their families. Of course, it's Memorial Day weekend, and today we're going to hear from a Vietnam veteran whose job it was to identify casualties of war. Army Lieutenant Colonel Larry Candelaria was deployed to Vietnam in 1970. He was chief of the casualty branch for the 23rd Infantry Combat Division. His team notified families when their loved ones were injured or killed.

LARRY CANDELARIA: Every day, I had to deal with the wounded, with the missing, those that had died terrible death. I remember there was an invasion to Khe Sanh, and it was not going well. Every morning I got ID cards, and I went to the mortuary. We had to open the bags and see if we could identify that soldier. The first time I did that, I had to get outside and vomit. I couldn't stop crying. I felt really embarrassed. But, you know, when you see a 18-year-old with half of his face gone, it just gets the best of you.

I remember one Hispanic soldier, and the general was putting the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for valor on this soldier. He had no legs, no arms. The general was crying, the aide was crying, and I was crying. Just to see him was awful. The general asked him, soldier, what happened to you? He says, General, I jumped on a grenade to save my buddies, and he said I would do it all over again. Boy, that really knocked me over.

When I came back to the United States, I couldn't sleep. I continued to have nightmares of faces of individuals. It was an awful job that somebody had to do. We were all in the same foxhole, and we were trying to do good things for soldiers. But it did leave wounds in me.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: That's Army Lieutenant Colonel Larry Candelaria in Las Cruces, N.M. His interview is archived in the U.S. Library of Congress.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.