Every war in American history has had its own “soundtrack.” Think “Yankee Doodle Dandy” in the American Revolution; “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” for the Civil War; “Over There” for World War I.
But no war in our nation’s history has had a soundtrack as diverse and iconic as the one associated with the Viet Nam War. Every veteran who served in Southeast Asia had an intimate relationship with that music, whether it was Acid Rock, Soul, C-and-W, Folk, Bubble Gum, British Invasion, you name it.
A new book, “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place,” co-authored by Vietnam vet Doug Bradley, and University of Wisconsin professor and Colorado Springs native Craig Werner, places a set of stories and songs gathered from interviews with nearly 300 Vietnam vets at the center of the Vietnam experience, both in country and back n the world. Recently named the “Best Book of 2015” by Rolling Stone magazine, the book shows how music provided vets with a way to express their homesickness, their worries and comforts, their deepest friendships, their fears and grief. Each veteran had a personal soundtrack running in his mind and those soundtracks echo through the pages of Werner and Bradley’s book..
Werner and Bradley explore how and why U.S. troops turned to music as a way of coping with the war they had been sent to fight. The book is rich with personal reflections of the Viet Nam veterans — black and white, Latino and Native American, men and women, officers and the grunts.
Colorado Springs’ VFW Post 101 will open the post’s doors to the Colorado Springs community on Saturday March 26th at (5 PM??) to meet Werner and Bradley.
“We have asked Craig and Doug to share some of the many stories that they have heard from Viet Nam vets, and — especially — to share those stories with us the soundtrack and music behind them,” said Post Commander Tony Archer. We are warmly encouraging vets and their family members to join in the story-telling. Craig and Doug are especially eager to hear the personal “soundtrack” stories from our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.