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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Larry Smith, Nick Bacon

Aired July 06, 2003 - 18:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Since the Civil War, the United States has honored gallantry and valor in battle with a special award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Larry Smith interviewed two dozen recipients of the medal from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam for his new book "Beyond Glory, Medal of Honor Heroes in their own Words." He joins us from Washington; and, in Little Rock, Arkansas is Medal of Honor recipient Nick Bacon whose story is told in the book. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

LARRY SMITH, AUTHOR "BEYOND GLORY": Thank you, Kelli. Hi, Nick, how are you?

NICK BACON, MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT: Hello, how are you doing today?

SMITH: Good.

ARENA: Nick, let's starting with you. You're getting your very well deserved moment in the sun. Give us a brief synopsis of what you did in Vietnam to win the Medal of Honor.

BACON: Well, it's hard to tell a long story in just short minutes but it was my second tour of duty. This was during Tet '68 and our company, we were the Bravo Company for the 21st Infantry, we had earlier - it had been reported earlier to us that we would be probably engaging a company-size element but obviously intelligence was wrong that day.

We hit a reinforced regiment that was dug in in camouflage and we had one hell of a battle. It lasted a long time. There was a lot of casualties and we killed an awful lot of the North Vietnamese soldiers that day.

ARENA: Well, I tell you thank you for your service. You went back voluntarily, didn't you?

BACON: Yes, I did.

ARENA: Amazing. Now, Larry, Nick's story as extraordinary as it is, is put together in your book with many other extraordinary - and there is one fellow who they actually thought was dead and then someone saw the body bag twitching. How did these men's stories affect you?

SMITH: Well, they affected me profoundly, Kelli. In fact, that's one of the things I emphasize in the title of the book the fact that these stories are in their own words with them talking the way it was.

And, one of the things I get asked a lot is what Medal of Honor recipients have in common and they have what I call grit, determination. They're the kind of guys that think about somebody else first. They're obstinate as hell and they're risk takers like the man you talked about, Rudolpho Hernandez (ph).

His company, his outfit was getting ready to retreat and he decided not to retreat and he took an empty rifle and fixed a bayonet, stood up on the edge of his fox hole and said to this charging enemy, "Here I come," and he went after them and he killed six men with an empty rifle and a bayonet until he, himself, was shot, stabbed and blown up so badly that he was left for dead on the battlefield, taken off in a body bag and then they saw a little movement and his life was saved.

And, he had to learn to speak all over again. He had to learn nursery rhymes. He had a gash here which they sewed up in a way so that they said they stitched a permanent smile on his face and an amazing guy, as is Nick, as are they all.

ARENA: It's extraordinary. So, is it just a cliche then that soldiers don't like to tell their war stories?

SMITH: Well, that's a good question because a lot of people, you know, that's generally true but these men know I think that they're telling their stories for posterity in a way that they've not been told before and they were very candid and forthright and brave with me to trust me the way they did. And I must say I really admired them for it and they were very forthcoming and the language is very salty. The stories are terrific.

ARENA: Nick, what are your thoughts as you see young men being sent into Iraq, Afghanistan, now possibly Liberia?

BACON: Well, you know, it's difficult. My son is in Iraq with the 411th MP Company, (unintelligible) battalion. I have a younger brother over there and I had two nephews. One is back now.

It's not a good thing to send sons into a war zone. We know the dangers but at the same time freedom is just not free. We would like to think that there will be no more wars and this will be the last one but history teaches us that if you want freedom, if you want prosperity, you've got to be willing to defend it and I'm proud of those men.

I know that it's hard on families when they're separated and I know it's hard to lose a son or a husband or a father, but at the same time there's nothing greater than the prosperity and the freedom and personal liberties that we enjoy in this great nation and it's just worth fighting for.

ARENA: Larry, you interviewed people both before the September 11 attacks and after. Was there a notable difference in the tone of those interviews?

SMITH: Frankly, no. The guys would tell their stories and I talked with some of them, like Harry Bynam (ph) about what happened after and what it means and it's like Nicky's saying, someone has to step up and you can always debate whether someone should go to war or not but Americans have always stepped up and these guys proved that over the three wars that they're all from, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. You have to admire them all.

ARENA: Well, on that note, we will bid farewell. Larry Smith, Nick Bacon, thank you both for taking time out of your weekend to join us.

BACON: Thank you, Kelli.

SMITH: Thank you, Kelli.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 6, 2003 - 18:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Since the Civil War, the United States has honored gallantry and valor in battle with a special award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Larry Smith interviewed two dozen recipients of the medal from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam for his new book "Beyond Glory, Medal of Honor Heroes in their own Words." He joins us from Washington; and, in Little Rock, Arkansas is Medal of Honor recipient Nick Bacon whose story is told in the book. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

LARRY SMITH, AUTHOR "BEYOND GLORY": Thank you, Kelli. Hi, Nick, how are you?

NICK BACON, MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT: Hello, how are you doing today?

SMITH: Good.

ARENA: Nick, let's starting with you. You're getting your very well deserved moment in the sun. Give us a brief synopsis of what you did in Vietnam to win the Medal of Honor.

BACON: Well, it's hard to tell a long story in just short minutes but it was my second tour of duty. This was during Tet '68 and our company, we were the Bravo Company for the 21st Infantry, we had earlier - it had been reported earlier to us that we would be probably engaging a company-size element but obviously intelligence was wrong that day.

We hit a reinforced regiment that was dug in in camouflage and we had one hell of a battle. It lasted a long time. There was a lot of casualties and we killed an awful lot of the North Vietnamese soldiers that day.

ARENA: Well, I tell you thank you for your service. You went back voluntarily, didn't you?

BACON: Yes, I did.

ARENA: Amazing. Now, Larry, Nick's story as extraordinary as it is, is put together in your book with many other extraordinary - and there is one fellow who they actually thought was dead and then someone saw the body bag twitching. How did these men's stories affect you?

SMITH: Well, they affected me profoundly, Kelli. In fact, that's one of the things I emphasize in the title of the book the fact that these stories are in their own words with them talking the way it was.

And, one of the things I get asked a lot is what Medal of Honor recipients have in common and they have what I call grit, determination. They're the kind of guys that think about somebody else first. They're obstinate as hell and they're risk takers like the man you talked about, Rudolpho Hernandez (ph).

His company, his outfit was getting ready to retreat and he decided not to retreat and he took an empty rifle and fixed a bayonet, stood up on the edge of his fox hole and said to this charging enemy, "Here I come," and he went after them and he killed six men with an empty rifle and a bayonet until he, himself, was shot, stabbed and blown up so badly that he was left for dead on the battlefield, taken off in a body bag and then they saw a little movement and his life was saved.

And, he had to learn to speak all over again. He had to learn nursery rhymes. He had a gash here which they sewed up in a way so that they said they stitched a permanent smile on his face and an amazing guy, as is Nick, as are they all.

ARENA: It's extraordinary. So, is it just a cliche then that soldiers don't like to tell their war stories?

SMITH: Well, that's a good question because a lot of people, you know, that's generally true but these men know I think that they're telling their stories for posterity in a way that they've not been told before and they were very candid and forthright and brave with me to trust me the way they did. And I must say I really admired them for it and they were very forthcoming and the language is very salty. The stories are terrific.

ARENA: Nick, what are your thoughts as you see young men being sent into Iraq, Afghanistan, now possibly Liberia?

BACON: Well, you know, it's difficult. My son is in Iraq with the 411th MP Company, (unintelligible) battalion. I have a younger brother over there and I had two nephews. One is back now.

It's not a good thing to send sons into a war zone. We know the dangers but at the same time freedom is just not free. We would like to think that there will be no more wars and this will be the last one but history teaches us that if you want freedom, if you want prosperity, you've got to be willing to defend it and I'm proud of those men.

I know that it's hard on families when they're separated and I know it's hard to lose a son or a husband or a father, but at the same time there's nothing greater than the prosperity and the freedom and personal liberties that we enjoy in this great nation and it's just worth fighting for.

ARENA: Larry, you interviewed people both before the September 11 attacks and after. Was there a notable difference in the tone of those interviews?

SMITH: Frankly, no. The guys would tell their stories and I talked with some of them, like Harry Bynam (ph) about what happened after and what it means and it's like Nicky's saying, someone has to step up and you can always debate whether someone should go to war or not but Americans have always stepped up and these guys proved that over the three wars that they're all from, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. You have to admire them all.

ARENA: Well, on that note, we will bid farewell. Larry Smith, Nick Bacon, thank you both for taking time out of your weekend to join us.

BACON: Thank you, Kelli.

SMITH: Thank you, Kelli.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com