"Nelson Harding served in the Marine Corps. He was a sergeant and had twelve men in his squad. He went to war when he was twenty years old. He was not drafted; he signed up because in his words, ‘I would rather fight on their turf then have them come on ours.’ He also thought it was the right way to be a good citizen. His parents were concerned, but respected his decision.
    Nelson served in Vietnam from 1964 to 1965. While serving his country, Nelson said his body really adjusted. For him he was lucky to get three hours of sleep a night. He also had to walk for hours at a time. He said your body learns to rest while moving.
    Nelson at times was a tunnel rat. He was also a radioman at one point.
    He shared one story about how he almost died. He and his squad found an underground hospital. He said it was amazing, going from a three foot hole to a huge one hundred and fifty foot cave. This was during Operation Starlight. Him and his squad cleared out the hospital and then blew it up as ordered.
    When returning in, Nelson entered too soon after the explosion. Gases from the dynamite nearly killed him.
    During the war Nelson missed his family and loved ones. He kept in contact though. He wrote to his mom and dad at least once a week. He received a chocolate creme pie from his mom and an audio tape from his sister. The pie was moldy by the time it got there and there was nothing to play the tape. Yet, he told us it was the thought that counted.
    Out of the whole interview this part is what made me angry and got me frustrated. He told us people, college students, sent them letters in their Christmas boxes. These letters were very cruel. These people called soldiers, ‘women and children killers.’ People back in the U.S. did not understand the conditions. Vietcong would give civilians guns. The soldiers were told not to shoot until shot upon. It was what they had to do, there was no choice. This just frustrates me because how can people come to a conclusion about something without knowing the whole story?
    Nelson did not bring anything personal to war with him. He said that if the enemy captured you they could find out more about you by using your personal belongings.
    Food in war was not that great, Nelson told us. At the beginning they were given C-Rations from World War Two. He told us those were gross. After this though they were given these plus one hot meal a day called K-Rations. They were certainly not overfed. Nelson went to war weighing 180 pounds and came back at the weight of 155. This weight loss was mostly from lots of exercise.
    Their return home was not a welcome one. This is another part of his story that frustrated me. The thought that people who risked their life for us and our country were getting spit on and were not able to get off their ship. Their commander had to march them off the ship.
    When Nelson returned to the U.S. he visited his family. For the rest of his life he worked in carpentry with his brother. He moved from Massachusetts to Maine when civil rights riots got out of hand.
    Mr. Harding is a very modest, admirable, honorable person. He did not even bring up all his medals on his own. He received a lot from accomplishing a lot in Vietnam. To him making it home was the best medal.
    The thing about war that made him proud was that all twelve men under him made it home.
    Nelson has now been a chairman of the Fairfield VFW for seven years. When asked if he would ever go back to war, he replied, ‘If my country needed me, I would.’
    In his opinion, if you don't have any military experience you are missing out on human life. He encourages people to join the army.
    It was an honor to interview Nelson Harding. I feel it was a great once in a lifetime experience. I learned a lot about what really went on and the real life struggles soldiers have to go through. I can't help but feel frustration about Nelson’s homecoming and the letters he and others received. It’s not like it was soldiers’ decisions to go to war. They were not asked to go, they were told. They should not be blamed when they were the ones who went to war for us and our country. It makes no sense. People back then should have honored them instead of spit on them. We should honor veterans today too. After this interview I learned a lot more about war and what goes on. Soldiers went through a lot and they still do today, for us and our country. Which is why all veterans deserve honor and respect.
    I learned a lot and enjoyed this interview."  ~ S. Quimby

    "...Mr. Harding was only 20 years old when he enlisted for the military.  When he found out that he was going to go to war, he wasn't scared because he didn't really know what to expect.  His parents respected his decision, but were concerned about what might happen when he was in Vietnam.  Harding spent 3 months in training, 6 weeks in infantry training, and 6 weeks in guerilla warfare training.  The only personal item he said that he brought was his graduation ring.  Unfortunately, when he was leaving for war, his ring was taken so if he got captured in Vietnam the people would have a harder time figuring out who he was.  Mr. Harding said that one of the proudest moments that he had was when he went home after training, his family was very proud of him and the courage he had for enlisting and going over to Vietnam.  He also said that he loved seeing his uniform laying on his bed knowing that he would be wearing it soon.  Harding didn't like to call Vietnam a war though, he calls it a ‘conflict’.
    Mr. Harding was in the Marine Corps when he went over to Vietnam.  He was only 20 years old, but he was the head of his squad.  When I asked him if he was scared or not during the war, he said, ‘when in charge, you don't have time to be scared for yourself.’ That gave me a pretty good idea of how much courage Mr. Harding had when he was serving....
    ...Mr. Harding went over to the war when he was only 20 years old.  That takes a lot of bravery.  I respect him a lot because of that, I don't think I would be mentally ready to go to a war at that age.  Mr. Harding is also a very modest person.  He wasn't scared for his own life when he was fighting, because he was too busy making sure that everyone around him was okay.  Mr. Harding got over 12 medal/awards for being in the war, but he didn't tell us that until the end because he didn't think he should have been given awards if he was just doing his job.  He is a very modest man and that makes me respect him a lot.  I thought that the interview overall was a good experience, and it taught me a lot more about wars and the people in them."  ~ R. Gage

    "...He joined in 1962 and went to boot camp at Parris Island in South Carolina. He was in the Marine Corps in the Vietnam War. When he finished boot camp he went straight over to Vietnam in 1964 and 1965. He was mostly a tunnel rat and was a squad leader of 4 to 5 men. He had to keep everyone safe and not get lost. Mr. Harding only had about 2-3 hours of sleep when they took a break....
    ...When he was a tunnel rat it was a hard job to do. There were venomous snakes, and other animals. One of the times he was in the tunnels a grenade went off above and the tunnel collapsed and almost suffocated him. In the tunnels there were hospitals that were 352 feet long, 12 feet wide, 7 feet high....
    The conditions that he had were bad. Sometimes it would rain and get real cold. There would be overflowed ponds and swamps when the traveled to villages. When it came to be his birthday his parents sent him a chocolate cake in the mail and when he got it the cake was all moldy and gross. He only got to talk to his parents once a week when he got the time to...."  ~ Z. McManus

    "...He said that he was surprised when he  would see parents sending their children holding  bombs to go and blow themselves up and the American soldiers with them. 
    He told us that he had to eat barely any food a day too, he said that their rations were dried pork, beans, tons and tons of beans.
        He told us that when he got home he was welcomed not warmly like he expected after being in a war for two years, but when the boat that he was on that was bringing him home landed in Washington people were spitting on him and the other soldiers that came off the ship and after some time they didn't even let the soldiers get off.  After some time of watching this Mr. Harding noticed that most of the people  protesting were around his age.  And he wondered why they were calling them names like ‘Baby killers’ and murderers.  Mr. Harding told us that his sergeant  had to call in the army reserves to come and take control of the situation so that the troops could get off the ship....
     Mr. Harding really had an effect on my thoughts of the soldiers and that they did for us in America.  He made me think of just how hard it was for the men over there fighting for our country.  And I didn't really have any idea [about] the conditions of the food and clothing and even keeping in touch with your family.  But the part that made me disbelieve the most was how the soldiers were welcomed so harshly with being spat on and even not let into their own country from the rioters. But thanks to  Mr. Harding I now can know just how bad they had it, and look back and fully respect them for what they really did."  ~ Z. Gurney