“I Turned To Mush… The Adrenaline Was Gone”: A Rakkasan Walking Point With An M-79

Bruce Lemont grew up in Brunswick, Maine, in a house along the ocean that still relied on an outhouse. His father served in WWII and Korea, and his mother took care of the 6 children. Bruce grew up “very outdoorsy” and worked summers on a lobster boat. He was drafted for Vietnam, and believes that the training he received at Tigerland in Louisiana saved his life because he learned how to react in certain situations. As a replacement assigned to the 101st in March 1968, he was one of the first non-airborne “legs” in the battalion. He was wounded twice while in Vietnam, taking shrapnel to the leg and to the elbow: once from a grenade, and once from an RPG. Throughout the interview, he describes several of the engagements he was in and how he reacted. After the war, he was an iron worker and helped build a nuclear power plant. He suffered from Post Traumatic Stress, and he and his wife have participated in couples therapy at the Veterans Administration. He began attending reunions because he had forgotten so much about his time in Vietnam, and he states, “I want to remember. I want to see my friends.” He is proud of his service to the nation.