Section 1: Dennis DuPuis discusses growing up in a military family and living in various locations, including Japan, Hawaii, and Augusta, Georgia. He characterizes World War II stories and ideas as formative, including his dad’s service setting up phones for airfields used at Guadalcanal.

Section 2: Dennis’s decision to enlist was informed by his aversion to walking in the jungles of Vietnam, preferring to fly, and his belief that he could choose his service area as a volunteer but not a draftee. In this section Dennis also discusses his father’s and brother’s service in Vietnam, including his father’s decision to serve in Vietnam to spare his brother, and his brother’s marriage to the nurse he met while injured. Dennis highlights the contributions of nurses and the need to remember their service alongside those who were in combat. His father was in country during the Tet Offensive, which commenced on his birthday, January 30. Dennis notes that between him, his father, and his brother, their family served in Vietnam for between five and six consecutive years, exacting a huge toll on his mother. 

Section 3: Dennis served two tours, the first commencing in August 1969, the second in August 1971. He remembers the “stench,” heat, and humidity that greeted him after arriving for his first tour. His work as a helicopter pilot Vietnam included various missions, from officer transport to combat support. He notes that many personnel besides pilots were essential to keep helicopters in the air.

Section 4: Dennis discusses his interactions with Vietnamese people and impressions of the country. He recalls that patting children on the head was forbidden as it was seen as interfering with their connection to the spiritual world. Dennis remembers stark differences between his American upbringing, Vietnamese poverty, and colonial French influences within Vietnam. He also notes that ARVN troops preferred their dead be airlifted out of combat zones before the wounded (the inverse of American protocol), something Dennis says was closely linked to their cultural beliefs. Finally, Dennis recalls an American scout he knew in country who could discern if tracks belonged to Viet Cong or North Vietnamese troops based on the differences between sandal and boot marks.  

Section 5: Dennis discusses casual but disturbing protocol in terms of Agent Orange. He notes that a helicopter routinely used to spray Agent Orange was used to transport troops when not in use for spraying and that when Americans came in contact with Agent Orange, there was no protocol for washing out their clothes.  

Section 6 : Dennis reflects on his time in Vietnam, including bar culture on base and receiving weekly letters from his parents. 

Section 7 : Dennis concludes his reflections on his tours in Vietnam. He recalls purchases at the PX, including his 35mm camera. At the end of the section, he discusses numerous assignments. As a helicopter pilot, Dennis remembers the frustration and sorrow of not always being able to find downed comrades; he also notes picking up one man who survived —and who he sees at reunions. Dennis discusses his participation in the Cambodian incursion, noting that it relied heavily on helicopters. Finally, he remembers his friend George Mason, who was killed. Dennis attended George’s funeral while still on duty, during which he saw Mason’s father; the senior Mason handed Dennis an envelope with a round-trip ticket to visit his own parents in Augusta, Georgia.   

Section 8: Dennis addresses his post-service life. The two relationships most changed by his services were with the woman he was engaged to before his deployment (the engagement broke off after six weeks), and with his sister, who opposed the war. Dennis recalls that Vietnam veterans were “invisible” until the 1990s, but after 9/11 more Vietnam veterans talked openly about their service.

Section 9: Dennis discusses meaningful experiences at the Wall in DC. He describes the Wall as “very moving.” Dennis has helped numerous visitors find people immortalized on the wall, while also helping visitors with no personal connection more deeply appreciate the memorial. Among the visitors Dennis spoke with at the Wall was Hal Moore, the well-known lieutenant colonel at the Battle of Ia Drang and author of We Were Soldiers. Considering the appropriateness of the Wall, Dennis notes that it is “not a war memorial” but a veteran’s memorial. He adds that at sunset the east wall feels like it is body temperature and that for a war that was hidden from public view, the monument is fitting.

Section 10: In this final section, Dennis notes that he has not been back to Vietnam, preferring to travel to veterans’ reunions in the US. Among his favorite books on the Vietnam War is We Were Soldiers, penned by Hal Moore, who Dennis once met at the Wall.