Friends Richard Ha and Alexey Katko discuss Richard's life and his time as a soldier in the Vietnam War. After dropping out of college, Richard was drafted into the military, where he discovered life-saving leadership skills in the jungles of Vietnam.
In June 2022, StoryCorps, the Brooklyn-based organization focused on preserving and sharing stories, teamed up with HPR to gather military-related stories from Hawai‘i residents.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Richard Ha: We were all in this together, the company. I was a second lieutenant when I was there. Our job was to take care of the men. So, we focused on that because our obligation was to each other and the unwritten rule was this: we all come back, or nobody comes back. And I got to emphasize that because that's a lesson I learned all my life. I really liked that idea of taking care of each other that way.
Alexey Katko: Help us understand. Where did that come from, that kind of way of thinking about each other?
RH: You know, it's survival. So, you're in a group. Are you going to fight with each other? When you got the enemy out there and hiding in the bushes? You can argue all you want all day, but when it gets down to cases, oh man — our life, we're one group helping each other out.
AK: I can imagine that definitely creates a unique bond between human beings.
RH: Absolutely. So my job is an artillery officer, whose responsibility is to take care of this company. So you're walking on a ridgeline aware of where the guns are, that that's going to be shooting artillery, so I know where they're coming from. Now, imagine this: your responsibility is to take care of your men. We're walking down a ridgeline, and there could very well be an ambush along the way. So what do we do? And here's some artillery coming across. What I did was I shoot and walk it up the ridgeline and walk it down the ridgeline, and I would make it look like there was enemy acts and weapons, and that they shoot like hell. I’m doing my job.
AK: What were some of the more memorable experiences that you had out in the field?
RH: If you're from Hawaiʻi, it didn't matter what race you were. If you were from Hawaiʻi, it was just a common thing to bond and get together. And it was just that way.
AK: Any other stories or experiences that stand out to you while in service out in Vietnam?
RH: So here we were receiving sniper fire. So we all ran and jumped into this depression. Right in, about where our hooch was. And as soon as we landed there, the things my pop taught me from small kid [time] told me, hey, we got to get out of here — one grenade will get us all. And it was like that. So I grabbed my radio operator and we took off and the bullets are flying all over. We jumped and got away from there. And no sooner we did that, a grenade landed exactly where we were… The idea about we all come back or nobody comes back. That lesson lasted my whole life.
The full interview will be preserved in the Library of Congress. Access the full interview between Richard and Alexey at the StoryCorps Archive.
In June 2022, HPR teamed up with StoryCorps to gather audio conversations from Hawai‘i residents about their military experiences. The Military Voices Initiative provides a platform for veterans, service members, and military families to share their stories. In doing so, we honor their voices, amplify their experiences, and let them know that we — as a nation — are listening. These interviews were facilitated by Hazel Diaz, Isabella Gonzalez, Cole Johnston and Franchesca Peña.
The audio segments were produced for Morning Edition and All Things Considered by John Kalani Zak. He shares his perspective on working with the Military Voices Initiative segments in his producer's notes. HPR and StoryCorps encourage our community to tell their own stories using the StoryCorps app. Learn more at StoryCorps.org.
Local support for this series comes from Hawai‘i Pacific University.
