Interviewed by:

Stephanie Gould and Camille Liska

“There were maybe 40 missing on the way back and they were going overhead on helicopters
from being shot up.
And that was a real sobering thing to a smart ass.”

~Kenny Glidden (14:05)

Kenny Glidden's Story:

Kenny Glidden was born in Connecticut and went to school there, up until he was fifteen years old. By that time he had gotten in some type of trouble and found himself in a Naval Honors School. This little spark of interest in the military would later persuade him to enlist. After Kenny’s graduation, he moved to Canada to work in the stock markets. He thought his life was set, but a sudden interruption came when he received a draft notice that had been lost in the mail because of his move. Since he lived in Canada at the time, the draft could not technically force him to join the Marine Corps even though his year of birth had been drafted. Because of his previous experiences, Kenny made the tough decision to go back to America and enlist in the Navy.

Kenny was sent to Rota, Spain to serve in the Navy, and his time there was an amazing experience. While still completing his necessary duties as a member of the Navy, he spent his free time on unbelievably interesting adventures, from riding and crashing motorcycles, to spending a short time in jail. Kenny was a defiant, carefree young man, with a tendency of mouthing off. He had been a rebellious child and had faced consequences in the past, but Kenny never knew this habit would send him to Vietnam and change his life forever.

Kenny made a mistake and talked back to an officer that had a reputation for being particularly harsh. This inadvertence to the rules, unlike the others he had made there, could not be reversed; the officer sent Kenny to Da Nang. He was then sent to Can Tho, another area in Vietnam, to be a radioman. Kenny's job as a radioman allowed him to bring communication units that connect to the local carriers. This gave them an advantage, but as soon as the Vietnamese picked up on this tactic and discovered Kenny’s location, he had to cut the antennas loose and signal a helicopter to hastily pick him up. After this harrowing experience, he was given a new assignment on a Patrol Boat Riverine. Kenny vividly remembers being shot at by the Vietnamese while on the PBR. With bullets raining down on them from many directions, Kenny was extremely lucky to have never been hit by one. Although Kenny is not proud about this, it was crucial to shoot back, and he knows without a doubt that some bullets hit. Kenny’s most disheartening experience of the war was when he had to bring a body of a fellow navy member back to the man’s family and ride over 8,000 miles with it. Expecting the family to be grateful, instead, they were obscene and unappreciative of Kenny's efforts.

When he returned at age twenty-three, he was a changed person. The hostility of war had caused him to have a new perspective on the world. He was treated with tremendous cruelty. Many people did not appreciate the soldiers that had fought in Vietnam at that time; they blamed them for the war going on and were ignorant of the Vietnam War veteran’s hardships. Kenny arrived in New York City, walked up to the elevator that would lead him to the job that had been waiting for him, but never made it up. He left and immediately fled to Cape Cod, where he opened a liquor store. Cape Cod was a refuge to Kenny, where he found a caring, and understanding community that supported him. Kenny still lives on Cape Cod today.