Vietnam on Tape
A Texas Story Podcast
A 50-year-old cassette recording unravels a Vietnam veteran's story of disappearing history, life-long friendship, and reconnection. Join the Bullock Museum for the second season of the Texas Story Podcast.
Episodes in this five-piece series were released weekly December 13, 2019 through January 10, 2020.
Episode 1: Inheritors
Published December 13, 2019. 20:41 | Listen on Apple Podcasts | View the Transcript
Episode 1
Texas native and veteran combat medic Jim Kearney brings a fifty-year-old recording of combat during the Vietnam War to the Bullock Museum. After nearly half a century, Jim begins to dive into his past to make sense of his Vietnam experience.
Episode 2: Little Groups of Neighbors
Published December 20, 2019. 20:46 | Listen on Apple Podcasts | View the Transcript
Episode 2
The draft process during the Vietnam War allowed Jim to serve his country as a conscientious objector, a military classification for soldiers who served but did not carry a weapon because of religious or moral objections to war. Jim tries to make contact with other COs.
Episode 3: Golden Hour
Published December 27, 2019. 15:29 | Listen on Apple Podcasts | View the Transcript
Episode 3
Medevac units were at greater risk of coming under attack. Jim and other veterans describe the perilous work of medevac crews during the Vietnam War.
Episode 4: Hot Hoist
Published January 3, 2020. 20:12 | Listen on Apple Podcasts | View the Transcript
Episode 4
Jim narrates the full combat tape that started this podcast.
Episode 5: Reckoning and Reunion
Published January 10, 2020. 17:42 | Listen on Apple Podcasts | View the Transcript
Episode 5
50 years later, Jim and other veterans continue to work to make sense of their time in country and shed light on the varying experiences service members encountered during the Vietnam War.
Ray Miller in Vietnam audio excerpt is courtesy of KPRC-TV and provided by Texas Archive of the Moving Image.
Listen to the first season of the Bullock Museum's Texas Story Podcast and discover the music and legacy of Texas's own Stevie Ray Vaughan still thriving in the Live Music Capital of the World.