Neal Sheehan’s "Bright Shining Lie" began by asserting that the Vietnam war was "a war without heroes." He meant the soldiers. His journalists were the heroes. Yet there were many soldier heroes and one has been finally recognized.
"President Bush [has] awarded a Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military medal — to 74-year-old Bruce Crandall."
Some Vietnam veterans like Sheehan’s book, feel it justified and have recommended it to non-veteran friends as the definitive truth. I’m not among them. A longer look at Crandall, a heroic Huey pilot in the American war in Viet Nam. Milton Olive, who was from my father’s Mississippi hometown, also was a hero.
UPDATE Why most newspapers ran Crandall’s story as a round-up item. Risky times we live in.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 