Hastings Vietnam War vet Natick Veterans Oral History Project
Channel: natvets1
Date: 2011-05-26

Knowing he would probably be drafted for the Vietnam Conflict, James Hastings nevertheless decided to join the Marine Corps. Training at Parris Island, he wondered "What the heck did I do?" but realized that the USMC strips you down to build you up to be a Marine. Jim tells a gripping story of his time in Vietnam, 1967-68. As a rifleman with the First Marine Division, he not only witnessed, but was a part of a war where friends died and he was severely wounded. The camaraderie he experienced was life-long, and his honest and emotional remembrances of these friends, survival and life after the war are unforgettable.