Chapter One
Time in Vietnam
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CH01
"Our Man in Viet Nam"
In 1965, Bob convinced the Star-Telegram to send him to Vietnam. For four months, he traveled from one end of Vietnam to the other, tracking down the sons and daughters of Fort Worth families and other Texans. He found 220 of them. He also went on operations with ground troops and flew on combat missions with air crews, telling the story of the war as they saw it. "It was the most fulfilling thing I ever did," he said. "When I would tell those kids, 'The folks back home are thinking about you and asked me to say hello,' they would sometimes break into sobs. They were so young and so lonesome. I loved every one of them then, and I still think of them."
Bob returned to Fort Worth in 1966 and found the war had become big news. That and his daily dispatches from Vietnam caused the newspaper's circulation to increase by 7,000 readers. Bob had become something of a local celebrity. Out of the blue, Channel 5, the local NBC television station, offered him a job anchoring its 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
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Did You Know
Bob Schieffer was one of three Texas reporters working on the battlefront during the Vietnam War.
Explore media from Bob's time in Vietnam
Memories from the Fox Hole
I knew that the first thing I would have to do in Vietnam was break my promise to my boss, Jack Butler. I knew I wasn't going to find any news in Saigon. The people I wanted to talk to were out in the field, and I had to go there if I was to see them. Relations between the correspondents in Saigon and the military briefers ranged from skeptical to hostile. Once outside Saigon, the troops and soldiers were glad to see you, and the more of the war you were willing to share, the more they welcomed you.
Artifacts from Vietnam
