Sam Elliott 'always felt guilty' about not serving in Vietnam
Sam Elliott has “always felt guilty” about not fighting in the Vietnam War.
The 77-year-old actor considers the conflict “his war” due to his age and because he didn't ever serve in the battle - which lasted almost 20 years with American involvement ending in 1973 - he feels as though he didn't do his duty for his country.
Sam - who was born in Sacramento, California - said: "Those guys that signed up because they felt a call to duty … and then they came home and got spit on and all that s***, that put me off from it.
“But I always felt guilty about it, and then I got an opportunity to do a movie called ‘We Were Soldiers.’ I played a guy who served in four different military conflicts … and then I got an opportunity to go see the [Vietnam Memorial] on the fourth of July … I’ve always felt guilty about the fact that I didn’t go. I got into the National Guard, and I was one of the lucky ones.”
The National Guard is a reserve branch of the US Army, so even though Sam was enlisted, he did not travel to fight in Vietnam.
‘The Big Lebowski’ star also revealed that when he visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial he recognized the names of several people he went to high school with written on the wall, but it was an encounter with a disabled veteran which made him realise he had to stop feeling guilty.
In appearance on Marc Maron’s ‘WTF’ podcast, he said: “[At the memorial,] this guy in a wheelchair rolls over and he goes, ‘Hey Elliott, get over it, man. If I could’ve gotten into the National Guard, I’d have been there, pal. Get over it.’
“And I did. I did. But it took a guy in a wheelchair to tell me that it was okay.”
Sam also revealed that his mom asked him not to enlist in the army at all during the war.
The 'A Star Is Born' actor shared: "My mom said, 'Please don’t [enlist to fight in Vietnam].’ This was in ‘67.”
