(solemn patriotic music) - On January 14th, 1969, I had a bad day, and that day I was on a convoy and our convoy was ambushed and I was taking a prisoner war.

(solemn patriotic music continues) (uplifting patriotic music) - [Bret] 13 October, 2023.

Purple Heart recipients, veterans, members of law enforcement and their supporters gather at the VFW in Appleton, Minnesota as part of the first annual cast and blast event put on by Warriors and Walleye Outdoors.

- I am going to right now introduce to you guys and gals, the Purple Heart recipients that made it to this first annual cast and blast.

My goal is to get people to smile and see, have other people see there's people out there that care for 'em.

That's the goal.

There's lots of things we can do in life, but the great outdoors is where it's at.

- [Bret] This event would feature two days of hunting and fishing for the veterans.

These events are important in my opinion, because of the ability to say thank you to guys like this.

You know?

I'm sure it's become more common now to thank a veteran, but some of these guys, especially the guys that were in Vietnam, wasn't exactly the case back then.

So it's nice to see people going up and thanking them.

And I thanked one of the guys here today and he said, "you don't know how much we appreciate hearing that."

(uplifting patriotic music) - And then I need one guy to go up by the fence sign and we're just gonna walk.

Alright guys, let's go.

Nine o'clock, right?

Come on.

Let's go, you love cattails.

Come on.

- Well, I came here with, through Pope County Sheriff's Office.

I was a dispatcher, so they invited us along.

- [Person] Alex Olsson, he's worked for the Starbucks Police Department.

And Nick, the guys walked into a bad situation.

Shots were fired.

A friend of ours was killed.

- We reached out a little bit further than just military.

We brought a couple Pope County guys here that went through an incident here a few months ago, and they need to heal too, you know.

- With Alex being on the scene, he did take one round.

Nick, you did an awesome job.

You really did.

And this is great that you guys are honoring these guys for everything that they do because this profession that we're in is a thankless job.

You guys, thank you very much for everything that you do.

Greatly appreciate it.

Keep doing the job that you are.

- What gives them a chance to talk to somebody that's had, you know, a somewhat relatable experience.

- Correct, and it's healing.

That's what our goal is today, help them heal.

- Hen.

(laughs) Rooster.

One of the first times I've been out, probably 30 years, so a great opportunity and really appreciate all of what the guys are doing for us.

(dramatic music) - [Person] Everybody good?

Looks good, let's go.

- Perfect.

First Cav, second to 12th.

And I did that for six months and then I transferred for a door gunner on a helicopter.

I did that for the rest of my term.

(gunfire bangs) I was at Quan Loi at the time when I went into Vietnam, and that was August 12th is when I got wounded.

And I've had the shrapnel ever since.

I've got shrapnel in my back and in my foot that I've been carrying for ever since.

- [Person] Hey, rooster!

(gunfire bangs) But it don't seem to bother a whole lot, so, I guess it'll be there until I die.

(laughs) (soft somber music) - [Cameraman] Hey, nice shot.

- Thank you.

- [Cameraman] (laughs) You got two birds now?

- [Roger] Yep.

- [Cameraman] (laughs) All right.

(soft somber music continues) - We'll go to a corner.

- [Person] Yeah, we'll go down to the corner and then- - And then walk it south.

- Yep.

- July of '69 to July of '70, I was stationed at Di An.

I flew helicopters, hauling troops in and out of combat situations.

Flew approximately 1,150 hours in Vietnam.

Did a lot of rescue missions, hauling troops in and out and got shot down once.

- [Cameraman] Really?

- And I didn't get hurt too bad.

I got hurt, but not very bad.

This event is just unbelievable.

You see the people that come and help, that's a, I mean, they volunteer their time and it's just incredible the work they do for it.

Shows appreciation to the fire departments, police officers and rescue squads.

They all need the recognition, 'cause it's a lot of work, a lot of training.

A lot of times they're away from their families, so we can't forget all them people either.

(soft somber music continues) (soft somber music continues) - I never did any of these things.

I thought it was for the young guys.

I didn't think it was for us Vietnam.

And I found out that's almost the opposite.

They're happy to have Vietnam guys do it, so it's just kind of a bond.

Everyone has been in, everyone has served.

And I think that just brings a natural bond to us.

(soft music) Day I was on a convoy and our convoy was ambushed and I was taking a prisoner war.

And I spent four years and chained to trees, living in holes in the ground.

And later on during the war, they brought us and they put us in cages, but I was held in the jungle in the south.

Our, if you wanna call it, torture.

It was psychological.

We never was beaten anything like that.

You did get a gun butt for being a jerk.

But they took care of my wounds.

I was hit four times.

Lucky 'em, none of them were really, really bad.

I lost my bicep and my right arm, but otherwise, you know, they doctor them up, they took care of me.

So when I got back in '73, like say a lot of Vietnam, my friends, they came back to a different environment than I did because of the protests and things.

So I didn't have that, you know.

Sometimes it made me feel bad, the attention I got, over the other veterans, but it's just the way it is.

- We had half the people were fishing this morning, half the people were out here pheasant hunting.

And when I say people, I mean these vets that you brought out here, purple Heart recipients, law enforcement, just a really neat group of people.

Really interesting group of people.

Some of the stories we've heard here are pretty amazing.

- Exactly and, you know, those stories would never been told otherwise.

- I was always kind of a loner.

And this helps get that out.

And I think it does help for some people to tell their stories of their experiences.

And I, a lot of people, I've met some people, they're just dying to let it out, but they just, they don't find the right people.

And that's the, I think, is the nicest thing about 'em.

It gives a chance for someone to maybe open up to 'em, and let out some of the things that might bug 'em or that they're proud of even that other people just don't talk about with them.

(soft music) - How many Vietnam veterans do we have in here?

Yeah, that's what I figured.

Quite a few.

(crowd applauds) So to all my veterans here, thank you.

Well done.

You've really set the stage for what is going on in many of our organizations today.

(soft music continues) - It's one vet at a time, and above all, I think for all the young guys, veterans join the service groups because they're the ones that fight.

You guys, they're still gonna be coming up with things that you've experienced and you've gotta have the service organizations there fighting for you.

(soft music continues)