Vietnam: Conscientious Objection in a Warzone

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

During the Vietnam War, 170,000 men received conscientious objector deferments. In this episode, we speak to one of them.

Sidney Morrison joins Don to discuss his service and experiences as a medic during the war, from camaraderie in the face of danger to the psychological impacts of war.

Sidney is the author of 'Frederick Douglass: A Novel'.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Max Carrey. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It was just another day, hot, humid,
0:05.0	we're marching for hours, and then we're taking a pause,
0:11.0	and then suddenly there's an explosion up with the platoon at the front.
0:16.0	And when you hear explosions and suddenly screaming, you know what's coming next.
0:20.0	Medic. And so I rushed forward as medics do. explosions and suddenly screaming, you know what's coming next.
0:27.8	Medic. And so I rushed forward as medics do to see what's happened and what I needed to do.
0:33.0	And immediately I can see because on the ground in front of me was a man whose legs were gone. He had stepped on a landmine. And in the process of trying to assist, I lost my glasses.
0:41.3	They just simply fell off.
0:42.8	And I was looking for them very quickly, and I noticed them in some brush.
0:49.1	And I proceeded to step forward and reach for the glasses, and right behind me was a lieutenant.
0:56.0	He yelled, stop from behind me. That's all he said, stop.
1:01.0	And he pointed his finger and right next to my right foot was a mine detonator.
1:24.3	Hello all. Welcome back to American history hit. I'm Don Wilden.
1:30.7	A conscientious objector is loosely defined as, quote, an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform a military service on the grounds of freedom of conscience
1:36.4	or religion, unquote. The first conscientious objector, or CO, on record, was a Roman named
1:43.8	Maximilian, who in the year 295 told his
1:47.8	consul that due to his religious beliefs, he was unwilling to kill. And for this, he would
1:52.9	suffer the death penalty. Since those days, conscientious objection has evolved and been absorbed
1:58.6	into most societies. There are many variations on the idea, including those unwilling to kill but willing to serve.
2:05.7	Our guest today was a CEO very much in that tradition, who served as a field medic in the jungles of Vietnam.
2:12.0	And he has been gracious enough to join us here today, 57 years after being called up in 1968.
2:18.3	Sidney Morrison, nice to meet with you again.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 17 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.