Sam Elliott has “always felt guilty” about not fighting in Vietnam.
The 77-year-old actor revealed that he continues to feel guilty about not fighting in the Vietnam war, which he referred to as “his war” due to his generation.
He confessed: “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 wall memorial] on the fourth of July…
"I’ve always felt guilty about the fact that I didn’t f****** 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 memorial, he recognized the names of people he went to high school with along the wall.
On Marc Maron’s ‘WTF’ podcast, he explained: “[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 f****** 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.
He added: “My mom said, ‘Please don’t [enlist to fight in Vietnam].’ This was in ‘67.”
