When a Story is More than a Story: The Company of Heroes in Vietnam by Eric Poole

On May 10, 1970, deep in the Cambodian countryside just beyond the border with Vietnam, Specialist Leslie Sabo Jr. sacrificed his life for another Soldier by throwing himself upon a grenade during an ambush. In his last moments, he went on to save more American lives by charging the enemy and dispatching them with his own grenades, all while mortally wounded. Sabo’s distinct heroism earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2012, forty-two years after his sacrifice. Sabo and the storied heroism of his unit, Bravo Company, 3/506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, is not forgotten. Their story is told in the book, Company of Heroes: A Forgotten Medal of Honor and Bravo Company's War in Vietnam, by reporter and author Eric Poole. Poole will give a lecture outlining the context in which these Soldiers’ stories are told and explore how narratives stemming from the Vietnam War affected the men he profiled.
The Vietnam War was the first conflict in which the American people received close-to-real-time news on the actions of their nation's combat troops, immediately establishing narratives, both deliberate and inadvertent. The narratives had a profound impact on the men in the boots on the ground and may even have influenced the war's outcome. Poole’s book, Company of Heroes: A Forgotten Medal of Honor and Bravo Company's War in Vietnam, tells the story of Leslie H. Sabo Jr., a child born to Hungarian refugees who fled war-torn Europe to the tiny steel town of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. Sabo was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army only five years after taking the oath of citizenship and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's storied 506th Infantry Regiment. Based on interviews done with Sabo's comrades, Company of Heroes follows the veterans through their struggles in dealing with the effects of war and sees them reunited to complete their quest to see a fallen brother receive the recognition he earned decades earlier.
Lecture Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Length: 68 Minutes