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My wife never knew I was in Vietnam.

Harold Bud Smith, US Air Force 1959 - 1962, talks about how his PTSD affected his loved ones.

Transcript

My wife never knew I was in Vietnam.

I never told my parents,

never told my brothers, never told anybody.

And after I'd seen the psychiatrist out here

in Boston a couple of times,

he asked me if he could meet my wife.

And I says, "She doesn't know I'm coming out here.

She doesn't know that I was in Vietnam."

He said, "Well, why didn't you tell her that?"

I said, "Because I didn't want her to know."

And we talked about it and we went out

and I had to tell my wife.

And when she asked me, "Why didn't you tell me that?"

I said, "Because it's something I didn't want

to share with anybody.

It was something I wanted to forget."

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