"I've got a picture of him of him in my living room. Every time I go out, I salute him."

Nameless comrades in arms

Some vets carry powerful memories of a fallen soldier they never knew.

Veteran Michael Andre thinks back to 1968 and a fellow soldier caught up in battle during North Vietnam's Tet Offensive.

"It was ugly," says Andre. "There was the big black guy. He was wounded… and on his knees still fighting. All he had left was his sidearm. I remember him to this day. He didn't go out like a chump. He's what you call a real hero."

The Vietnam War has been over for decades. Many of the distinctions between "friend" and "enemy," "us" and "them" that once seemed so critical have lost their edge and relevance for some.

VOA - A. Phillips"It's not easy to kill people like it is in the movies," says Ronnie Barnes, who served in Vietnam.

For Ronnie Barnes, a jungle fighter who saw more than his share of death, the most vivid memory is holding the limp body of the anonymous Viet Cong soldier he had just killed with a long blade knife.

"I cut his throat and I just stood there holding him, frozen." Barnes says he was forced to snap out of his trance by a punch by his sergeant, who order him to "wake up" and put the corpse down.

"It's not easy to kill people like it is in the movies." Barnes says the experience stays with him today."Every day of my life. It never goes away. It doesn't mean I'm traumatized by it. I don't know. Maybe I am."