Military
Marine Reveals NVA Listened to American Radio Before Attack Led to Hand-to-Hand Knife Fight
Shawn Ryan Show
#317 Johnnie Clark - Surviving One of the Deadliest Jobs During the Vietnam War
"He had a boombox. This guy had a big shiny boombox. And what the North Vietnamese loved American music too. And they would tune in to Armed Forces Radio Network. Well, every night at midnight, Armed Forces Radio Network played in the midnight hour by the Young Rascals. He'd been listening to Armed Forces Radio Network and evidently it had caught on a twig going through the bush and turned on his boombox."
During an ambush in Vietnam, Johnny Clark says he was awakened by the song 'In the Midnight Hour' playing in the middle of the Cambodian mountains, thinking it was a dream. An NVA soldier carrying a boombox tuned to Armed Forces Radio Network had his radio accidentally turn on while moving through the bush. After another Marine shot the soldier, he rolled down a hill onto Clark, leading to a knife fight. Decades later, Clark met Felix Cavaliere of the Young Rascals and shared the story, which Cavaliere reportedly said became his favorite story about the song.
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Shawn Ryan Show