Vietnam Bones

Length 10:01
Licensor Karen Brown
Producer(s) Karen Brown
Formats Documentary, Soft Feature
Topics Family, Historical
Produced June 5, 2003
Added to PRX September 21, 2004
 

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Summary:

A man tries to repatriate the bones of a Viet Cong soldier that his father took from the jungle, 35 years earlier.

Tones:

Edgy, Intimate, Surprising

Language:

English

Description:

This is the story of Dereyk Patterson, a man trying to repatriate the bones of a Viet Cong soldier -- stolen by his father during the Vietnam War. Dereyk's father, Steve Patterson, died last year in a helicopter accident, leaving the remains behind in his garage. As Dereyk tries to do the right thing, he also tries to come to terms with his own stormy relationship with his father, and to understand what would drive a young man to take such a morbid "souvenir" in the first place.
This piece first ran on WFCR in Amherst, MA in June of 2003. It also ran on WNPR in Hartford, Connecticut, and WAMC in Albany, NY. It won a Massachusetts Associated Press Award in 2004.
NOTE: Programmers can edit out the introduction, and the station-specific outcue.