Rick Springfield has recalled a 1968 Vietnam War attack in which he fired mortars at an approaching enemy force, saying the experience remains difficult to reconcile decades later.
The Australian singer-songwriter discussed the incident on The Joe Rogan Experience, describing how he and fellow musicians were staying with US Navy personnel near the Marble Mountains outside Da Nang while performing for American troops.
The Attack in Vietnam
Springfield recalled hearing warnings about movement near the encampment before being invited to help fire mortars. He said the situation initially felt like a movie to him because he was young and had little understanding of the consequences of using the weapon.
He estimated that he fired around five or six mortars and acknowledged that handling them also carried an immediate physical danger.
The following morning, military personnel told him that one of his rounds had hit someone. That realization became the part of his Vietnam experience he found hardest to process.
Springfield said he struggles with knowing he was involved in the end of another person’s life, even though the incident occurred during combat and he did not fully understand what he was doing at the time.
Springfield later became internationally known for songs including “Jessie’s Girl,” “Love Somebody” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers.” He also documented the Vietnam experience in his 2010 memoir, Late, Late at Night.
Springfield recalled that some American troops he met questioned why they were in Vietnam. He also described joining Navy personnel on an Apache helicopter mission during his time in the war zone.
More than five decades later, Springfield said the experience remains emotionally unresolved, describing it as something that still feels connected to “another guy” in “another place.”
