Inside Vietnam

Articles and Honors Time Magazine Archives Read more>> Soul Soldiers Read more>> Rendezvous with War Read more>> The Way We War Read New York Times Review>> Video/Audio Archives View more>>

Wallace Terry believed that as a black journalist, he had a duty to break barriers. In a trailblazing career of over 40 years, he became the first black deputy bureau chief for a major news weekly when he went to Vietnam as a war correspondent for Time magazine. He covered the Tet Offensive, went on scores of combat missions with American and South Vietnamese pilots and joined infantry troops in assaults all over Vietnam. But his personal mission was to report on the black soldiers.

Terry often talked about two young men from his hometown in Indianapolis, the Jarman Brothers, who were killed in Europe during World War Two, their sacrifice ignored by all except their family. Terry was determined that the black patriots who gave the best of their lives, who fought and died in the Vietnam War would not be forgotten. That’s why getting BLOODS published became his obsession and advocating for veterans his life-long commitment. Says Spec 5 Harold “Lightbulb” Bryant, “Wally showed the world that we were heroes, but he was our hero.”

Reflections and testimonials >>