Rick Springfield says he killed someone during Vietnam War at just 17

Australian rocker Rick Springfield opened up about the trauma of being told he had killed a Viet Cong soldier while performing for U.S. troops as a teenager during the Vietnam War.

In a Sept. 8 episode of the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, the "Jessie's Girl" singer, 77, recounted staying at a U.S. Navy encampment in the Marble Mountains near the city of Da Nang when they suddenly came under attack. Springfield said he and several others took shelter overnight while he stayed in a radio shack.

"And we got attacked, and I’m throwing mortars down the freaking tube of the radio shack," he told host Joe Rogan.

Springfield, then a 17-year-old unknown musician, said he did not fully comprehend what he was doing in the moment, which Springfield said felt "like the movies." Looking back, he believes he "could have easily lost a hand" while loading a launcher.

"They said, 'Hey, you want to throw some mortars down the tube?' And it was John Wayne time, you know. I mean, as a young kid, I didn’t really understand what I was doing. I said 'Oh yeah, let's fire a gun,'" Springfield said. "I'd thrown a mortar down, and it had…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/