Rick Springfield killed a man in Vietnam with mortar fire
Springfield says he fired a mortar that killed a soldier during a 1968 Vietnam War attack.
Rick Springfield, the Australian rocker best known for his 1981 hit Jessie's Girl, revealed on Joe Rogan's podcast that he killed a man during the Vietnam War. In 1968, Springfield and his band MPD Limited travelled to South Vietnam to entertain troops.
While staying at a military encampment one night, an attack erupted. Springfield took shelter in a radio shack and was handed mortar rounds to fire in response.
The next day, soldiers told him one of his mortars had struck and killed someone. Springfield said he didn't understand what he was doing at the time, calling it "John Wayne time".
"I think it's still there," he said. Even now, he struggles with knowing he was responsible for ending a life, though it happened in war and he didn't fully grasp what he was doing.
He documented the experience in his 2010 memoir Late, Late at Night.
Why it mattersA confession of war trauma shows the lasting psychological toll combat takes, even on those who entered as entertainers.
AustraliaSpringfield is Australian-born, making this a local celebrity's reckoning with war trauma that affects millions of veterans worldwide.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 14 h ago
