SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Veteran's Day Boat Parade took over the San Diego Bay on Monday with more than 40 boats honoring every military branch.
Boarding the “America” -- the leading boat for the parade -- were some of our nation’s heroes, including an American patriot with hours worth of stories about Vietnam and a giant smile on his face.
Jim Bedinger’s smile masks the years of internment he spent while serving as a sailor in Vietnam.
“I thought that my country was actually preserving freedom and our freedoms as well when we went to the defense of the republic of Vietnam. I still feel the same way, only with more reason because of my internment for three years, four months and six days as a POW of the communist Vietnamese,“ Bedinger said.
Bedinger was held captive between Sen. John McCain and Vice Admiral James Stockdale. With them as his neighbors, sports was one way they held onto hope.
“I served with some true patriots that were heroic in every sense of the word. I was a young guy, and I took advantage of being young because they didn’t want to put me in ropes and straps. They wanted to treat me a little differently because I got there after Ho Chi Minh's death,” said Bedinger.
Bedinger doesn't consider himself a hero.
"I got to serve with some people who were real heroes. I was a young guy and I just did the best I could to help the seniors and to resist the enemies’ propaganda efforts so I don’t put myself in that category and I thank God that I was there to help some," he said.
