A reporter and the marines

Jurate is seen in the central image with soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment

Image courtesy of Jurate Kazickas

Jurate didn't dare let the young marines know how exhausted she found the first day's march up and down hills, through bamboo, 10-foot-high razor-edged "elephant" grass, and a river full of leeches. She even pretended not to notice when one of the men strapped extra ammunition weighing seven and a half pounds around her already heavy pack. "Hardcore!" they laughed admiringly as Jurate marched up the next hill without comment or complaint.

The marines might have played tricks on her but Jurate found the young men endearing. "Watching them kidding around with one another, sharing letters from home, proudly showing off pictures of their sweethearts, I was always struck by how young and vulnerable they were," she wrote later. "The thought that some of them might never come home from Vietnam was too terrible to contemplate. But I knew it was true. And so did they."

During a rest stop, one of them--who called Jurate Sam, claiming her real name was too difficult to remember--asked, "What's a woman like you doing out here?"

She replied, "I'm a reporter, and this is the biggest story of our times. I want to experience what's going on here so my reports will be accurate and truthful."

When another young marine, listening to their conversation, heard that Jurate was a freelance reporter and hadn't been specifically assigned to Vietnam, he cried, "You mean you came over here on your own just to get shot at? Wow! Sam, you're nuts!"


From "Jurate Kazickas: What's a Woman Like You Doing Out Here?" from Courageous Women of the Vietnam War.