A Minnesota PBS Initiative
I Saw the Face of My Brother
Steve McKeown’s dad was in WWII and his grandfather was wounded WWI. He has 3 nephews who were in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a niece in the Person Gulf. “It’s the typical American story,” he says. He was drafted in 1965 and spent a year in Vietnam with the 4th Infantry Division as a radio operator.
He was brought up believing that it was your duty to serve your country and as a Catholic, that fighting Communism was a patriotic and godly thing to do.
But when he took a young 12-year-old boy as a POW in Vietnam, he saw the face of his own brother.
I put my pistol away and offered him a cigarette.
“I put my pistol away and offered him a cigarette.” That set the stage for a life of activism for peace after the war. In 1986, McKeown co-founded Veterans for Peace. He and other veterans became especially active when they had young children. “They don’t want it to happen again. But, it has.”
This story was recorded with the help of TPT’s Minnesota Remembers Vietnam team at World Storytelling Day in St. Paul in 2018.
Man holding a Veterans for Peace Flag at The Wall That Heals at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, June 2018.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: St. Paul, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: Central Highlands, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Military Service
Military Branch: U.S. Army
Dates of Service: 1964 - 1965
Veteran Organization: Veterans for Peace
Unit: 4th Infantry Division
Specialty: Radio Operator
Story Themes: 4th Infantry Division, Activism, POW, Protest, Radio Operator, Veterans for Peace, World Storytelling Day