A Minnesota PBS Initiative
Steven Latour: I Was There
You’re not really fighting for your country, you know. You’re fighting to stay alive and fighting for the guy that’s there with you.
Steven Latour enlisted in the Marine Corps right after high school. He says, "As an 18-year old kid out of high school, you thought it was your duty to go- so you go.” He went to bootcamp at Camp Pendleton for Infantry training. "80% of our platoon had orders to go to Vietnam," he remembers. He was one of them.
He was assigned to reconnaissance battalion that supported troops on land and on the water. He took scuba teams out, provided security for divers, and checked for explosives on bridges, including Liberty Bridge which had been hit twice.
During his service he describes feeling different levels of stress. It was dangerous work and he says, “I did feel like a sitting duck. It was at times pretty hairy.”
“You’re not really fighting for your country- you know, you’re fighting to stay alive and fighting for the guy that’s there with you.” Although it was hard, he wouldn't change a thing. “I lived history. I was there.”
Biographical Details
Submitted From: Duluth, MN
Story Subject: Military Service
Military Branch: U.S. Marine Corps
Dates of Service: 1968 - 1969
Unit: Reconnaissance Battalion
Story Themes: Camp Pendleton, Liberty Bridge, Reconaissance, Scuba, WDSE WRPT
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