Richard Sawyer - U.S. Army 1969-70

Richard Sawyer served in the U.S. Army as a dog handler and was deployed to Vietnam with his dog in 1970 walking point and using the dog to sniff out the North Vietnamese. “I never pulled my trigger when I was over in Vietnam,” Richard said. “I never aimed at the enemy. I didn’t want to kill anybody. I didn’t believe in war, number one. I always believed, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ There shouldn’t be any exceptions to that.” After returning home from Vietnam and attending college the war finally caught up with him. Today Richard is retired and writing poetry to help express his PTSD and help us all better understand the "Soldier's Heart".