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All-American son: One family in two countries

No one expected the Vietnam War to play out as it did. With thousands of young men fighting to the death overseas, another group of American sons fled their homeland and journeyed north to Canada. As the battle raged on and the antiwar movement divided the United States, draft dodgers and deserters struggled to forge new lives for themselves. Seeking sanctuary and the opportunity to make a difference, they changed their adopted country unquestionably. (Note: Some clips contain explicit language.)

His mother wanted him to be an All-American boy and his father simply wanted him to do the right thing. For draft dodger Gary Paulson, the pain of disappointing his family is a wound that has never truly healed. Paulson lives near Winnipeg, driving the local school bus and raising honeybees. He has never returned to the United States because he has wanted to prove his gratitude to Canada for accepting him so freely.

While Paulson has forged a good life for himself in Canada, he still bears tremendous guilt over his strained relationship with his family. His parents feel equally guilty and now with hindsight regard the Vietnam War as a tragedy instead of a patriotic duty. "We've all grown up," Mrs. Paulson says regretfully.
. "We lost a lot of good men, a lot of young kids, which is in a lot of ways useless — that's the way I feel now. And I guess I have to say that I'm glad that my boy wasn't in it." Robert Paulson
Medium: Television
Program: The Journal
Broadcast Date: April 30, 1985
Guest(s): Gary Paulson
Reporter: John Harvard
Duration: 10:25

Last updated: January 24, 2012

Page consulted on March 27, 2013

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