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Remembering Vietnam Correspondent And Author Perry Deane Young

Perry Deane Young
Credit Courtesy of Perry Deane Young

Perry Deane Young died on New Year’s Day at 77 years old. The North Carolina-based writer and reporter landed in Vietnam on the first day of the Tet Offensive in 1968. He befriended a group of journalists determined to go beyond the official U.S. government story to tell a more nuanced version of the unfolding war. 

 

Host Frank Stasio remembers the life and work of Perry Deane Young with WUNC military reporter Jay Price, who was a long-time friend of Young.

Among those friends were Sean Flynn, Dana Stone and Tim Page, who became the basis for a character in the 1979 movie “Apocalypse Now.” Young went on to document his experiences in Vietnam and his reflections on the addiction to battlefield-adrenaline in his book “Two of the Missing” (Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan/1975).

Host Frank Stasio speaks about Young’s life and work with WUNC military reporter Jay Price, who was a long-time friend of Young. 

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Laura Pellicer is a producer with The State of Things (hyperlink), a show that explores North Carolina through conversation. Laura was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, a city she considers arrestingly beautiful, if not a little dysfunctional. She worked as a researcher for CBC Montreal and also contributed to their programming as an investigative journalist, social media reporter, and special projects planner. Her work has been nominated for two Canadian RTDNA Awards. Laura loves looking into how cities work, pursuing stories about indigenous rights, and finding fresh voices to share with listeners. Laura is enamored with her new home in North Carolina—notably the lush forests, and the waves where she plans on moonlighting as a mediocre surfer.