Through My Eyes Episode 016

In this episode of Through My Eyes, Ralph Renzulli interviews Vietnam Veteran Bruce Hartness, who served as an infantry soldier in the Army from May 1967 until May 1968. He said that he hadn’t paid attention to the war when he was in school, but when he graduated, he was drafted six months later. “I had never really thought about it,” but when he got the notice, he said it felt sudden, startling, and eye-opening. Hartness grew up in Holland Patent but most recently is a Dolgeville resident. He said that he had never really talked about his experience to anyone before this and that after coming home, it was probably one of the reasons he got into drugs. Before COVID, Renzulli had started a series of interviews with Little Falls Vietnam Veterans. The show was produced by The Creative Outpost and was filmed at the Little Falls Library in the China room. Thirteen episodes were completed before the program was shuttered.Initially, it was only Little Falls Vets, but he thought if someone was willing to do it, why not Ilion, Mohawk, Herkimer, Dolgeville, Fort Plain, or Canajoharie? "Anyone willing to do it," he stated. Renzulli says he intends to expand it to any Veteran - from World War II through Afghanistan. "I don't know how many people we have around here who have participated in those wars, but there have to be quite a few.” If you are interested in being the show, you can email Ralph at ⁠[email protected]⁠. Editor’s Note: Bruce is very soft-spoken, and we’ve done the best we could to boost his portion of the audio.