On line at booktv. Org. All right. My name is terry irving, and if you see im the second name here. The book were talking about is on the front lines of the Television War which is by tony hirashiki. I edited it from a mixture of japanese and english into [audio difficulty] but its really not my book. So im going to to try to be reading tonys book most of the time. And over here we have one of people he worked with a friend of tonys. Drew pearson, who if, be you can see this, thats tony and drew [laughter] and i said whats going on behind you . Its not a very interesting shot. He said theres 3,000 tanks coming over the hill behind them. [laughter] over here. He said, yeah, he said that was the one he thought this is what its going to feel like to get shot. And were going to talk about Television Cameramen, because television, this book is my revenge. Because i dont think tv cameramen got a fair shake on what they did. I mean, they brought the Television News to your, to your living rooms back in the day. All right. Thats, hopefully, where i stop talking. Im going to use, introduce this gentleman here. This is a part of the book that was written by ted koppel. Tony would have been the perfect intelligence agent. He conveys the impression of a complete innocent, a man without gilens. Tony makes people smile. His own smile is beatific and infectious. But it is his generosity of spirit that transcends language and culture. Tony was simply one of the best Television Cameramen to cover the vietnam war. His soaring video often acquired at great personal risk gave wings to even the most mundane narration. For those of us who worked with him, he was also a source of gentleness and joy when both were in very short supply. So, tony, why dont you start with just giving us an idea why you wrote this book. My name is yasutsune hirashiki, but too long, so one day my correspondent name tony because very dangerous situation, they cannot keep their head down and say my name. So my correspondent made my name is tony. Still many people call tony. I call him yasutsunesan. Everybody who ever worked with him loves him. This is drew pearson, this is from the early spring of 1972. I teamed up with drew pearson, a longtime producer who had just been made a correspondent. After two months of basic training, he was sent to combat photography school. Drew was one of a new breed of broadcasting journalists, those who learned their trade as they traveled the world. Drew produced, filmed, reported and edited his own documentaries for distribution on public television. early 60s during the early 60s, drew covered stories as a radio reporter in africa and asia for nbc, abc and bbc. And he joined abc news as a producer, report reporter and occasionally cameraman with the abc scope documentary unit, a weekly 30minute show that was anchor by howard k. Smith. And im going to add, im going to add this for the specific question. Drew would battle new york when there was resistance to his stories. He was soft spoken in general but had a core belief in justice and an independent mind. At one point he clashed with the legendary journalist john scally. In a letter drew recalled one of the programs about nationbuilding created a stir when the host refused to narrate it because he thought my script was too negative. Bill sheehan stuck with me and told me to record the narration in saigon. Why dont you talk about that, the difficulty editorially of working in the field. Well, getting to know vietnam took a while for most of us. We arrived there not knowing anything really about this country, not knowing its language or its history and culture, and imagine being blind folded and flying halfway around the world and arriving in a place where you understand nothing, you cant read anything, the food is entirely different, and youre expected to try to figure out what to say to an american audience that explains this place to the them. To them. Its very hard, but its an exciting channel. Its something that don north also did sitting here in that chair. But i was, i was very perplexed, i was i couldnt understand when i first got there what was going on because what i had been reading and what i was told was happening didnt match what i was seeing in the country. And so i started to read when i could, and i started to look at situations differently when i was out in the countryside or traveling around. And by the time that id worked on this particular program, i had been in vietnam for several years already. And so i knew quite a bit about it. I hadnt studied vietnamese yet because i thought, as most spot journalists at the time, you get there, youre going to be sent somewhere else x theres no point in trying to learn the language here because youll be in bangladesh or afghanistan next week. But i stayed there. So when i began this half hour series, i i wanted to do anything except the military, the ground war because without having a state that was viable enough to live on after the americans left, there wouldnt be any point to all this fighting and all these victories. So i proposed doing a program about the Pacification Program in the southern delta province. And when i finished the program, it was supposed to be a priority promise and a place that the americans were very proud of. I realized that it wasnt working out way the americans thought. And this is, that is the story for us, for tony, for me, for don and all the journalists working in south vietnam. We were up against trying to tell the truth in a very difficult and complex situation in which the american military, the American Embassy was saying one thing, and we were seeing and saying other things. And so the new york office tends to be suspicious of us. And certainly, Washington People are suspicious of us because they think were just negative because were young and impetuous. But i realized after having spent a month in this province that if it couldnt succeed in this particular place, it couldnt succeed anywhere. So that was abc in new york couldnt, they just could not accept that. But this particular province was, didnt have any enemy troops there because it was a religious place that had become quite anticommunist. So john scally just said look, drew the, this is ridiculous, im not going to do this program for you. But identify always been grateful ive always been grateful for bill sheehan who was the Vice President of abc news then saying, drew, narrate this program, host it for us, were going to put it on. Youre our person there. And so it was done. It was one of the few programs that i was able to do that was really truthful of about the complexity. One example. The Vietnamese Army and civilian governors in the province were taking american money and using it to build very large, expensive villas that they were then renting backing to the americans. [laughter] so this money that had been sent to the province to use for Agricultural Development or other kinds of development that would benefit everybody was being siphoned off to build expensive houses for americans to rent. I was going to move to if you look at these pictures around you, or a good number of them these two, anyway are from an event called, a tiny little event, but the soldiers who were there called it the battle of [inaudible] somebody else we have with us is robert kappa, photographer of the year in 75. [inaudible] upi bureau chief in saigon and time magazines White House Reporter for about a hundred years, derek allstead. And he wrote a review. I just want to sort of this is to give you an idea what its like to be a photographer, or a cameraman. A few words are in order about the dangers film cameramen faced. A still photographer can snap off a memorable image in about 1250th of a second. Film cameramen work not in single moments, but in sequences. To complete a shot, it is necessary to hold the camera steady for a minimum of ten seconds. That is ten seconds standing stock still while bullets and shells whiz by. Even the best and bravest soldiers would consider such action bordering online city. And then im going to on lewin city. And then this is tonys corruption of mothers day hill. Within minutes, shells began to come over our heads and slam deep into the jungle. They made a loud whizzing sound followed by an enormous bang that shook the ground like an earthquake. With only a small number of men, the captain was calling in artillery fire to drive back the enemy. Its a dangerous tactic because it depends on everything going precisely as planned. There was an enormous noise, and i thought id been struck by lightning. My eardrums had burst because at first i couldnt hear anything. Slowly, i could hear voices screaming and moaning. I was covered by branches and leaves, and everything around me was lost in a cloud of [audio difficulty] later we were told that a shell had come in short, hit a tree and impacted right where the captain had been talking on his radio. Medic, medic, oh, my leg. I was crazily filming everything just operating on unthinking reflex. After a few minutes, my soundman, long, tap on my shoulder and yelled, tony, stop filming. Lets stop and help. I looked over at the correspondent, ken gail s and he nodded in agreement. I put my camera on the ground, and we moved to do what we could for the Wounded Soldiers. We helped to move the injured to where the ground was lower, and soldiers would say give me water, give me a cigarette. We werent doctors or even medics, but i realized that Wounded Soldiers were like kids, they just wanted someone to stay beside them, talk to them, care about this them. We could do that. Talk about what its like to be shooting in combat like that. This, my book is about all the stories, 50 years ago, so if you looking for history from my book, maybe your people disappointed. Because more impression of me, more treating as a cameraman end up, tend to stop camera or continue to shoot camera. Always [inaudible] but this moment was my partner said stop shooting, we help. So i agreed. So when you have a camera, sometimes we forget as a human being. But sometimes wake up and become a human being. This moment is very difficult. Even robert kappa robert kappa, everybodys [inaudible] day by day i experienced and i learned. Let me ask you about, we dont have the picture, but we have a picture of a soldier walking toward the camera, and hes got bandages all around his head, his whole jaw is bright red with blood. Yeah. Tell us about what happened there. Yeah. He was injured in jaw, so he couldnt speak well. But when we took care, he start interested in my camera, small camera. And this is, i use that just in case my big sound camera was broken. So he point out and want to see this camera. I dont know why, but he said this camera, his father make this is factory in chicago. So his father was making this camera. So i said this camera is very good. The wounded soldier is very happy. I think that time i thought, oh, he miss father, you know . He was wounded, can in the speak well, but cannot speak well, but he, how to say, thinking of father. So this is a brave soldier. But that association, think of father. Those episode, i wrote this book because if you look military history, sometimes wrote wrong. But they and even captains name i may forget. [laughter] we got told that really quick by guy who was still alive. Correspondent or soldiers, my partner, all i have episode book how we covered the war. So this is story a little bit sentimental. I add something . Oh, yeah. I just want to remind all the young people here that tony was shooting with a film camera, 16millimeter. It was black and white or color. When did it go to color . 1964 . 68. In the beginning, we were shooting black and white. But very soon the Tv Network News went from 15 minutes, and if you can imagine it thats 15 minutes in a day. A 15minute newscast, less commercials gives you about 10 minutes of news. [laughter] they skimped with a half an hour and 20 minutes of news. They should have gone to an hour, but they havent. So hes using this new socalled new technology, and its a large if you can imagine, its a 30pound camera. You can see it [inaudible conversations] its a 30pound camera its so heavy. Its just a huge target. [laughter] on his shoulder and a beam coming down the side just to support the thing. And its not like one of your little [laughter] and it, those are 400foot rolls that last ten minutes, isnt that right . They last ten minutes, so when your ten minutes is up, youve got to lay the camera down on the ground and undo the, youve got to put a black bag over the magazines. And its hot as hell. And youve got to put the magazine in the black bag without seeing, just by touch take the film out and put it in the and seal it the can and seal it and then reload the magazine. All this in the middle of whatever chaos is going on around you. Its difficult. This is a picture, im going to move a little bit on. This is a picture of drew, this guy here, and tony standing and remember in the beginning i said the question is whats going on behind them. And the, from the book what you cant see behind abc news correspondent drew pearson is the battle where thousands of north vietnamese soldiers and tanks are driving toward saigon during the easter offensive of 1972. See, hes looking at me. Probably got it wrong. Pearson recorded the moment in an email. There was small arms fire around our heads, we could hear the rounds going through the air, doing their whoosh past it. It was recoilless rifle fire too. I remember thinking, so this is how it is just before you get killed of. [laughter] and drew had been putting in stories that there was going to be another attack. The vietnamese, having vietnamese fight their own war was not working, and the americans were all happy and pulling their people out. Well, of course, i knew what was happening better than somebody in new york. And thats always the problem. Those in new york never felt that way. The new york people, they have well we want this from soviet soviet we want what you gave us but thats the classic situation. The reporters in the field need to be trusted and its hard for the new york offices to do that. They theyre running commercial operation they dont want to offend anybody. They dont want to be too controversial. They dont want to offend the white house. So theyre trying to assemble a news program in in a few hours in the afternoon, and put this on the air. Informing people as much as they think they can with what theyve gotten without causing offense. Its always tony and i and all of the correspondents he had worked with we believe in what were doing because theres something sacred about must be informative to americans its theoretically what had keeps the country knowing something about what its nation is doing many in various parts of the world. But it is hard to do well. Youre trying to interpret events in a country half way around the world and give those events significance that is meaningful and it was especially difficult in soviet because of all of the complexities that complexities of the government and the war itself. The motivation of the annoyed troopses. Let me just say one thing, tony is the only person among the hundreds who were in soviet doing all of this tv stuff who bothered to sit down and try to put it altogether. And no one else has, has done that. His first books there were two volumes in japanese published in japan an they got a literary prize in japan to the best young writer he was 65 which surprised all tonys colleague because tony like to save himself i speak no known language but let me go to tony, one of the things which also said in the intro about that you said that this is a very important book for the americans to read because we tend to have national inclination to the notion that only things that we personally cover experience exist. Thats how tomb o of us cover the vietnam war. The vietnam needs becoming almost incidental of the battles waged by our troops and demonstration on our college campuses. The diplomats in politicians. Tony wases asian as river of the war and its victims capable of doing both with an octavety and compassion tay gave equal value and i wanted to read something i guess that affected me this is weaving sigon the last day i went back to my room as a continental to imablght a small bag to carry, and put Everything Else in suitcase left it with the captain, to hold until i came back which could have been about 30 years right. Along with a good tip i paid my bill i was walking out when one of the room boys asked are you leaving too . I said ill be back soon. But eflt guilty. I wases running away abandoning people i had come to know in a country that i really loved. I could escape and others couldnt. As they left the abc office at the hotel one of the drivers waited outside said to me what are you doingsome i realized that these were old friends guy who is played chess and usually lose money to. Not always you get better right they like me and i liked them they always treated me as one of them hey tony are you leaving too o somebody shouted very loudly. I sense the frustration in his voice see you soon i said. Are you sure said another driver. The fact was that i couldnt look them in the eyes. Maybe they thought this wases asian i wouldnt have run away like the americans. You talk about that, that being being asian with asian war. A japanese citizen they call the Country National a lot of young but tell them how i felt like betrayed but but my duty you know they were throw gave them assignments in cover. Of the people, so i went, but that moment i kept nine years of new to politicians but i walk with them but distance i had. But last moment i became losing sight. So then them and then this is my end of the world, i said like told me he was very disciplined the way they were going. Didnt want to come back to states. But he hes american so he goes back and then he was im actually goes to truth here that while tony wases working up many the tree which is the top where fighting was in 72 i think. Saigon i didnt have a chance to ask him why. I wish he stayed much longer to learn more from him decades later he reeled me why he left as height of a victory as Tv Correspondent during these days, civil this is pearson, now mrs. Pearson i dont know if she still is. But she is was upset every morning when i left our apartment on two dose street at dawn cry because she thought i wouldnt come back. That was the reason i wrote to nick asking to be readesigned refused so they fired him. And he left tony chosen to leave her love just as his professional career and reputation will be reaching its high point he left me a short memo to read when i got back from the frontline tony leaving today wish you the best. And hearing about your last film story in the tree would lik