‘Jessies Girl’ singer reveals he killed a soldier during Vietnam War
- Eighties rocker Rick Springfield revealed during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that he killed a Viet Cong soldier whilst entertaining US troops during the Vietnam War in 1968.
- The Australian singer-songwriter, who was 17 at the time and over a decade away from shooting to fame with his hit Jessie’s Girl, was staying at a US Navy base near Da Nang when it came under attack.
- Springfield explained that he fired mortars down a launcher tube from a radio shack during the skirmish, with American military personnel informing him the following day that he had struck a target.
- Expressing ongoing remorse, the 77-year-old musician admitted that he still carries the emotional weight of being responsible for taking a life, an experience he also detailed in his 2010 memoir Late, Late at Night.
- The singer also recalled the widespread disillusionment amongst American servicemen stationed in Vietnam, 13 years before his major music breakthrough with the album Working Class Dog.
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