Rick Springfield Claims He Killed a Man While Entertaining Troops During Vietnam War

Long before “Jessie’s Girl” and General Hospital, Rick Springfield spent several months performing for troops in Vietnam. During that trip, the then-teenage musician found himself caught in an attack — and claims one of the mortars he fired killed a man. Springfield revisited the harrowing experience during a new appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. In 1968, at age 19, he traveled to South Vietnam with Australian band MPD Ltd., performing for troops while based out of Saigon and Da Nang. Springfield said what he initially imagined might be an easy way to make some money quickly became considerably more dangerous as the band traveled through an active war zone. During one overnight stay at a Navy encampment near Marble Mountain outside Da Nang, the base came under attack. Springfield was in the radio shack while his bandmates sheltered in perimeter bunkers. After soldiers confirmed there were no friendly forces in the area, Springfield said he was invited to load mortars into a firing tube. “It was John Wayne time,” Springfield recalled, explaining that as a teenager he didn’t fully understand what he was doing. He fired roughly five or six mortars during the attack. The next mor...