Rick Springfield is opening up about his harrowing past.
During his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the Don’t Talk to Strangers hitmaker made a startling confession, leaving fans shocked.
Speaking to the host, the 77-year-old singer confessed killing a Voet Cong soldier during Vietnam War during his time at a US Navy encampment in the Marble Mountain near the city of Da Nang in 1968.
Springfield, who was a 17-year-old unknown musician back then, recalled that he was at the camp to perform for the troops when they suddenly came under attack, prompting him and several others to take shelter overnight in a radio shack.
"And we got attacked, and I’m throwing mortars down the freaking tube of the radio shack," he told, adding, "They said, 'Hey, you want to throw some mortars down the tube?' And it was John Wayne time, you know. I mean, as a young kid, I didn’t really understand what I was doing. I said 'Oh yeah, let's fire a gun.'"
The singer continued, "I'd thrown a mortar down, and it had hit somebody, and they came in the next day and said, 'Hey, you got one! You got one!'"
He went on to admit that even after five decades since the incident, he still feel uncomfortable thinking about the harrowing experience.
"That was one thing I brought back with me that I really couldn't find a place for that to land. It’s hard for me to face that I was responsible for the end of a life, even though it’s distant and it’s war, and I didn’t really have anything to do with it and didn’t really know what I was doing... It's pretty heavy when I think about the reality of it,” the Jessie’s Girl singer added.
In his 2010 memoir titled Late Late at Night, Springfield expressed that despite it being a war situation, it is still something that to this day sends a shiver down his spine.
Fans’ reactions
Rick Springfield’s startling confession sparked outrage among fans as they slammed the singer and called for an investigation.
“Weird statement if he isn’t going to actually give the story. “I threw something” “ yea I killed someone”…. He didn’t realize that decades ago? Or did he wait to tell the story where he couldn’t be charged???” commented a first on YouTube.
Another wrote, “The media again exposes itself as enablers of warmongers and imperialism. This matter need to be investigated. The man should be locked up.”
“Why would an unknown 17 year old Australian be chosen to “entertain troops?” And why would they be allowed to engage in combat?” a third questioned.
About Rick Springfield
Rick Springfield, whose real name is Richard Lewis Springthorpe, is an Australian musician and actor, best known for his huge 1981 hit Jessie’s Girl.
