Full Transcript: Ike Blessit on the Vietnam War Draft
Ike: A lot of them that didn’t make the team. One guy, Melvin Guyton, left hand pitcher, he got us to the world series, little league world series and all this here, college— I mean, high school he did all around good. But I signed before him. And I told the Tigers, my scout, man won’t you give this kid a break, give him a chance man. You know, I said, he’s got the guts, he’s left handed, he’s got a good record, stuff and all that. Look at him. So they end up signing him, Melvin Guyton. Got on there, did real well. His girlfriend— so he made the A-Ball team and his girlfriend sent him a letter telling him she’s tired of being alone and if he don’t come home she’s going to date somebody else. So he comes to me he says, "Ike I got to go home." I say, "what’s wrong did somebody pass away?" He said, "nah my girlfriend says if I don’t come home she’s going to dump me." I say, "come on man. You’re playing profession ball now. Girls come dime a dozen to you now, it’s your high school sweetheart so what? She can’t deal with that, let her go." "No Ike." He quit. Went home. Two weeks later, got drafted. And a month later after basic training and all that, went to Vietnam and got killed.
Yeah. It hurt there you know because he’s my best friend. And other black guys, same way, in my high school group, went, got killed. A lot of them didn’t want to be over there and they say this ain't our war. A lot of them came back and said, like the Vietnam said to them, it ain't your war. They didn’t kill them. They know we didn’t have nothing to do with going over there. Whether it’s black, white, or whatever, a lot of young kids got killed over there for no reason at all, no reason at all.
Yeah. It hurt there you know because he’s my best friend. And other black guys, same way, in my high school group, went, got killed. A lot of them didn’t want to be over there and they say this ain't our war. A lot of them came back and said, like the Vietnam said to them, it ain't your war. They didn’t kill them. They know we didn’t have nothing to do with going over there. Whether it’s black, white, or whatever, a lot of young kids got killed over there for no reason at all, no reason at all.