Interview, Michael Sanfilippo, USA

Michael Sanfilippo (b. 1947) was born in Rochester, New York, and attended Edison Technical High School. He was married in 1966 and was drafted into the United States Army in 1967. During the war, he served primarily in northern Thailand as a truck driver, although he also saw combat in Vietnam. Sanfilippo returned from Vietnam in 1968 and remained in the Army Reserve for eight more years. After his service, he got a job with the Rochester Gas and Electric company, and then went to work for Kodak until he was laid off at age 52. Sanfilippo has been an active member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and the local Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 20.

In this interview, Sanfilippo discusses his time in Vietnam, the influence of the war on the rest of his life, and his thoughts on the war in Afghanistan. He recalls that his time in Vietnam involved periods of driving in rough conditions followed by downtime at the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Club. He also shares that he had to be on his guard all the time because the people he helped during the day could be the same people that tried to kill him at night. He feels his service was an interesting experience, but the longer he stayed in Vietnam, the more he questioned why Americans were there. He reports that he has developed diabetes, thyroid cancer, and throat cancer as a result of exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. Sanfilippo notes that upon returning home from the war, he struggled with the public’s negativity toward Vietnam veterans. He continues to think about the war every day. Sanfilippo shares that he does not agree with the war in Afghanistan and that he wishes the money spent on that war would be used to help Americans instead. He says that he enjoys being involved in outreach programs and tries to help veterans he knows that suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).