His father was missing. Then his search for answers began
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Before we get started, a word of caution. This conversation includes a discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. I
love you so much, sweetheart, and I want to be back with you again. I'm getting a bad attitude over here, I tell you, because I just hate this place. I want to leave so bad. i'm
sure
dwight i got this leave coming up soon i need it and i need to be back home with you darling i love you and you know you're the only one in my entire life that has ever been so concerned about me You're a lovely person, and sometimes I don't deserve such a person as you are. But I promise to make you a good wife.
That was Lynette and Donald Redmond speaking to each other via audio tapes while Donald was away fighting in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. Years later, in September of 1986, Donald Redmond took his own life, renting out a hotel room near his work. He was just 42 years old. Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and in recognition of that dedication, we wanted to bring you a personal story, one that was recently told by Jeremy Redman, Donald's son, in his new memoir, Tell the Kids I Love Them, which is out now. Full disclosure, Jeremy Redman is also the National Enterprise Editor at USA Today. Jeremy, thank you so much for joining me to talk about your father.
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
In your book, you really lay out a defining journey of discovery for you, searching for your father, who he really was. Tell me about how writing this book helped you learn about your dad.
Yeah, so thank you for the question. I... lay out in this book about how this is something that my father's suicide really drove me into what I call a long run, an odyssey, a journey to understand him and by understanding him, trying to understand myself. And in fact, I really started to think about this more clearly as I wrote the book, that it really was, I think, what drove me into journalism, which is a career of asking the same question over and over again, why? And I have a greater appreciation for him after gathering those records and those documents and speaking with my family to understand that he was somebody who was extraordinarily brave. fighting in over 300 combat missions over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, in often harrowing circumstances in combat, and was highly decorated, receiving two Distinguished Flying Crosses, more than 13, excuse me, 15 Air Medals.
So I learned a lot about him in the process of reporting the book and have a greater appreciation and admiration for him.
We began our conversation hearing from both your mom and your dad, who very sweetly exchanged audio tapes back and forth while he was fighting in the Vietnam War. What was his role in that conflict?
Yeah, so my father was in the U.S. Air Force. When he passed away, he was a lieutenant colonel. During the Vietnam War, he was an airman, and his job was as an electronic warfare officer on B-52, though he was in some reconnaissance missions. But his job on the B-52s, this was a heavy bomber, and they were bombing over North Vietnam against the North Vietnamese troops. His role on that crew was to keep the plane from getting hit using sophisticated technology. The other side of this, of course, is that, you know, his role in keeping the plane from getting hit allowed them to safely deliver the bombs. And most certainly many civilians were killed on the ground in North Vietnam. I've interviewed his crew members, the ones that are still alive.
And they have profound regret reflecting on the war in their role in most certainly destroying homes, killing civilians and causing real terrible tragedy on the ground there. So that's one of the threads in my book is, you know, what my father must have carried with him after the war. You know, with the knowledge, the weight of his role in causing so much destruction and death on the ground.
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