Documentary with Pennsylvania vets awakens Vietnam demons

Documentary with Pennsylvania vets awakens Vietnam demons

By Craig Smith
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, February 1, 2010
Last updated: 11:18 am

Army Sgt. Lamont B. Steptoe came home to Pittsburgh after fighting in the jungles of Vietnam and bought a gun.

"I was so enraged. ... I was going to go out one day and start shooting everybody I saw," said Steptoe, 60, who now lives in Philadelphia.

Then, reading "A Choice of Weapons," the autobiography of acclaimed photographer Gordon Parks, and the thought of what his mother would face if he carried out his plot, stopped the Peabody High School grad cold.

A poet, photographer and publisher who grew up in East Liberty, Steptoe exorcises his demons from the war through his writing. The author of 11 collections of poetry and three books on Vietnam, he is a 2005 American Book Award winner and recipient of a 2006 Pew Fellowship.

He and other Vietnam veterans from Pennsylvania are featured in "the weight," a three-part, six-hour documentary being completed that chronicles the war experiences of 10 Vietnam veterans and late CBS newsman Ed Bradley. In addition to Bradley, a Marine featured in the film, Jim Downey, has died.
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Documentary with Pennsylvania vets awakens Vietnam demons