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All-American son: One family in two countries
Broadcast Date: April 30, 1985
His mother wanted him to be an All-American boy and his father simply wanted him to do the right thing. For draft dodger Gary Paulson, the pain of disappointing his family is a wound that has never truly healed. Paulson lives near Winnipeg, driving the local school bus and raising honeybees. He has never returned to the United States because he has wanted to prove his gratitude to Canada for accepting him so freely.While Paulson has forged a good life for himself in Canada, he still bears tremendous guilt over his strained relationship with his family. His parents feel equally guilty and now with hindsight regard the Vietnam War as a tragedy instead of a patriotic duty. "We've all grown up," Mrs. Paulson says regretfully.
All-American son: One family in two countries
• "We lost a lot of good men, a lot of young kids, which is in a lot of ways useless — that's the way I feel now. And I guess I have to say that I'm glad that my boy wasn't in it." Robert PaulsonAll-American son: One family in two countries
Medium: Television
Program: The Journal
Broadcast Date: April 30, 1985
Guest(s): Gary Paulson
Reporter: John Harvard
Duration: 10:25
Last updated:
Dec. 13, 2007
Television
3:32
Draft cards are burning and antiwar protesers are marching. The war in Vietnam has polarized citizens in both Canada and the United States.
Television
2:49
Spot the beatniks, oddballs, bohemia and draft dodgers in this area of Toronto.
All-American son: One family in two countries.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: Dec. 13, 2007.
[Page consulted on Feb. 13, 2012.]