James “Jim” Devlin was born February 13, 1938 in Ireland. He grew up in Ulster, and he recalls the bigotry and hatred of those times:  he was Catholic in a predominantly Protestant area. He came to Canada in 1954, eager to get away from those tensions and the economic circumstances of his homeland.  Jim’s parents had previously lived in Canada – and he even had older siblings born in Canada and the U.S. – but Jim’s father returned to Ireland to care for his ailing father, and that’s when Jim and the younger siblings came along.  Jim wasn’t much of a fan of school, so when he came to Canada at age 16 he went to work at Eaton’s, and he did other jobs up until he enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1961.  Jim was in the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCRs), and he did an overseas deployment in Germany as part of Canada’s NATO obligation.  During that time he was attached to the British Army of the Rhine, preparing for potential attack by the USSR via the Fulda Gap.  Upon his return to Canada, Jim decided to head south and join the American Army – and to go to Vietnam.  After training Jim was assigned to the 1st of the 1st Cavalry Regiment (D troop), which was the air cavalry component, and he was a door gunner on a scout helicopter.  He arrived in Vietnam right after the Tet Offensive, during a time when the Vietcong and NVA forces had retreated to the jungle.  Jim and his crew would scout them out, hoping to send in other units to engage them.  Jim fulfilled his obligation to the American Army and would make his way back to Canada, where he and most other Canadian veterans did not feel welcomed home – many Canadians in fact resented their decision to go.  For his part, Jim kept the story hidden for many years, sharing it only with family at first.  He did share the story with Scott Masters and Zach Dunn, who interviewed him at Ajax Legion Branch # 322 in March 2025.