Of the 58,220 U.S. military service members who died in Vietnam, more than 1,300 were from Massachusetts. These are the stories of the men who were among the first and last to die on Vietnam soil.

With Richard Nixon's presidency ending in 1974 and the Vietnam War coming to a close a year later, they were clearly still fresh in Lucas' mind when he created Star Wars.

Projects like “Turning Point: The Vietnam War” aren’t rebukes of Burns’ effort, however. They’re reminders that those of us who were raised on his documentary series — people like me ...