Vietnam "Tunnel Rat" Discusses George Patton, His Tours of Duty, and... Barbara Walters?

Right out of high school Nick Sanza entered the U.S. Army 2nd and 15th Infantry, 3rd Division working in teletype and in decoding/crypto. He served during the Cold War in the Berlin Border Patrol in Wildflecken at the East and West German border and three other tours of duty. Nick’s family had four generations in the U.S. Army: His grandfather rode with the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War; his father is the last driver for General George Patton from the beaches of Normandy to the outskirts of Berlin during World War II; and his son was a sniper in Special Forces during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict and gave his life for his country. During Vietnam, he was what was known as a “Tunnel Rat” which we go into in a great amount of detail. After serving Vietnam, Nick decided to try his hand in Hollywood. Nick Sanza is known in the entertainment industry as “Napa Nick”. He started in the film and television industry with the television series Falcon Crest (CBS) as a second unit production manager, location scout and script development. During his time with Falcon Crest from 1982 to 1989 he also was a stuntman and stunt coordinator for Francis Coppola Productions, Paramount Studios, Castle Rock Production (Rob Reiner), NBC, CBS, Universal Television Productions and Dick Wolf Productions. When Falcon Crest went off the air, Nick became a production manager, location manager and stuntman for over 60 national commercials and “Movie of the Week” for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and Universal Studio Television Productions. In 1992 Barbara Walters, working for ABC, hired Nick as a production manager and location manager to set up a television special for ABC’s 20/20 spotlighting Julia Roberts who was filming in the Napa Valley in a feature film called “Dying Young”. Two months after this special was aired, Nick was hired as a producer and investigative journalist for ABC’s Good Morning America.

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