Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:18 | After joining the military and being sent to Paris Island for basic, Harvey Taylor and his battalion went across the Pacific to Okinawa. At the Gulf of Tonkan, they fought in the first battle of the war. Here, he faced his first real experience with mass casualties, as they disposed of the enemy bodies.
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Stationed in Chu Lai, Harvey Taylor and his battalion started to go on more missions in the jungle. Learning about the abuses of the Viet Cong, he kept his wits about him whenever they were out on patrol.
During an operation they call Harvest Moon, Harvey Taylor and his battalion swept villages all around Chu Lai. Luckily, they had intel that kept them safe against the VC. During these village sweeps, they learned of some of the cruelest tactics that the VC employed to get what they wanted.
While on leave in Quantico, Virginia, Harvey Taylor decided not to re-enlist and go back to Vietnam. When he returned home, he realized that there was a lot of disrespect for Vietnam vets back in the States. Over time, he realized that he had a lot of things repressed from the war.
Harvey Taylor remembers having to take extra precautions when riding in helicopters to avoid being shot from below. As his fellow soldiers were killed and new men were substituted in, it became hard as camaraderie and predictability became lost. He sees a lot of parallels between what the U.S. did in Vietnam and what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan today.
