COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  He was used to seeing dead bodies but the sight of a Vietnamese mother and child laying in the street really got to Bernardo Lopez. The city of Hue was engulfed in the fierce Tet Offensive and the outnumbered Marines were struggling hard. As he advanced through the streets, he saw a flash inside a darkened window. His time had come Part 4 of 4.

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  Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

  3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  The brass didn't like to send out the big tank recovery vehicles so when one of Howie Bachman's tank commanders got stuck by a creek, he used his own resources instead. One of his clever plans backfired, though, when a booby trapped Claymore he was preparing exploded in his hand. Evacuate to Okinawa? No way!

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  The Marines didn't get to listen to much music in Vietnam. No personal radios in the field but Bernardo Lopez did get to hear some when he was in the rear. That sweet 60's sound. Hearing it now, though, can recall bad memories as well as good ones. One thing that is nothing but good is a reunion with his comrades.

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  Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

  3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  An infantry platoon was attached to Howie Bachman's armor troop for a small operation. It was the hot season and they came in dog tired and parched. Would you like a Coke? The platoon leader looked at him like he was from another planet.

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  There was water everywhere which meant that there were mosquitos everywhere which meant that Terry Caskey had malaria four times in Vietnam. His day at the hospital could be mundane or it could be terrible. He recalls a terrible day when a chopper full of dead and wounded Marines landed at the hospital.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Bernardo Lopez got more than he bargained for when he joined the Marines. He wanted excitement and he sure got it. At boot camp, it was traumatic for him to see the abuse heaped on unprepared recruits, but it was nothing to him. Coming from a large family of migrant farm workers, he was super fit and immune to the DI's intimidation.

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  Freddie Owens - Army +11 Total Videos

  A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

  After the column was devastated by an NVA ambush, wounded Americans were scattered in the darkness. After his captain heard one such group calling for help on the radio, Freddie Owens joined a patrol to find them, guided by a gunshot every few minutes. Once there, medic Daniel Torres volunteered to stay with those who couldn't move and protected them through the night with medicine and a machine gun.

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  Joe McDonald - Army +5 Total Videos

  A Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Division

  The RPG that severed Joe McDonald’s foot didn’t kill him. The machine gun fire that hit him as he still tried to help others didn’t kill him. The grenade taped to his hand might have killed him if the VC had found his hiding place.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  The Marines had crossed the Perfume River bridge but ran into heavy fire and had to go back. Bernardo Lopez didn't want to call it a retreat but he did want to get the hell out of there. Then his platoon began to retake what they could as Hue was being besieged. They later found out that 10,000 of the enemy were in the city. Thankfully, they did not know how few Marines there were. Part 2 of 4.

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  22nd Surgical Hospital

  There was a mortar attack going on when medic and operating room technician Terry Caskey arrived in Phu Bai. He was assigned to a field hospital where the flow of casualties and the enemy attacks were relentless. He could watch the rockets fire off from a nearby hilltop and track the contrail right into his compound. And as he ended an epic shift in the operating room, he emerged covered in blood. It was too much for a twenty year old to bear.

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  Stuart Jamison - Army +9 Total Videos

  9th Infantry Division (ARVN)

  Stuart Jamison recalls observing the reality and immediacy of death as his unit assaults a Viet Cong company during Phase II of the Tet Offensive.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  After recuperating from a gunshot wound to the face, Bernardo Lopez returned to his unit and was immediately thrown into Operation Houston. The goal was to reclaim and reopen areas that were attacked during the Tet Offensive. As his unit moved to reinforce a besieged group of Marines, he warned his commander not to take a particular trail. He should have listened.

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  Laurie Druyor - Navy +4 Total Videos

  USS Sanctuary

  One night, while Laurie was eating dinner, the USS Sanctuary got a call about a plane crash. She vividly remembers the patients coming aboard, and the aftermath of this incident, including one boy who was MIA. As difficult as this experience was, it was nothing compared to the Tet Offensive. New wounded were coming in constantly, and trying to care for all of them at once was emotionally exhausting. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, the Military Heritage Museum- https://freedomisntfree.org/.)

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  George Forrest - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  They were hunkered down after fierce fighting when the call came from "Ghost 4-6." It was a group of wounded men who had pulled themselves together after the ill fated march to LZ Albany and were lost in the dark. George Forrest sent a patrol to find them, and in an incredible act of bravery, medic Daniel Torres stayed through the night with them and saved many men. Captain Forrest still had to write a gut-wrenching letter to the mother of a missing soldier. Part 3 of 4.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Overnight he went from civilization to hell. New Marine Bernardo Lopez was sent to Phu Bai where the first thing that happened was the old timers messing with him. Then, on his first patrol, he saw a Marine blown in two by a booby trap. He decided to never get too close to anyone so that he didn't have to see a friend die like that.

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  Tommy Clack - Army +8 Total Videos

  C Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

  In a letter home, Tommy Clack expressed his worry that something bad was going to happen and it did when his unit engaged the NVA near the Cambodian border. He saw the enemy soldier stand and fire the RPG that changed his life forever.

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  LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

  H Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

  As Marine Captain Ron Christmas fought to regain the city of Hue, he found the enemy adept at concealment and surprise. Every soldier in a spider hole was armed with a rifle and a RPG launcher. His action during this time earned him the Navy Cross.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  He was already dog tired from staying awake to keep an eye on his untrustworthy ARVN allies. Bernardo Lopez and his fellow Marines were told to gear up and head to Hue. The Tet Offensive was on. The combat there was intense but there was also some strangeness to the proceedings, like the Vietnamese girl who asked him an odd question and the TV cameraman who wanted a good shot. Part 1 of 4.

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  Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Howie Bachman had his sights set on Annapolis but their football recruiter didn't talk to him. West Point did and so he switched his allegiance and managed to get an appointment there. He says it's a great place to be from but being there was different.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Bernardo Lopez came from a big family of migrant workers in Texas. He got a big surprise when he found out that his heritage was more Apache than Mexican. He even had a chief as an ancestor. Later in life, his online research about the past led to disillusionment with some of his heroes.

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  Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Young lieutenant Howie Bachman was at the East German border when he found his name on the list of officers that Robert McNamara was poaching from the unit there to go to Vietnam. He helped build up a cavalry troop from scratch and shipped out with them to Vietnam but, when he got there, his promotion to captain was accelerated and he had to leave that unit, winding up as advisor to an ARVN armored cavalry unit.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  What do you want people to remember about the Vietnam War? For Bernardo Lopez, the answer is complicated and, perhaps, too big a question for him. Who is he to say?

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  Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

  ARVN Advisor

  The first activity of note, after Howie Bachman joined the ARVN unit he was advising, was a devastating friendly fire incident. No one in his unit was hurt, but there were scores of casualties in the infantry unit they were reinforcing.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  It was straight up urban warfare as the Marines struggled to retake Hue. They were hampered by the inability to use air support or artillery because of the damage they might cause to the historical city. Bernardo Lopez describes the desperate fight to reclaim government buildings and how he wound up with a radio on his back. Part 3 of 4.

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  Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  It was decided that all West Point graduates would go to Ranger school. Howie Bachman was in that first class of non-volunteer candidates. When he led the last patrol exercise, he out foxed the opposing force and they weren't very happy about it. He got married and shipped out to Germany.

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  It was long hours for the staff at the military hospitals in Vietnam. Terry Caskey recalls one wounded soldier who stepped on a land mine and underwent multiple amputations. Years later, seeing photos of that day set off a PTSD episode which resulted in him finally getting the needed help from the VA.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  It was a long struggle with the VA for Bernardo Lopez. He was told he doesn't have PTSD, then he was told he did. Then they lost his records and mistakenly had him listed as a no-show for his second psychological evaluation. He had to do his own detective work to prove he was entitled to benefits.

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  22nd Surgical Hospital

  The airport terminal was ventilated with bullet holes. That was what Terry Caskey saw when he got to Phu Bai. He was a medic and operating room technician working in a MASH type field hospital. The flow of wounded was immense and never ending.

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  Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Howie Bachman didn't experience any anti-war protests when he returned from his first tour of Vietnam but he did drop to the floor when his wife scared him at home. A little adjusting was needed. He got command of a tank company at Fort Hood but was then tapped as an aide-de-camp, a job he was not suited for. He started making it known to armor branch that he was available for another combat command.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Wounded twice in Vietnam, Bernardo Lopez was now in Hawaii meeting his future wife and trying to readjust. He had quit writing his mother and this caused her some distress. He had developed a bad case of avoidance but was already having a bad experience with the most likey source of help, the VA.