COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Bob Simpson - Army +4 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  Mr. Simpson explains his experience of being under rocket fire while stationed at his division base camp.

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  Kenneth Moorefield - Army +12 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment

  After recovering from a wound he received in his second tour of Vietnam, Kenneth Moorefield was assigned to the Old Guard, the ceremonial unit at Fort Myer where they spent most of their time burying dead soldiers. He had misgivings about the way the war was fought, and now that he was back in the States, he could see and start to understand the changes in society that were affecting the military.

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  Bud Alley - Army +13 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

  The survivors had crawled to the sound of friendly artillery fire and waited for dawn. Bud Alley hailed the men at the perimeter and soon, he and the wounded he had cared for were inside drinking coffee, or trying. Insisting that he report the enemy movements, he and his friend John Howard were flown to brigade headquarters, still bloody and disheveled. To their astonishment, that was more important to the major than their battlefield intelligence. Part 5 of 6.

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  Doug Garner - Army +8 Total Videos

  Company A, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  Doug Garner recalls his first firefight in Vietnam, and how the memory of combat still haunts his dreams.

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  MajGen Larry S. Taylor - Marines +15 Total Videos

  US Marine Corps Reserve

  After his time with Air America, Larry Taylor returned home and did two things, joined the Marine Corps Reserve and tried to find that sweet airline job. He finally got the job and concurrently rose through the ranks of the Marines. He would even have some active duty left in him in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

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  Jim Benson - Marines +14 Total Videos

  I Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  It was the "Sands of Iwo Jima" with John Wayne that inspired Jim Benson enough to leave a job he loved, coaching high school football, and join the Marines. It was 1968 so it was certain he would go to Vietnam. After the new Lieutenant recovered from the heat when he walked off the plane, he was assigned a platoon. He was surprised at what supplies were being packed for patrol.

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  Jack Jeter - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Division

  After settling in and meeting the company, Jack Jeter was amazed at how little action was occurring where they were. Then the unit moved further south and his platoon set out on a short sweep. The point man spotted a trail and the platoon leader decided to follow it; a very bad idea. Part 1 of 2.

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  Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

  River Interdiction Division 40

  The river boats operated near the Cambodian border. Galen Hoover was advisor to the Vietnamese crew of one craft, which was an old troop carrier. Every night, interdiction points were set along the river to catch infiltration from Cambodia. When he arrived at the unit, he couldn't believe the layout of the base.

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  Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

  K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

  When an officer wouldn't let up with the belligerent questions following his grueling, amazing and involuntary debut as a mortar gunner, Bob Atkinson finally just walked away. His actions earned him the respect of his group and he was made squad leader, Part 3 of 3.

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  Les Carter - Army +6 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

  When Les Carter traveled by helicopter to the action in Vietnam, he often had the local Vietnamese District Chief along. A doctor or a chaplain also might be on board, along with the crew of four.

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  Henry Dunn - Army +9 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment

  For Henry Dunn, the best day of his Vietnam tour was the day he got the call on the way into battle. Turn around and come back to base. You're going home. He fondly recalls the Australian allied troops and says that, years later, Australians credited America with slowing the advance of Communism in their neighborhood.

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  Bill Crossley - Army +15 Total Videos

  Provisional Artillery Group, I Field Force

  Bill Crossley was always scrambling to improve security at his artillery fire bases. He sent a meteorological platoon to one battery just to get some more gun barrels in case of attack. He had also scrounged a 75mm recoilless rifle, which by pure chance wound up insuring the base against mortar attacks.

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  Jim McCurry - Navy +8 Total Videos

  U.S. Navy, USS Newport

  Mr. McCurry describes what it was like to be a part of the intensity of "Operation Linebacker."

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  Pete and Susan Tancredi - Army +5 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  Susan Tancredi hoped that she and Pete Tancredi would be married in time to defer him from going to Vietnam, but they were a little late. The wheels were in motion and, following her plan, they both deployed without knowing where they would be going. They were very fortunate to be assigned to the same facility, the 95th Evacuation Hospital.

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  Henry Dunn - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

  After the enemy faded away from the ambush at Landing Zone Albany, the really hard work began, finding the dead and wounded. There were more of them than there were men standing. Henry Dunn says the stench of the burned and decaying bodies in the tropical heat never left his nostrils. Part 4 of 4.

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  Mike Waugh - Army +10 Total Videos

  128th Assault Helicopter Company, 11th Aviation Battalion, 12th Aviation Group

  He surprised his wife after returning from his second Vietnam tour, but then his dog surprised him. Mike Waugh had planned to make the Army a career, but it didn't work out, so he was worried about what he would do. He mailed out resumes and got one reply.

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  Ernest Banasau - Army +17 Total Videos

  A Company, 4th Infantry Division

  On patrol, Banasau's platoon steps into a firefight during the Tet Offensive, where he and 2 others are hit. He does his best to keep fighting until help can arrive. Part 1 of 2

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  Bill Camper - Army +13 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  "No one in Vietnam needs these." That's what Bill Camper thought when his district was sent boxes of laxatives by mistake. The civilian advisor told the doctor to hang on to them and that led to victory over a North Vietnamese unit that had moved into the area. "It was kind of like biological warfare."

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  Jim and Tuy-Cam Bullington +8 Total Videos

  US Department of State

  Jim Bullington's first Foreign Service post was Vietnam. He arrived along with the troops in 1965 and was assigned to the consulate in the old city of Hue. There he met many of the reporters who also followed the soldiers to Southeast Asia and, more importantly, he met Tuy-Cam, a translator at the consulate.

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  LTG Larry Jordan - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Larry Jordan only talked with his wife a few times over his year in Vietnam. His son, who is in the modern Army in the age of instant communication, wonders how he dealt with that. When he returned home, he was told he might want to change into civilian clothes to avoid confrontation. He refused.

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  Jim Lawrence - Army +12 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

  As a returning Vietnam veteran, Jim Lawrence disappeared into his own life, along with all the others who were ignored or worse by the public. He is happy about the respect returning vets get today, but is disturbed by what he considers the same mistakes being made by politicians.

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  Albert Montillo - Army +8 Total Videos

  U.S. Army, 3rd Battalion, 60th Inf. Reg., Bravo Company, 2nd Platoon, 9th Inf. Div.

  Mr. Montillo describes what it was like for him to consistently run point during patrols.

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  Tom Reilly - Army +7 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade

  Tom Reilly felt the call to serve and dropped his deferments to let the draft take him. After basic, he was offered a slot at Officer Candidate School, but, to him, that was “the sorriest thing I ever saw in the service,” and he declined.

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  Laurie Druyor - Navy +4 Total Videos

  USS Sanctuary

  Laurie Druyor grew up in Methuen, Massachusetts. Her dad was a mechanic and her brother was in the Navy before her, so joining herself didn't seem like a bad idea. After joining, she began her orientation for the Navy Medical Corps and went to Great Lakes Naval Hospital. When it came time to choose where she wanted to go, she chose Vietnam. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, the Military Heritage Museum- https://freedomisntfree.org/.)

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  Kenneth Moorefield - Army +12 Total Videos

  Advisor, 21st Infantry Division, ARVN

  He was an ARVN advisor in the Southernmost part of the Mekong Delta. There were no American units in the area, recalls Kenneth Moorefield but he did have air support. They were so far down the supply chain that during the Tet Offensive, his unit was running out of ammunition.

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  Allen Robinson - Navy +4 Total Videos

  USS Jamestown AGTR-3

  They left on charters and returned individually, alone or in small groups on commercial flights. Only Mom and Dad were there to provide a homecoming. That's how Vietnam veterans like Allen Robinson went to war and returned.

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  Nat Robb - Army +9 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  American Advisor Nat Robb was glad his men had their new M-16's when the Tet Offensive happened. Once the American and South Vietnamese forces regrouped, they began to surround Saigon in order to trap the enemy. Robb's unit took part in an ill fated river crossing that was salvaged by massive air power.

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  Pat Richardson - Army +8 Total Videos

  128th Assault Helicopter Company

  Pilot Pat Richardson details the different models and modifications of the workhorse aircraft of Vietnam, the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, known as the Huey. He reveals how it got that name, and why his commanding officer was doubly upset that one was accidentally destroyed by an errant rocket.

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  Bill Camper - Army +13 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  ARVN advisor Bill Camper received an unusual experimental weapon to possibly counter the Russian tanks that were tearing up the Southern forces. It was the XM72, a four barreled handheld rocket launcher. While he was training some men to operate it, the North Vietnamese attacked.

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  Owen Ditchfield - Army +13 Total Videos

  Post Headquarters, Fort Benning

  After his second tour in Vietnam, Owen Ditchfield was assigned to the personnel office at Fort Benning. One day, he received a letter from a Vietnamese interpreter who had been left behind and was trying desperately to get out. That started a process that would end happily for both of them. Another happy outcome awaited Ditchfield when he was pushed out by the drawdown.