COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Walter Beardslee - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  The Montagnards in the area made up the local Civilian Irregular Defense Group unit. Walter Beardslee recalls how these people, who were marginalized by the ethnic Vietnamese, always had an uneasy relationship with them.

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  Mike Pomakis - Marines +9 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 7th Marines

  It was during Operation Desoto that the forward observer asked radioman Mike Pomakis if he'd like to go on a special reconnaissance patrol with him. They crept quietly into a village that they suspected was occupied by the NVA. It sure was.

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  Jack Tragis - Army +9 Total Videos

  82nd Medical Detachment

  No GPS, you had to find them with rough map coordinates and a radio beacon. Medevac pilot Jack Tragis had a reputation for getting in and out quick on his evacuations so you better be ready. He went down in a chopper seven times. The most memorable of those incidents was the time he spent the night in a rice paddy with a full load of patients.

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  Walter Beardslee - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  The typical Special Forces team in Vietnam at the time consisted of two officers and ten enlisted men. Walter Beardslee was a new Lieutenant who was added to a team as the third officer, tasked with Civil Affairs. That meant he helped the local villagers with medical outreach and material needs.

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  Myron Harrington - Marines +8 Total Videos

  D Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

  Upon leading the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Myron Harrington had to help conduct an attack on the citadel in Hue City, Vietnam. This is the story of how he and his men charged the tower, which took longer to accomplish than expected. This action earned then Captain Harrington the Silver Star.

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  John Bates - Marines +8 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  John Bates had just recovered from a gunshot wound but the NVA wasn't done with him yet. When he was on a listening post, he saw them creeping toward his position and readied a hand grenade. Before he left Vietnam he would have two more Purple Hearts.

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  Walter Beardslee - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  The captured NVA soldier had on him a new sight for an RPG launcher. It had never been seen before. Perhaps because of that a company of the 1st Air Cav was airlifted to the Special Forces camp which was home to Walter Beardslee and the rest of his team. The extra manpower came in handy when a fire broke out in the ammo bunker.

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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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  Myron Harrington - Marines +8 Total Videos

  D Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

  The attack on the citadel in Hue City, Vietnam was no easy task, as one can imagine. It is here that Myron Harrington goes into descriptive detail on how exactly they planned and conducted this tower attack. This action earned then Captain Harrington the Silver Star.

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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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  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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  Lee Riley - Marines +5 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Saddle up! The Marines were used to helicopters but this time they were ordered to board trucks. Hue City was under siege as the Tet Offensive raged across the entire country. Lee Riley recalls that they were under fire the minute they got there and it didn't let up for months.

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  Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

  Eagle Dust Off

  Word back at the Eagle Dust Off base was that Fred Behrens was dead. Shot down and hit with five bullets, he survived two nights in the bush and was airlifted out when he was found by some Rangers. It was a long recovery with sometimes indifferent treatment by the Army. Part 3 of 3.

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  Bill Gessner - Navy +9 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 9th Marines (Attached)

  The fighting was hard. One company was ambushed and the other two were having a hard time breaking through to support it. Corpsman Bill Gessner was in the thick of the fight and as he was treating a wounded Marine, a hand grenade came into the hole and wounded him and killed two others.

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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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  Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

  Eagle Dust Off

  At first light, downed Dust Off pilot Fred Behrens found himself in even more trouble. He took three rounds from a Cobra gunship and one from a sniper. He had already been shot while still in his chopper. The next day, the Rangers he had set out to evacuate took off and he was nearly hit with more friendly fire from a Phantom jet. Finally he saw the right uniforms heading toward him. Part 2 of 3.

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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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  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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  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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  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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  Don Cope - Air Force +5 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Don Cope loved everything about ROTC when he was in high school so it was natural that he join the service when his college ambitions were derailed. It was in the Air Force that he found his career calling in aircraft maintenance.

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  Walter Beardslee - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  His mom wanted him to go to West Point but Walter Beardslee's congressman already had an appointment lined up. He set off for college, twice, and flamed out, twice. When he got back after a road trip with some buddies, his mom delivered an ultimatum.

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  Don Cope - Air Force +5 Total Videos

  355th Field Maintenance Squadron

  When Don Cope returned from Vietnam, he was confronted by a group of anti-war protestors. He calmly told them what he would do if they didn't get out of his way. He was already bitter over the way the war had been fought.

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  Walter Beardslee - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  Halfway through his tour, Special Forces officer Walter Beardslee was transferred to group headquarters where he was in charge of procuring food supplies and building materials to be distributed to civilians near the Special forces camps in the area. He was there when the Tet Offensive broke out.

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  Don Cope - Air Force +5 Total Videos

  355th Field Maintenance Squadron

  During the Tet Offensive, Don Cope had to fly into Da Nang from his base in Thailand to repair an aircraft. The part that was needed would take months to arrive. Undaunted, he made a makeshift part from a common household item.

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  Walter Beardslee - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  As the Civil Affairs officer for his Special Forces team, Walter Beardslee was in charge of helping the villagers near his camp. He coordinated the delivery of food and building supplies sent out from Da Nang. In addition to that, like all members of the team, he went out on surveillance patrols to gather any intelligence they could discover.

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  Don Cope - Air Force +5 Total Videos

  355th Field Maintenance Squadron

  When Don Cope was stationed in Thailand during the Vietnam War, he was elated to meet President Johnson during a visit to the air base. He was less than elated, however, with the restrictive policies that prevented US forces from actually defeating the enemy and he relates the story of a pilot who felt the same way.

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  Walter Beardslee - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  Tensions between the South Vietnamese soldiers and the Montagnards, who comprised the local irregular unit, came to a head when a personal dispute escalated to an all out battle between the two groups. Walter Beardslee and the rest of the Americans in camp wondered if they would get caught up in the fight.