COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

Please Wait...

Showing : Vietnam Videos

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines)

  Corpsman Jeff Lippka went to firebase C-2 near Con Thien as Operation Pegasus was kicking off. The choppers were late and as soon as they arrived, so did the incoming. As he ran for cover, he stopped at a latrine which was already full of Marines escaping the fire. As he turned to head for a bunker, he heard the screaming of an incoming rocket behind him.

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines)

  The chopper was so full that Jeff Lippka was sitting on the laps of two Marines right next to the open door. As it came into the LZ, the pilot hovered just above the ground. He judged it to be six or eight feet and he stepped out.

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines)

  Newly arrived Corpsman Jeff Lippka had to wait at an outlying camp because the base at Con Thien was being shelled. It continued daily while he was there. He went out on patrols with the Marines and on one of these, a lot of noise in the brush got everyone's attention. Was it the enemy?

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  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/.)

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  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.

• 

  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  He had one eye on a future as an airline pilot and another on the present where the draft was coming for him. Tom Morrissey enlisted in the Army because it was the only branch that would let him go to flight school without a four year degree.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached Multiple Units)

  The word came that Khe Sanh was going to be closed. Jeff Lippka's new location was Camp Big John on the Cua Viet River. It was in a much safer area and that was welcome news. Then he was transferred to the 1st Medical Battalion at Phu Bai. Life was a lot less tense.

• 

  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  Not to be outdone by their contemporaries back in the States, those serving in Vietnam had their share of sex, drugs and rock and roll while there. Tom Morrissey saw it happening but it was the rock and roll part that was his thing and it would always be playing in his Huey.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines)

  Navy Corpsman Jeff Lippka was going out on an overnight ambush so he requested a couple of hand grenades, just in case. It was the last time he did that. He had to tote an M-16 but the Corpsmen were getting tired of that. They were supposed to have .45's.

• 

  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  Tom Morrissey was never shot down but on one mission his Huey lost hydraulics and had to make a forced landing. Fortunately, it was in the soft mud of a rice paddy and, fortunately as well, he was transporting a SEAL team so he had plenty of security. A repair crew came and fixed his ship right on the spot.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached Multiple Units)

  It was slow going at college for Jeff Lippka. He was staring at the draft and, since he had an interest in the medical field, he enlisted in the Navy with the idea of becoming a Corpsman.

• 

  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  When Tom Morrissey left for Vietnam, a chance meeting with a friend who was also flying that day really lightened the mood as his single mom was seeing him off. That was nice. His return to the States was not nice at all.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached Multiple Units)

  Jeff Lippka will never forget the awesome sight and mighty sound of F-4 Phantoms flying close air support. They seemed like they would surely hit the ground when they dived on their firing runs.

• 

  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  When Tom Morrissey arrived at the 117th AHC the unit had a terrific commander who was well liked and respected. He eventually moved on and his replacement was the exact opposite. He was self-promoting and sowed division in the company.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines)

  The living conditions were Spartan in Vietnam. Jeff Lippka talks about the lack of clean clothing and the variety of meals in the C-Ration boxes. At least they came with cigarettes.

• 

  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  The helicopter outfit was a Special Missions Unit which meant they did anything that Army command needed. Huey pilot Tom Morrissey would often join large combat assaults which impressed him with their intricate staging. If only they had built the aircraft with a cigarette lighter.

• 

  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines)

  The Marines had stopped for the night and some of the guys were playing cards. One of them whacked Jeff Lippka with a stick and words were exchanged. It got worse.

• 

  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  Huey pilot Tom Morrissey didn't usually mention that he was a Vietnam veteran in the years following the war. He became a college professor and that was increasingly somewhere you didn't want it known. He believes the entire culture was knocked out of whack by the anti-war movement.

• 

  Jeff Lippka - Navy +16 Total Videos

  1st Medical Battalion

  The conditions were much improved over life in the field but Corpsman Jeff Lippka still had a problem. He was working in the ICU and that was fine but that promotion he missed out on was coming back to haunt him.