COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  It was the family business. His grandfather went to West Point. His father went to West Point. His brother went to West Point. Robin Bartlett turned down that opportunity but he still followed the military tradition with ROTC and then a commission in the Army. He decided to challenge himself by volunteering for Airborne and Ranger training.

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  Myron Harrington - Marines +7 Total Videos

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

  In 1968, Captain Myron Harrington led the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in a challenging attack on the citadel in Hue City, Vietnam. The urban battlefield was heavily fortified with enemy machine guns and mortars, but the Marines had to move forward. This is the story of how he and his men meticulously planned and executed the prolonged charge on the tower; actions that earned Harrington the Silver Star and 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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  There was a new guy, or FNG, in Robin Bartlett's platoon and, like all new guys, his first job was to burn the waste from the latrine barrels with diesel fuel. He followed his instructions to the letter except for a crucial mistake at the end.

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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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  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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  Robin Bartlett was a new platoon leader in Vietnam and he had a sergeant who had just arrived fresh from the NCO course. The man had no experience but he wanted to be a squad leader and was frustrated when he didn't get the job. His reckless ways would lead to a tragic outcome.

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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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  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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  When Robin Bartlett's platoon was assigned as the Quick Reaction Force, they would wait next to the helipad until they were needed. Then they would board helicopters and head for the action. He had a close call once when he was being extracted. The chopper rose to cruising altitude at which point the engine stopped and everyone except the pilot prepared to meet their maker. (Caution: strong language)

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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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  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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  He was in it, now. Robin Bartlett arrived in Vietnam as an untested platoon leader. He attributes his survival to three things. First, you listen to your experienced NCOs. Second, you don't do stupid stuff. Third, you listen to your point man. The unit operated near the Laotian border and tried to stop the infiltration of the NVA.

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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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  82nd Airborne Division

  At the end of each phase of Ranger School, the soldier must face a confidence test. The first two involve high ropes up in trees and over water. The last one is the toughest, the night swamp navigation test. Robin Bartlett knew just what to do when he got in the swamp.

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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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  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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Robin Bartlett went from the heat of Vietnam to the cold of Alaska where he was in charge of the HQ company at a mechanized unit. He immediately found out that the vehicles were all junk. For his next assignment, he was told he was going to Vietnamese language school and was returning to Vietnam as an advisor. Uh, no.

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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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  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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Robin Bartlett was only a 2nd Lieutenant but he got the job as S1 when he joined his battalion at the 82nd. One day he saw his name on orders for Vietnam. They were sending him to the 101st there and he was very apprehensive because it was just after the mayhem of the Tet offensive. When he got there, the plans had changed.

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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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  When the division moved from I Corps to III Corps, Robin Bartlett noticed that the Public Information Office had thrown out a lot of photos and artwork. He gathered up some of it and, years later, developed it into a documentary video about his experience as a platoon leader in Vietnam.

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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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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  82nd Airborne Division

  Newly commissioned Lieutenant Robin Bartlett arrived at the 82nd Airborne as a "Leg," that is a non-Airborne qualified soldier. He did some staff work in the office for a bit and then it was off to Fort Benning for jump school, the Infantry officer's Basic Course and then the toughest school of all, Ranger training.

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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Military History Detachment

  When it was time for Robin Bartlett to rotate home from Vietnam, he went to a lot of trouble to find out where his next assignment was. He could hardly believe it. When he flew into Travis AFB, he saw a man, a woman and a dog standing at the fence. It was his parents.

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  Robin Bartlett - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Military History Detachment

  When it was time to leave the field and take a staff job, platoon leader Robin Bartlett got orders for a unit no one seemed to know about, the 14th MHD. When he got to the division base camp and found them, he looked around and saw cots, fans, a television and a fridge stocked with Cokes and beer. This was definitely going to beat life in the bush.