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Bill Gessner

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Navy Corpsman Bill Gessner was treating wounded in the field near Camp Evans when the call came, evacuate the company by helicopter back to Camp Evans. The entire battalion was being airlifted to Khe Sanh, where he would spend the next 77 days in intense fighting and artillery barrages. (7:23)

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One of the first things you learned at Khe Sanh was when it was safe to go to the bathroom. Bill Gessner remembers that and other lessons like learning the difference between incoming and outgoing artillery. There were bad things, like the occasional shortages of food and water, and good things, like B-52 strikes on the enemy. (4:29)

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During the long series of battles around Khe Sanh, Navy Corpsman Bill Gessner treated many wounded Marines. In one operation, after assaulting a hill, they found an enemy supply complex, with ammunition and medical supplies used to support the enemy attempts to evict the Americans. (3:15)

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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. (8:45)

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He didn't have any unpleasant encounters with anti-war protestors until he was out of the service and enrolled in college. Ex-Navy Corpsman Bill Gessner also began to experience symptoms of PTSD, which he overcame with the help of his wife. Despite his tough experience in Vietnam, he loved being a soldier and sought a second military experience in the Army. (6:57)

Joseph Nguyen

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His family had fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and settled in Texas. Joseph Nguyen recalls that his father never spoke of his time as a naval officer for the South. The younger Nguyen chose the Marines when his time came because he didn't want to be an enlisted man in the Navy. (4:39)

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When Joseph Nguyen volunteered for a second tour in Iraq, his mother couldn't believe it. But there he went and on his very first patrol in Fallujah he got into a firefight. (4:12)

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The mission in Fallujah was demanding and non-stop. Joseph Nguyen was getting very little sleep and trying to mentally process the fact that little kids were being recruited to throw grenades at the Marines. IED's were a big problem and he survived eight blasts before the tour was over. (Caution: strong language) (3:50)

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The last IED was the worst. Joseph Nguyen had seen something at that spot in the road but nothing happened the first time they passed over it. It was on the return trip that it was triggered. Two of his buddies would not be going home. (Caution: strong language) (5:26)

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In what little down time there was the Marines could gamble or have goofy challenges like drinking a gallon of milk. As a Vietnamese-American, Joseph Nguyen was very aware of the comparisons of the Iraq war to the Vietnam war. His heart went out to the kids playing in the horrific streets of Fallujah. (Caution: strong language) (5:34)