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Henry Le

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After the war came to an end in Vietnam, Henry Le made it safely over to the United States, with help from a sponsor. From there he attended flight school again but this time for the Navy, and ended up landing a job in Subic Bay. Later on, he was involved with Operation Desert Shield for a brief period of time. Eventually, he was able to return back to Vietnam to see his family, (6:28)

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In light of the media and political coverage of the Vietnam war, Le doesn't fully believe that the United States handled the situation correctly. He gives his reflections of what was important to him throughout the war, and what we should have done differently while it was still going on. (4:57)

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Henry Le was born in South Vietnam in 1953. It was around this time that the French were aiding the south, so Le went to French school during his early years. Afterwards, he acted as a crane operator. As the war got more and more intense, he had a lot of male family members enter combat units, such as his older cousin who sadly wound up dying. Then, everything changed during the Tet Offensive. With no choice, Le was forced to join the war effort himself. (5:25)

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After the Tet Offensive, Le was left with no choice but to enlist. Since he passed all his English classes with flying colors, he was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas for more English training and graduated at the top of his class. During this time, he also learned how to fly an A-37 Dragonfly Plane. Eventually, the funding for the program he was in was cut for political reasons. (5:27)

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While up in the air, Le would sometimes have to deal with being hit by enemy fire. One time after his plane was hit, one of the engines began to malfunction, forcing him to land the plane with only one operating engine. That was probably the most scared he ever was during the war. As the north began to invade the south after the US pulled out of the war, he fled to the United States and had to leave his entire family behind in the process. (6:05)

Henry Choy

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Henry Choy applied to the Navy as a carpenter, but instead wound up going to steelworker school. Upon seeing that the Navy Seabees had spots vacant, he applied for that and got in. He remembers the really harsh tests and exercises during his basic training, such as one involving waterboarding. Afterwards, he was sent to a POW camp to get used to that environment. (6:08)

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Before he got a flight over to Vietnam, he and his Seabee crew were delayed several times. They ended up staying in Okinawa a lot longer than anticipated, but still made the best of their time before going off to aid in the war. In Vietnam, his main job was not to fight but rather to construct the buildings that would be utilized. While over there, he had interactions with the HAL-3 "Seawolves," and tells other stories of interacting with captured North Vietnamese prisoners. (6:41)

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After a year of working on different buildings in Vietnam, Choy had completed his first tour. He returned home and began taking classes in community college for his major in animal technology. Since the military program he was a part of allowed 5 years of schooling, he used his extra year to get his teaching certification and wound up teaching science at his old high school. After that he joined the National Guard, and it was around this time that he learned that he would be called to duty in Iraq. (7:22)

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Before heading off to Iraq, Choy took the time he still had in the US and got married. Soon after, he was instructed to first go to Fort Bliss for more training. Having already had skills in construction, that got him placed in an Iraqi Battalion. Once he was in Iraq, he unfortunately saw a few injuries and deaths of different men. The real tragic part of those stories is the majority of them were accidents. (6:52)

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Henry Choy tells about the living conditions he had while constructing buildings in Iraq, as well as a few humorous stories he witnessed while over there. One of the biggest issues they faced was that it was hard to tell which Iraqis were allied with the US and which were not, sometimes to the point where they couldn't trust their own interpreters. At one point he and his brigade were acting as escorts for convoys trying to get from Kuwait to Iraq. (6:10)