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Hal Dayhuff

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Vietnam was not in the picture in 1959 when Hal Dayhuff entered the Army with a commission out of ROTC. After a tour in Germany and an interlude instructing at Fort Benning, he found himself in Vietnam as one of the first advisors to the South Vietnamese. He quickly got to know his counterparts, who were genuinely happy to work with Americans. (5:00)

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Hal Dayhuff was part of a five man advisory team in Nha Be district. His friend and Captain of the team, Jim Ray, took his place on a night operation and was killed. This made him chief advisor and he began working with his Vietnamese counterpart to both build up hamlet infrastructure and disrupt Viet Cong activity. (7:18)

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His district was not heavily populated with Viet Cong, but advisor Hal Dayhuff's South Vietnamese unit had work to do uncovering booby traps on the bridges and piers along the Saigon River. The American team of advisors was highly thought of and welcome in the homes of their hosts. (3:14)

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After paying respect to his Vietnamese counterpart and also his friend, Jim Ray, who was killed in action, ARVN advisor Hal Dayhuff says that the best day of his tour was Christmas 1964 when he was given a ceremonial garment and name in the Cao Dai faith. This wasn't much help cutting red tape in Saigon, though. (6:16)

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He corresponded with his family, but they made sure not to include news of the mood of the country about Vietnam. Hal Dayhuff was in the hospital with tropical diseases at the end of his tour, but he stayed on in the Army to become an instructor at Fort Benning as the focus switched from Cold War Europe to Southeast Asia. (6:53)

Hal Puett

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Hal Puett joined the Navy ahead of the draft in 1942. He was sent to radio school where he was top of his class and earned a rare Radioman's rating while still there. Finding some action was his goal but the Navy had other ideas and made him an instructor at Pre-Flight school, teaching communications to student pilots. (This interview made possible with the support of T. RICHARD BARBER, JR.) (4:42)

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The classrooms and the headquarters were on different parts of the sprawling University of Georgia campus, so the instructors at the Navy's Pre-Flight School were issued a motorcycle and sidecar to get around. Hal Puett recalls a couple of times that this arrangement went a little sideways. (This interview made possible with the support of T. RICHARD BARBER, JR.) (3:28)

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After two years as a Navy radio instructor, Hal Puett was finally moving toward the action in the Pacific. He was sent to the New London base in Groton to train for amphibious landings, in which he would manage communications once on shore. (This interview made possible with the support of T. RICHARD BARBER, JR.) (3:58)

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It was the end of the war, but Navy Radioman Hal Puett was finally being deployed to the Pacific. After a queasy week of seasickness aboard an LCI, he was put in charge of radio operations on Kwajalein. (This interview made possible with the support of T. RICHARD BARBER, JR.) (6:09)

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On Kwajalein, a tiny atoll in the Pacific, the Naval personnel manning the communications station were very resourceful, says Hal Puett who was in charge there in 1945 at the end of the war. They had some appropriated steaks and some blowtorches, so you can guess how they worked that out. (This interview made possible with the support of T. RICHARD BARBER, JR.) (4:00)