Joe LaBranche
Vietnam | M Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
He was one of seventeen children and he always wanted to be a Marine. Joe LaBranche headed to Vietnam and was a little nervous because he had not yet been issued a weapon. He got real nervous on his first patrol when the man next to him was shot in the head by a sniper. This was in one of the most contested areas of the country, where the village of My Lai was located. (5:40)