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John Overcash

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During his last Vietnam tour, John Overcash was advising an ARVN division and coordinating air support. He managed to reduce the response time significantly. This was his last rodeo and he headed home to North Carolina. (4:41)

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John Overcash had three tours in Vietnam, but it was during Ranger training that he first flirted with death. The final exercise took place in the Georgia mountains. A three man team was to escape and evade their way out of the back country, but as night approached, the weather took a turn for the worse. (7:54)

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Green Beret John Overcash went through a lot of tough training but the toughest was the underwater demolition course run by the Navy. The grueling pace was similar to SEAL training and men were dropping out every day until there were only three left. (4:17)

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It was during his second Vietnam tour that Green Beret John Overcash had to practically throw his team of Chinese mercenaries up to a hovering chopper that couldn't land because of the slope. Problem was, once he was the only one left, how was he going to get aboard? (5:42)

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John Overcash describes the weaponry and gear used by the Special Forces in Vietnam. Stealth was their main tactic. Their movement had to be silent and invisible. He knew a little Vietnamese but he always had interpreters on hand, both for the Vietnamese and for his Chinese mercenaries. He trusted the Chinese. The Vietnamese, not so much. (3:42)

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The Montagnards were the original inhabitants of Vietnam. They were pushed into the highlands as other ethnic groups came into the region. For Green Beret John Overcash, they were stalwart allies. They could live off the land in the jungle, unlike the Vietnamese, who were dependent on their rice bowl. (5:01)

John Page

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He had a high school buddy who was gung ho on getting into Special Forces and, when he was killed in an accident, John Page was inspired to follow that path. Beginning with the Florida National Guard, he had a long career in Special Forces and Airborne. (5:08)

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Before he began his training, John Page found out a friend had been killed in Vietnam. He pressed on and they suggested to him he go to Officer Candidate School. He decided he'd rather be enlisted in Special Force than an officer in the regular Army so he eventually made it to Fort Bragg SF training. During this, he volunteered to go ahead and leave immediately for Vietnam. (4:58)

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When he arrived at the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, the squad leader got John Page all pumped up with fanciful talk about tomorrow's mission that involved climbing a mountain. He was assigned to a reconnaissance unit which was small and silent on it's missions. They could still get into firefights and he vividly remembers his first. (7:58)

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John Page didn't run into many booby traps because his Recondo unit stayed off the trails. He talked to someone at 5th Special Forces group and set up an extension to serve with them after his tour with the 101st was completed. Before that happened, the Tet Offensive set the country on fire. (5:49)