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John Page

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He knew right away how different it was. When John Page joined the 5th Special Forces Group at Phu Bai, he was greeted by a full colonel who gave him a classified briefing. It was nice to get a higher level view of what was going on. He was with the MACV Special Ops Group where his team included Chinese Nungs, very good fighters. (4:53)

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During secret missions into Laos, John Page would wiretap the communications lines running along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He used a new device that didn't require the line to be directly affected. The enemy was getting wise to these incursions, though, and stepped up the search for the Special Forces teams. (4:36)

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John Page recalls the time his Special Forces team had to hide from the NVA in pit viper infested bamboo. The mission had to be scrubbed and the team were extracted from the side of a mountain by a daredevil helicopter pilot. (5:12)

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After a mission, there was just camp life for a while. John Page would do dump runs or water runs. He moved to a new forward base and began to work with Montagnards on more clandestine missions. These could be stalled waiting for approval from the White House. (4:46)

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The Montagnards were valuable allies and for Special Forces team members like John Page, that meant you had to sit and eat their traditional food with them. This could get a little dicey. And you had to help them with their personal dramas. At one point, a group was put through jump training which had to be eye-opening for them. (5:07)

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When he got home from two years in Vietnam, John Page noticed that the conversation would swiftly change whenever he talked about it. He continued in service, both active and in the Guard, for quite a while which helped a lot because he could talk to others who could relate to his experience. (Caution: strong language) (4:17)

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After a long Army career in Airborne and Special Forces, John Page has something to say about the news media and the military leadership at the top. He also pays tribute to some of those he encountered along the way which made a big impression on him. (6:49)

John Parker

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Although John Parker was born in Taylor, Texas, his family was always moving around because his father was in the Army for over 20 years. Despite this, Parker never really thought about joining and was instead drafted for Vietnam. He went to Fort Sill for Artillery Officer Candidate School, and went to flight school at Fort Wolters. (5:22)

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After completing flight school and advanced training, Parker went over on a plane to Vietnam. Although he was qualified to fly OH-23 Helicopters, he preferred to fly Hueys. On one occasion, he was helping the gun platoon drop CS and ended up staying with them in Ban Me Thuot for a few weeks. During this, on the night of his 25th birthday, there was a rocket attack and Parker never left his tent. Another time he shot a UFO with a minigun, and it turned out to be an Army Mohawk pilot that had forgotten to clear himself. (7:31)

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Parker remembers his interactions he had with civilians, including those of the Montagnard. There was a village that they took care of, and one time there were threats of a Viet Cong attack. To combat this, Parker went with a few other men to spend the night in the village and keep watch for any VC. While that incident never resulted in the VC coming, there was another time that there was a full scale attack of that village. (6:38)