COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Dave Oliver - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron

  For Dave Oliver, it was a great career in the Air Force. He encourages everyone to spend some time serving their country. When he took his first trip to Washington after the War, he did not anticipate the emotional experience that visiting the Vietnam Memorial would be. Then he saw a friend's name.

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  Al Stiles - Navy +16 Total Videos

  Multiple Ships

  Al Stiles was from a Navy family and was set on being a Navy man himself. After boot camp and service on two ships, he re-enlisted and went to fire control school. He headed for his first deployment in Vietnam, stopping in Pearl Harbor, where he was taken aback by something he saw at the Memorial.

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  Paul Curs - Air Force +15 Total Videos

  20th Tactical Air Support Squadron

  It was an emotional scene as Paul Curs said goodbye to his family and boarded the airliner for Vietnam. Before he could get to his assignment as a forward air controller in Vietnam, he had to undergo survival training in the Philippines. He found a successful way to elude the tribesmen who were paid to search for him.

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  Dave Oliver - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The first daily chore for helicopter pilot Dave Oliver was to fly the perimeter of Clark AFB to see where the Filipinos had stolen sections of the fence. His main job was to fly for the survival school, which was using the amazing talents of the local Negritos as an aggressor force. He also had to ferry hot headed generals to and from the golf course.

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  Curtis James - Marines +5 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Curtis James returned from Vietnam to an assignment as director of personnel at Parris Island. This was the last post for the Marine Corps staff officer. His favorite was the Pentagon, where he initiated a brand new office to coordinate military crisis response.

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  Thien Van Huynh - Army +5 Total Videos

  N/A

  After the communist invasion of South Vietnam, Thien Van Huynh was forced to work many hours without pay or food. He knew the best solution for both him and his family was to escape to America. However, this would prove to be the most difficult task for him yet.

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  Jesse Groves - Army +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Division

  Jesse Groves knew he might get shot by the same guy who shot the man lying out there by the VC bunker. He considered it, then headed out. This occurred during a long series of firefights which would decimate the company.

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  Paul Koshewa - Air Force +6 Total Videos

  700th Airlift Squadron

  After he was promoted to colonel, Koshewa was essentially forced to retire from the service. From there he went back to his normal life of teaching in Atlanta, and eventually got to revisit Italy many years later to see all the old war sites. These are his final thoughts about the wars he fought in and how he believes it affects today's youth and society. (This interview made possible with the support of RICHARD SPEARS.)

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  Thien Van Huynh - Army +5 Total Videos

  N/A

  After successfully migrating to America, Huynh was finally able to transport his family over 4 years later. In the years following the war, he was able to acquire a few jobs in the states, where he worked until retirement. Now and then, he returns to Vietnam and pledges donations to his home town and its people. To conclude, Huynh has a few words of advice for future generations that hear his story.

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  Bob Havens - Navy +9 Total Videos

  Observation Squadron 67 (VO-67)

  He was in the Navy, but it wasn't until the last few months of his enlistment that Bob Havens actually served on a ship, and that ship was tied up in Long Beach. He turned down reenlistment and tried to go back to college, but instead lucked into a rewarding career working with children.

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  Carter Tucker - Army +10 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

  Because of his earlier experience in the Navy, new Army chaplain Carter Tucker was chosen as a leader at the chaplain's basic course. They tried to send him to Europe but he insisted that he joined to go to Vietnam and minister to men in combat. Once there, he passed on the safe assignment and joined an infantry outfit.

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  Carl Scheidegg - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  35th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  F-4 pilot Carl Scheidegg pays tribute to his crew chief and ground crew, who were targeted by rocket and mortar fire while he was flying. He remembers one time when he was on the ground in the middle of one of these barrages.

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  Brig Gen Tom Fleming - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

  He got shot at a lot. On night missions the tracers revealed what weapons were targeting FAC Tom Fleming. He was based in Thailand and his missions were over Laos, where the objective was to disrupt traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The anti-aircraft fire wasn't his greatest fear. It was friendly fire and collisions with other US aircraft.

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  Jesse Groves - Army +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Division

  Jesse Groves had a tough upbringing until he went to live on a dairy farm, where he thrived. Drafted into the Army, he was about to find out about that war in Vietnam, of which he was only vaguely aware.

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  John Reed - Army +8 Total Videos

  101st Airborne Division

  After joining the army, Reed had no idea what was in store for him next. At this point, no one had even heard of Vietnam. Here he remembers what it was like to be part of the first division to be sent there, and tells of many important men he remembers from his unit.

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  Greg Lowe - Army +9 Total Videos

  615th MP Company, 95th MP Battalion, 18th MP Brigade

  Greg Lowe had no use for the anti-war sentiment growing on college campuses. He arrived in Vietnam and took command of an MP company guarding Long Binh post. When a soldier killed a civilian in a traffic accident, he learned about the humility and dignity of the Vietnamese.

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  Harold Sterrett - Air Force +13 Total Videos

  Directorate of Targets, 7th Air Force

  When Rollie Sterrett got to Vietnam, he initially had to squeeze with seven others into a Saigon hotel room while they waited for assignment. He was assigned to the Directorate of Targets at 7th Air Force HQ, where he learned the intricate inter-service politics at play in the air war. He also soon shared the frustration with the micro-management of the war coming from the White House.

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  Mike McCormick - Army +8 Total Videos

  25th Military Intelligence Detachment

  For Mike McCormick, who worked in counterintelligence in Vietnam, there was a lot of time spent outside the wire in small teams, tracking down and apprehending VC and NVA agents. He could have easily qualified for an Air Medal with all the time spent on choppers doing this. The unit recovered some documents that proved the Michelin plantation was paying protection money to the Viet Cong.

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  Roye Wilson - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 138th Field Artillery

  The first time he left the base and traveled through the Vietnam countryside, he was struck by the exotic and beautiful scene. He wrote his wife and told her, "We need to travel and see the world."

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  Carol and Stanley Rosenberg - Army +9 Total Videos

  85th Evacuation Hospital

  Carol Rosenberg barely talked about her service in Vietnam outside of her family. The societal baggage was just too much. Stanley Rosenberg had one positive effect from his tour. It gave him the confidence he needed as a doctor, something he was lacking out of medical school and basic training.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The DI had drilled the young Marines well, and on the eve of their graduation from boot camp, he had a sobering prediction to make. Steve Long's response was one of bravado and then he was off to infantry school.

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  Zach Johnson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  1st Force Reconnaissance Company

  His first night in Vietnam, Zach Johnson was having drinks at the officers club when the guys from a neighboring unit told him he should put in paperwork to transfer to their outfit. This turned out to be great for him. It was 1st Force Recon Company.

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  Harold Sterrett - Air Force +13 Total Videos

  7th Air Force Headquarters

  Bomb damage assessments were important to the generals guiding the war in Vietnam. Photo interpreter Rollie Sterrett was trained to determine if targets had been destroyed and this led to his assignment as the 7th Air Force briefing officer to Gen. William Westmoreland, who was in command of all forces in Vietnam. The other briefers were flag officers, but he was just a lowly 2nd Lieutenant.

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  Rick Hilton - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing

  His missions were usually over North Vietnam but fighter pilot Rick Hilton was diverted to help a forward air controller on the ground in the South. He was not used to ground support tactics but the FAC was very good and he was on the money.

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  Carl King - Marines +12 Total Videos

  H. Company, 1st Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

  Carl remembers his radio operator, a young man by the name of Hayden. The relationship between the platoon commander and his radio operator was essential to their success in the field. Carl tells the story of a patrol near the DMZ where Hayden inadvertently scared a bunch of heat-exhausted Marines. (Caution: May contain strong language)

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  Roye Wilson - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 138th Field Artillery

  Roye Wilson took two trips back to Vietnam, years after the war. In 1997, he went with a group of educators for a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City and was surprised to find an official from the old regime working at a university. In 2011, he visited Hue and Phu Bai, where he marveled at the amount of commerce and enterprise.

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  Mike Leonard - Air Force +14 Total Videos

  21st Tactical Air Support Squadron

  Long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of stark terror. That was the life of a forward air controller flying in a small Cessna over Vietnam. FAC Mike Leonard describes these missions and the array of communications gear he used for different purposes. He also describes what it was like to coordinate a defoliation mission.

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  John Reed - Army +8 Total Videos

  101st Airborne Division

  Upon going into battle, Reed and the rest of the men from his division were told to expect many casualties. Luckily they had been to this very same river spot beforehand and at least knew the terrain somewhat, but were still prompted to write letters to loved ones back home. Part 1 of 4.

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  Tom Buchan - Army +11 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 4th Cavalry Regiment

  Tank commander Tom Buchan was taking fire from a hooch, so he fired a high explosive round. Nothing, it passed right through. It turns out that's not the type of round you want.

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  Mike Morris - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Infantry (Mechanized), 25th Infantry Division

  People were rotating in and out of Vietnam all the time. When you got close to the end of your twelve months, you started to duck for cover a little faster. While recovering from a wound, Mike Morris lucked into a clerk typist job, and with only a couple of months to go, it looked like he was going to make it through his tour.