COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Brig Gen Tom Fleming - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

  After a short stop in the Philippines for survival training, Tom Fleming flew to Cam Ranh Bay to get his assignment as a forward air controller. He found out he would be based in Thailand and flying missions over Laos. The goal was to disrupt traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

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  Mike Leonard - Air Force +14 Total Videos

  21st Tactical Air Support Squadron

  Bird Dog Pilot Mike Leonard wound up in a small village near the Cambodian border. It was a tight knit group of pilots and the head of the unit would take new guys up for an orientation flight. On one of these, they got a little too close to the border and the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft batteries.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  He was real good at baseball, but not so good at sociology. He gave college a go, but it just didn't work out, so Steve Young enlisted in the Marines. This led to a good news, bad news situation with his father.

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  Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  Every male in his family back through history served so it was preordained that Keith Nightingale would serve in the military. He got a commission out of ROTC and went through jump school and Ranger school. He headed to the 82nd Airborne but went on his first tour of Vietnam as an advisor to the South Vietnamese army.

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  Charles Vicari - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Marine Division

  It was different from any other war in Vietnam. There were no front lines and the enemy could be anywhere. That's what Charles Vicari had to deal with as a Marine gunnery sergeant. He was also perplexed by the people he was there to help, like the Vietnamese militia member who wanted compensation for something that the Viet Cong did.

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  Mike Devine - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  It was ROTC that made Mike Devine think that the military would be a good career. At Western Kentucky University he also joined the Pershing Rifles and Scabbard and Blade. After receiving his commission, he was off to Fort Benning to begin the training of an infantry officer.

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  Ron Schuh - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  13th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  Ron Schuh always wanted to be a fighter pilot. Nothing else would do. He thought he had an appointment to the Air Force Academy, but that didn't work out so Air Force ROTC was the starting point for him.

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  MajGen Larry S. Taylor +15 Total Videos

  Air America

  Air America pilot Larry Taylor went with a pal from the Army to Vung Tau for a little R&R. There was just one problem. It was the end of January 1968 and the Tet New Year celebrations were about to begin. As soon as they arrived in Vung Tau, they immediately began hearing rumors of attacks. It was about to get real stressful.

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  Quincy Collins - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  80th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  Collins describes in detail what it was like to finally be allowed to return home, from the final sign out of the prisoner of war camp to the ride back and touching back down on American soil. Sadly, his wife was fairly cold to him when he got back. He gives his final reflections and words of advice to generations forthcoming.

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  Jack Swallows - Marines +14 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment

  Operation Harvest Moon was the largest action that Jack Swallows participated in during his Vietnam tour. The Marine forward observer moved out south of Da Nang to help a South Vietnamese unit that had been overrun. He made it through a ferocious firefight, but was unable to call in artillery fire because of orders. Part 1 of 3.

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  Nat Robb - Army +9 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  The Vietnamese troops had their families living with them in the fort, and once American Advisor Nat Robb got to know them, he was glad he got the assignment he did. This was a change of heart for the infantry officer. He bolstered his defenses with some salvaged fifty caliber machine guns, but he had a dilemma. How was he going to get the ammunition?

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  Jim Littig - Army +14 Total Videos

  505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division

  Jim Littig's unit was a long range reconnaissance patrol outfit but in Vietnam, you didn't need long treks to find the enemy. He details one memorable firefight that started when his men ambushed what they thought were a just a few men fleeing from the Battle of Hue.

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  Jack Swickard - Army +12 Total Videos

  118th Assault Helicopter Company

  Jack Swickard was from a military family and when the time came to be drafted, he enlisted beforehand as a matter of honor. He selected the warrant officer program that put him on track to be a helicopter pilot. First up was basic training, where he found the DI's to be quite entertaining.

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  Walt Richardson - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  For the first time in his Air Force career, Walt Richardson was in a combat zone. When the aircraft mechanic arrived in Vietnam, one of the first things he saw was bodies being unloaded from a helicopter. That rattled him. Then there were the rocket attacks.

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  LC Johnson - Air Force +6 Total Videos

  377th Air Base Wing

  The Vietnam War was starting to slow down when LC Johnson arrived in 1972. His logistics skills were needed to get some expensive furniture used by the brass back to America. He did have one spine tingling moment during a rocket attack, but thankfully his battles were mostly played out on the baseball field.

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  Walt Richardson - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Walt Richardson volunteered at a Catholic orphanage while he was in Vietnam, helping the nuns take care of children. He also found time to start a musical group and had a good time playing in clubs. He was a childhood friend of the legendary Chappie James, the first black 4-star General in the Air Force.

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  Carl King - Marines +12 Total Videos

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

  Carl King describes the sort of pressure Marines were under going on these patrols. It takes a good leader to make sure everyone performs their duty. He also recalls his friend, LT Sam Meale who understood the importance of learning from the experience. (Caution: May contain strong language)

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  Ron and Judie Richtsmeier - Army +9 Total Videos

  119th Assault Helicopter Company, 18th Surgical Hospital

  LTC Ron and COL Judie Richtsmeier (retired) share a concern for the future of America. For the two Vietnam veterans, it is a troubling time in the nation. But, perhaps, it can survive it's trouble as their love has survived after beginning in the middle of a war.

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  Tony Nadal - Army +16 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment

  There was a platoon that was separated during the fighting on the first day of the Ia Drang battle and Tony Nadal was ordered go find them and bring them back. After a quick pep talk he led his men toward the action. Almost immediately a machine gun opened up and brought down nearly everyone around him. He was miraculously spared but he was making no headway and asked to be withdrawn. Part 3 of 5.

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  Jack Swickard - Army +12 Total Videos

  118th Assault Helicopter Company

  In the aftermath of the massive Operation Junction City, helicopter pilot Jack Swickard was assigned to ferry a special ops paymaster from camp to camp. At one of these stops, he was asked if he could help extract a civilian irregular unit that was surrounded by a large enemy force. Of course he could. Part 1 of 2.

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  Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

  Eagle Dust Off

  The Army showed him the door even though he was still in a wheelchair. Helicopter pilot Fred Behrens survived a crash and five bullet wounds and now he had to leave the Army he loved. He has some definite opinions on what went wrong in Vietnam and doesn't mind telling you about it.

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  LTG (Ret) Lawson W. Magruder III - Army +14 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  The timing didn't work out for Lawson Magruder to attend West Point, so he settled for his father's alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. When the school recruited the elder Magruder to be Professor of Military Science, the entire ROTC got some seriously good instruction.

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  Jim Smith - Army +9 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Huey pilot Jim Smith recalls seeing the surface to air missiles whizzing past his aircraft. Fortunately, the VC were very bad shots. He loved when he had a Cobra gunship escort because they would pound any position where those SAMs were fired. He also recalls his meetings with the Montagnard people, who were good to have on your side in the bush.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

  Steve Long enjoyed his company in the avionics shop and in his hooch as well. There was one new arrival who announced that he was in love. When the others found out with whom, the teasing was unmerciful.

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  Bill Knowlton - Army +11 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Special Operations Command

  Bill Knowlton wants people to know about the caliber of men he served with in Vietnam and how we should hold them in our memory. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)

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  Ollie Maier - Air Force +7 Total Videos

  604th Air Commando Squadron

  The level of accuracy Maier and his Squadron had during their bomb dropping missions was astounding. During one run, they were able to hit the same target over and over again without fail. When the Tet Offensive broke out, Maier was tasked with flying more missions.

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Nobody wanted to talk about it. Even his family had been affected by the relentless shame heaped on the war and the veterans of the war. But Terry Caskey was no baby killer. He had seen enough dying men working in Army hospitals in Vietnam to know what that war was really about. He coped by drinking until, inspired by the hero's welcome for Desert Storm vets, he organized a reunion. This began an upward path.

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  Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

  25th Infantry Division

  Ed Fulghum's nemesis was his battalion commander, Col. Mooney. He disliked Mooney and Mooney hated him. While training in Hawaii, he disobeyed the colonel's absurd order about how fast to drive during a training exercise. Later, in Vietnam, he achieved perhaps his finest victory against him, totally by accident with a hot outhouse.

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  Sammy Davis - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  Sammy Davis was recovering from serious wounds when a visiting General Westmoreland told him he had been put in for the Medal of Honor. He had rescued three wounded comrades during a furious NVA assault, but to him, he was just doing his job.

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  Jake Jacobson - Army +8 Total Videos

  1st Special Forces Group

  It was 1961 and two American Special Forces teams had come to Vietnam to train South Vietnamese forces. Jake Jacobson didn't think much of some of them, but he did encounter some who earned his respect. He put in three tours during those early years of the war, working with the Montagnards on the last one.