COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

  There was a little trick the crew chiefs would play on the door gunners to see if they were doing their check list. Steve Long recalls the time this led to a salvo of rockets being fired at some fish. In their off hours, he and his hooch mates "acquired" various amenities for their billet.

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  Carter Tucker - Army +10 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  What was a day like in the life of a chaplain? In Vietnam, it was likely to include a memorial service or a visit to a unit in the field for Carter Tucker, who flew around so much, they gave him an Air Medal. His second tour was different, but, like so many others, he was getting a bit weary of Vietnam.

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  Henry Choy - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Navy Seabees

  From his time and Vietnam and Iraq, he hadn't gotten in touch with any of his old teammates for over forty years. Finally he stumbles upon a name, Russell Wood, and contacts him thinking it might be his old teammate Woody. It was, and they finally had a reunion with as many of the other men as they could find. He talks about the hardships they faced during the war, and how they got through it with each other. (Caution: contains some strong language)

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  Sammy Davis - Army +9 Total Videos

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

  There was a long line of military service in his family. Sammy Davis remembers sitting around the dinner table talking about Vietnam when his father turned to him and made a very serious declaration.

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  Henry Le - Air Force +4 Total Videos

  546th Squadron, Vietnam Air Force

  Henry Le was born in South Vietnam in 1953. It was around this time that the French were aiding the south, so Le went to French school during his early years. Afterwards, he acted as a crane operator. As the war got more and more intense, he had a lot of male family members enter combat units, such as his older cousin who sadly wound up dying. Then, everything changed during the Tet Offensive. With no choice, Le was forced to join the war effort himself.

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  LTG (Ret) John Le Moyne - Army +15 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  The enemy was mainly NVA regulars where American advisor John Le Moyne was working with a South Vietnamese Airborne battalion. They would pour out of Cambodia every couple of weeks and attack. Some of the men with the Airborne had been fighting the Communists for twenty years.

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  Mike Morris - Army +11 Total Videos

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

  The noise was deafening when you came into a hot LZ. Mike Morris remembers the chaos and confusion that went along with the racket. He was in a mechanized infantry unit and he describes the workings of that and also he reveals the contents of his backpack, which owed a lot to his mom.

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  Nat Robb - Army +9 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  American Advisor Nat Robb did not run the South Vietnamese unit, but he controlled the fire support that sustained it. He spent his entire tour in the field with them except for a couple of leaves. He wonders if the way the Army rotated troops in and out of the war was the best way to fight it.

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  Bill Pearson - Army +11 Total Videos

  199th Light Infantry Brigade

  Near the end of his first tour in Vietnam, Bill Pearson was appointed Executive Officer of the unit. As XO, one of the things he had to manage was the daily helicopter flights to men in the field to deliver rations and supplies. On one of these trips, he had to make a decision about an overloaded aircraft that still haunts him.

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  Don Chapman - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fleet Composite Squadron 7 (VC-7)

  He'd always wanted to fly, so when Don Chapman found out that the Navy would accept cadets with two years of college, he left engineering school in his third year and enlisted. He made his way through flight schools and aircraft until he was flying the fast jet fighters.

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  Tim Dunn - Marines +16 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marines

  There were a lot of booby traps where Tim Dunn was deployed south of Da Nang, both explosive and non-explosive. He was a Marine rifleman and one of his jobs was to mark targets with white smoke using a rifle grenade. They were looking for volunteers to train as snipers and it was decided that he would do it.

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  John Reed - Army +8 Total Videos

  101st Airborne Division

  After running low on men and ammunition during his mission by the river, Reed and his men were in a very bad place. In addition, the VC had just blown up a bridge, and soon after Reed was caught in the explosion of another bomb from a jet. Immediately, he took shelter as best he could, but was still ultimately affected by the blast. He also recalls a time when he rescued one of his own men, named Robinson, from death. Part 2 of 4.

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  Carol and Stanley Rosenberg - Army +9 Total Videos

  85th Evacuation Hospital

  It's ancient history, now. That's how Stanley Rosenberg thinks the war is perceived by the public today, with some confusion about who the bad guys were. For him and his wife, Carol, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a fitting monument and their time there is marked by reverence and remembrance.

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  Quincy Collins - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  80th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  Collins tells stories of how that one nice North Vietnamese gentleman continued to help him by bringing him small things like snacks, water, and eventually even beer. The guards demanded to know who was the most 'senior' out of the American prisoners captured. Even though Collins wasn't the most senior, he selflessly took the fall for it every day.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron 26 (H&MS-26)

  Marine Steve Long was at his first post as an avionics technician when he told his officer that he wanted to go to Vietnam. They needed him there, and tried to placate him with some specialty schools, but when he returned, he asked again.

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  LTG (Ret) John Le Moyne - Army +15 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  John Le Moyne never asked questions. The American advisor just ate the dinner his Vietnamese partners served him every night. There was no real down time for the South Vietnamese Airborne. They were always on the move. One night, the battalion XO made contact on the radio with an enemy soldier across the border in Cambodia. This led to an interesting discovery.

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  Galen Foster - Army +11 Total Videos

  196th Light Infantry Brigade

  Galen Foster's father was a Marine and he gave his son this advice, join the Army. It's safer. He did just that and when he got to basic training, the Drill Instructor made a big impression on him. He went to Fort Polk where they had a training camp called Tigerland, designed to prepare troops for fighting in Vietnam.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Basic training was physically and mentally demanding, so tough that it was too much for one recruit. Steve Long recalls how that incident was used for more enlightenment from the DI.

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  John Overcash - Army +11 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG)

  He was setting booby traps on the Ho Chi Minh trail when John Overcash stepped on a punji stake. The wound didn't seem bad but the next day, it was apparent that he had blood poisoning. After he recuperated and had a quick visit with his family in Okinawa, his commander had a new assignment for him. He was to lead a recon team into Laos. Part 1 of 2.

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  Bill Ryan - Army +5 Total Videos

  238th Aerial Weapons Company

  After easily passing Ranger school and flight school, Bill Ryan was sent back to Vietnam for his second tour. It was here that he flew gunships to aid in the war efforts. On one occasion he unfortunately suffered some gunshot wounds to his legs, halting the entire mission.

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  Don Chapman - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Strike Fighter Squadron 143 (VFA-143)

  Navy F-4 pilot Don Chapman was carrier based in the Gulf of Tonkin. His missions were all carried out over North Vietnam. Photo escort was his favorite mission because you could fly really fast. He saw a lot of tracers, but was never hit. He never got one of those MIG's he chased, either.

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  Jim Smith - Army +9 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  After establishing which pop songs remind him of his Vietnam tour, Jim Smith describes his emotional reaction to visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and his pride in the memorial built in his home state of Kentucky. That structure is built in the form of a sundial which has a unique behavior.

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  George Ferkes - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  20th Tactical Air Support Squadron

  Forward air controller George Ferkes marked his targets with white phosphorus rockets that put out a lot of smoke. He also had a Starlight scope, the first practical night vision device, but it was bulky and hard to use. He describes one memorable mission which had him supporting an ARVN unit near the DMZ which was overrun by the enemy.

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  Mike Morris - Army +11 Total Videos

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

  The medics were respected and protected by the rest of the unit and given the title of "Doc" once they were in combat. The medic who treated Mike Morris the day he was wounded later died himself in the same battle.

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  Hubert Yoshida - Marines +8 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment

  Hailing from California, Hubert Yoshida's family was forced to live in a camp for Japanese-Americans during WWII. He was just a child but he admired the soldiers with their rifles, unaware that they were there to guard the internees. An uncle and a cousin served in segregated Japanese units and they were his heroes and inspired him to join the Marine Corps.

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  Mike Morris - Army +11 Total Videos

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

  When Mike Morris got to Vietnam, he was issued an M-16 rifle, which was new to him. His first mission ended with him covered in mud, but he still had access to a shower at this point. That wouldn't last. In his backpack you could find socks and candy, supplied by his mom, which was a big help.

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  Jack Fishman - Army +6 Total Videos

  319th Transportation Company

  The 319th Transportation Company had a saying. If you ate it, wore it or shot it, we brought it. Jack Fishman describes the job of resupply to the forward fire bases in Vietnam and the problems they faced, not the least of which was the danger of hauling all that ammunition.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

  His first experience with Vietnamese civilians was quite embarrassing. As time went on, Steve Long began to feel sorry for them, especially the children. The craters he saw while aloft in the Huey were a reminder of the awful firepower being used.

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  MajGen Larry S. Taylor +15 Total Videos

  Air America

  Air America pilot Larry Taylor flew the Sikorsky H-34, the same aircraft he'd flown in the Marines. It could take a lot of punishment and keep on flying, which was something he really loved. Official policy was that the civilian pilots could not carry weapons, but in a war zone, that policy was fairly flexible.

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  LTG (Ret) Robert T. Clark - Army +15 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry (Airmobile), 1st Cavalry Division

  Every contact with the enemy was a chance encounter that was chaotic, loud and up close and personal. That was the experience of Bob Clark in the jungles of Vietnam, who felt the burden of leadership in that first firefight when every one of his men looked to him for guidance.