Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Bob Mangum - Army +7 Total Videos

1st Aviation Brigade

Bob Mangum recounts his first mission rescuing some American troops that had been fighting in the woods for days.
Ron Dillard - Army +6 Total Videos

227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

After he finally graduated and got his commission, Ron Dillard headed for Fort Benning for his basic course and then received flight training in helicopters. He received additional training in aviation safety and left for Vietnam. Assigned to the 1st Cavalry Air Mobile, he was put on the battalion staff as safety officer.
Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

A new company commander in combat has to prove himself to his men very quickly. Keith Nightingale faced this task when he arrived for his 2nd Vietnam tour. They got to know him and he was accepted. They may have been peaceniks and part time dopers but they turned out to be fine soldiers.
Bob Averill - Marines +12 Total Videos

3rd Combined Action Group

After Khe Sanh, Bob Averill and his division shipped down to Cam Lo, where they faced ample NVA fire. Here, he had to take the lead on throwing a grenade into the enemy bunker, leading to a close call as he quickly retreated away from the blast.
Jack Jeter - Army +9 Total Videos

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

Once Jack Jeter was contacted by one of his buddies from his unit in Vietnam, he caught the reunion bug. It became his mission to find guys and reconnect.
Rick Marotte - Army +6 Total Videos

237th Medical Detachment

The GI Bill helped Rick Marotte get a home loan and finish his education. After his experience in Vietnam, he became more focused and his family and friends found him strangely calm, not easily riled. He treasures today's returning veterans and no longer runs into many people who still consider him a "baby killer."
Thomas Gipson - Army +10 Total Videos

4th Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division

It was long hours and long days for Thomas Gipson in Vietnam. He gives an overview of his tour, describing the different types of missions and some of the misadventures. The amount of flying time was closely monitored to make sure the pilots didn't crack, but it was still exhausting.
Brad Snyder - Army +6 Total Videos

Advisor, 4th Troop, 3rd Armored Cavalry, ARVN

The first thing that got his attention when he arrived in Vietnam was the smell, followed by the temperature, the humidity and the motor scooters. Assigned to advise a South Vietnamese armored unit, he was humbled when his counterpart was older, more experienced and had been to more armor schools in the states than he had. As for the Vietnamese people, he loved them and was proud to be helping.
GEN Ray Davis - Marines +11 Total Videos

3rd Marine Division

When Ray Davis assumed command of the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam, he had one clear idea in mind. Change from a defensive and reactive posture to an offensive one. This led to great success against both the NVA and the Viet Cong but, to his dismay, this was not a war that Washington was going to let him win.
David Kirk - Army +3 Total Videos

1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, B Company

David Kirk is originally from Alum Creek, West Virginia, and his father was stationed in the Philippines and Europe during World War II. Kirk never thought about also joining the military, and was instead drafted around the time of the Vietnam War. He went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for basic training and Fort Polk, Louisiana for jungle training.
Brad Snyder - Army +6 Total Videos

Advisor, 4th Troop, 3rd Armored Cavalry, ARVN

He was happy that he could get a hamburger at the American Compound, but the real happiness for ARVN advisor Brad Snyder came from helping the nuns and children at the orphanage near the compound. He got the Seabees to dig a well for them which meant they no longer had to carry water with baskets and poles.
Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

It was a bad tent city at Xuan Loc. MACV advisor Keith Nightingale was assigned to an ARVN ranger battalion where the tents were leaky but the commander turned out to be a gem. Nguyen Hiep became a mentor and a friend. The Rangers were also the best troops the South had to offer, despite being composed of the outcasts of the country.
Rick Hilton - Air Force +11 Total Videos

433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing

The smart bombs were a great new technology and Rick Hilton commanded the first fighter squadron to have them. After a series of missions to test the accuracy so collateral damage could be avoided, he went after an important power plant in the middle of a reservoir.
Henry Templin - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

When Henry Templin had to leave college, it didn't take long before he was drafted. He thought he had a classification that would keep him in headquarters instead of in the field, but with the stroke of a pen, he became just another grunt when he arrived in Vietnam.
Ron Schuh - Air Force +12 Total Videos

13th Tactical Fighter Squadron

Commissioned out of Air Force ROTC in 1967, Ron Schuh was assigned to fly the F-4 Phantom. He was lucky to get the new F-4E model which had an internal rotating gun, something that was left out of the early models because, "The Air Force doesn't dogfight, anymore." Guess again! They were tangling with MIG's over Vietnam.
Carl Scheidegg - Air Force +12 Total Videos

35th Tactical Fighter Squadron

When his fighter squadron got to Vietnam, the pilots were split up for assignments with other units. F-4 pilot Carl Scheidegg started flying out of Da Nang. He wasn't supposed to fly over North Vietnam until he had ten missions behind him, but he did anyway and it was that flight that discovered newly deployed SAMs.
Hal Dayhuff - Army +4 Total Videos

ARVN Advisor, Nha Be District

After paying respect to his Vietnamese counterpart and also his friend, Jim Ray, who was killed in action, ARVN advisor Hal Dayhuff says that the best day of his tour was Christmas 1964 when he was given a ceremonial garment and name in the Cao Dai faith. This wasn't much help cutting red tape in Saigon, though.
David Harrington - Army +6 Total Videos

47th Infantry Division

David Harrington recounts his upbringing in a military family which led him to enlist and attend basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey.
Tim Dunn - Marines +16 Total Videos

Scout Sniper Platoon, 1st Marines

As his rotation date approached, Tim Dunn went on one last patrol, which was, thankfully, uneventful. As he waited for transportation home, he began to feel remorse over leaving his buddies.
John Wilhite - Army +9 Total Videos

1099th Transportation Company

John Wilhite traveled the rivers of the Mekong Delta with the River Rats, a transportation company using long, shallow draft boats called Mike Boats. The first time he saw the enemy, he was off the boat in a defensive position. When the firefight began, the .50 caliber machine guns on the boat cleaned up the situation.
MajGen Larry S. Taylor +15 Total Videos

Air America

How did that interview with Air America go? Aviator Larry Taylor got the job, but he found out when he got to Thailand that he'd been lied to about his interest in flying T-28's. He was satisfied flying helicopters, though, and since he was a civilian, he actually got some time off every month.
Wayne Waddell - Air Force +14 Total Videos

354th Tactical Fighter Squadron

Wayne Waddell remembers all the things that changed in the States over the 6 years he was gone.
Ollie Maier - Air Force +7 Total Videos

604th Air Commando Squadron

Originally from Minnesota, Ollie Maier grew up on a farm and quickly learned how to drive a tractor at the age of 9. His uncle was right in the middle of Pearl Harbor when it was attacked, and his cousin was a pilot long before him. Seeing the planes soar over his head while he was in the fields inspired him to become a pilot as well. While in college, he took flying lessons, and was the only one of his group of five friends to pass his flying test for the US Air Force.
Jack Swickard - Army +12 Total Videos

118th Assault Helicopter Company

It wasn't a hooch in Bien Hoa, it was a nice villa. Helicopter pilot Jack Swickard was amazed to find his billet was so luxurious. He had not been there long when he got an unexpected lesson in firearm safety right there in his room. On his first mission, he was puzzled at the strange behavior of the aircraft commander, who was slapping himself in the face.
Bob Mangum - Army +7 Total Videos

1st Aviation Brigade

Bob Mangum recounts his time growing up and deciding to join the Army after attending college in Virginia. He tells of his time in flight school and his first tour in Germany and a few of the interesting characters that he had the chance to meet.
Jerry Gast - Army +6 Total Videos

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

The first volunteers at basic training went to a sponsored event at a resort, but the second round of volunteers got KP. That's how Jerry Gast learned not to volunteer. He impressed his superiors enough, though, that he was sent to NCO school.
Carl Scheidegg - Air Force +12 Total Videos

35th Tactical Fighter Squadron

There was a major in his back seat because they would often fly with junior officers just arrived in theater. F-4 Pilot Carl Scheidegg had surface-to-air missiles heading towards him and he immediately began evasive maneuvers. Then he saw the big orange cloud behind him.
Dick Sklar - Army +10 Total Videos

1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division

Dick Sklar went back to Vietnam to serve as the Senior Adviser to the 101st Airborne Division, where he commanded the battalion in charge of a large portion of the bombing done over Vietnam.
Bob Mangum - Army +7 Total Videos

1st Aviation Brigade

Bob Mangum tells of his transition from his first tour to getting his Master's in Industrial Engineering before heading off to helicopter flight school.
Ben Knisely - Army +5 Total Videos

498th Medical Company, Air Ambulance

After he was shot down, it was discovered that Ben Knisely had an injury in his ankle and couldn't walk. He struggled to survive and move through his new surroundings with his co-pilot, who fortunately could still walk. They wandered for a while before encountering a rescue team.