Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Mike Province - Marines +5 Total Videos

E Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division

They were told an attack was coming and they hunkered down in individual foxholes and waited. Marine Mike Province's thoughts drifted to home and family and then his mind got the best of him. Fear set in and he began to shake uncontrollably. This made him so mad he started pounding himself with his fist and then, the firefight began.
Ron Rutowski - Army +9 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Division

While stationed at base camp, Ron Rutowski and his unit constantly had VC trying to infiltrate their camp. During one of these, he took flak from a Claymore and had to go to the hospital to get his wounds treated.
Ron Schuh - Air Force +12 Total Videos

13th Tactical Fighter Squadron

Ron Schuh was based in Thailand, where he flew F-4 Phantoms in missions over the whole of Southeast Asia. He tells the story of the visit of legendary fighter pilot Robin Olds to his base. A good time was had by all, and the renowned ace even saved Ron's hide in a briefing.
Richard Dorsey - Army +10 Total Videos

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

Rich Dorsey was wounded three times in Vietnam. The first two were minor injuries from friendly fire but the third involved a brave assault on a bunker. A small group led by Captain Barry McCaffrey were tying to relieve a platoon which was under heavy fire. Part 1 of 2.
David Harrington - Army +6 Total Videos

47th Infantry Division

David Harrington talks about his shrapnel injury that led to his airlift and hasty surgery. For his time on the scouting mission that led to his injury, he received the Purple Heart and was amazed by one of the fellow recipients of the medal.
Jack Jeter - Army +9 Total Videos

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

In the middle of the firefight in which Jack Jeter was wounded, someone ran out and picked up a wounded man and got him to safety. It would be decades before the issue was settled. Exactly who was that? Part 2 of 3.
Hal Smith - Army +4 Total Videos

29th Civil Affairs

Hal Smith remembers the extensive medical training that they got in preparing for the elements of Vietnam. After returning home and reflecting on their efforts while deployed, he realizes that the relationships he made were important to him.
Pete and Susan Tancredi - Army +5 Total Videos

95th Evacuation Hospital

Jim and Susan Tancredi were doubly fortunate. They were fortunate to be deployed together to the same Army hospital in Vietnam and they were fortunate they hardly ever came under hostile fire there. Somehow they arranged adjacent rooms and, inevitably, there were architectural modifications.
John Weinig - Air Force +8 Total Videos

6th Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing

What was the most difficult thing about flying combat missions in Vietnam? According to A-1 Skyraider pilot John Weinig, it was returning home and getting spit on in San Francisco. He was so proud and then to have to face that. He is grateful that things have changed.
Greg Lowe - Army +9 Total Videos

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

Greg Lowe's MP's had to search thousands of Vietnamese civilians every day as they arrived to work at Long Binh post. There was less VC sabotage than there was just plain thievery. Outside the base, soldiers were tempted by cheap drugs, which were plentiful.
Brian West - Marines +5 Total Videos

N/A

Brian West remembers his most heroic flying story from his time in Vietnam.
Grady Birdsong - Marines +8 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division

After his first tour, Grady Birdsong got orders to a new assignment in Dong Ha, where he spent time clearing roads and running security. Keeping an eye out for enemy forces while on the road was essential to staying alive.
Mike Paque - Army +13 Total Videos

4th Infantry Division

Anytime you would move, you would walk artillery in front of you to clear out the enemy. This was how you did it, but someone high up decided that we were spending too much on shells in Vietnam and made a rule that you would have no artillery support unless you had enemy contact. Mike Paque reveals what happened next.
Quincy Collins - Air Force +18 Total Videos

80th Tactical Fighter Squadron

After he was done with his time at the Air Force Academy, Collins flew over to Europe. He talks about his first few days there, as well as becoming camp commander. Later on, he would go to be interviewed to be an aid for General Frank Everest.
Joe Ponds - Army +5 Total Videos

13th Combat Aviation Battalion, 121st Assault Helicopter Company,

Enlisting in the ROTC program at his college, Joe Ponds got his introduction to military service. At the time, race relations made it difficult for African-Americans to succeed, so he found himself especially sharp on his training. After he graduated with his pilot's license, Joe Ponds went into flight school.
Phil Mayrand - Army +9 Total Videos

F Co., 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger), 25th Infantry Division

Moving by water was not the only way around Vietnam. Phil Mayrand describes an operation where they utilized Army Hueys to make an insertion and the dangers that came with that. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)
Tom Blake - Army +8 Total Videos

11th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division

He taught school for a year after college, but Tom Blake felt a calling to serve his country. He trained in the frigid cold of New Jersey, then the sweltering heat of Georgia, and made some good friends along the way.
Hal Smith - Army +4 Total Videos

29th Civil Affairs

After getting a new assignment in North Vietnam, Hal Smith continued assisting with MEDCAP proceedings in this part of the country. At times, it seemed that there was no point to American involvement in this region.
Earl Simms - Army +8 Total Videos

Civil Affairs Advisor, Nhon Trach District

Civil Affairs advisor Earl Simms was based at an ARVN outpost in Nhon Trach district. His 12 man unit worked with a Regional and Popular Force unit to protect and assist local villagers who included many North Vietnamese Catholics who had fled South.
Stephen Saunders - Army +6 Total Videos

C Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

While in combat on the ground, Saunders would often get air support from Air Force helicopters and planes. There was a firefight he recalls that lasted for an entire day, in which he and the other men witnessed heavy casualties. Some time after he came home, he discovered that he only remembers bits and pieces of what happened because a military friend of his described parts he was involved in that he had no recollection of.
Fred Kroesen - Army +6 Total Videos

23rd Infantry Division

As a longtime commander of troops, General Fred Kroesen knew the rotation scheme during the Vietnam War was a terrible decision. Of particular concern was the use of untested NCO's which made the commander's job a lot more difficult.
Stan Marcieski +6 Total Videos

45th Medical Company

When classifying a mission, urgency of the casualty was portrayed to indicate how quickly the goal needed to be executed. In order to efficiently get in and out, there was a set protocol for how to land, pick patients up and get out of there.
Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

Multiple Units

On their daily trips to the market to get the day's food, advisor Galen Hoover paid for most of it because he made more than his entire Vietnamese crew combined. He spoke Vietnamese, so he always listened to the conversation of the locals to pick up hints on enemy movements.
Rick Hilton - Air Force +11 Total Videos

433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing

Rick Hilton did not let the cold shoulder from the public bother him when he came home from his first Vietnam tour. He had decided on an Air Force Career and was back for a second tour a few years later. For that one he commanded the only smart bomb squadron in the world. He describes some of the missions and also outlines how the enemy both lost and won the war with help from American politicians and media.
Wayne Waddell - Air Force +14 Total Videos

354th Tactical Fighter Squadron

Wayne Waddell remembers a few of his captors that he forged a small relationship with and wishes to reconnect with after his time in the camp.
MG Wallace Arnold - Army +7 Total Videos

Headquarters, XXIV Corps

The living conditions at headquarters weren't bad and the 1st ARVN Division troops were pretty good. Psychological Operations officer Wallace Arnold had friends who were advisors in nearby districts and envious of his situation. His unit was a tight knit group despite any and all differences.
Phil Ovelman - Marines +6 Total Videos

Combined Action Program, Group 2, 1st Unit, 5th Platoon

Ovelman extended his tour of duty to ensure an early release and circumvent the pettiness of non-combat service. When he returned stateside following a bittersweet departure, he received unwelcome news from a stubborn officer.
Grady Birdsong - Marines +8 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division

Returning home, Grady Birdsong remembers not telling people he was a veteran and having to watch the war be lost on national TV. Being treated with disrespect after all he had been through was a very upsetting thing to have to go through.
Barry McAlpine - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Cavalry Division

Barry McAlpine grew up in Michigan where he developed an interest in playing baseball, which would ultimately jump start a new life pathway for him shortly before he applied for service in Vietnam. Not before getting his application rejected twice, that is.
Harvey Taylor - Navy +4 Total Videos

7th Regimental Landing Team

Stationed in Chu Lai, Harvey Taylor and his battalion started to go on more missions in the jungle. Learning about the abuses of the Viet Cong, he kept his wits about him whenever they were out on patrol.