Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Roger Hamann - Air Force +3 Total Videos

23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

Upon his arrival in Vietnam, Roger Hamann is assigned to serve as a "Rustic", communicating with French-speaking Cambodian troops from the back seat of an OV-10. Though he flies dozens of combat missions out of his Thailand air base, one in particular still haunts him.
John Craven - Army +4 Total Videos

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

It was a fiasco, according to John Craven, an ambush that went terribly wrong. As daylight broke, a soldier began to retrieve the Claymore mines set out for protection in the night. Suddenly there were explosions and chaos and casualties. Even the Medivac and air support became a disorganized mess.
Robert Wolfe - Air Force +8 Total Videos

23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS)

The camaraderie at the Thai air base was wonderful, recalls Bob Wolfe. Whether pulling hijinks at the base or risking life and limb over Vietnam and Laos, it was making the best of being at war.
Dick Sklar - Army +10 Total Videos

1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division

At one point, Dick Sklar had to make a difficult decision regarding his fellow commander that ultimately ended up alright for him and his company.
Ray Vaske - Army +5 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 94th Artillery Regiment, 108th Artillery Group

At first, Ray Vaske couldn't find Dong Ha on the map. The helicopter pilot was attached to an artillery battalion up near the DMZ and when he did get there, he found out the chopper he was going to fly was different than the one he'd been flying. It was time for some on-the-job-training.
Kenneth Sager - Army +5 Total Videos

1st Cavalry, A Company, 228th Assault Helicopter Company

Kenneth Sager remembers growing up in Washington D.C. and wanting to join the service at an early age.
Bill Pearson - Army +11 Total Videos

199th Light Infantry Brigade

The 199th Light Infantry Brigade was forming up at Fort Benning to deploy to Vietnam. Bill Pearson was with them as a platoon leader. They went to Vietnam as a unit, which was not the norm. Once there, they spent weeks just acclimating and their first combat experience was against the local wildlife.
Don Chapman - Navy +6 Total Videos

Strike Fighter Squadron 143 (VFA-143)

Navy F-4 pilot Don Chapman had to stand two hour watches in his cockpit, waiting for word to go when needed. When he was in action, the rules of engagement really grated on him and, from his experience, hindered the progress of the war.
Andy Boyko - Marines +10 Total Videos

I Co., 3rd Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment

Not only did they have to deal with the immediate threat of enemy soldiers, the system of booby traps laid across the region was incredibly saturated and dangerous. Andy Boyko describes the disbelief from the higher ups that the area was as dangerous as they had reported. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)
Richard Dorsey - Army +10 Total Videos

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

Cam Ranh Bay was quiet. Rich Dorsey arrived there and went up near the DMZ where there was very little enemy activity at the time. He thought that this war might not be so bad.
Frank Francois III - Army +7 Total Videos

57th Transportation Battalion

Returning Vietnam veterans never got the recognition they deserved, says Frank Francois III, who served two tours. He is glad that the military is embracing women into the ranks and reveals how he prepared his son for success at the Air Force Academy.
Jerry Gast - Army +6 Total Videos

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

Vietnam was amazing. The heat and the weather were overwhelming. That, and the lack of plumbing at the forward base, was an extreme culture shock to the American teenagers. Jerry Gast was initially at the beach, where he could go swimming and was ferried to the mess hall, but that would soon change to friendly fire and booby traps.
John Weinig - Air Force +8 Total Videos

6th Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing

Pilot John Weinig didn't venture off base very much in Vietnam. When he moved to Da Nang, he would go with some buddies to China Beach sometimes and they always took along a soldier with an M-16 to ride shotgun. He went through a few rocket attacks and says you just got as low as you could as fast as you could.
Bob Averill - Marines +12 Total Videos

3rd Combined Action Group

Bob Averill and his battalion had standard protocol for VC interactions and how they would form relationships with Vietnamese that were willing to help them.
Ben Knisely - Army +5 Total Videos

498th Medical Company, Air Ambulance

Ben Knisely was born in Indiana on a farm, but moved to Osprey, Florida at a very young age. His father was a Corpsman in the US Navy. After attending the University of South Florida, Knisely went to Fort Sam Houston for basic training as part of the Medical Service Corps. Following that he went to Fort Wolters for flight training, where he remembers having engine trouble during a solo flight.
Barry Purnell - Army +5 Total Videos

121st Aviation Company, 13th Combat Aviation Battalion, 164th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade

You developed a sixth sense, according to helicopter gunship pilot Barry Purnell. Anything out of the ordinary below could be the enemy. He supported South Vietnamese troops and their advisors, protecting the ships which ferried the troops. He offers an explanation of the Viet Cong psyche and he laments the upper hand given the enemy by our own policies.
Joe Jamison - Navy +8 Total Videos

173rd Airborne Brigade

Joe Jamison tells the story of joining the Navy in 1960 and piloting Drones over Okinawa that served as practice targets for SAM missile training.
Rick Groulx - Marines +4 Total Videos

Combined Action Platoon 1-2-7

Facing his first firefight, Doc Groulx had to get acquainted with the idea of losing men to casualties. After a truck exploded in his company and many lives were lost, Doc's role as the company medic was put to the test.
Donald Lorentz - Air Force +4 Total Videos

101st Airborne Division

Looking back on Vietnam, Donald Lorentz has a different perspective on it than he did when he was in the service.
Thomas Owens - Army +6 Total Videos

Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division

Thomas Owens has no use for bureaucrats, especially the ones who left him with no change of uniform and no decent food. He laments that going to the VA is just like going to Vietnam all over again. You can't get what you need. He does his part for today's returning veterans and he wonders, why do only the negative stories about veterans get all the publicity?
Mack Angel - Air Force +4 Total Videos

13th Tactical Fighter Squadron

After being assigned to serve in France, the American troops were kicked out of the country and sent to Germany. Since this was during the Cold War, they had plenty of missions to take care of. After that, he was assigned back to the United States at Nellis Air Force Base.
Charlie Pocock - Air Force +5 Total Videos

19th Tactical Air Support Squadron, 504th Tactical Air Support Squadron

Learning the equipment of the military was essential for Charlie Pocock. Avoiding incident while in training was difficult, and accidents led to loss of life.
Tony Coalson - Army +15 Total Videos

201st Aviation Company, 1st Field Force

His Army experience was very valuable to him, but it was with Air America that Tony Coalson came to understand what was really happening in Vietnam.
Fred Kroesen - Army +6 Total Videos

Multiple Units

General Fred Kroesen is thoroughly ashamed of the way the Vietnamese people were abandoned by the United States in the wake of the American involvement in that war. What makes it worse in his eyes is that we had the war won, then gave it all away.
Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

Only results mattered to the night crew at Marble Mountain. Marine avionics technician Steve Long led the crew and they set records for keeping the helicopter systems working. One day, an NCO told him an aircraft was down waiting on a part. That didn't sound right.
Albert Watson - Army +5 Total Videos

199th Light Infantry Brigade

Coming home from Vietnam was not pleasant for Albert Watson. His mother was there at the airport to meet him as he was cursed and spit on by protesters. His parents got harassing phone calls at their home. He felt he had done what was right and he made the Army a career, which helped him get over the divided situation in the country.
John Parker - Army +9 Total Videos

B Company, 4th Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division

After completing flight school and advanced training, Parker went over on a plane to Vietnam. Although he was qualified to fly OH-23 Helicopters, he preferred to fly Hueys. On one occasion, he was helping the gun platoon drop CS and ended up staying with them in Ban Me Thuot for a few weeks. During this, on the night of his 25th birthday, there was a rocket attack and Parker never left his tent. Another time he shot a UFO with a minigun, and it turned out to be an Army Mohawk pilot that had forgotten to clear himself.
George Crockett - Marines +4 Total Videos

Combined Action Program, Hotel 3

George Crockett remembers encountering enemy forces carrying morphine on one of his last nights in country. Growing up a hunter, he was equipped with the capability to succeed in Vietnam.
Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

He was learning the ropes at the Marble Mountain helicopter base. Avionics technician Steve Long had to pivot to Hueys because he'd trained on different aircraft. There were other duties, like working in the officers mess, which turned out to be a great deal. The cook liked him so much, he got a parting gift.
Pete and Susan Tancredi - Army +5 Total Videos

95th Evacuation Hospital

At the beginning of Pete Tancredi's tour, the Navy was the big power in I Corps, the northernmost part of South Vietnam. When the Navy withdrew, the evacuation hospital administrator had some problems with the Army supply chain. His wife, Susan, was a post-op nurse in the same facility.