Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Johnny Fielding - Army +5 Total Videos

C Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 199th Infantry Brigade

Johnny Fielding hopes that future generations will remember the sacrifices that were made by the men who served in Vietnam and all aspects of the military.
Bob Bole - Army +5 Total Videos

95th Evacuation Hospital

Bob Bole remembers coming home and feeling some of the animosity that was directed towards Vietnam vets. Thinking back on the war, he realizes that though he didn't want to be there, he knew he was doing a necessary job.
Mike Law - Army +8 Total Videos

7th Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry, Headquarters Company B & C

Mike Law remembers the climax of his time in Vietnam, when they were facing a lot of enemy fire and firing a lot on enemies. Loss of life was always a problem during training and combat.
Mike Waugh - Army +10 Total Videos

128th Assault Helicopter Company, 11th Aviation Battalion, 12th Aviation Group

When he returned to Vietnam, helicopter pilot Mike Waugh was working solely with South Vietnamese troops. On one operation, he flew over an enemy force that was poised to ambush truck traffic and his helicopter was hit. He had to put it down, but it was in a safe area. He realized that everyone was looking at him funny and, once he got his helmet off, he found out why.
Earl Simms - Army +8 Total Videos

Civil Affairs Advisor, Nhon Trach District

Earl Simms recalls the story of the supply sergeant nicknamed "Pops," who was older than everyone else and even had grandchildren. They kept him away from combat but as he neared his rotation date, he insisted on going when a reaction force responded to a Viet Cong ambush.
Joe Ponds - Army +5 Total Videos

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

After returning home, Joe Ponds found a pretty hostile response for his fellow soldiers. They even had to deal with some increased problems because American politicians took actions that harmed their position. The purpose of a war needed to be a devoted commitment to something, which he feels was not in place during the Vietnam War.
Bob Averill - Marines +12 Total Videos

3rd Combined Action Group

After joining the 3rd Combined Action Group, Bob Averill and his group were in charge of patrolling villages in south Vietnam. There, they were able to build relationships with the local ARVN forces.
Tracy Sheils - Marines +5 Total Videos

1st Marine Regiment

Sgt. Tracy Sheils never had to pull rank. He had rank, meaning his men respected him and carried out his orders. His mother was concerned about his brothers getting drafted and sent to Vietnam and so was Sheils. He didn't think they had the makeup to survive in that war, unlike the Marines in his unit.
George Crockett - Marines +4 Total Videos

Combined Action Program, Hotel 3

After leaving the Marine Corps, George Crockett found work doing what he loved in the outdoors. Looking back on his time in the military, he is grateful for the structure it provided him.
Mike Paque - Army +13 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

Camp Hard Times was in a valley which led up to the mountains and was there to block Viet Cong movement down from the high ground. Mike Paque remembers the village next to the camp and how pleasant the people were in their rural life which was almost untouched by modern times.
Henry Choy - Navy +6 Total Videos

Navy Seabees

Before he got a flight over to Vietnam, he and his Seabee crew were delayed several times. They ended up staying in Okinawa a lot longer than anticipated, but still made the best of their time before going off to aid in the war. In Vietnam, his main job was not to fight but rather to construct the buildings that would be utilized. While over there, he had interactions with the HAL-3 "Seawolves," and tells other stories of interacting with captured North Vietnamese prisoners.
Carl Fedde - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Aviation Battalion, 1st Infantry Division

Once he was situated in his second tour, Fedde did all kinds of missions, including sniffer missions and dropping mortar shells from his helicopter.
Don Ware - Air Force +2 Total Videos

333rd Tactical Fighter Squadron

Don Ware recalls training at Ajo Range, specifically, his first practice bombing mission.
George Bailey - Army +5 Total Videos

Company A/501st Aviation Battalion, 71st Assault Helicopter Company

George Bailey recalls the time in which, while on a routine trip to an airfield in a town east of Bien Hoa, his aircraft underwent fire and was hit.
Brad Snyder - Army +6 Total Videos

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

He lost an eye to a VC bullet but the good news was that he was going to live. The bad news was that his military career was over. Serving in that war was a life changing event for him as it was for so many, and he reckons that the best day of his deployment was the day he managed to get a well dug for an orphanage.
Carl Fedde - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Aviation Battalion, 1st Infantry Division

Fedde talks about how he came home the second time from Vietnam. He says that Platoon was a movie that captured the details of Vietnam very accurately.
Bob Babcock - Army +8 Total Videos

B Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

After attending the "Benning school for boys," Bob Babcock joined the 4th Infantry Division and headed for Vietnam. His first impression? "It's hot and it stinks." They arrived locked and loaded, but were surprised to see Americans walking around taking it easy. Then the rain started.
Sonny Dellinger - Army +4 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade

Raised from a military background, Sonny Dellinger joins the ROTC in college just as the Vietnam War is heating up. He is trained as a Battalion Surgeon’s Assistant and enters duty as a 2nd Lieutenant.
MG Wallace Arnold - Army +7 Total Videos

Headquarters, XXIV Corps

There was not much down time but there was enough time to record and listen to cassette tapes. That's how Wallace Arnold kept in touch from Vietnam. Years later, his wife asked him what was that noise in the background of all those tapes?
Wayne Waddell - Air Force +14 Total Videos

354th Tactical Fighter Squadron

Wayne Waddell remembers one of the tactics that his Vietnamese captors used to extract information from them and the extreme toll it took on some of the soldiers.
Sammy Davis - Army +9 Total Videos

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

Doc Edwards was the unit's medic and whenever there was a spare moment, he was training the men in the artillery battery on life saving techniques. This paid off when the position was nearly overrun and everyone in the unit was injured. Sammy Davis woke up in a hospital in Japan after saving three wounded comrades despite being seriously wounded himself.
Bob Babcock - Army +8 Total Videos

B Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

A cheer went up when the plane full of returning soldiers left Vietnam and headed out over the ocean. Bob Babcock recalls how tough it was writing the family of David Hubbard, who's body was mangled by a direct hit. When he got home, where his Mom and wife had written nearly every day, other people were strangely distant and apathetic about the war.
Bob Averill - Marines +12 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division

Bob Averill remembers landing in Vietnam and immediately getting shelled upon arrival. Travelling around country, Averill and his battalion had many combat interactions that fortunately ended up mostly successful for him.
Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

River Interdiction Division 40

Galen Hoover's river interdiction unit was moved from up near the Cambodian birder to the U Minh forest in the southernmost part of Vietnam. The waterways were very narrow, canals so small the boat couldn't turn around. The enemy were plentiful and devious. They even tried to trick him with bogus radio calls.
Tony Coalson - Army +15 Total Videos

201st Aviation Company, 1st Field Force

Your year in Vietnam went by fast, if you made it through, says Tony Coalson. He did get one R&R in Hong Kong but the night before he was going to leave, something came up. It was another problem for which the solution was his helicopter.
Richard Jackson - Marines +15 Total Videos

Multiple Units

He was going to try out for the Baltimore Colts but he also had a military obligation. Richard Jackson figured the hardy regimen of the Marines would improve his chances with the team so he joined and sought a commission.
Marvin Cole - Army +10 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

Marvin Cole had several R&R's in Vietnam but the time he went to Vung Tau was memorable. A casual conversation with a stranger there led to a startling revelation.
Mack Angel - Air Force +4 Total Videos

13th Tactical Fighter Squadron

Mack Angel remembers his first mission when they teamed up with some other members of their company. Seeing bombs go off on the ground and the formation around him was quite a sight to remember for him.
Ed Callison - Army +8 Total Videos

493rd M.I. Detachment, 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division

Ed Callison remembers the role of his unit and all of the duties they enacted while stationed in Vietnam. Working with civilians and enemy prisoners alike to gain intel was often successful in gaining information that allowed a more successful war effort.
Debby Moore - Army +5 Total Videos

Army Special Services

Debby Moore had a few tough assignments, but the hardest one for her by far was her first one with the medevac unit. While over there, the mascot dog turned out to be female and had puppies, and one of the guys she was working with really wanted one of the puppies. She saved the dog for him, only to find out later that he'd been killed.