COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Aaron Watkins - Army +8 Total Videos

  179th Assault Helicopter Company

  Since by then he'd learned to fly, advanced training came easy to helicopter pilot Aaron Watkins. As he neared the end of the training, he married his high school sweetheart and was chosen for Chinook school. This was almost unheard of at his level of experience. His friends said that thing is a bigger target, no thanks. He said it's faster, let me at it.

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  Galen Foster - Army +11 Total Videos

  196th Light Infantry Brigade

  He was going to war for the first time. It was the first foray outside the fire base for Galen Foster and, right away, he was in combat. As the men crossed a clearing in pairs, the man next to him stepped on a mine and Charlie opened up. The blast knocked him back into the tree line and, finding himself unhurt he returned fire. That answered a question he had been wondering about himself.

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  Franklin Monroe - Army +3 Total Videos

  18th Engineer Brigade

  During his first tour of Vietnam, medic Franklin Monroe was happy to be issued a .45 because it could get pretty dangerous when the compound was attacked. Eventually he sought out some heavier weaponry. He recalls those firefights and also the traumatic time a soldier stepped on a mine.

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  Ron Rutowski - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Division

  During a firefight, Ron Rutowski was put in a tough spot after his M16 jammed. Fortunately, he had air support that helped him remain safe from VC fire.

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  Ron and Judie Richtsmeier - Army +9 Total Videos

  119th Assault Helicopter Company, 18th Surgical Hospital

  He arrived in the central highlands in the aftermath of the Battle of LZ X-Ray. As he began to fly combat missions, helicopter gunship pilot Ron Richtsmeier gained a lot of respect for the men of the 1st Cav.

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  Paul Kaupas - Marines +7 Total Videos

  1st CA Group, 3rd Marines

  Paul Kaupas remembers leaving Vietnam and still getting some updates from his platoon, which was difficult. Returning home and having to deal with some people dissenting to the troops was something he and his friends had to deal with.

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  Joe Bruckner - Army +9 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  Joe Bruckner was fortunate. When he returned from Vietnam, it was to Georgia, which had a high level of support for the military, and to a loving family. He knew there were many who were not so fortunate. His war experience had made him more patriotic and less likely to complain.

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  Bob Bole - Army +5 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  Bob Bole remembers some of the traumatic moments he and his team faced as they dealt with American casualties off the battlefield in Vietnam.

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  Joe LaBranche - Marines +7 Total Videos

  M Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  Joe LaBranche spent so many years trying to get Vietnam out of his mind, when he finally visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, he couldn't remember most of the names of the fallen he had known. Still bitter over the military leadership and the treatment of returning veterans, he tries to muster some enthusiasm for today's belated recognition efforts.

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  Dale Ney - Army +10 Total Videos

  173rd Airborne Brigade, 503rd Infantry Regiment

  The jungle was so thick in Vietnam that you rarely saw anyone who shot at you, recalls Dale Ney, who also remembers the hellish devastation of napalm attacks. He already knew it's potential because of his training.

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  John Weinig - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  6th Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing

  Pilot John Weinig had tremendous respect for the Special Forces and relished the opportunity to provide air support to them. On one mission, a team was surrounded in rough mountainous terrain. He followed a Forward Air Controller down to the site and used up all his ammunition keeping the stranded team safe. When it came time to leave, the FAC was nowhere to be found and he didn't know the way out. He said a prayer and pulled on the stick.

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  George Bailey - Army +5 Total Videos

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

  While on a mission in Song be, George Bailey recalls the time in which his aircraft crashed and he was rescued by an Air Force Sikorsky HH-3E helicopter, nicknamed the "Jolly Green Giant.”

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  Bob Ballagh - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 19th Field Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division

  The artillery was moved north in anticipation of a battle and what a battle it turned out to be, the Tet offensive. It was a good reason to use new classified ammunition and Bob Ballagh's unit was the first to fire it. It was also during that operation that he received the Soldier's Medal for pulling soldiers to safety from a fire.

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  Frank Aiken - Army +4 Total Videos

  Headquarters Battery, XXIV Corps Field Artillery

  Vietnam was an experience he will never forget, says Frank Aiken, and he hopes we never have another situation like it. Thirty five years old when he deployed on his first tour, he thought it would not affect him like it affected younger soldiers, but it did. Back home amid widespread hostility to soldiers, he was still in the Army and had two more stops in his career.

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  Tony Coalson - Army +15 Total Videos

  201st Aviation Company, 1st Field Force

  It was a tremendous relief when his year was up and he came home. Helicopter pilot Tony Coalson still had six months to go on his commitment, so he became one of the men who could tell trainees, this is how it really is over there. He had not planned to return to Vietnam, but it happened with Air America.

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  Milo Plank - Marines +1 Video

  3rd Tank Battalion

  Operation Starlite was a large operation that included Marine tanks. In one of those tanks was Milo Plank, who had to spend a harrowing night in the field after getting lost

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  Joe Jamison - Navy +8 Total Videos

  173rd Airborne Brigade

  After joining the Navy and being stationed in Okinawa, Joe Jamison enters pilot training and learns to fly the F-86. As Vietnam begins to heat up, Joe moves to the A-4 Skyhawk. Flying off of the USS Midway from "Yankee Station", Joe tells stories of bombing raids into North Vietnam.

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  Sardo Sanchez - Marines +5 Total Videos

  USS Ticonderoga

  Sanchez trains as a reservist until the age of 18, when he is shipped off to Vietnam. His first tour as an orderly aboard the USS Ticonderoga does not offer the combat experience he was trained for.

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  John Overcash - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant John Overcash made his way through the toughest schools, Airborne, Ranger and Special Warfare School. By then he was a 1st Lieutenant and he made his way to the 1st Special Forces Group in Okinawa to join an A-Team. The next stop was the Vietnam/Cambodia border.

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  Paul Van Riper - Marines +9 Total Videos

  M Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  The radio operator said that a Bravo Report had come in. What's a Bravo report? Company commander Paul Van Riper was wondering but the main thing was that an NVA regiment was on the move. Before it was over, the Marines had a good haul of enemy arms and intelligence.

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  Dick Dyer - Army +12 Total Videos

  118th Assault Helicopter Company, 145th Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade

  During the Tet Offensive of 1968, Dick Dyer and other helicopter pilots and crew manned the berms with their personal weapons as the night lit up with fire of all kinds. The next day, there was a rush to transport many troops to new positions to respond to the widespread attacks.

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  Jesse Groves - Army +6 Total Videos

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

  As his sister drove him to the airport to leave for Vietnam, a morbid thought came over Jesse Groves. He forgot about it when he got there and stepped off the plane into what seemed like hell itself. (Caution: strong language.)

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  Joe Jamison - Navy +8 Total Videos

  VA-22

  Part 2 of 2: Joe Jamison tells stories of piloting an A-4 Skyhawk off of the USS Midway. Raids deep into North Vietnam result in Joe being awarded the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross.

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  Bill Person - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  553rd Reconnaissance Wing

  Bill Person was an Intelligence Officer visiting a base in Laos when he spotted some old T-38 trainers. He just had to fly one and it was fun...at first.

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  John Craven - Army +4 Total Videos

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

  John Craven describes the life of an infantry soldier in Vietnam, the food, the rain, the booby traps and the enemies they faced while in the field almost constantly. The villagers were glad to see the American soldiers, he says, but you always had to be on your guard because any one of them could be Viet Cong.

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  Paul Van Riper - Marines +9 Total Videos

  Advisor, 3rd Marine Battalion, Republic of Vietnam Marine Division

  When Marine advisor Paul Van Riper arrived in Vietnam, he had already faced live fire in the Dominican Republic. That helped the rookie officer deal with the more intense combat he would now face. There were many combat assaults, but the one he remembers most is the one in which a Viet Cong rifleman shot him.

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  Allen Robinson - Navy +4 Total Videos

  USS Jamestown AGTR-3

  Allen Robinson reflects on the divisions in the country and the unpopularity of the Vietnam War. He is grateful that the incivility he felt as a returning veteran has turned to respect. And he feels blessed to have his health when so many from that war were affected by Agent Orange.

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  Bill Crossley - Army +15 Total Videos

  Provisional Artillery Group, I Field Force

  Bill Crossley explains how he prepared for counter battery fire in Vietnam. Counter battery is the response to incoming fire and the secret is to plot potential locations for the enemy to set mortars and have that data ready when an attack occurs. You can find the direction of an enemy mortar hit by examining the crater.

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  Mark Kramer - Marines +7 Total Videos

  C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines

  Kramer must rely on his resilience and inventiveness to overcome the challenges of Khe Sanh Combat Base. After a precarious landing, his unit spends several months under intense artillery fire in a dusty, war-torn camp with limited food, water and sleep.

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  Bob Ballagh - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 19th Field Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division

  The 1st Cavalry's artillery was highly mobile and used quick air assaults to move where they were needed. For some reason, says Bob Ballagh, a new commander increased the number of rounds each battery had to keep on hand and that slowed things down considerably.