Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Jim and Tuy-Cam Bullington +8 Total Videos

US Department of State

Her brothers were in the attic and Tuy-Cam was in the yard being pushed around by NVA soldiers. They had swarmed into the city of Hue during the Tet Offensive and they were intent on finding American collaborators. She worked in the US consulate, so she was keeping very quiet. All around her in the city, mass executions were under way. Part 3 of 4.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

They could hear their own artillery rounds going overhead. Then, all of a sudden, they were right on top of Bob Atkinson's unit. He dove for a small hole at the same time as another guy, who took the brunt of the blast. His picture was in Stars and Stripes but there was no mention of friendly fire.
Roger Hamann - Air Force +3 Total Videos

23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

Hamann returns to the US to serve the remainder of his military time close to his home in Maine. Just days into a new job, Hamann - who was never wounded in combat - loses an eye in a carpentry accident.
Mike Paque - Army +13 Total Videos

Headquarters Company, 4th Infantry Division

Mike Paque had just arrived at division headquarters in Pleiku when he met the supply officer, who was about to rotate home. He wound up with his job by virtue of his business administration degree and began to improve the situation and make friends.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

It was a lot of weight to carry. He needed the mortar tube and the strap, but there was no time to use the sight, the way the mortar was used in Vietnam. The base plate and the bi-pod added a lot of weight and also slowed down the set up. So Bob Atkinson started carrying just the mortar and setting it in a helmet, firing by sight and instinct. The Captain didn't like that.
Jim McCurry - Navy +8 Total Videos

U.S. Navy, USS Newport

Mr. McCurry describes witnessing a few OCS students break the honor code during their final test and explains how the code has personally impacted him as an individual.
Ed Callison - Army +8 Total Videos

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

Ed Callison remembers some of the elements of Vietnam that kept the spirits high. Joking around with fellow soldiers was part of the Vietnam experience.
Bud Alley - Army +13 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

Most soldiers went to Vietnam on airliners but Bud Alley's unit went the old fashioned way, on a troop ship. After riding out a typhoon, the men anchored offshore and listened to combat communications coming from the battlefield. This hyped up the young recruits who were convinced they were going to storm the beach.
Frank Aiken - Army +4 Total Videos

A Battery, 7th Battalion, 15th Field Artillery

His first stop in Vietnam was the "Repo Depot," the replacement center where your assignment would be decided. They sent Frank Aiken to an artillery battery near Bong Son in support of a Special Forces group and a Montagnard civil defense force. In addition to the big guns at the base, they had mobile weaponry to protect them on the roads.
Rick Bates - Air Force +5 Total Videos

8th Tactical Fighter Wing, 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron

Rick Bates remembers what to look for when spotting enemy anti-air forces. Taking fire, especially from Surface-to-Air Missiles, was always nerve-wracking but he learned how to properly evade them.
Ernest Banasau - Army +17 Total Videos

A Company, 4th Infantry Division

Banasau and his team struggle with questionable orders from an inexperienced, egomaniacal company commander. Later, they come across what sounds like a massive army, and are forced to take cover... only to discover their ears have deceived them.
Charles White, Jr. - Air Force +10 Total Videos

23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

Pilot Charles White, Jr. was at the top of his class and wanted to go to Vietnam, but was devastated when the Air Force decided there were enough fighter pilots and made a Forward Air Controller out of him. Based out of Thailand and flying over Laos, he targeted movement on the Ho Chi Minh Trail for air strikes.
MajGen Larry S. Taylor +15 Total Videos

Air America

Marine aviator Larry Taylor valued his stint with a ground unit as a liaison officer, but he was intrigued by this civilian outfit, Air America. It was an open secret that it was an intelligence operation supporting friendly locals in Southeast Asia. It could be mundane supply and refugee flights or it could be dangerous insertions on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Bob Ballagh - Army +9 Total Videos

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

Under his command in Vietnam, only one soldier was lost. Bob Ballagh felt badly about that, but was proud that was the only loss. After over one hundred air assaults, he returned home and advocated for a return to unit basis for deployments and was gratified when the Army changed the policy.
LTG Larry Jordan - Army +11 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division

Larry Jordan's mechanized unit was sent to relieve some men who were pinned down while attacking a North Vietnamese Army bunker complex. The mission was successful, but he saw things he never wanted to see again in the Army, especially the behavior of a certain captain.
David Farthing - Navy +7 Total Videos

135th Assault Helicopter Co. (EMU)

A career officer and pilot in the Australian Navy, David Farthing was an instructor for a time, then it was his turn for a Vietnam tour. He would command the Australian component of a combined US/Australian helicopter company. A team of good young pilots was assembled and his wife commented years later, they were like the guys in Top Gun.
Bill Person - Air Force +8 Total Videos

553rd Reconnaissance Wing

Bill Person gives a behind-the-scenes look at the sensor program in Vietnam. Using technology adapted from the Navy's anti submarine program, audio and seismic sensors were placed along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and inside North Vietnam. In one case, a recording of two amorous VC led to the destruction of an ammo dump. Curiously, Person was told not to share any more targets with the FACS.
Ross McKimmey - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Aviation Battalion, 1st Infantry Division

Passing time in Vietnam was crucial to staying sane while on the base or in the big cities. Coming back from war, Ross McKimmey didn't feel the scorn from the anti-war protests that some of his fellow soldiers did. Mr. McKimmey also discusses the differences between his three tours in Vietnam.
Richard Jackson - Marines +15 Total Videos

3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment

Company commander Richard Jackson tried to be as unpredictable as he could with his Marines, following no set pattern and changing tactics constantly. This worked so well that his unit received praise from up the chain of command.
Harvey C. Barnum - Marines +6 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 9th Marines

Barney Barnum recounts the men he served with during that major firefight in Vietnam and some of the other influential people during his service and the events that came as a result.
Albert Montillo - Army +8 Total Videos

U.S. Army, 3rd Battalion, 60th Inf. Reg., Bravo Company, 2nd Platoon, 9th Inf. Div.

Mr. Montillo describes his surreal experiences from numerous boat patrols.
Richard Jackson - Marines +15 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Richard Jackson recalls the time when he was stuck in a helicopter with a general observing the battle field while his company of Marines were getting battered down below. When he finally got down to the ground, he repositioned the unit with a mad dash downhill from their exposed position.
Tony Coalson - Army +15 Total Videos

201st Aviation Company, 1st Field Force

The helicopter came in fast, touched down for a moment, and the besieged special forces team ran for it. Pilot Tony Coalson remembers seeing a huge amount of enemy bodies in the concertina wire. On the way back, he asked them, what happened back there. "It was Custer's last stand." Part 2 of 2.
MajGen Larry S. Taylor - Marines +15 Total Videos

US Marine Corps Reserve

After his time with Air America, Larry Taylor returned home and did two things, joined the Marine Corps Reserve and tried to find that sweet airline job. He finally got the job and concurrently rose through the ranks of the Marines. He would even have some active duty left in him in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Jim McCurry - Navy +8 Total Videos

U.S. Navy, USS Newport

Mr. McCurry discusses the stresses that come along with being aboard ship and describes a tragedy that resulted in the death of over twenty men.
Michael Marshall - Marines +7 Total Videos

3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

The Marines did what they could to help villagers with sanitation and health needs, but Michael Marshall could feel the chilly distance between them. His company commander was Captain Jerome Cooper, who held an important distinction.
Phil Mayrand - Army +9 Total Videos

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

Phil Mayrand had come out of Non-Commissioned Officer school, and was again met with a big choice. One was to go straight to the war and put his training to the test, the second was to take up Ranger School. At Ft. Benning he was put through his paces to push his limits both physically and mentally. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)
Henry Dunn - Army +9 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment

For Henry Dunn, the best day of his Vietnam tour was the day he got the call on the way into battle. Turn around and come back to base. You're going home. He fondly recalls the Australian allied troops and says that, years later, Australians credited America with slowing the advance of Communism in their neighborhood.
Jim Benson - Marines +14 Total Videos

I Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

They had good intelligence from the Vietnamese that the Viet Cong were making a supply run down from their mountain base. Jim Benson's platoon got to the area, set up an ambush, and waited. They never came. They didn't come the next day either and the sleep deprived platoon went out for a third try. Part 1 of 2.
Ross McKimmey - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Aviation Battalion, 1st Infantry Division

While assigned to take photographs over Vietnam, Ross McKimmey had the chance to fly a multitude of different aircraft that helped them achieve the mission at hand. He describes various situations he found himself in while on reconnaissance missions, including discovering a huge number of NVA trucks, almost being shot down, and being approached by an enemy jet.