Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Ron Rutowski - Army +9 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Division

Ron Rutowski tells of the medals that he and his unit received for their time in Vietnam and what it was like to transition back to American life.
Aaron Watkins - Army +8 Total Videos

179th Assault Helicopter Company

Chinook pilot Aaron Watkins reflects on the lessons of Vietnam and his own service there. His education and training at Tuskegee University gave him direction and purpose and he traveled with some of the original Tuskegee Airmen in retirement. He is encouraged by the improved treatment of today's veterans and he has some insightful words for those with a big dream
Carol and Stanley Rosenberg - Army +9 Total Videos

85th Evacuation Hospital

Before they met in Vietnam, Carol and Stanley Rosenberg were both drawn to the medical field. She wanted to be a nurse since the eighth grade and he felt the calling to be a doctor. They both also felt that the troops being drafted and sent to Vietnam deserved a little help.
Tarlon Mobley - Army +7 Total Videos

U.S. Army, 173 Airborne Brigade

Mr. Mobley describes a health mishap he faced on a patrol that almost put his team in crisis.
Aaron Watkins - Army +8 Total Videos

179th Assault Helicopter Company

As a Chinook pilot, Aaron Watkins had some of the best living quarters in Vietnam. The pilots had their own club and chow, but he had to learn to like rice, which he did. Some of his missions involved transporting Vietnamese civilians and on one of these, he found out just how much weight his aircraft could lift.
Joe Bruckner - Army +9 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

Joe Bruckner was the assistant intelligence officer, but he got the lead's job and his jeep after a self inflicted wound got the man evacuated. There was constant turnover as people rotated in and out, including one young soldier whose behavior raised suspicion.
Don Chapman - Navy +6 Total Videos

Strike Fighter Squadron 143 (VFA-143)

The USS Constellation carried an entire air wing with fighters, attack aircraft and all the support aircraft needed to carry out missions over North Vietnam. F-4 pilot Don Chapman describes the action when one of his fellow pilots was shot down right at the waters edge and nearby villagers came out shooting.
Jim McCurry - Navy +8 Total Videos

U.S. Navy, USS Newport

Mr. McCurry discusses how he was drafted into the Navy and describes the popular drafting system that was utilized in 1970.
Ernest Banasau - Army +17 Total Videos

A Company, 4th Infantry Division

Among the spoils of Hill 875, Banasau discovers the gruesome remains of the enemy. After witnessing the loss of so many GIs, he feels only satisfaction at the sight of NVA corpses. Nonetheless, a shell-shocked prisoner is mercifully evacuated from the smoldering wreckage.
Jim and Tuy-Cam Bullington +8 Total Videos

US Department of State

Tuy-Cam's family had gathered for Tet, but now they debated whether to flee or stay and hide as the North Vietnamese Army raged through the city of Hue. They elected to flee but they took a bad path. Her fiance, Jim Bullington, had narrowly escaped himself, but returned to the city to search for his beloved. Part 4 of 4.
Gary Lawrence - Navy +11 Total Videos

SEAL Team One

In any service in any war, if there's down time, there will be what can be charitably called hijinks. Navy SEAL Gary Lawrence recalls some of these from his Vietnam tours including racy pictures and movies, getting lesser men drunk and absconding with ice cream. (Caution: adult subject matter and strong language.)
Myron Harrington - Marines +7 Total Videos

D Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

Here Myron Harrington talks about what happened after the intense battle of Hue City in Vietnam. They had a brief rehab period to compensate for all the lost men and heavy casualties. Harrington was thankful that he was still alive after all of that.
Dick Dyer - Army +12 Total Videos

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

Asked to describe what happened on the mission when he was shot down, Dick Dyer has to ask, "Which one?" During the first incident, he had to land immediately, but everyone was OK. The second time, people were shot, but the aircraft was able to limp home.
James Trapp - Air Force +9 Total Videos

F-105D Crew Chief

Mr. Trapp describes what the situation was like in Thailand and shares his experiences from the air base in Korat.
Michael Marshall - Marines +7 Total Videos

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

There is a song that reminds Marine Michael Marshall of his time in Vietnam, but to really see him light up, ask him if he encountered any wildlife there.
Rody Conway - Army +14 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command Vietnam

Tet was heating up, and Rody Conway’s unit was sent in to relieve another one, which was besieged. He had to make a gut-wrenching decision when his friend Lyle King was gravely wounded.
Bill Cunningham - Marines +24 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Marine aviator Bill Cunningham recalls his time in Pensacola practicing carrier landings, including the time his tailhook malfunctioned. Before departing for the next phase of training, the group was asked how many are going to the Marines. His hand was one of the few, but when the Navy bound heard what awaited them, the Marines gained some more.
Earl Simms - Army +8 Total Videos

Civil Affairs Advisor, Nhon Trach District

Though he was a Civil Affairs advisor, Earl Simms had to become an infantryman when the enemy was on the move. He remembers moving with a small force in search of an enemy squad when he instead encountered a reinforced NVA company. That led to a night long run through the jungle. In neighboring districts, there were Thai and Australian units known for their toughness.
Mike Law - Army +8 Total Videos

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

Mike Law remembers some of his more memorable kills over the jungles of Vietnam and some of the funny events that can come from that. Building camaraderie overtime was very easy as the guys got used to serving next to one another.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

How did he spend his down time? "There was no down time," says Bob Atkinson, who was a Marine mortarman protecting Da Nang. He could relax enough at battalion, though, to play pranks involving a radio and a tape recorder.
Albert Montillo - Army +8 Total Videos

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

Due to the harsh, wet environment, Mr. Montillo and his men struggled with "Immersion Foot."
Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Galen Hoover's river boat was sometimes used for jungle insertions of Vietnamese troops, but you had to watch them closely while they were on board. Things would disappear. The area was heavily sprayed with Agent Orange, so it's a concern for him to this day.
Willard Womack - Army +13 Total Videos

18th Aviation Operating Detachment

Sailing from Okinawa to Vietnam on an LST was miserable for Willard Womack, thanks to the bobbing of the landing craft on the waves and the diesel exhaust in his air vent. Once in country, he was surprised how behind the times everything was. (This interview made possible with the support of RALPH J. TINGLE.)
Donna Lowery - Army +2 Total Videos

HHC 1st Battalion 5th Cavalry Regiment 1st Cavalry Division Air Mobile

Deciding to re-enlist after Vietnam, Donna Lowery deployed to Germany where she had a nice deployment there and found readjusting to post-war life easy. She ended up spending 26 years in the military and retired a sergeant major. Donna also has some thoughts on the Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington D.C.
Pat Richardson - Army +8 Total Videos

128th Assault Helicopter Company

Instead of anti-war protestors, Pat Richardson was greeted by a Texas cattleman who bought him drinks. Decades later, looking at the wide variety of books about the Vietnam experience, he recommends reading the ones written by those who were actually there.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

Back in the states, Bob Atkinson tried to exercise his leg and knee and get the strength back. He had four months to go and was at Quantico when Martin Luther King was assassinated and he was put on a street corner in Washington guarding a liquor store.
Ernest Washington - Marines +7 Total Videos

1st Marine Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

To Ernest Washington, Marine Corps basic training was "12 weeks of football practice." But it became much more serious when the civil rights upheaval of the time spilled over into the military. The beauty of it was the understanding which came from striving together as Marines.
James Trapp - Air Force +9 Total Videos

F-105D Crew Chief

Mr. Trapp describes the environment of Da Nang and shares his experiences from a mission that took place there.
Tom Reilly - Army +7 Total Videos

3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade

The Viet Cong were tough and smart, recollects Tom Reilly. He describes the twin tactics of hit and run, in which they presented no target, and the rigging of booby traps, which made targets of the GI’s, long after the guerillas were gone. He clearly remembers the incident at the Sea of Reeds when Edward Powers was killed.
Doug Garner - Army +8 Total Videos

Company A, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

Doug Garner describes why his company feared embarking on "Eagle Flights" in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.