Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Marshall Carter - Marines +16 Total Videos

1st Marine Division

The extra choppers that Marshall Carter requested for his raid on a Viet Cong gathering came in handy right away. The command team's chopper was hit by enemy fire and had to be replaced even before the team arrived at the site. Part 2 of 5.
Don Ware - Air Force +2 Total Videos

333rd Tactical Fighter Squadron

Don Ware explains the details of flight missions operated in the Red River Valley during the Vietnam War. He then recalls a flight in which he led four F-105s on a mission to blow up a bridge on the Red River, and had to engage in several improvisational efforts to complete the mission and get home.
Paul Kaupas - Marines +7 Total Videos

1st CA Group, 3rd Marines

By chance, Paul Kaupas met up with his twin brother in country in Vietnam. They got to spend a few days together and catch up on things before leaving for Combined Action Group school in Da Nang.
Bill Acebes - Army +8 Total Videos

173rd Airborne Brigade

Bill Acebes arrived in Vietnam in the midst of mortar fire and thought, "We're gonna start fighting from right here!" Volunteering for a new organization using long range insertion by air, he quickly found the action hot and heavy.
Al Muller - Air Force +9 Total Videos

23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

Forward Air Controller Al Muller had some tense moments when he was confronted by a MIG during a flight. There was also some tension when he encountered a Special Forces soldier who offered him a drink from a skull, but not for long.
Ernest Washington - Marines +7 Total Videos

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

In Vietnam, Ernest Washington saw the Viet Cong a lot, mostly running away. "They weren't cowards," he says. "They were setting us up." When he was moved further North, he couldn't see the NVA regulars, but he was pinned down a lot by their accurate mortar fire.
Joe Estores - Army +8 Total Videos

1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division

Joe Estores reflects on the difficulties of war and his desire for it to be avoided at all costs. He is grateful to the VA for helping those who choose to serve and hopes it will continue.
Al Copeland - Army +5 Total Videos

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

He was apprehensive, of course, especially after somebody told him he wasn't going to last because of his height. Al Copeland entered Vietnam as a replacement and began to learn the art of the ambush. After dealing with the mosquitos, he had to deal with the booby traps.
David Brown - Army +6 Total Videos

4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade

When he recovered from his wound, David Brown was moved to another platoon and made Platoon Sergeant. He didn't have the actual rank necessary, but he had the heart and his performance earned him a Bronze Star. His last real action was during the Tet Offensive and after that, he headed home, declining the chance to stay and get another stripe.
Tony Coalson - Army +15 Total Videos

201st Aviation Company, 1st Field Force

Helicopter pilot Tony Coalson felt lucky when he was placed in the 201st Aviation Company instead of being thrown into the replacement circuit. He was sent to Vietnam on a troop ship, a practice that was soon to be abandoned. The trip was uncomfortable, but very interesting.
Al Matheson - Air Force +6 Total Videos

23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

Air Force veteran Al Matheson recalls how, at the lowest point of his life, following a fierce battle and the discovery of an atrocity, a sunrise turned everything around.
Ted Cummings - Army +9 Total Videos

101st Airborne Division

Being trained in unconventional warfare, Ted Cummings and his division learned about going behind enemy lines and causing massive disruptions in their ongoing processes. In special forces, the key was to train so that there was a fully developed team effort so that the company never had to rely on a single person.
Vis Kimenis - Army +10 Total Videos

266th Supply and Service Battalion

Vis Kimenis shares his memories of arriving in Bien Hoa, Vietnam in 1966, and how his lifestyle as a supply and service officer differed from his preconceived notions of deployment to the country.
Mike Law - Army +8 Total Videos

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

Mike Law remembers finishing school with plenty of flying time where he felt like he began to get proficient at flying. Operating his aircraft in Vietnam was always difficult with the NVA constantly shifting and having to learn their changing routes.
Franklin Mendez - Marines +4 Total Videos

1st Amtrac Battalion, B Company

Spending more time inland, Franklin Mendez and his battalion were needed at a village nearby. Pulling up, they had the dicey task of picking up two KIAs amid hostile fire.
Bill Person - Air Force +8 Total Videos

553rd Reconnaissance Wing

Bill Person was preparing planes to be mothballed when some guys in blue khaki came and removed the electronic sensors that tracked VC movements on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Then he received an order to take one of the planes to Israel.
Tom Buchan - Army +11 Total Videos

3rd Battalion, 4th Cavalry Regiment

After his reserve unit had been dissolved, Tom Buchan was working in his auto mechanic shop when he got a letter from Uncle Sam. He went to Fort Carson to a mechanized infantry unit. "I'm a tanker," he told them, but he was put to work as a radioman and then as a driver. He might have finished out his obligation stateside but he got into a ruckus in a bar. The CO didn't like that.
Bruce D'Agostino - Air Force +7 Total Videos

1876th Communications Squadron

Bruce D'Agostino took a temporary duty assignment in Saigon repairing teletype machines. The Air Force technician and his crew worked long days so they could have some free time. He used his to become a photographer, inserting himself into both government functions and battlefields. At the latter he learned firsthand the vagaries of the rules of engagement.
Chuck Officer - Marines +8 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 7th Marines

Chuck Officer remembers his early plan to go to college in addition to becoming a Marine, a goal that he never gave up on. After he faced some difficulties with his eyesight, he had to go through a few hurdles that led him to his final path as an officer.
Richard Jackson - Marines +15 Total Videos

Multiple Units

It was his last combat operation. Richard Jackson's company of Marines was to be the lead attack company on an assault against the NVA near the DMZ. During the battle, he called in every kind of supporting fire available to penetrate a fortified village.
Jim Lowe - Marines +8 Total Videos

State Department, MACV

When Lowe was finally scheduled to return home, he landed at Travis Air Force Base, went to San Francisco, and then finally his home in Chicago. Lowe’s very first civilian encounter was surprising and confusing. Lowe had some difficulty readjusting to civilian life, but his wife and family were patient and he was able to assimilate back into the civilian culture.
Tarlon Mobley - Army +7 Total Videos

U.S. Army, 173 Airborne Brigade

Tarlon shares his first experiences with his unit on patrol in Vietnam.
Richard Jackson - Marines +15 Total Videos

3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment

The Colonel told him he was going to take over Mike company. Get over there and straighten it out. Richard Jackson was glad to have a command and he got to Cam Lo by nightfall. He had just settled in when the NVA gave him a welcome.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

At the Kilo One fire base, a relief platoon came in late and Bob Atkinson's platoon was told not to leave, but to stay the night. That was fortunate for them all because there were an extra thirty Marines in camp. Bob woke to explosions and shot a man running at him. Though he had never fired the mortar himself, he began laying down fire on the human waves of enemy. Part 1 of 3.
Jim Benson - Marines +14 Total Videos

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

On Go Noi Island, a Marine company would secure an area, the bulldozers would clear it up to that point, and the Marines would advance some more. After his company's week was done, Jim Benson was going to warn the relieving officers and Amtrac drivers to take a different trail because he had smelled the enemy's pungent fish sauce on the trail. He was too late.
Tal Centers - Army +7 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 23rd Field Artillery Regiment

The smell hit him as soon as he stepped off the plane in Saigon. A nauseating smell that never went away, the smell of Vietnam. Tal Centers was trained as an artillery surveyor and once he got in country, he was attached to the 1st Cavalry Air Mobile Division. The first job? Set up base camp at An Khe.
LTG Larry Jordan - Army +11 Total Videos

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

At every level, says Larry Jordan, you have an officer teamed with a non-commissioned officer, and the officer is getting trained. He kept a good relationship with his men by not elevating himself. He recalls the time shared with men in Vietnam and a wary chaplain at his base camp.
Harvey C. Barnum - Marines +6 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 12th Marines

Barney Barnum remembers a few of his most colorful excursions as a Marine. Navigating the Viet jungle proved a multitude of difficulties for his battalion.
Bruce D'Agostino - Air Force +7 Total Videos

1876th Communications Squadron

Bruce D'Agostino's most vivid memory of Vietnam is leaving. Instead of waiting on a commercial flight, he hopped a military plane to his home base in Japan. Climbing aboard in darkness, he was startled when the lights came on and revealed the plane's cargo. His life was changed during that flight.
Mike Waugh - Army +10 Total Videos

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

Mike Waugh's unit stood down while he was in Vietnam and the personnel were dispersed across the country, although the American presence was shrinking quickly. For his last mission, he had to fly a stripped down aircraft to a transhipment point, a mission that, oddly, he considered his most dangerous.