Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

F Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

Frank Cox recalls the frustration and anger felt by many in Vietnam due to the ineptness of the war effort and the difficulty in the field. Channeling this anger fueled a successful career for him later, but there was an incident on patrol when he let the anger get the best of him.
Jack Martin - Army +9 Total Videos

Multiple Units, Corps of Engineers

Army engineer Jack Martin was offered his choice of assignments. It could be Korea or Vietnam but he hated cold weather so much, he chose Vietnam. His first assignment was at a desk in Long Binh, but his career got a boost when he was offered command of a battalion. He jumped at the chance and faced a host of challenging situations. (This interview made possible with the support of BARBARA SHELDON in honor of Joseph Graham.)
Henry Dunn - Army +9 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

The first two days of the Battle of Ia Drang valley behind them, the American units remaining at the battlefield began the ill-fated march to Landing Zone Albany. Already exhausted, Henry Dunn moved out with the others and as they neared their destination, the ambush began. Sporadic gunfire at first, then mortar rounds. Part 2 of 4.
Henry Templin - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

He arrived in the middle of the monsoon season. Everywhere was deep mud, but Henry Templin learned that you could travel a little and it would be hot and dry. He started as an ammo bearer and quarreled with the gunner in his squad, which was why he was glad to transfer to a rifle squad.
Kenneth Sager - Army +5 Total Videos

1st Cavalry, A Company, 228th Assault Helicopter Company

During a firefight, Ken Sager was trapped in a flaming helicopter that led to his injuries he sustained from the war. Piecing together the story of what happened that day didn't happen for many years.
Jim Lawrence - Army +12 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

The battle of the Ia Drang Valley was not yet over. There was a column of men from the 7th Cavalry marching to a site called Albany for pickup, and as they neared the landing zone, the jungle erupted in vicious gunfire. North Vietnamese were waiting for them. Amazingly, as Jim Lawrence fired at the enemy who was charging his position, he was ordered to cease fire. He disobeyed that order. Part 3 of 5.
LTG Larry Jordan - Army +11 Total Videos

Multiple Units

After four years of ROTC and even more years of hearing his father and uncle argue over who had it worse in World War II, Larry Jordan secured an appointment to West Point. He was one of only nineteen minority cadets when he entered in 1964. After a thirty five year career, he retired as a Lt. General.
Bruce D'Agostino - Air Force +7 Total Videos

1876th Communications Squadron

It was difficult readjusting to civilian life after being in a war zone, says Bruce D'Agostino. No one knows what you went through over there. He reflects on his growing involvement in veterans' issues and points out that the Vietnam war had a very high volunteer rate, men who felt that they couldn't do less than their fathers and uncles did.
Gary Campbell - Army +5 Total Videos

196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Div.

Gary Campbell witnesses a 2LT, standing only ten feet away from him, killed by a sniper.
Aaron Watkins - Army +8 Total Videos

179th Assault Helicopter Company

Chinook pilot Aaron Watkins recalls some of the nerve wracking action on his missions in Vietnam, including getting shot at on the ground. That was a bad feeling because you're just there. You can't maneuver. He also reveals a very effective tactic, screaming in right above the trees.
Ernest Banasau - Army +17 Total Videos

A Company, 4th Infantry Division

Banasau makes the most of his time in recovery, including spending time in Japan with new American friends.
Jim McCurry - Navy +8 Total Videos

U.S. Navy, USS Newport

Mr. McCurry shares a tragic casualty he witnessed on the Fourth of July during his time in Vietnam.
Charlie McMahon - Marines +6 Total Videos

Combined Action Program, Hotel 6

While chasing down the enemy following the Battle of Hue, McMahon is wounded by a surprise grenade attack. He remains in combat, and sees out the war with a hunk of shrapnel in his leg that remains to this day.
David Harrington - Army +6 Total Videos

Multiple Units

David Harrington remembers being sent home on leave only to return to combat in rural Vietnam. One particular experience left him without an escape route in the mountains, hoping for some friendly assistance.
Joe Bruckner - Army +9 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

His feeling was that we needed to be involved in Vietnam to stop the spread of Communism. Citadel cadet Joe Bruckner knew he would be going to the war. He recalls his training experience, especially the sobering night ambush exercise.
Bill Patterson - Army +7 Total Videos

319th Transportation Company, 6th Transportation Battalion, 48th Transportation Group

The truck convoys in Vietnam had to keep moving even if someone broke down. That happened to Bill Patterson on the road to Quan Loi and he wondered what he was going to do with one spare and three flat tires.
Sardo Sanchez - Marines +5 Total Videos

Combined Action Program, Group 2, 4th Unit, 2nd Platoon

On his second tour, Sanchez is assigned to a CAP unit, where he develops a close bond with fellow soldiers, along with some of the villagers he protects. Under the leadership of a distant but dedicated sergeant, his platoon learns to survive day by day.
Bill Cunningham - Marines +24 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Marine aviator Bill Cunningham had a little mishap with a rocket while training in Puerto Rico. He still doesn't know where that thing went. When it was time for assignment, he was given a choice, instructing or multi-engine aircraft. Neither appealed to him so he went a third way, helicopters.
Grady Birdsong - Marines +8 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division

Grady Birdsong remembers growing up in Kansas as the son of an oil man. During the time Vietnam was starting, he decided to enlist in the service as a Marine.
Rody Conway - Army +14 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command Vietnam

Rody Conway knew that it was a waste of time to be in the infantry and not go into combat, so he pushed to get sent to Vietnam. First was a six-week course on what to expect, like the fact that “friend” and “shoot” was the same word in Vietnamese.
Bill Ray - Army +4 Total Videos

Headquarters Company, 35th Combat Engineer Battalion

The worst day in Vietnam for Bill Ray, who was with an engineer unit building roads, was the day three civilians were accidently killed in separate incidents. Other problems during that tour included potheads and a reluctant Sergeant Major. At least the VC left him alone.
Dick Dyer - Army +12 Total Videos

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

Dick Dyer and Jim Thorne were in flight school together and they both were deployed to Vietnam with the 145th Aviation Battalion flying Hueys. There was a great need for pilots and every one of them practically had a helicopter strapped on.
Paul Van Riper - Marines +9 Total Videos

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

To promote espirit de corps, Marine company commander Paul Van Riper required the men to fix bayonets as they crossed the wire. They were very dedicated to their unit, as demonstrated by one young corporal who was repeatedly wounded, yet kept returning. Then there was the Sergeant Major who gave him the highest compliment a young Captain can receive.
Bert Johnson - Army +5 Total Videos

Scotch Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

Originally from East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Bert Johnson was raised by parents who were both in medical units in the second world war. They urged him to go to West Point to get his college education, but instead he wound up going to Case Western Reserve for a year. After that he was accepted into Harvard, but got drafted after a semester. He was sworn into the Army and went to Fort Dix, New Jersey for basic training.
Gary Lawrence - Navy +11 Total Videos

SEAL Team One

While at Navy boot camp, Gary Lawrence encountered recruiters for the underwater demolition teams which were no longer known as frogmen but Navy SEALS. He passed the screening test but on career day, he was informed that he had to get a ship rating before he was allowed to go to SEAL training. Dispirited, he chose the Seabees. (Caution: strong language.)
Joe Galloway (Co-author of +13 Total Videos

Civilian Journalist

Joe Galloway was discouraged with college and was on his way to enlist when he drove by the daily newspaper's building, decided to stop, and asked for a job. Thus began a long career which would take him far from home.
Paul Hart - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Cavalry Division, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, C Troop

Paul Hart remembers growing up with some military influence in his family when he got his notice to report for a physical. He remembers not really knowing much about the conflict in Vietnam during the time of his joining.
Mike Peterson - Marines +4 Total Videos

Combined Action Program, Group 3, 1st Unit, 8th Platoon

Mike Peterson arrives in Vietnam on the eve of the Tet Offensive, and wakes up in the middle of the night amid gunfire and chaos. A careless lifer causes a massive explosion that levels the local hooches.
Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

The restrictions on artillery fire in Vietnam were so strict that by the time permission to fire was obtained, the combat conditions had changed. Artillery liaison officer Frank Cox tells how he beat the system once he became a forward observer by using prepared coordinates and then firing his pistol in the air as he requested the fire mission over the radio.
Tony Coalson - Army +15 Total Videos

201st Aviation Company, 1st Field Force

It was an unlikely duel. A lone North Vietnamese with an AK-47 firing at an F-4 fighter jet coming around for pass after pass. Tony Coalson remembers watching that unfold at 3 AM, the first night of the Tet Offensive. What the news media did with the news of this widespread surprise attack altered the perception of the war back home. Part 3 of 3.