Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Dale Ney - Army +10 Total Videos

173rd Airborne Brigade, 503rd Infantry Regiment

Combat in the rice paddies was a miserable and dangerous affair. It was wet and nasty with little cover. The mountain range near Vung Tau was no picnic, either, but as Dale Ney's unit conducted a sweep along it toward the sea, a remarkable sight called for a little unscheduled R&R.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

When the door opened after landing in Da Nang, it was like opening an oven, the heat was a blast right in the face. It was that and sand fleas and combat on his first night there, remembers Bob Atkinson. He was a Marine rifleman, but then he was picked at random and told, "You're a mortarman." Never having seen, much less fired a mortar during training, he wondered, "Are we laying block and brick for these people?"
Kenneth Moorefield - Army +12 Total Videos

Advisor, 21st Infantry Division, ARVN

Kenneth Moorefield remembers two incidents from his time as an advisor to a South Vietnamese unit that gave him a sense of the complexities of that war and its effect on the people. It was a struggle that divided families and provoked deep animosity.
COL Jack Jacobs (ret.) - Army +5 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

COL Jack Jacobs (ret.) expounds on the world of the soldier and their status as professionals.
Mark Kramer - Marines +7 Total Videos

C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines

17-year-old Mark Kramer enlists in the Marine Corps despite his father's protests, and to fast track his enlistment, agrees to travel from Ohio to the west coast boot camp in San Diego - his first time west of the Mississippi.
Dennis Haines - Army +15 Total Videos

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

Despite the fact that they could receive no confirmation of his arrival, the family and fiancé of Dennis Haines were there on Christmas Day when he arrived at Walter Reed Hospital. A friendly pilot had made the flight from Alaska fun for the injured warrior.
John Craven - Army +4 Total Videos

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

When he got to Vietnam, John Craven's buddies were sent south to different units and he was sent north to the 101st Airborne. "I ain't jumping out of no airplane," was his response, but in Vietnam, airborne meant air mobile, deploying by helicopter. After a while, he got the urge to ask to be assigned as a radio operator.
Rody Conway - Army +14 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command Vietnam

Overnight on the Tet battlefield, stinging beetles were swarming, attracted by the blood from the wounded. Rody Conway and the troops put down ponchos to block the beetles, but the ponchos were filling with blood.
Ron Mastin - Air Force +6 Total Videos

11th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron

Ron Mastin took an ROTC commission out of college and went to flight school where he really took to it. His first assignment was in the back seat of an F-4 Phantom fitted for reconnaissance. He served a tour at an RAF base in England, then he was sent to Thailand to fly reconnaissance missions over Southeast Asia.
Henry Dunn - Army +9 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

"Don't shoot! They're our people!" That was the order but Henry Dunn resumed fire at the targets he had who were wearing pith helmets. The ambush at Landing Zone Albany had raged for hours when someone finally got some air support called in. The A-1E's dropped napalm to the cheers of the surviving soldiers. Part 3 of 4.
Mike Law - Army +8 Total Videos

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

Mike Law remembers one of the encounters he had trying to help a soldier who he had known from earlier in training. Flying in to a hot LZ with protection from a turret kept enemy fire off of them while they airlifted their men out of there. Locating the source of enemy fire, they were able to take care of the objective quickly.
Jim and Tuy-Cam Bullington +8 Total Videos

US Department of State

The old capital city of Hue was the center of the Buddhist struggle against the South Vietnamese government. At the consulate, Jim Bullington found himself face to face with student mobs and acted as a go between with the leader of the monks. The situation began to get out of control and roadblocks were set up throughout the city.
Jack Jeter - Navy +9 Total Videos

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

Following a trail while on patrol, Jack Jeter's platoon veered off to the left and walked right into an enemy base camp. Luckily, most of them were further down the trail, waiting to ambush the Americans. Left on their own in a ferocious firefight, they were surprised when the company commander arrived on the scene. Part 2 of 2.
Al Matheson - Air Force +6 Total Videos

23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron

A group of airmen from inside the secret air intelligence effort became Forward Air Controllers with a mandate to report back on what was going on in the non-classified world. Their back channel contacts caused others to wonder how they were so lucky. Al Matheson remembers this as the most rewarding assignment of his career.
Paul Jacobs - Navy +8 Total Videos

Multiple Ships

Paul Jacobs, who commanded several ships during the Vietnam War, muses over the need to kill the enemy in the course of his job, as well as the need to pivot towards humanitarian duties when required. The sorry spectacle of politicians managing wars when it should be left to the military is a sore point with him.
Bill Cunningham - Marines +24 Total Videos

Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 163 (HMM 163)

Marine aviator Bill Cunningham's first overseas assignment was at the Naval Air Station in Oppama, Japan, where he ferried troops and flew search and rescue missions. After 14 months, he returned to Pensacola where he became an instructor and honed his skills flying numerous different helicopters.
Ted Cummings - Army +9 Total Videos

1st Special Forces Group

While resupplying in Vietnam, Ted Cummings was in charge of deciding what they need and what they didn't. Thanks to the assistance of a man he respected, General Casey, they got what they needed.
Tarlon Mobley - Army +7 Total Videos

U.S. Army, 173 Airborne Brigade

Tarlon describes the humorous relief of fellow soldiers tumbling down hills in Vietnam.
Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

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

They were chasing a famous North Vietnamese Army division which had bested the French and were now formally entering the new war to support their Viet Cong allies. Artillery forward observer Frank Cox describes the tense moments of what proved to be a futile pursuit.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

Marine mortarman Bob Atkinson got to relax back at battalion only every now and then, and it wasn't that safe there because it was hit frequently. Nor was he immune to heartbreak there, as he found out when a swarm of children went after food scraps in the dump.
Bill Cunningham - Marines +24 Total Videos

Marine Air Base Squadron MABS-16

A Viet Cong bullet had failed to keep him out of the war. After recovering from that misfortune, Marine helicopter pilot Bill Cunningham began his second tour by assuming command of the MABS-16 squadron, which was responsible for the operation of the base at Marble Mountain.
Bill Ray - Army +4 Total Videos

ARVN Advisor, Topographic Company

He wasn't involved in combat, but ARVN advisor Bill Ray saw many casualties evacuated by helicopter to the field next to his hotel in Saigon. He needed the perspective because he was on one of the best tours ever in a war zone, with handball at the air base, tennis at the club and even water skiing. He praise the Vietnamese professionals he worked with but was puzzled by the wide gap between the elite and the general population.
Terry Sater - Navy +9 Total Videos

River Assault Squadron 13

Terry Sater describes his commanding officers and the one he admired the most. Terry also describes the difficulty the Navy Riverine Force had with the South Vietnamese boats and their reluctance to engage in combat.
Bob Atkinson - Marines +17 Total Videos

K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

Bob Atkinson stopped talking to grunts. He was a mortarman and he was constantly meeting new riflemen and becoming close to some of them. He tells the story of Gary Jordan, his best friend, and why he feels responsible for what happened to him.
Dennis Haines - Army +15 Total Videos

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

Recruit Dennis Haines wanted to go to airborne school but the Army gave him a choice. He could either go to airborne school or home for Christmas. He took the leave because he was worried he might not ever return.
Bill Acebes - Army +8 Total Videos

173rd Airborne Brigade

Two things Bill Acebes remembers vividly from Vietnam: the lack of drinking water in the field and the teak trees he used for cover. Ponchos were used to collect rainwater but there was something wrong with that and he can taste it to this day... The teak trees were good for cover but could also prevent evacuation, as he learned during a particularly bad day.
Al Copeland - Army +5 Total Videos

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

He felt he owed it to the country, so Al Copeland volunteered early for the draft. He was infantry all the way, and after basic training and jungle training in the cold rain, he was ready for Vietnam.
Bob Keller - Army +6 Total Videos

5th Special Forces Group

Bob Keller encounters combat in Vietnam while capturing a new informant.
Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

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

New Marine officer Frank Cox was assigned to an artillery battery and was soon in Okinawa training for Vietnam. He and his buddies were dismissive of the enemy there when they saw television coverage. The cocky new Marines weren't very kind to the Naval officers, either, on the voyage to the war.
BG Richard Eaton - Army +5 Total Videos

Company H (Ranger), 75th Infantry

Richard Eaton takes a Ranger company into the jungles of Vietnam to expose the positions of Vietcong supply tunnels.