Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

COL Jack Jacobs (ret.) - Army +5 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

COL Jack Jacobs (ret.) survives a deadly ambush and takes over command of the lead company of the 2nd Battalion, earning the Medal of Honor for his service.
Bill Crossley - Army +15 Total Videos

6th Artillery Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment

The Viet Cong had already done their reconnaissance on the Special Forces base. But when they attacked at midnight, they didn't know about the artillery battery that had just been deployed and dug in. Bill Crossley relates how the attackers stumbled right into heavy fire and were repelled, even though the battery ran out of ammunition and shot illumination rounds in desperation.
Don Chapman - Navy +6 Total Videos

Strike Fighter Squadron 143 (VFA-143)

Navy F-4 pilot Don Chapman explains why medals are a sore subject with him. What were they worth when you were encouraged to write yourself up to receive them? He does have a warm appreciation for the Navy, which taught him the skills to make a good living after his service.
David Andrews - Army +9 Total Videos

17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division

David Andrews discusses the strategies of the ambush patrol. He explains both night and day procedures.
Arthur Hurst - Army +5 Total Videos

125th Air Traffic Control Company

In Korea he had learned to speak a little Korean but Vietnamese was a different story and the tonal language eluded him. Army Air Traffic Controller Arthur Hurst loved working with the Montagnards on joint operations and he marveled at how they would bring along the whole family and maybe some ducks. Less pleasant are the memories of talking to doomed pilots on the radio.
Al Stiles - Navy +16 Total Videos

USS Manley (DD-940)

As the ship approached Da Nang, the crew was baited by the Viet Cong, trying to get them to open fire. Al Stiles was in fire control on the USS Manley, a destroyer which prowled the coast and offered supporting fire to troops inland.
Andrew Robbins - Army +8 Total Videos

3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

Two companies were airlifted in and then withdrawn but one platoon was left behind to run an ambush. Andrew Robbins was on first watch at the end of the line when he saw a crouched figure in the dark. He and his partner pointed their M-16's. It was one of their sergeants. Checking the line, he said. No one had said this would be happening. This began a chain of events that would lead to a tragic death and affect all three men deeply. Part 1 of 5.
John Parker - Army +9 Total Videos

F Battery, 79th Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division

In April of 1972, John Parker started his second tour in Vietnam. He remembers the Battle of An Loc and how the North Vietnamese were trying to go through to get to Saigon but were stopped for the time being. And he reflects on the loss of several Cobras and the crews that he knew.
Rody Conway - Army +14 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command Vietnam

The Viet Cong had set up a tax collecting post on a bridge, so the South Vietnamese recon company, along with American advisor Rody Conway, went to pay them a visit. The first piece of business was to take the high ground.
A.R. McCahan - Army +24 Total Videos

Defense Communications Agency

When communications engineer Mac McCahan arrived in Vietnam, he had to straighten out an Air Force Colonel who was trying to send him to Thailand, where he wouldn't get credit for a combat tour. Then he settled down to improving voice communications and found out that it was so stressful on the switchboards, operators were committing suicide.
Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

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

As the enemy swarmed towards them, the Marines formed a 360 degree defensive position and then they faced a night long assault. It was Frank Cox spotting the artillery support that won the upper hand against, as he calls the Viet Cong, "as difficult an enemy as the Marines have ever faced." Part 2 of 2.
James Trapp - Air Force +9 Total Videos

F-105D Crew Chief

Mr. Trapp describes the challenge modifying planes during the war and dealing with enemy insurgents during Operation Rolling Thunder.
Rody Conway - Army +14 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command Vietnam

Because of his Ranger training, Rody Conway was offered an unusual assignment when he arrived in Vietnam. He became an intelligence officer and advisor to a South Vietnamese recon company.
Bill Ryan - Army +5 Total Videos

238th Aerial Weapons Company

In Bill Ryan's everyday life in Vietnam, he had a daily mission to wake up to. Most of those missions took place in the air, having to locate and target the enemy. Following that, Ryan closes with an 'army pet peeve' that irritates him about other soldiers.
Joe Estores - Army +8 Total Videos

1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division

Joe Estores remembers rotating platoons with another while stationed in Vietnam. At 6 months in country, he extended his tour in order to take a new job with the 1st Infantry Division.
Galen Foster - Army +11 Total Videos

196th Light Infantry Brigade

A captured North Vietnamese soldier had papers on him that indicated a large enemy movement would be coming in a few days. Galen Foster's unit dug in, set up an excellent ambush, and waited. For two days, his mind was swirling with thoughts of home, his childhood and his family. He wrote a letter to his fiance that was never mailed. He prepared himself to die. It was the most scared he'd ever been.
Bill Camper - Army +13 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

The North Vietnamese attacked across the DMZ with everything they had. Bill Camper was an advisor to the ARVN unit stationed there in the wake of the American drawdown and barely got back inside the perimeter as two battalions on a maneuver were lost. The enemy artillery barrage was relentless, and after four days of fighting, the South Vietnamese commander decided to surrender. Camper was having none of that.
Ernest Banasau - Army +17 Total Videos

A Company, 4th Infantry Division

Ernest Banasau's journey from college flunkie to combat-ready soldier takes him from Texas to Tigerland to Pleiku, and is filled with surprises, pranks, and colorful characters.
Beirne Lovely - Marines +7 Total Videos

A Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

Marines are well trained, almost to a fault, says Beirne Lovely who tells what happened when the wall was blown off the officer's club, leaving only the framed door. He also reflects on the serious and somber effects of the Vietnam War, the character it revealed in the warriors, and the sadness of his last duty, making casualty calls on families.
Sam Pyle - Air Force +7 Total Videos

632 Security Police Squadron

Sam Pyle knew wasted effort when he saw it. As the C-47 Psy War planes dropped leaflets urging the Viet Cong to surrender, he knew exactly how they were going to use the paper.
Bo Blasingame - Army +8 Total Videos

212th Infantry Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division

After his tour in Korea, Bo Blasingame attended a seminary and re-entered service as a chaplain. He was back in the thick of battle with a different mission, this time with the 1st Cavalry in Vietnam.
A.R. McCahan - Army +24 Total Videos

Headquarters, US Army, Vietnam

The doctors still didn't know if he'd had a heart attack or not, but they sent Mac McCahan home from Vietnam, regardless. Then they told him he was on his way out of the Army. "No. I'm not," came the reply. Part 3 of 3.
Mike Province - Marines +5 Total Videos

E Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division

Booby traps were a fact of life in Vietnam. In fact, Mike Province replaced a Marine who had shoved others out of the way of the blast from one and was badly injured. The squad leader was big and tough and would issue a beating for what he considered transgressions. Eventually, it was Mike's turn, but first, he had some words for the sergeant.
Ken Adams - Navy +6 Total Videos

Capt., U.S. Navy Pilot, AW16 USS Oriskany, VA-163

Part 2: While the ship's fire rages, Ken helps a sailor fight the fire, but the consequences are great.
Al Lipphardt - Army +10 Total Videos

D Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade

Several seemingly innocuous things can bring back the memories of Vietnam for Al Lipphardt. He learned that for vets of different wars, the process was the same but the details were different.
Ken Adams - Navy +6 Total Videos

Capt., U.S. Navy Pilot, AW16 USS Oriskany, VA-163

Ken Adams reflects on his introduction to North Vietnam by taking a flight with a more senior pilot. As they flew each of their planes, they soon realized they had forgotten to turn on their advanced warning systems.
Beirne Lovely - Marines +7 Total Videos

A Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

Newly commissioned out of ROTC at Dartmouth, Beirne Lovely went to the basic school at Quantico where he received a lot of grief for switching over from the Army. Soon, he and fraternity brother John Feltner were on their way to Vietnam, concerned that all the combat jobs would be gone before they got there. Not a problem, as it turned out.
Dick Dyer - Army +12 Total Videos

145th Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade

After his initial aviation training, Dick Dyer was sent to Fort Rucker, where he learned to pilot Hueys, the Bell UH-1 helicopter used by the Army. He knew he was slated for Vietnam and he was prepared for that. What he was not prepared for was his father's reaction.
Bill Cunningham - Marines +24 Total Videos

Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364 (HMM 364)

Marine Corps helicopter pilot Bill Cunningham was tasked with training Vietnamese pilots during his first tour in Vietnam. He was taken aback when their commander made an ominous promise.
Bruce D'Agostino - Air Force +7 Total Videos

1876th Communications Squadron

Bruce D'Agostino had many contacts with civilians in Vietnam, but was wary of anyone he didn't know well. You never knew who could be the enemy. Warned to watch out for unwitting children carrying possible booby traps, he found himself in exactly that situation when a little boy ran up with something in his hand.