Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Freddie Owens - Army +11 Total Videos

A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

As the battle of the Ia Drang Valley began, Freddie Owens had to hunker down and listen to the fire from a couple of miles away. He knew there were enemy battalions in there and he feared a bloodbath. Moving in the second day, he saw the grim results of the battle so far, an unbelievable scene of death and destruction.
Mike Waugh - Army +10 Total Videos

7th Battalion, 13th Artillery

On his thirty day foray into the field with the Special Forces, Mike Waugh thought he would be in a hot area, but it was quiet. The Montagnards on the operation supplemented the C-rations with some delicious food and, when they returned to Pleiku, he was invited to dinner with their commander.
Dick Dyer - Army +12 Total Videos

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

In Vietnam, helicopter pilot Dick Dyer was reminded of what he was taught in ROTC, that you can't get too close to the enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. When he wasn't flying, he corresponded with his wife and family and even a few random citizens who got his name from the paper back home.
Al Lipphardt - Army +10 Total Videos

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

The worst firefight for Al Lipphardt in Vietnam started on Thanksgiving 1967 and continued for four days. The initial barrage from the enemy killed four and wounded ten in his platoon.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

HQ Company, Marine Barracks, Wash. DC

When Ron Christmas was assigned to the Marine Barracks in Washington, he was surrounded by tradition at the Marines' oldest post. It was there that he met Blackie, a most unusual member of the garrison.
Mike Paque - Army +13 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

The airmen didn't like the infantry's dirty boots on their PX floor, but they changed their tune after a Viet Cong attack. Those infantry boys were welcome, after all. Mike Paque recalls that, after that incident, his entire division moved to the Cambodian border in a bid to clear out enemy refuges.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

3rd Marine Battalion, 2nd Marine Division

Platoon leader Ron Christmas was a stickler for training, even on his first deployment, and all his men who were up for promotion passed their test. From the Mediterranean, he went to the Caribbean, where a beautiful sunset changed his life.
Frank Aiken - Army +4 Total Videos

A Battery, 7th Battalion, 15th Field Artillery

Frank Aiken found his Montagnard allies to be somewhat lawless and wild, though he says they were good fighters and they were lucky to have them. The enemy was everywhere, trying to get through the wire at night and taking potshots at them on the roads. He joined the locals for meals, though he says you couldn't be sure what you were eating.
Tommy Clack - Army +8 Total Videos

II Field Force, USARV

Military duty was a family tradition for Tommy Clack. While many of his generation were going to great lengths to stay out of the war, he withdrew from college and volunteered for the Arm, where he went through OCS and became an artillery forward observer.
Ralph Puckett - Army +15 Total Videos

502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

Battalion commander Ralph Puckett recounts the story of a night long attack by Viet Cong and NVA Regulars on a position held by one of his companies. He was grateful they had a Forward Observer to coordinate artillery support and helicopters for resupply, things he lacked in Korea. For his leadership during this attack, Puckett was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross.
Owen Ditchfield - Army +13 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne

After nearly getting wiped out at Hill 996, Owen Ditchfield's company spent some time clearing hilltops for landing zones near the Laotian border, where high tech surveillance equipment could trigger remote ambushes on the enemy's supply trails. He relates how life back at the base camp was nearly as dangerous as being on patrol in the jungle.
Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

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

Frank Cox is a Marine who was inspired by that great American recruiter, John Wayne. There was no ROTC at his small college, so he signed up for a platoon leaders class. If you made it through two intense summer sessions, you had the chance to be a Marine officer after graduation.
Terry Sater - Navy +9 Total Videos

River Assault Squadron 13

Terry Sater describes his thoughts and feelings about former Secretary of State, John Kerrys' book, Tour Of Duty. Terry mentions inaccuracies in the book and how unsettling it is when he knows better.
Bill Crossley - Army +15 Total Videos

6th Artillery Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment

One example of LTC Gene O'Grady's leadership was his response to an incident of errant artillery fire. Bill Crossley remembers that O'Grady made him use a briefcase to look more professional as he arrived to assess the situation. Then he agreed to use the trashcan as a file for some awful paperwork.
Stuart Jamison - Army +9 Total Videos

9th Infantry Division (ARVN)

Stuart Jamison talks about going into a particulary dangerous area of Vietnam and finding trouble.
Ron Mastin - Air Force +6 Total Videos

11th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron

Ron Mastin had been a POW for a year and his captors were constantly moving him around. His family didn't even know he was alive until the release of Doug Hegdahl, who had memorized hundreds of names of prisoners. He never gave up hope, never once thought he might not go home. He even found his crew mate, Tom Storey, with whom he'd been shot down in 1968.
Tommy Clack - Army +8 Total Videos

C Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

After his first Vietnam tour, artillery officer Tommy Clack tried to modify stateside training to better prepare soldiers for actual conditions. Returning for a second tour, he insisted on forward duty with a combat unit.
Al Lipphardt - Army +10 Total Videos

45th Military Intelligence Company, USARV

When he arrived for his second tour in Vietnam in Long Binh (IV Corps), Intelligence officer Al Lipphardt knew that it was a different war when he was not issued a weapon. This was disturbing to him, as were the Rules of Engagement in the field.
Owen Ditchfield - Army +13 Total Videos

101st Airborne Division

The Kit Carson Scouts were Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers who had defected to the South. Many of them worked with American units to give insight to the tactics of the enemy and Owen Ditchfield was in charge of the program in his division. He would take them to fire bases where one of them would give a startling demonstration to the American soldiers.
Gordon Roberts - Army +7 Total Videos

B Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

The bunkers were simply constructed but very strong. No weapon carried by the foot soldier could take them out. So when the firefight started, Gordon Roberts took advantage of return fire from his unit and flanked the bunker. Firing from the hip, he got to the portal and fired inside. Then it was on to the next one.
Ben Malcom - Army +12 Total Videos

23rd Vietnamese Division, 5th Special Forces

Ben Malcom discusses how his Special Forces unit worked with the indigenous Montagnard people of Vietnam in order to train them to fight against North Vietnamese forces.
Bruce D'Agostino - Air Force +7 Total Videos

1876th Communications Squadron

His uncle was a veteran, so Bruce D'Agostino corresponded with him while in Vietnam, feeling he would understand what he was going through. The disgust began to build as he witnessed the nonchalant treatment of the remains of dead soldiers and read the ridiculous undercounts of casualties by the top brass. His top secret clearance gave him access to material which convinced him that they had no intention of winning the war.
Jim Benson - Marines +14 Total Videos

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

After some R&R in Hawaii, Jim Benson had duty with the battalion operations staff. This soon grew tiresome and he longed to get back into the field and command a platoon again. He was able to do that and more before he left Vietnam.
Jay DeGraw - Marines +8 Total Videos

Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Division

Veteran Marine Jay DeGraw, like so many old hands, wound up with a Vietnam tour late in a long career. He says he was a paper pusher, but he spent his time behind sandbags with everyone else when the incoming was hot. The salty Sergeant describes that tour as only he can.
Gary Campbell - Army +5 Total Videos

196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Div.

Gary Campbell survives a frontal attack by the NVA (North Vietnamese Army), as his helicopter group flies into an intense firefight.
Beirne Lovely - Marines +7 Total Videos

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

Newly minted Marine Lieutenant Beirne Lovely was making contact with the enemy every day as soon as he arrived at Khe Sanh. Assigned to establish a forward outpost, his unit was annoyed by the lack of rations when a grazing deer was spotted. The results of the deer hunt were a little concerning.
Omer McCants - Army +8 Total Videos

162nd Assault Helicopter Company, 13th Combat Aviation Battalion

It was like heaven when he saw the Golden Gate bridge. He had made it through his Vietnam tour. Omer McCants went home to Alabama, reunited with his wife, and reported to Fort Rucker for his next assignment. When he eventually prepared to leave the military, a corporal processing his paperwork asked him a fateful question.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

H Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

Ordered to take ground across a bridge in Hue, Captain Ron Christmas used a barrage of smoke rounds to cover a dash across the span. After holding long enough to move across vital units, he found that his men were disappointed they had to withdraw.
A.R. McCahan - Army +24 Total Videos

Defense Communications Agency

Mac McCahan lost two cousins in Vietnam, Lee and Gene McCahan. If that wasn't bad enough, his brother George McCahan died from leukemia due to contact with Agent Orange. His own luck stayed with him, though, and he kept missing enemy ambushes by thirty minutes.
Joe McDonald - Army +5 Total Videos

A Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Division

After his first combat experience, medic Joe McDonald was told he was not required to pull wounded soldiers from live fire, but he felt differently. His chief task was to stop the bleeding and get the wounded stabilized for evacuation.