Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Joe McDonald - Army +5 Total Videos

A Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Division

Joe McDonald served 6 months each in San Antonio, Ft. Meade, Vietnam, and the hospital. Unfortunately, he had to face the public abuse known to so many Vietnam vets.
LtGen Lawrence Snowden - Marines +16 Total Videos

7th Marine Regiment and 3rd Marine Amphibious Force

In Vietnam, Regimental Commander Lawrence Snowden saw the dirty part of the war operating down in the Delta. Later, working at HQ making bombing assessments, he began to realize the aerial assault on the North was not working.
Bob Ballagh - Army +9 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 19th Field Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division

Bob Ballagh says nearly all of his West Point class wanted to go to Vietnam. "A good soldier runs to the sound of guns." Assigned to the 1st Cavalry field artillery, he was engaged in a major battle almost immediately at Pleiku.
George Forrest - Army +11 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

George Forrest remembers the men under his command as both grand and simple, guys who could find humor in anything. Life in war meant that basic needs and desires came to the forefront. For Forrest, that meant ice cream and dry toilet paper. When he left the command, his men made sure he knew that he'd made a difference in their lives.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

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

Always looking for a bit of humor for relief, Captain Ron Christmas and his men had some fun in a posh toy room in a captured mansion. What they found in another well appointed house was an eye-opening stash of brandy. Both were great morale boosters.
Stuart Jamison - Army +9 Total Videos

9th Infantry Division (ARVN)

Stuart Jamison describes treating a wounded fellow advisor in the open during heavy fire from Viet Cong forces on February, 18 during the Tet Offensive.
Joe McDonald - Army +5 Total Videos

A Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Division

In Vietnam, Joe McDonald helped Montagnard villagers engineer their water supply and increase their crop yields. But back home, speaking at schools, the parents didn’t believe him, saying in Vietnam we were only bombing and killing people.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

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

Ron Christmas tells the story of a Marine who kept getting wounded, and kept returning to battle because he couldn't desert the men that he considered to be his brothers. That, he says, is the true meaning of Semper Fidelis.
Ken Adams - Navy +6 Total Videos

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

Part 1: While aboard ship, Ken is awakened to a severe fire. The ship quickly fills with smoke, and Ken runs into trouble as he tries to get topside.
Craig Leyda - Army +3 Total Videos

9th Cavalry Regiment

Craig Leyda remembers his Cobra being shot down in the middle of Vietnamese infantry.
Ralph Puckett - Army +15 Total Videos

502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

It was better to put men in the field and leave them there. That was the philosophy of Battalion commander Ralph Puckett in Vietnam, where some commanders inserted and then quickly withdrew their troops. When the operation was over, the reward was beer and steak and ice cream. Being prepared was very important to him and he illustrates that principle with a story about some soldiers who were not.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

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

Marine Ron Christmas reflects on the basic principles of urban warfare, which he learned on the fly in the battle for Hue. He felt blessed in his later career as he received many rewarding assignments.
Al Lipphardt - Army +10 Total Videos

A Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd. Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division

Al Lipphardt’s last duty in his first Vietnam tour was with a new unit that had just arrived. He taught them the ropes, as in "don’t take the path" and "don’t pick things up." Back home, he moved into Military Intelligence, specializing in Aerial Surveillance.
Freddie Owens - Army +11 Total Videos

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

Freddie Owens looks back at the devastation he faced at LZ Albany and balances that against the joy he feels when he sees the offspring and grandchildren of those who didn't survive. These are feelings that he tried, and failed, to express in written form.
Jim Lowe - Marines +8 Total Videos

State Department, MACV

Dasher Wheatley was out on a search and destroy mission, and he and his men quickly found themselves outmanned and outgunned. Butch Swanton, who was on the mission with Dash, was hit, and Dash ordered everyone else to retreat while he stayed with Swanton to get him evacuated.
Pat Richardson - Army +8 Total Videos

128th Assault Helicopter Company

The 1st Cavalry was the first Army unit to have it's own helicopters and the Vietnam War was the first war in which they were used tactically in large numbers. Pilot Pat Richardson flew for them sometimes, as well as supporting Australian and New Zealand units. He remembers a party during which a couple of American pilots decided they could drink the Australians under the table. Bad idea.
Ron and Judie Richtsmeier - Army +9 Total Videos

119th Assault Helicopter Company, 18th Surgical Hospital

He was a helicopter pilot who had crashed. She was a nurse who took care of him. They had grown close during his healing, but it was time for him to go home. When the goodbye was underwhelming for her, Judie made sure to stay in touch with Ron until the deal was sealed and they became the Richtsmeiers.
Charlie McMahon - Marines +6 Total Videos

Combined Action Program, Hotel 6

Charlie McMahon leads a convoy into Hue, unaware that the Tet Offensive has begun. Upon discovering a city occupied by stubborn North Vietnamese forces, he and his team tread carefully, battling the entrenched army street-by-street, house-by-house.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

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

It was Friday the Thirteenth when a North Vietnamese soldier fired an RPG at Ron Christmas. Dodging a direct hit, his legs were wounded badly enough to cause his evacuation. Unfortunately, he became lost in the medical system.
Tom Reilly - Army +7 Total Videos

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

When he arrived in Vietnam at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Tom Reilly was assigned to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade at Long Binh, and began a routine of sweeps, patrols and ambushes. Long periods of monotony were the rule, but he soon got a taste of action.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

Service Company, HQ Battalion, 1st Marine Division

When Ron Christmas was assigned to Vietnam, he was so excited to be going that he studied the Vietnamese language at his own expense. When he arrived in country, he reluctantly took the command of a service company.
George Forrest - Army +11 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

Before they got into any serious combat, George Forrest's unit kept busy building their base camp and looking for some diversions, including wrestling matches between the officers and the men. They were dismissive of both the enemy and the Vietnamese people they were protecting, but when he returned years later, he realized they were human beings like any others. This realization has implications for today's soldiers deployed as nation builders.
Freddie Owens - Army +11 Total Videos

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

No one got any sleep that first night in Vietnam. Freddie Owens recalls the tension among the men, most of whom he had trained. This bond would make it tough for him later on when the dying started. His unit went straight into the field and stayed there. Not a chance they would get to see Bob Hope but they did claim to run into some Chinese troops.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

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

Under the rules of the Marine Corps at the time, Ron Christmas should have been discharged after he was wounded in Vietnam. As he recovered his strength, he was able to avoid a medical exam until he got in line with some inductees.
Allen Robinson - Navy +4 Total Videos

USS Jamestown AGTR-3

One of the first things you learn when serving on a ship is the terminology. Everything has a new name. Allen Robinson recalls those days, and also the beautiful Pacific sunsets and a miserable Pacific typhoon.
Stuart Jamison - Army +9 Total Videos

9th Infantry Division (ARVN)

Stuart Jamison describes the effects of napalm on the enemy and the landscape during the Vietnam War.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

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

What Marine Captain Ron Christmas knew, as he assembled a relief convoy, was that action was reported in Hue. What he and others didn’t know was that the North Vietnamese Army had infiltrated the entire city.
Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

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

The job of forward observer is a vital one in combat and Frank Cox describes how he did his job in Vietnam. The forward observer feeds data to the artillery battery for targeting the enemy. On one memorable mission, he called in over 1700 rounds, a record at the time.
Jim Lawrence - Army +12 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

He was pinned down by enemy fire when he suddenly realized that, with his captain called to the front of the column, he was the leader of a company in the middle of an ambush. Jim Lawrence knew he had to get them moving and away from there so he stood up and at that moment, a sniper fired. Part 4 of 5.
LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

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

New Company commander Ron Christmas found lax discipline when he arrived at An Hoa base. This was something he could fix because he loved training, that and his 106mm recoilless rifle.