COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  David Farthing - Navy +7 Total Videos

  135th Assault Helicopter Co. (EMU)

  When a new pilot checked in, David Farthing asked where he was before. The answer caused him to bite his tongue. They were always short of pilots in the assault helicopter company, but he didn't think this guy was going to work out. Overall, though, things were getting better and it was his opinion that it had a lot to do with the new top commander, Creighton Abrams. (Caution: coarse language.)

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  Marvin Cole - Army +10 Total Videos

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

  It could be tough getting resupplied in the field in Vietnam. Medic Marvin Cole nearly had a Chinook land on top of him in the fog. He and his medical platoon performed missions treating civilians in their villages and he relates a chilling story of a child used by the enemy to attack one of these operations.

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  Tim Dunn - Marines +16 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marines

  He was used to hot, humid summers, but when the door on the airliner opened in Da Nang, Tim Dunn felt like he was standing in front of a blast furnace. The Marines who came to pick him up were dirty and dusty and haggard looking.

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  Roye Wilson - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 138th Field Artillery

  When someone at work made a comment that America had lost the Vietnam War, Roye Wilson was shocked. Our soldiers never lost a battle there. The politicians decided they would leave and they did. To him, it was an honorable enterprise and the only right course at the time and it is his belief that it contributed to the fall of Soviet communism.

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  LTG (Ret) John Le Moyne - Army +15 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  American advisor John Le Moyne didn't give the South Vietnamese Airborne unit much advice. He was there to call in air strikes, artillery, Medevacs and resupply. He marveled at the toughness and courage of the fighters who traced the unit's lineage back to the French Colonial Airborne.

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  Dave Oliver - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron

  The Air Force rescue crews flying the big helicopters known as the Jolly Green Giants began to get respect among the pilots of other services because they excelled at retrieving downed airmen. Pilot Dave Oliver was on one such mission, which was going badly, when the commander asked if was he willing to go in without waiting for backup. The situation was dire for the men on the ground so the answer was affirmative. He would be awarded the Silver Star for this action.

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  Richard Jackson - Marines +15 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment

  His company command at the Cua Viet River was just the way Richard Jackson liked it. He was given free reign to take care of his area. He describes the tactics he used to fight the enemy and recalls one memorable fight in which his men and an NVA unit charged at each other in darkness.

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  Ray Porter - Marines +12 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment

  Combat is always chaotic but the recovery of the SS Mayaguez was particularly disjointed. The joint operation suffered from too many parties at the top trying to exert influence, recalls Ray Porter, who led the assault on the ship itself. Part 3 of 3.

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  Mike Leonard - Air Force +14 Total Videos

  21st Tactical Air Support Squadron

  Forward air controller Mike Leonard went up to Ban Me Thuot to help out for a few days. The first night, as he settled in with a cold beer, the radio crackled with pleas for help from a nearby special forces camp. They were under siege. Part 1 of 3.

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  Jim Bolan - Army +13 Total Videos

  1st Special Forces Group

  Why were the Montagnard units getting no contact? It was determined that they weren't going out far enough and on the second patrol that ventured further, Jim Bolan and the combined unit ran into the back of a VC ambush. A furious firefight followed, and he summoned his ace in the hole, the Air Force.

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  Mike Morris - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Infantry (Mechanized), 25th Infantry Division

  It was the most intense action he saw during the war. Mike Morris describes the hour long battle with an NVA unit that made an unusual frontal assault. When daylight came, it was a grim scene, with hundreds of enemy dead.

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  Tom Agnew - Army +4 Total Videos

  54th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance)

  Can I cut the mustard? Tom Agnew was apprehensive on the way to Vietnam and wondering if he was up to the task. He was assigned as a medic in a helicopter evacuation unit, known as Dustoff. On one of his first missions, he learned not to triage the wounded too quickly. (Caution: coarse language.)

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  Richard Jackson - Marines +15 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment

  It was hard to find the enemy. Charlie would disappear into his holes and only come out once the Marines of Mike company had left. Richard Jackson's men tried probing the ground with sharp sticks, but they broke too easily. What they needed was steel. Thus was born the "Mike Spike." Part 1 of 2.

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  Tony Nadal - Army +16 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment

  This isn't going to work. That's what Tony Nadal told his boss, Hal Moore, as they launched a helicopter assault to search for the enemy. He was right. The forces scattered and hid, so new tactics were called for. The next assault was in the Ia Drang Valley and they were perhaps too successful. Part 1 of 5.

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  Jim Littig - Army +14 Total Videos

  505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division

  Everyone breathing in a uniform was hurriedly mobilized by the 82nd Airborne as they scrambled to reply to Gen. Westmoreland's demand for more troops. On the flight over, while some of the planes were grounded by weather, Jim Littig saw an amazing test of wills in an Airborne versus Air Force standoff.

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  LTG (Ret) Lawson W. Magruder III - Army +14 Total Videos

  23rd Infantry Division (Americal)

  While he was beginning his shift as the night duty officer, Lawson Magruder would marvel at the wrecked helicopters brought back to base. The brigade had moved and tactics had not been adjusted for the fact that there were anti-aircraft batteries up near the DMZ. He relates the story of LT Dick Anshus and a downed pilot who were captured.

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  Bob Tibbitts - Army +10 Total Videos

  1st Infantry Division

  Bob Tibbitts and his platoon of APCs were near the Cambodian border in a bad area. That's why they were there. The NVA thought they had one of the vehicles in a nice ambush but it turned out there were two of them. Let the firepower commence!

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  Clebe McClary - Marines +10 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  It was a long night. Clebe McClary and his men were left alone on Hill 146 after an operation gone awry. The NVA was coming in and a grenade fell into his position. It was the first of several that would knock him right out of the war. During the fight, Ralph Johnson jumped on top of one of the grenades, saving Clebe's life and the lives of other Marines around him. Johnson would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his selfless service.

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  Ralph Colin - Army +7 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  Ralph Colin had been doing a good job, maybe too good, he thought. They made him point man so he was leading the way. He was working it jointly with a partner on the day they found a booby trap the hard way.

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  Bill Pearson - Army +11 Total Videos

  199th Light Infantry Brigade

  Platoon leader Bill Pearson sent out a squad to set up a night ambush and when they made contact, it was with a much larger VC force. With the rest of the platoon, he set out to find them and bring them back. When he located the besieged squad, the battle became intense and they were in danger of being wiped out. In a desperation move, he called in artillery on his own position.

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  Sammy Davis - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  It wasn't any ragtag Viet Cong, it was a battalion of NVA that was assaulting the artillery battery where Sammy Davis was stationed in the Mekong Delta. After an RPG hit his gun, he regained consciousness and found his position nearly overrun. After firing every round he had, he saw a wounded American on the other side of the river. He knew what he had to do and his actions brought him consideration for the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor.

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  Bill Gessner - Navy +9 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 9th Marines (Attached)

  The fighting was hard. One company was ambushed and the other two were having a hard time breaking through to support it. Corpsman Bill Gessner was in the thick of the fight and as he was treating a wounded Marine, a hand grenade came into the hole and wounded him and killed two others.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  He was already dog tired from staying awake to keep an eye on his untrustworthy ARVN allies. Bernardo Lopez and his fellow Marines were told to gear up and head to Hue. The Tet Offensive was on. The combat there was intense but there was also some strangeness to the proceedings, like the Vietnamese girl who asked him an odd question and the TV cameraman who wanted a good shot. Part 1 of 4.

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  Lee Riley - Marines +5 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Saddle up! The Marines were used to helicopters but this time they were ordered to board trucks. Hue City was under siege as the Tet Offensive raged across the entire country. Lee Riley recalls that they were under fire the minute they got there and it didn't let up for months.

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  Mike Pomakis - Marines +9 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 7th Marines

  It was during Operation Desoto that the forward observer asked radioman Mike Pomakis if he'd like to go on a special reconnaissance patrol with him. They crept quietly into a village that they suspected was occupied by the NVA. It sure was.

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  Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

  Eagle Dust Off

  Word back at the Eagle Dust Off base was that Fred Behrens was dead. Shot down and hit with five bullets, he survived two nights in the bush and was airlifted out when he was found by some Rangers. It was a long recovery with sometimes indifferent treatment by the Army. Part 3 of 3.

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  Myron Harrington - Marines +7 Total Videos

  D Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

  In 1968, Captain Myron Harrington led the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in a challenging attack on the citadel in Hue City, Vietnam. The urban battlefield was heavily fortified with enemy machine guns and mortars, but the Marines had to move forward. This is the story of how he and his men meticulously planned and executed the prolonged charge on the tower; actions that earned Harrington the Silver Star and Navy Cross.

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  John Bates - Marines +8 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  John Bates had just recovered from a gunshot wound but the NVA wasn't done with him yet. When he was on a listening post, he saw them creeping toward his position and readied a hand grenade. Before he left Vietnam he would have two more Purple Hearts.

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  There was water everywhere which meant that there were mosquitos everywhere which meant that Terry Caskey had malaria four times in Vietnam. His day at the hospital could be mundane or it could be terrible. He recalls a terrible day when a chopper full of dead and wounded Marines landed at the hospital.

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  Jack Tragis - Army +9 Total Videos

  82nd Medical Detachment

  No GPS, you had to find them with rough map coordinates and a radio beacon. Medevac pilot Jack Tragis had a reputation for getting in and out quick on his evacuations so you better be ready. He went down in a chopper seven times. The most memorable of those incidents was the time he spent the night in a rice paddy with a full load of patients.