Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Roland Guidry - Air Force +18 Total Videos

350th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron

Roland Guidry explains that the drone missions he was flying were not limited to Vietnam but included China and North Korea as well. A special, longer range drone had to be developed for the missions in China. When he rotated back to the States, the Air Force sent him to graduate school in astronautics.
Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

ARVN Advisor

Near the end of his tour, ARVN advisor Howie Bachman was patrolling in an unfamiliar area when the vehicle in front of him was hit by an anti-tank rocket. A platoon of Montagnards was wiped out and when the Vietnamese wouldn't touch them because of cultural prejudice, he had to step in.
Bill Greinke - Army +18 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Why should I change to civvies? Bill Greinke was on his way home from Vietnam and he didn't like it but he complied. Afterward, he reflected back on the much worse treatment he'd received in college as an ROTC cadet. He was determined to get out of the Army, but he still had time to serve.
Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

ARVN Advisor

ARVN advisor Howie Bachman returned the fork his counterpart gave him at chow time and asked for chopsticks, since everyone else was eating with chopsticks. This gained him a lot of respect. When they were at a village, two laughing little girls were doubtful that he was a real American and their reasoning surprised him.
Lucio Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 1st Marines

Lucio Lopez recalls the day he enlisted in the Marines on the spur of the moment. He was young and eager and his mom was crying.
Bill Greinke - Army +18 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

The ARVN unit had casualties and needed a Medevac. American advisor Bill Greinke directed them to a hilltop where the ships could hover low enough to pick up the wounded. There was one wrinkle, the Vietnamese troops had captured a python and they wanted to send it back for a feast.
David Samuels - Army +12 Total Videos

135th Assault Helicopter Company, 145th Combat Aviation Battalion

Vietnam was calling him. Every day, David Samuels would see news coverage of Vietnam and, once he decided he wanted to be a pilot, he felt he would have to go there. The Air Force and the Navy required a college degree but the Army was desperate for helicopter pilots and would take anyone who proved they could handle it.
Paul Curs - Air Force +15 Total Videos

20th Tactical Air Support Squadron

He thought he had been promised an assignment to fly fighters after a tour as a forward air controller, but Paul Curs found out that it was less than a promise. As he boarded a flight in Spokane to head home, a belligerent passenger wanted to fight. A returning Green Beret nearly gave him what he wanted.
Hubert Yoshida - Marines +8 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment

He thinks about it every night. Hubert Yoshida's experiences led him to write about his bloodiest battle, Operation Utah. He was up for a Silver Star for his actions in this fight and it bugged him for 50 years that it was downgraded to a Bronze Star. As he researched material for his book, he learned something that made him forget about it.
Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Howie Bachman opines on the strange and beautiful things he saw in Vietnam. He knows a good spot for a golf resort. Then he pays tribute to a couple of leaders who influenced him in his career and helped him understand and practice good leadership.
Carl King - Marines +12 Total Videos

H. Company, 1st Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

Arriving in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, Carl King saw firsthand how violent the war really was. He arrived in Con Thien after having seen wounded Marines from 1st Battalion being brought back from Hue. Then, he got to see how well prepared his unit was. (Caution: May contain strong language)
Gene McCandless - Marines +11 Total Videos

3rd Amtrac Battalion, 3rd Marine Division

After basic and infantry training, Marine recruit Gene McCandless was assigned to Amtracs. The amphibious tractors could ferry troops from ship to shore as well as travel on land to support the infantry. When he got to the staging battalion for final training before deployment, they found out he was still seventeen.
Mike Devine - Army +11 Total Videos

25th Infantry Division

The heavy weapons squad was a close knit group of guys that platoon leader Mike Devine could depend on. It was with a sergeant from that squad that he was detailed to go on missions with some 1st Cavalry units. His outfit was new in country and it was felt that they could learn from the guys who had been around a while.
Jim Littig - Army +14 Total Videos

Multiple Units

The Army was short of officers, so when Jim Littig finished his basic officers course at Ft. Benning, he was sent to Ranger school the same day with jump school to follow. He had applied to Pathfinder school and was waiting for a slot when he got a lesson in how things get done in the Army.
Bill Gessner - Navy +9 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Bill Gessner was at the advanced level of Navy Corpsman training when the reality of Vietnam hit home. Leave was cut short and orders were cut for him to join the Fleet. There was a huge need for replacement Corpsmen in the expanding war. He got lucky and served a Mediterranean tour first, which gave him a chance to train hard with a Marine unit. This may have saved his life later.
Bill Greinke - Army +18 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

Bill Greinke had expected a combat infantry assignment in Vietnam but he was used as an advisor to the South Vietnamese Army. That was not a career booster and he had a negative feeling about the whole affair. He had no training for the position but he learned a lot from his interpreter about the language and culture.
Joe Richardson - Air Force +9 Total Videos

497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing

Fighter pilot Joe Richardson was apprehensive about night missions over Vietnam but the tracers and the missiles were unmistakable. He had to learn how to out maneuver the surface-to-air missiles, which wasn't easy but it was doable.
Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

What do you want people to remember about the Vietnam War? For Bernardo Lopez, the answer is complicated and, perhaps, too big a question for him. Who is he to say?
Bill Greinke - Army +18 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

American advisor Bill Greinke describes a large incursion into Cambodia, a part of the secret war that included his ARVN battalion.
Mike Leonard - Air Force +14 Total Videos

Multiple Units

The Lockheed Constellation would fly at about 50 feet above the water just out of Haiphong harbor. In the back, weapons controller Mike Leonard noticed that enemy radar was attempting to lock on. It turned out there was an anti-aircraft battery on a small island.
Mike Devine - Army +11 Total Videos

25th Infantry Division

There was nearly constant contact with the enemy in the Ia Drang valley. Mike Devine remembers the close air support, which could kill you if the coordinates were just a little off. The napalm, especially, was a scary sight. For his last couple of months, he became the support platoon leader, which was only slightly less dangerous.
Bill Greinke - Army +18 Total Videos

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

When it came time to rotate home, Bill Greinke felt apprehensive about his friends left in the field. It was near the end for the South Vietnamese Army that he'd been advising. He had decided that his Army career was at an end, too, a decision he reached after a run in with one of his superiors.
Carol and Stanley Rosenberg - Army +9 Total Videos

85th Evacuation Hospital

Carol Rosenberg couldn't find boots that fit when she arrived in Vietnam. All the clothing was for male personnel. The young nurse was soon serving in a hospital ward full of extreme malaria cases and drug addicts. Stanley Rosenberg was fortunate to have more experienced doctors show him how to provide care in the extreme trauma cases that are an inescapable part of war.
Carl King - Marines +12 Total Videos

H. Company, 1st Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment

He’d been in the USMC for a decade but now he was assigned to fight in his first war. Luckily, he’d receive some additional training before he left that would pay off dividends later in Vietnam. (Caution: May contain strong language)
Roger Lutz - Army +10 Total Videos

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

It was at LZ Pepper that a Chinook crashed right on top of medic Roger Lutz. He was fine but there were others who were seriously injured. Shortly after this, he had a hard time dealing with the death of a soldier who fell prey to a Bouncing Betty.
Howie Bachman - Army +19 Total Videos

3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment

The green tracers started coming in on Howie Bachman's position. He determined that it was really another platoon that was under attack and moved to reinforce them. After the fight, they found blood trails leading into a village and were eager to go looking for the wounded enemy. No, we're not going to do that. That's how a massacre starts.
Vic Grahn - Air Force +7 Total Videos

604th Special Operations Squadron

What should future generations remember about the war in Vietnam? For Vic Grahn, it's all about those who fought the war being abandoned by their own leadership and the general public. What song takes him back? The answer is surprising though totally logical.
Marshall Eubanks - Army +14 Total Videos

114th Assault Helicopter Company

The 114th Assault Helicopter Company was based at a small airfield in Vinh Long. Huey pilot Marshall Eubanks was sometimes officer of the guard for night time security, not a lot of fun. Neither was it fun to thoroughly clean all the aircraft when the unit had to stand down and prepare for return to the States. He didn't have enough time in country to leave, so he went to another outfit.
Mike McCormick - Army +8 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Mike McCormick gives his honest assessment of what went wrong in Vietnam. Although we could have easily prevailed by doing what the leadership was unwilling to do, for him the greater mistake was allowing the French to re-assert their colonial power there after World War II.
Paul Curs - Air Force +15 Total Videos

20th Tactical Air Support Squadron

FAC pilot Paul Curs usually worked with Air Force fighters but one day he was working with some Navy A-7s. He wouldn't clear any pilot to go ahead and attack unless the pilot could see him. That way there would be no mid-air collision. He received that assurance so he gave the go ahead. It was nearly the last thing he ever did.