COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  David Kirk - Army +3 Total Videos

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

  After his training was finished, Kirk arrived in Pleiku, Vietnam. He was then stationed officially in An Khe, Vietnam and was told that his first mission would quite literally be the next day.

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  Tom Agnew - Army +4 Total Videos

  54th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance)

  You could get a lot of ground fire when you were going in to land at a hot LZ. Medic Tom Agnew remembers a lot of them, especially the one which he departed dangling from the end of a cable. While he was out there, a tracer round went by his head and made him angry, so he took out his pistol and fired back, which must have greatly amused his antagonist.

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  Jim Littig - Army +14 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Jim Littig shuffled through several assignments as the war was winding down for US forces. Vietnamization was underway with varying results. When he had to miss a much anticipated Navy lunch aboard ship, he was disappointed, but it turned out that he was lucky.

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

  Multiple Units

  After just a small taste of military training, John Le Moyne wanted more. He joined ROTC and then took a regular Army commission. Next stop: Ranger School.

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  Greg Lowe - Army +9 Total Videos

  615th MP Company, 95th MP Battalion, 18th MP Brigade

  Greg Lowe discusses the awards he received in Vietnam and why one of them made his wife nervous. The hardest thing he had to do in the war was escort his deceased best friend back to the family.

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  Lee Ellis - Air Force +23 Total Videos

  390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing

  After a few months, Ellis was split up from the group of other prisoners he shared a cell with, including the Lieutenant Colonel. The POW Camps had plenty of US prisoners locked away, and it was very difficult for them to communicate with one another because of how split up the different groups were. Ellis shares the living conditions of his prison cell and what it was like to stay there for so long. He would constantly have nightmares.

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  Henry Newinn - Army +5 Total Videos

  MACV-SOG

  A typical mission for Newinn consisted of him accompanied by eight or nine other men and being dropped into enemy territory, tasked with going in stealth mode to gain any information about the North Vietnamese Army. It wasn't long until the Tet Offensive broke out and things really started to heat up between the north and south. He remembers an ambush from the Viet Cong just when they had gotten all their equipment set up after landing.

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  Frank Heiny - Army +10 Total Videos

  15th Public Information Detachment, 25th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade

  Like many soldiers in Vietnam, Frank Heiny got around country by helicopter. He recalls one assignment where the LZ turned out to be a minefield, unbeknownst to the first few men to disembark.

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  Tim Dunn - Marines +16 Total Videos

  Scout Sniper Platoon, 1st Marines

  Marine sniper Tim Dunn had a variety of other duties while on base, including standing perimeter watch and joining the quick reaction force. There were no sniper operations at night. The night vision technology of the time was too primitive to be of much help.

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  Tony Nadal - Army +16 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment

  Tony Nadal's company had gone after the "lost" platoon at the Battle of Ia Drang, but they had been driven back by the enemy. The platoon had to spend a long, lonely night hunkered down inside a small ring of artillery fire. The next day brought a major assault before dawn, which was only broken when daylight brought gunships and other air support. It was the end of the fight at LZ X-ray but the Battle of Ia Drang was not over. Part 4 of 5.

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  Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

  Americal Division

  In a conversation with his brother, Ed Fulghum got some insight into leadership. His brother expressed something that suggested he was a poor leader and it made him realiize what a decent job he was doing. As a 1st Sergeant he had a great record and he also had two Medal of Honor recipients in his unit.

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  Frank Heiny - Army +10 Total Videos

  15th Public Information Detachment, 25th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade

  Frank Heiny received his specialized training at the Defense Information School where he’d learn to produce media from within Vietnam. Beyond learning the ins and outs of photojournalism, he also had to be prepared for what could go wrong in the jungle.

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  Edward Ayson - Army +4 Total Videos

  54th Medical Detachment

  One time Ayson and his crew had to rescue ARVNs, or members of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He remembers there were multiple deserters trying to climb aboard his aircraft during the rescue, and as he was taking off one of them fell off the wing. He also talks about a particular hoist mission to rescue an injured non-commissioned officer. After his second tour in Vietnam was up in 1970, he chose to come home because he had gotten married and wanted to be reunited with his wife.

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  Quincy Collins - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  80th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  Collins took an assignment from the Thunderbirds, but figured that the job was better suited for his friend, Andy Nile. Unfortunately, as Andy was up in the air with the leader of the Thunderbirds at the time, they performed a loop maneuver that did them both in before they could eject themselves. Collins in part blames himself for Andy's death, but has learned to live with the fact that it wasn't his fault.

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  Andy Boyko - Marines +10 Total Videos

  I Co., 3rd Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment

  Andy Boyko immigrated to America at a very young age, and growing up he knew he wanted to be a United States Marine. He describes some of the training he received after he enlisted in 1964, and how he was able to share these stories with the others who were there with him. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)

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  Tom Buchan - Army +11 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 4th Cavalry Regiment

  While stationed at Fort Carson, Tom Buchan took a moonlighting job as an auto mechanic. This kept him off the streets and it led to something special, a chance meeting.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  The Marines had crossed the Perfume River bridge but ran into heavy fire and had to go back. Bernardo Lopez didn't want to call it a retreat but he did want to get the hell out of there. Then his platoon began to retake what they could as Hue was being besieged. They later found out that 10,000 of the enemy were in the city. Thankfully, they did not know how few Marines there were. Part 2 of 4.

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  BG Robert L. Stewart - Army +16 Total Videos

  336th Assault Helicopter Company

  Helicopter pilot Bob Stewart remembers an incident in Vietnam when his battalion commander called in his platoon commander and demanded he do something about a crew chief who was smoking marijuana. The answer surprised him.

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  Ray Porter - Marines +12 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  After several duty stations as a fresh Marine officer, it became time for Ray Porter to go to Vietnam. It was 1967 and he took command of a company in the Thuong Duc valley above Da Nang. There was a lot of action, including, believe or or not, enemy elephants.

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  Doug Moore - Army +4 Total Videos

  159th Medical Detachment

  Doug Moore talks about meeting his future wife, Debby, in Vietnam all those years ago. Although they met when they were still young, they would not pursue a romantic relationship until later in life when they reconnected forty five years later at the Vietnam Women's Memorial on Veterans Day.

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  Phil Mayrand - Army +9 Total Videos

  F Co., 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger), 25th Infantry Division

  Phil Mayrand was attached to the 25th Infantry Division out of Cu Chi in III Corps of Vietnam. He was a newly minted NCO, taking charge of men who had been cycling in and out of country for weeks. The weight of this responsibility hit him quickly. They operated in conjunction with the Brown Water Navy, the Navy's river patrol boats that maintained control of South Vietnam's lengthy waterways. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)

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  Frank Farrell - Army +7 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  While in the process of shipping supplies over to different batteries, there were times where the supply lines themselves would get attacked, causing a delay in replenishing weapon amounts. Once the battle at Dak To had concluded, Farrell and his men went back to carrying out their traditional search and destroy missions around the area.

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  Carl King - Marines +12 Total Videos

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

  A raid on Hill 881 ended with a hard walk back to Khe Sanh. Carl King recalls the threat of mortar fire and the toll it took on his platoon. (Caution: May contain strong language)

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  Sar Phouthasack +12 Total Videos

  Royal Lao Army, Special Guerrilla Unit (SGU)

  The CIA offered to send Sar Phouthasack to Special Forces training and the young Laotian jumped at the chance. His father had been a paratrooper and it was his dream to follow in his footsteps. It was a long two years, not just jump school but leadership and medical training. He was among the first in his class to be deployed.

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  Richard Dorsey - Army +10 Total Videos

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

  Advanced infantry training was tough, but Rich Dorsey had adapted well to Army life so he got through it fine. He was well versed in following orders so, after a brief leave at home, it was no problem for him to be at the right place in the right state to leave for Vietnam.

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  Ron Dillard - Army +6 Total Videos

  227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

  Helicopter pilot Ron Dillard never encountered any serious anti-aircraft batteries in Vietnam, but he did take a single round to his Huey, which caused him to return to base. He had more trouble with leeches while he was on the ground.

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  Sammy Davis - Army +9 Total Videos

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

  Sammy Davis received a harmonica from his mom, which meant he had to learn how to play it. Since his guard duty was on an artillery battery, he could play it while keeping watch. This became an indispensable part of life in the unit.

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  Sar Phouthasack +12 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Regiment

  As the Pathet Lao continued to hammer Lao government forces, Sar Phouthasack had to move his secret listening post from Vientiane to Thailand. He was starting to be concerned about his family, so he asked his boss about going with them to America.

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  LTG (Ret) Freddy McFarren - Army +10 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  He was glad he went to West Point, but those first two years were hard. Freddy McFarren was a long way from home but, with help from his fellow classmates, he got through those first two years and the last two were much better.

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  BG Robert L. Stewart - Army +16 Total Videos

  336th Assault Helicopter Company

  The Christmas truces were a farce. Helicopter pilot Bob Stewart drew more fire during the holiday than usual. He flew down in the delta, supporting ARVN infantry. They had three divisions there, two of which were useless.