COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Frank Heiny - Army +10 Total Videos

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

  Frank Heiny came from a hard working, military family in Indiana. He had been interested in journalism as a career, but when college proved to be too expensive, an opportunity to attend the Defense Information School and serve in the Army seemed like a great fit for him.

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  Clebe McClary - Marines +10 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  He didn't see a lot of snakes, but the wildlife was plentiful when Clebe McClary was in the field in Vietnam. The birds were beautiful, the monkeys were annoying and the water buffalo did not like Marines. As for the enemy, he could not be trusted at all and the truces were a joke.

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  Lee Ellis - Air Force +23 Total Videos

  390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing

  While locked away in a POW camp, Ellis says that the guards were armed around the clock with AK-47s, but were not allowed to hurt prisoners unless they tried to directly escape. He does remember one time, however, when a prisoner got in deep trouble for crafting a makeshift American flag inside his prison cell.

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  Frank Farrell - Army +7 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  According to Farrell, one of the biggest issues the batteries had was obtaining more ammunition. Many batteries would run out of ammo fairly quickly, and so had to be replenished quickly and effectively. He talks about that struggle as well as what the area around Pleiku, Vietnam was like. In addition, he documents two separate attacks his division made in the middle of Vietnamese tea plantations.

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  Bill Knowlton - Army +11 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  When his tour was ending, the Special Forces camp was being transitioned to be operated by the RFPFs. While they were doing training in the field, a MAC-V group came to be pinned down and Bill Knowlton recalls taking a group of men to pull them out, for which he was awarded the Silver Star. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)

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  John Overcash - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Special Forces Group

  It was at a way station for VC and NVA on the Ho Chi Minh Trail that A-Team member John Overcash narrowly dodged a sniper's bullet. Undeterred, his team surprised the enemy while they were eating lunch. After the firefight, they found two survivors. They were crying for their mother.

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  Robert Wolfe - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS)

  It was wonderful being home from Vietnam for Bob Wolfe. His assignment at Military Airlift Command meant he could be home with his family, quite a change. He continued on for a twenty year career in the Air Force, but what still gets him excited is getting that catapult shot from the deck of a carrier back in Vietnam.

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  Roger Cox - Army +12 Total Videos

  1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division

  Growing up as a Mormon in Utah, Roger Cox had a conservative outlook during the turbulent politics of the Sixties. He very much wanted to fly, and when the other services insisted on a college degree for flight school, he enlisted in the Army, which had a program for anyone who had the necessary talents.

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  Jack LeCroy - Navy +3 Total Videos

  USS Cone (DD-866)

  Jack LeCroy never set foot in Vietnam. He was a gunner's mate on the USS Cone, a destroyer engaged in offshore bombardment, and when the ship was not on a mission, it headed for ports elsewhere.

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  Robert Wolfe - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS)

  It was like a big Boy Scout camp. That's how Bob Wolfe remembers the Thai air base where he spent his combat tour. Once he and a buddy flew over the border into North Vietnam and took potshots at road crews with a rifle. He definitely got involved with his share of dumb things.

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  Quincy Collins - Air Force +18 Total Videos

  80th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  When his return date from Europe was coming up, Collins decided to fly the giant F-105 planes as his next military chapter. He flew over Japan and was sent to Southeast Asia after. He spent some time in Takhli, Thailand, where he constantly had to check his boots for snakes before putting them on.

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  Vic Grahn - Air Force +7 Total Videos

  604th Special Operations Squadron

  It was strange. Vietnam was a bit of a culture shock for Vic Grahn but he got over it. He was flying the A-37, a small jet aircraft designed for close air support to troops in contact (TIC). His base at Bien Hoa was the target of frequent rocket attacks which may or may not have disturbed the poker game.

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  Robert Wolfe - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS)

  Flying out of Thailand, forward air controller and navigator Bob Wolfe's job was to find and kill trucks. He flew the night missions, which were the scariest. He hung out the window with a Starlight scope to find the targets and then he'd call in the air strikes. It reminded him of something he used to do back on the farm.

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  Henry Newinn - Army +5 Total Videos

  Phoenix Program

  After the cease fire ended, the North Vietnamese took over the south which prompted Newinn to flee with his family. His objective was to go to America with his wife and his one year old son. Eventually he was able to acquire a sponsorship with a US veteran he knew and got transport to the United States. It was difficult to find his way in the states initially, working jobs as a bus boy. After some time his daughter was born, and now he couldn't be more grateful for the American life he leads today.

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  Frank Farrell - Army +7 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  While working in South Vietnam, Frank Farrell remembers a handful of civilian interactions from the war, as they happened a lot of the time. He also talks briefly about leaders that stood out to him and what it was like to hear about US citizen morale upon returning to the states. Following his time in the service, he went on to graduate school in New York and returned to Vietnam many years later to find it was no longer the war zone it once was.

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  Jim Bolan - Army +13 Total Videos

  1st Special Forces Group

  The Special Forces were getting involved in Vietnam but early member Jim Bolan was assigned to Pakistan as an advisor for a year. Americans were still welcomed then and his wife could drive around the countryside to go to the commissary. They lived in a large house with servants led by a butler who was up to no good.

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  Bill Knowlton - Army +11 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Special Operations Command

  Bill Knowlton tell the story of a close friend of his, Terry Weaver, who was paralyzed by a flechette round during battle. That didn’t stop him from living a great life after the war. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)

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  Stephen Saunders - Army +6 Total Videos

  C Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

  Stephen Saunders is originally from Brodhead Wisconsin, and his father was part of the effort in the Pacific in the Army during World War II. Saunders wanted to be a paratrooper, and so he signed up for the Army and went to Fort Knox for basic training, and then to Fort Benning for jump school.

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  Bill Gessner - Navy +9 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 9th Marines (Attached)

  The terrain was eerie, old banana plantations with encroaching jungle. Navy Corpsman Bill Gessner was on a sweep near the DMZ and had no action on this operation. It was his next patrol that turned into a full blown firefight during a VC ambush. A slick outflanking maneuver took care of that.

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  Ray Fairman - Marines +10 Total Videos

  Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314)

  Ray Fairman has learned plenty of important lessons not just during his time in the military, but in life itself. Here he documents just a sliver of those important lessons for future generations to hear and uphold.

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  Rick Goddard - Air Force +8 Total Videos

  31st Tactical Fighter Wing, 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  Rick Goddard describes his arrival to Vietnam and the men in his squadron. Flying the F-100 allowed him to traverse wide swaths of the country in order to bring support to troops on the ground with the help of the Forward Air Controllers.

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  Thomas Gipson - Army +10 Total Videos

  4th Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division

  One great thing about flying helicopters in the Army. The guy who maintained the aircraft flew with you. That made all the difference in the world to Thomas Gipson. His crew chief took good care of the him, as well as the Huey, and he had to set him straight on what the nose art really meant.

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  Bill Knowlton - Army +11 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  Bill Knowlton tells some stories about the men he served with during his time with 5th Special Forces and the sort of conditions they had to work through at their camp. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)

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  Jesse Tamayo - Army +5 Total Videos

  MAC-V, Advisory Team 32, Advisory Team 84

  Upon finishing his time over with MAC-V in Vietnam, Jesse Tamayo was ready to go home. After he got back to the states, he remained in the service for two years and planned to stay in the Army for much longer but wound up getting married and settling down instead. He gives us some of his final thoughts about his experiences in the Vietnam War, and what he wants future generations to remember about its impact on American history.

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  Harold Sterrett - Air Force +13 Total Videos

  7th Air Force Headquarters

  As a young lieutenant, Rollie Sterrett's assignment put him in daily contact with Gen. William Westmoreland. He was overwhelmed by the man, at first, but a friendly, respectful relationship grew over time. He observed that the general was hampered by the extreme political restraints of the war and that he was undeserving of his treatment by the US news media.

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  Roger Cox - Army +12 Total Videos

  1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division

  The call went out, infantry platoon in an ambush. Helicopter pilot Roger Cox responded and, during the fight, a Medevac pilot made the unusual decision to go in for the evacuation while the area was still hot. Cox covered him and kept up the fight, even after exhausting all his ammunition, an act which did not go unnoticed.

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  Roye Wilson - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 138th Field Artillery

  When his National Guard unit was activated, Roye Wilson went with them to Fort Hood for training with the 1st Armored Division. They received all new gear and weapons, including brand new howitzers. It wasn't long before he was in Vietnam, marveling at the sights and sounds of the first firefight.

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  Richard Dorsey - Army +10 Total Videos

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

  They were lost when the point man got shot. Rich Dorsey and the rest of the men in the platoon had never really been in a firefight, but necessity and the lack of a good leader made them focus and respond. They got the machine guns into a position where they could fire back and then he saw it. A grenade coming right towards them. Part 2 of 3.

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  Tony Nadal - Army +16 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment

  When the 1-7 Cav got to the base camp at An Khe, Tony Nadal was one of only two officers who had been to Vietnam before. The unit had come by ship and the slow journey gave him a chance to loan out his books and teach classes on what to expect. At first he was assigned as intelligence officer but he soon got his wish to command a rifle company.

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  Tom Pemberton - Army +10 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Following personal leave to attend his father's funeral, Tom Pemberton returned to Vietnam with a new assignment, auditing stevedore contracts at the Saigon port. When his time was up, he returned to the Army Reserve Advisory Group in Jacksonville. It was a good post, but there was one difficulty. It fell on this unit to notify families in Florida of a soldiers death.