Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

A Kim | 5th Marine Regiment

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

Eagle Dust Off

He was already over his allotted hours so he wasn't even supposed to be flying. But when there was a ground unit under siege and all the other choppers were already there, Medevac pilot Fred Behrens offered to get an additional ship aloft. When he got to the site, the others were just circling overhead. He was puzzled at that but went right in, anyway, and picked up his first load of wounded. Part 1 of 2.
Phil Mayrand - Army +9 Total Videos

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

Phil Mayrand describes the furtherance of his infantry training leaving Ft. Bragg for Ft. Polk where he'd also meet some lifelong friends. The opportunity to get some additional leadership training presented itself, and anything he would agree to take would delay his inevitable trip to Vietnam, but an unfortunate injury would put this plan in jeopardy. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas.- https://theveteransmuseum.org/)
Brig Gen Tom Fleming - Air Force +12 Total Videos

Multiple Units

They drew lots at the Air Force Academy to pick your training base. Tom Fleming got a lousy number and was left with a new, obscure base in Mississippi. No one had wanted it but it turned out to be an ideal location. Like everyone, he wanted to be a fighter pilot, and after learning to fly a succession of trainers, he angled for a slot.
Louis Gonzalez - Air Force +5 Total Videos

8th Special Operations Squadron

It was finally time for Gonzalez and the other men at his air base to hightail it back home. As soon as he could he called his wife and told her the news. During this time they moved to the east coast, and he got to see one of his good friends get married. He gives his final reflections about the Vietnam War and what he hopes future generations will take away from a historical event like this.
Kevin Hathaway - Army +11 Total Videos

173rd Assault Helicopter Company

You can run into old friends at unit reunions. You can also embarrass them, as Kevin Hathaway found out when that happened to him. Near the end of his tour, he and two buddies took a trip to Vung Tau, a beautiful beach resort. One of them he ran into at the reunion. The other never made it to any reunions. (Caution: coarse language.)
Al Stiles - Navy +16 Total Videos

USS Manley (DD-940)

The USS Manley was heading to Singapore for repairs when the route was adjusted slightly to make sure the ceremonies associated with crossing the equator could take place. Al Stiles provides a colorful description of the initiation of the Polliwogs.
Tim Dunn - Marines +16 Total Videos

Scout Sniper Platoon, 1st Marines

Marine sniper Tim Dunn tells the story of an enemy sniper who was vexing US forces south of Da Nang. Everybody was looking for her but it was pure chance that did her in.
Alex Ortolano - Army +7 Total Videos

57 Medical Detachment

Alex Ortolano flew a lot of missions for Dust Off, and here he documents a few of those times and what it was like. Above all else, he knew the biggest motivation for him was saving the lives of the wounded and of his partners in the sky.
Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

Americal Division

Ed Fulghum returned to Vietnam in 1968 with the Americal Division. He had the usual problems with his command. This time, it was an alcoholic company commander and a pushy adjutant.
Bob Hyatt - Army +9 Total Videos

5th Special Forces Group

Bob Hyatt's friends talked him into joining the National Guard where they played a lot of cards. But when the draft came calling, he enlisted and took the path of Special Forces after his testing indicated high aptitude. He also qualified for Officer Candidate School, so he was in for a lot of training.
Greg Lowe - Army +9 Total Videos

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

Since his roommate was the personnel officer, Greg Lowe was able to skip the routine of waiting in a replacement detachment when his time was up in Vietnam. His relationship with his father was strengthened when he got home because of the shared experience of combat.
Bob Newton - Army +4 Total Videos

23rd Infantry Regiment

Bob Newton has many multi-war stories to tell, and here he talks about a significant attack from the Viet Cong on Camp Holloway. Following that he goes into a bit of detail of a war plane model known as the Caribou, and the significance of a large air base located in Bong Son, Vietnam. It was here that the few casualties following a battle at Quang Nihn came back to heal up and regroup. (This interview made possible with the support of ALBERT SMALL.)
Sar Phouthasack +12 Total Videos

Royal Lao Army, Special Guerrilla Unit (SGU)

Sar Phouthasack was a busy man. He not only ran the commando school, the communications, and the repair shop, he had to shuttle back and forth to the front lines almost daily. In the secret war in Laos, his unit was well known as the best and they were frequently called on to go to the aid of others as they did at Khe Sanh.
Al Stiles - Navy +16 Total Videos

USS Manley (DD-940)

When a ship pulled into Hong Kong for liberty, a call went out to a lady named Mary Sue, who had a big operation painting the sides of warships. The USS Manley had a lot of port visits there and elsewhere for repairs and refitting after she lost two gun mounts.
John Overcash - Army +11 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Green Beret John Overcash went through a lot of tough training but the toughest was the underwater demolition course run by the Navy. The grueling pace was similar to SEAL training and men were dropping out every day until there were only three left.
Ray Fairman - Marines +10 Total Videos

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314)

After being signed up to go to Vietnam by one of his companions, Ray Fairman was incredibly surprised. Before he knew it he was at his first base in the foreign country ready to take orders, and give them.
Jim Littig - Army +14 Total Videos

Multiple Units

It was hot when he left Vietnam in khakis but when Jim Littig got home to Oregon it was freezing cold. He took over a training company at Fort Lewis and then became a general's aide. The war was beginning to wain and he was one of the few that he knew that would return for a second tour.
Mike Leonard - Air Force +14 Total Videos

Multiple Units

During flight school, Mike Leonard was on a check ride in the T-38 trainer. He was demonstrating recovering from different situations when he managed to have a flame out on both engines. This was a real situation.
Henry Templin - Army +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

He did his best to help along the new guys. Henry Templin remembered what it was like when he first arrived in Vietnam. He dodged booby traps, wrote letters home and tried to stay alive. Later in his tour, he was relieved when a skill he'd acquired before being drafted took him out of combat.
Jack Swallows - Marines +14 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment

In the area known as the Salt Flats, Marine forward observer Jack Swallows just tried to stay out of the relentless monsoon rain. Then he was attached to a unit that did recon on an area that was slated for a Marine base and reported no enemy or booby traps. By the time the Marines moved to that hill, it was no longer clear.
Marvin Cole - Army +10 Total Videos

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

Marvin Cole is still wondering why a man in his unit could not get boots, but they were available on the black market in Saigon. Mismanagement of the war aside, he has warm feelings for the Vietnamese people and the country itself.
Lee Ellis - Air Force +23 Total Videos

390th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing

At the POW camp in Son Tay, Vietnam, Ellis had to do plenty of different jobs to essentially clean up after himself and the other prisoners, and would rotate jobs frequently. After two whole years of being there, he got to write a letter back home to let them know he was okay. He remembers a few unfortunate death stories from the POW camp, and a few where some men attempted to escape. He himself never attempted escape, though.
Richard Dorsey - Army +10 Total Videos

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

He didn't know what a monsoon was, but once it started, he sure did. Rich Dorsey describes what life in the field was like in constant rain.
Jack Swallows - Marines +14 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment

Jack Swallows joined the 12th Marine Regiment on Okinawa in 1965. The artillery unit was training for a certain deployment to Vietnam and on July 1, he shipped out. The first thing he noticed when he got there was the usual thing everyone remembers.
Jim Teixeira - Marines +9 Total Videos

3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

Life in the field got miserable when Jim Teixeira was socked in by bad weather and there was no resupply for quite a while. Rations and old cigarettes were at a premium. Out on patrol there was the sound of pigs and an old farmer suddenly appeared. What were they going to do with him?
Jack Swallows - Marines +14 Total Videos

2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment

It was just south of Da Nang where Jack Swallows began his Vietnam tour and, right away, it was sniper fire and booby traps. He learned to avoid the improvised explosives and was shocked to learn how much of the populace was on the other side.
Mike Kenney - Army +8 Total Videos

Multiple Units

At Western Kentucky University, Mike Kenney was really enjoying ROTC and the Pershing Rifles. He was seriously thinking of a military career but, for some reason, he had not received notice that he was accepted into the advanced ROTC program for his junior year. This led to an odd series of events which had him in the Marine Corps for twenty four hours.
Doug Moore - Army +4 Total Videos

57 Medical Detachment

While flying medevac missions, Moore was shot at a great deal as his team was in the air. He talks about two times he and his helicopter were hit, one of those times his helmet was hit and it was right by his left eye, and he thought he had been blinded from it. He spent five days in the hospital as a result.
Jim Smith - Army +9 Total Videos

Multiple Units

It was not as tough as being in the infantry, but being a helicopter pilot in Vietnam had its own hazards. Huey pilot Jim Smith describes the life of an aviator in the first helicopter war. He fondly recalls the music on AFVN, the American Forces Vietnam Network, which was immortalized in the movie "Good Morning, Vietnam."
Bob Hyatt - Army +9 Total Videos

5th Special Forces Group

American advisor Bob Hyatt was sharing a cigarette with his one of his Vietnamese soldiers when the man made a startling prediction. He was a North Vietnamese who had come to help the cause of the South. It was a difficult fight because of so many disparate factions, including competing Buddhist sects.