COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

Please Wait...

Showing : Vietnam Videos

• 

  Ron Schuh - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  13th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  When new F-4 Phantom pilot Ron Schuh got to his base in Thailand, he quickly found out that he knew nothing. On an early mission, he asked his crew mate what were those white puffy things? They're shooting at us! That was the first time he saw ground fire. He became part of a new program which used F-4's as a Forward Air Controller platform. It was too dangerous over North Vietnam for the small unarmed aircraft.

• 

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

  Multiple Units

  When Lawson Magruder returned from Vietnam, he took the lessons learned in that war and helped to shape the training programs of the new volunteer Army. He went to Fort Benning for the career course and that's when the dreaded Reduction in Force began to hit the officer corps.

• 

  Bob Hyatt - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  When Bob Hyatt got to Vietnam with the 5th Special Forces Group, he found many of his friends from training already hard at work. The group was spread throughout the country, with headquarters at Nha Trang. As he awaited assignment, he noted one particular camp that seemed exposed and not very secure where it was located. Wouldn't want to be posted there!

• 

  Thien Van Huynh - Army +5 Total Videos

  1st Cavalry Division, 9th Cavalry Regiment

  While the Vietnam war was going on, Huynh signed up to become a Vietnamese to English interpreter for the South Vietnamese Army. In order to do so, he had to take a good many tests and attend many classes.

• 

  Mike Devine - Army +11 Total Videos

  25th Infantry Division

  The first order of business was to carve a base camp out of the jungle. Mike Devine was a platoon leader, newly arrived in Vietnam, and he goes over the various weapons used in his infantry outfit. Only a month after they arrived, the M16 rifle replaced the M14 that the men carried and they began jamming in the heat and humidity.

• 

  Roger Cox - Army +12 Total Videos

  1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division

  Due to his religion, Roger Cox did not drink, smoke or swear. This caused some teasing from his fellow pilots in Vietnam, but he hung around while they drank, absorbing their advice and experiences. He realized he had the necessary skill set and became very good at dominating a fight with the enemy on the ground.

• 

  Al Stiles - Navy +16 Total Videos

  USS Manley (DD-940)

  With one five inch gun mount out of commission, the USS Manley returned to duty off the coast of Vietnam. Al Stiles recalls the tragic death of a crewman from a sudden heart attack and, as the crew was getting over that, another bizarre accident caused the explosion of a second gun mount. Lightning had struck twice.

• 

  Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV)

  American advisor Keith Nightingale got a lesson in urban warfare when the Viet Cong infiltrated into Saigon during the Tet Offensive. The fighting was brutal as he accompanied his attached unit, house by house, block by block. Part 3 of 3.

• 

  Ben Knisely - Army +5 Total Videos

  498th Medical Company, Air Ambulance

  Knisely remembers that medical evacuation, or medevac, training took a little longer than other flight training programs. He describes the helicopter model he flew, the UH-1H model, and the advancements and limitations of what medevac teams could do during the Vietnam War.

• 

  Bob Newton - Army +4 Total Videos

  23rd Infantry Regiment

  Lieutenant Colonel Newton remembers Colonel Chuck, who was one of the men he fought beside. When Chuck was moved to another unfamiliar area, he felt very strongly about the decision and quit. He also talks about the tedious Montagnard recruitment process and how a whole 41 of them were assigned to his regiment with very little prior knowledge. Additionally, Newton remembers that he and his team would periodically have to patrol the area by foot and a few times by chopper. (This interview made possible with the support of ALBERT SMALL.)

• 

  Rick Hilton - Air Force +11 Total Videos

  433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing

  With hundreds of missions over two tours in Vietnam, fighter pilot Rick Hilton was awarded a nice collection of medals and commendations. It may have been even shinier except the new smart bomb technology he was deploying on his second tour caused some to think it was now too easy.

• 

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

  Multiple Units

  College was expensive, so John Le Moyne took a year off to enlist in the Special Forces Reserve. It changed his life. When he returned to the University of Florida, he did half the studying and got twice the grades.

• 

  Edwina Morrison - Army +3 Total Videos

  30th Engineer Battalion

  After basic training, Edwina Morrison was assigned to the 30th Engineer Battalion at Fort Belvoir. The finance and accounting specialist may not have put boots on the ground in Vietnam, but she got the soldiers paid. She remembers the funny looks she got when she showed up and they expected a man.

• 

  Thomas Gipson - Army +10 Total Videos

  4th Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division

  College wasn't going that well for Thomas Gipson, so he knew the draft would eventually come for him and he would end up in Vietnam. When he found out that you could be a helicopter pilot in the Army without a college degree, he knew that was the path for him.

• 

  Jack Swallows - Marines +14 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment

  After a fierce firefight the night before, the Marines located the stranded South Vietnamese unit and found a forward observer team that had lost their officer, but had continued calling in artillery fire that saved the survivors. Jack Swallows was in the relieving unit and has a regret about that day. Part 2 of 3

• 

  Gary Lawrence - Navy +11 Total Videos

  SEAL Team One

  After SEAL training, jump school was no problem for Gary Lawrence. He next received training on weapons and explosives in the California desert. His primary weapon was the Stoner, a special submachine gun used by no other service.

• 

  Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

  Eagle Dust Off

  Some Rangers were getting shot up at a bad LZ and the Eagle Dust Off ships were on the way. Two choppers had already been shot down but Fred Behrens was not fazed. He sat his Huey down and picked up the injured squad leader. They got him to safety and returned but, during the second approach, he was shot through the ankle. As he struggled to control his aircraft, it received heavy fire and began to go down. Part 1 of 3.

• 

  Sammy Davis - Army +9 Total Videos

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

  Artilleryman Sammy Davis was assigned down in the Mekong Delta, where it was just a lot of rain and water. This had spurred the innovation of a battery on pontoons that could be deployed on water. The locals were friendly and he considered them his friends. After all, they were the reason he was there.

• 

  Keith Nightingale - Army +27 Total Videos

  101st Airborne Division

  Midway through his second tour, Keith Nightingale was moved from the field to division HQ where he became the G-2 operations officer. This meant that he was responsible for managing intelligence from the sensor program and developing targets for B-52 strikes. This was his first exposure to intelligence work and he liked it.

• 

  Ron and Judie Richtsmeier - Army +9 Total Videos

  119th Assault Helicopter Company, 18th Surgical Hospital

  While Ron Richtsmeier was on call as a helicopter gunship pilot, the lady of his dreams was nearby at an Army hospital, on call on an even more demanding schedule. The sound of helicopters meant you went to work, no matter the time or day.

• 

  Carl King - Marines +12 Total Videos

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

  While operating near Hill 471, Carl King's unit discovered a fortified bunker complex and engaged in a fierce firefight. In the blink of an eye, two Corpsmen were killed trying to aid a fallen Marine. (Part 2 of 2) (Caution: May contain strong language)

• 

  Lucio Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marines

  Lucio Lopez didn't get in from the field a lot. He missed the Bob Hope USO show and when he did get some time back at battalion, there were sappers on the wire. Hell, he felt safer back in the bush trading C-rations for hot food with villagers.

• 

  Jack Swickard - Army +12 Total Videos

  118th Assault Helicopter Company

  The soldiers who served in Vietnam fought well and were gentlemen. That's what helicopter pilot Jack Swickard wants people to remember about that war. He decided early on that he would not indiscriminately kill anyone so that he did not have to live with that on his conscience.

• 

  Don Zimmer - Army +10 Total Videos

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

  He was only 12 hours of class credit away from graduating college, but Don Zimmer ran out of deferment so he was drafted. They had told him he was 4-F, but surprise! They made a mistake.

• 

  Roger Cox - Army +12 Total Videos

  1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division

  Roger Cox was woefully unaware of the wider world when he was plunked down in Vietnam as a wide eyed nineteen year old. Why was there a swastika on that building? Why the strange reaction from one of the workers on the base when he met her on the street?

• 

  Bert Johnson - Army +5 Total Videos

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

  Johnson explains more experiences from his time in Vietnam, such as the interactions he had with protecting Vietnamese civilians living in a local village, creating and setting booby traps, and interaction with wildlife. While in foxholes, some men killed a wild boar and tried to cook it in their foxhole and failed.

• 

  Bob Hyatt - Army +9 Total Videos

  5th Special Forces Group

  Bob Hyatt recalls when his training unit was introduced to a new commander. Samuel V. Wilson made such an impression on him that he would have fought the war with a stick if he had to.

• 

  Tom Buchan - Army +11 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 4th Cavalry Regiment

  He was a rebel who hated school. Tom Buchan spent most of his time trying to stay out of trouble when he began to get interested in the draft he knew was coming for him. Wanting to choose his specialty in the Army, he joined the reserves to become a tank crewman.

• 

  Roye Wilson - Army +9 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Growing up, his heroes were cowboys and soldiers. There was never a doubt to Roye Wilson that he would be a soldier and it was automatic that he would join ROTC when he got to college at Western Kentucky University.

• 

  Carter Tucker - Army +10 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  As a chaplain, Carter Tucker did not carry a weapon. On his first tour of Vietnam, they issued him a .45, but he gave it to his assistant. Between his tours, serving at Fort Sill, he drew duty that was harder for him than being in combat.