SEARCH RESULTS

John Overcash

---

The Montagnards were the original inhabitants of Vietnam. They were pushed into the highlands as other ethnic groups came into the region. For Green Beret John Overcash, they were stalwart allies. They could live off the land in the jungle, unlike the Vietnamese, who were dependent on their rice bowl. (5:01)

John Page

---

He had a high school buddy who was gung ho on getting into Special Forces and, when he was killed in an accident, John Page was inspired to follow that path. Beginning with the Florida National Guard, he had a long career in Special Forces and Airborne. (5:08)

---

Before he began his training, John Page found out a friend had been killed in Vietnam. He pressed on and they suggested to him he go to Officer Candidate School. He decided he'd rather be enlisted in Special Force than an officer in the regular Army so he eventually made it to Fort Bragg SF training. During this, he volunteered to go ahead and leave immediately for Vietnam. (4:58)

---

When he arrived at the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, the squad leader got John Page all pumped up with fanciful talk about tomorrow's mission that involved climbing a mountain. He was assigned to a reconnaissance unit which was small and silent on it's missions. They could still get into firefights and he vividly remembers his first. (7:58)

---

John Page didn't run into many booby traps because his Recondo unit stayed off the trails. He talked to someone at 5th Special Forces group and set up an extension to serve with them after his tour with the 101st was completed. Before that happened, the Tet Offensive set the country on fire. (5:49)

---

He knew right away how different it was. When John Page joined the 5th Special Forces Group at Phu Bai, he was greeted by a full colonel who gave him a classified briefing. It was nice to get a higher level view of what was going on. He was with the MACV Special Ops Group where his team included Chinese Nungs, very good fighters. (4:53)

---

During secret missions into Laos, John Page would wiretap the communications lines running along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He used a new device that didn't require the line to be directly affected. The enemy was getting wise to these incursions, though, and stepped up the search for the Special Forces teams. (4:36)

---

John Page recalls the time his Special Forces team had to hide from the NVA in pit viper infested bamboo. The mission had to be scrubbed and the team were extracted from the side of a mountain by a daredevil helicopter pilot. (5:12)

---

After a mission, there was just camp life for a while. John Page would do dump runs or water runs. He moved to a new forward base and began to work with Montagnards on more clandestine missions. These could be stalled waiting for approval from the White House. (4:46)

---

The Montagnards were valuable allies and for Special Forces team members like John Page, that meant you had to sit and eat their traditional food with them. This could get a little dicey. And you had to help them with their personal dramas. At one point, a group was put through jump training which had to be eye-opening for them. (5:07)