COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Henry Dunn - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

  The Battle of Ia Drang Valley had raged for hours when Henry Dunn's unit was moved in for support. They listened all night to the sound of the fight and then advanced the next morning. They immediately manned the perimeter and Dunn began his work as Forward Observer, calling in areas of concentration for artillery fire. Part 1 of 4.

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  Rocky Bleier - Army +2 Total Videos

  Americal Division (23rd Infantry Division)

  Rocky Bleier tells his story of determination--from the football fields of the U.S. to the rice-patties of Vietnam, and back again despite a life-changing injury he suffered during the war. (4-time Super Bowl winning Pittsburgh Steeler.)

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

  Steve Long was on the ground overnight at An Hoa when the base came under mortar fire. He recalls the selfless action of his hosts there, who protected the visiting Huey crew as best they could. He lost a good friend in another incident, made more tragic by the unusual circumstances.

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  Ron Mastin - Air Force +6 Total Videos

  11th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron

  The POW's were moved around the countryside and, eventually, back to the Hanoi Hilton. They knew something was up when they were allowed to mingle and were allowed to try on new clothes. Then the camp commander read aloud the Paris Peace Accords, but the reaction was subdued. Finally, one group was suited up and marched out of the prison.

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  Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Vietnamization was underway and, soon, Galen Hoover was sleeping away the long flight home. He landed in San Francisco and was glad to be back in the States, but as he left the plane, here came the peace protestors. What happened next haunts him still.

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  Marshall Carter - Marines +16 Total Videos

  1st Marine Division

  The value of the Medivac chopper standing by at high altitude was proven when a pilot on a supporting fire mission had to bail out. Marshall Carter was able to call down the Medivac unit and extract the pilot, who surely would have been a POW. Part 4 of 5.

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  Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

  River Interdiction Division 40

  Living full time with his Vietnamese crew meant that Galen Hoover ate what they ate. His first night on the river, they served him a dish that was so good, he requested it regularly, even after he found out what it was. The crew knew he was really green, so the boat captain thought he would mess with the new advisor a little.

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  George Forrest - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  After a couple of days of fierce fighting, George Forrest was told his company was now attached to another unit and was bringing up the rear as they moved out on foot to make way for a B-52 strike. After uttering an expletive, he moved out with the column on the infamous march to LZ Albany, the last big engagement of the epic Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Part 2 of 4.

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  Jerry Gast - Army +6 Total Videos

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

  There was little contact up by the DMZ so the 1st Air Cavalry was moved south near the Cambodian border. Plenty of action there. The first day, Jerry Gast's platoon set off on a 500 meter sweep in front of the perimeter and ran into a trail. The ambitious lieutenant decided they would follow it. Bad idea.

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  Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

  River Interdiction Division 40

  When Galen Hoover woke up in a hospital with a bandaged head and a broken hand, he had no idea what happened or how he got there. The guys from his unit came to see him and he finally heard the tale of that fateful patrol on the canal that day.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

  It started 45 minutes out from Da Nang with a sobering announcement from the pilot. Then there was the oven-like climate, the surprise machine gun fire, the ribbing from the old-timers. Steve Long was definitely in Vietnam.

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  Carl Scheidegg - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  35th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  It was the first large scale B-52 strike over North Vietnam and F-4 Pilot Carl Scheidegg was flying one of the hundreds of planes assembling in the night sky. There were terrific storms and little visibility as he searched for the tanker at the rendezvous. Suddenly it appeared out of the clouds coming straight for him on a collision course.

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  Steve Long - Marines +24 Total Videos

  Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167)

  Normally, a door gunner would not fly his last month in country, but Steve Long finagled his way into the air. In his other job in the avionics shop, he had a run-in with the new officer in charge. He got a little satisfaction the night after he got his orders home.

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  Jack Jeter - Army +9 Total Videos

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

  The day Jack Jeter was wounded was the third day of serious firefights. His commanding officer, Captain Barry McCaffrey, was wounded on the first day and the temporary replacement had his own ideas about how to proceed. That led the unit right into big trouble. Part 1 of 3. (Caution: strong language.)

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  Carl Scheidegg - Air Force +12 Total Videos

  35th Tactical Fighter Squadron

  His tour of duty was a real tour. F-4 pilot Carl Scheidegg spent time at many different air bases in Vietnam and Thailand. When he had a chance to go to China Beach and saw the perfect sand, he had a vision of the future. The Vietnamese had a lovely country and he will never forget the civilian he met who told him what the people in the South were fighting for.

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  George Forrest - Army +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  George Forrest left home thinking his father had acquiesced to the white power structure in his home town. When he returned, though, he found out that what he'd done was just the opposite. Enjoying the ROTC element of his college experience, Forrest received a commission in the Army and had some interesting assignments before he joined a newly organized air assault division.

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  Galen Hoover - Navy +13 Total Videos

  River Interdiction Division 40

  The river boats were patrolling in narrow canals and rivers, searching for infiltrating NVA troops. Galen Hoover was in the second boat, trailing a boat that was supposed to be mine sweeping. That was the last thing he remembered about that day.

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  Freddie Owens - Army +11 Total Videos

  A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

  The man was a World War II veteran and he was clutching a flag at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Freddie Owens tells his remarkable story and how he became the subject of a famous photograph. And don't you tell him that the Wall doesn't talk to you.

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  Frank Cox - Marines +23 Total Videos

  Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

  Frank Cox describes the booby traps fashioned by the Viet Cong, which some say killed and wounded more Marines than anything else in Vietnam.

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  Al Matheson - Air Force +6 Total Videos

  554th Squadron, 553rd Reconnaissance Wing

  The secret electronic intelligence operation known as Igloo White kept Al Matheson busy flying over Laos and North Vietnam. He describes the complex and exotic technology used which involved IBM mainframes and thousands of sensors, and he analyzes it's predictable failure.

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  Tommy Clack - Army +8 Total Videos

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

  Tommy Clack was out for seven days following his gruesome injury at the Vietnam front. He gradually became aware of missing limbs and a pretty nurse. His memories of an out-of-body experience after he was hit became the subject of a television documentary.

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  Jack Jeter - Army +9 Total Videos

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

  The bullet barely missed wrecking his knee. Jack Jeter was in for some hospital time before he could go home. Once he did, he was amazed at the blase attitude of his friends about Vietnam. Part 3 of 3. (Caution: strong language.)

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  Tony Coalson - Army +15 Total Videos

  201st Aviation Company, 1st Field Force

  Tony Coalson's helicopter unit flew all of II Corps, a fourth of the entire country, unlike dedicated combat units, which only flew in their little slice of Vietnam. He recalls his first combat related mission, in which he delivered an assessment team right in the middle of one of the biggest battles of the war. Part 1 of 2.

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  Kenneth Moorefield +12 Total Videos

  United States Embassy, Republic of Vietnam

  After two combat tours of Vietnam, Kenneth Moorefield returned as an aide to the US Ambassador. He describes the chaos of the final days of the doomed South Vietnamese government, and the desperate evacuation from the rooftop of the embassy at the end of April 1975.

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  Charlie McMahon - Marines +6 Total Videos

  Combined Action Program, Hotel 6

  McMahon becomes part of the Combined Action Program (CAP), working with Vietnamese militia to protect villages from Viet Cong thugs. On one occasion, the village is spared from enemy attack by an army artillery unit acting without orders. He and the villagers develop a bond that would last for decades.

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  George Forrest - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  He should have been leery of the whole thing. George Forrest's unit was protecting convoys on the highway when the word came, a unit was heavily engaged in the Ia Drang Valley. From that point on, nothing seemed right, starting with Chinooks instead of Hueys coming to transport them. They arrived the second day of the battle and bolstered the exhausted troops led by Hal Moore. Part 1 of 4.

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  Freddie Owens - Army +11 Total Videos

  A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

  Freddie Owens shares his experiences during the ill-fated march to Landing Zone Albany during the battle of the Ia Drang Valley. His company was attached to another unit and was bringing up the rear. He credits his company commander, George Forrest, with saving them after the column walked into an ambush.

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  Al Lipphardt - Army +10 Total Videos

  D Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade

  Of all the casualties around Al Lipphardt in his first Vietnam tour, one in particular haunted him for years, the death of Rodney Loatman. It was an article in a magazine that brought it all flooding back into his consciousness decades later.

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  Willard Womack - Army +13 Total Videos

  18th Aviation Operating Detachment

  Willard Womack was nervously awaiting the news of what happened to the helicopter carrying some of his friends who had just participated in the Battle of Ap Bac, a crucial turning point early in the war. They had come though that unscathed but were now missing. Decades later, he received an email that brought the memories flooding back. Part 3 of 3. (This interview made possible with the support of RALPH J. TINGLE.)

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  Ernest Banasau - Army +17 Total Videos

  A Company, 4th Infantry Division

  Under heavy fire, choppers attempt to evacuate wounded GIs from Kontum. After one fatal crash, a dustoff chopper manages to lift Ernest Banasau to safety. Years later, Banasau meets the pilot who saved him, and learns how close he came to meeting a tragic fate. Part 2 of 2