COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  22nd Surgical Hospital

  There was a mortar attack going on when medic and operating room technician Terry Caskey arrived in Phu Bai. He was assigned to a field hospital where the flow of casualties and the enemy attacks were relentless. He could watch the rockets fire off from a nearby hilltop and track the contrail right into his compound. And as he ended an epic shift in the operating room, he emerged covered in blood. It was too much for a twenty year old to bear.

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  Bernardo Lopez - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  He was already dog tired from staying awake to keep an eye on his untrustworthy ARVN allies. Bernardo Lopez and his fellow Marines were told to gear up and head to Hue. The Tet Offensive was on. The combat there was intense but there was also some strangeness to the proceedings, like the Vietnamese girl who asked him an odd question and the TV cameraman who wanted a good shot. Part 1 of 4.

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  Terry Caskey - Army +10 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  There was water everywhere which meant that there were mosquitos everywhere which meant that Terry Caskey had malaria four times in Vietnam. His day at the hospital could be mundane or it could be terrible. He recalls a terrible day when a chopper full of dead and wounded Marines landed at the hospital.

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  Bill Gessner - Navy +9 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 9th Marines (Attached)

  The fighting was hard. One company was ambushed and the other two were having a hard time breaking through to support it. Corpsman Bill Gessner was in the thick of the fight and as he was treating a wounded Marine, a hand grenade came into the hole and wounded him and killed two others.

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  Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

  Eagle Dust Off

  Word back at the Eagle Dust Off base was that Fred Behrens was dead. Shot down and hit with five bullets, he survived two nights in the bush and was airlifted out when he was found by some Rangers. It was a long recovery with sometimes indifferent treatment by the Army. Part 3 of 3.

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  Freddie Owens - Army +11 Total Videos

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

  After the column was devastated by an NVA ambush, wounded Americans were scattered in the darkness. After his captain heard one such group calling for help on the radio, Freddie Owens joined a patrol to find them, guided by a gunshot every few minutes. Once there, medic Daniel Torres volunteered to stay with those who couldn't move and protected them through the night with medicine and a machine gun.

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  Joe McDonald - Army +5 Total Videos

  A Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Division

  The RPG that severed Joe McDonald’s foot didn’t kill him. The machine gun fire that hit him as he still tried to help others didn’t kill him. The grenade taped to his hand might have killed him if the VC had found his hiding place.

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  Fred Behrens - Army +10 Total Videos

  Eagle Dust Off

  At first light, downed Dust Off pilot Fred Behrens found himself in even more trouble. He took three rounds from a Cobra gunship and one from a sniper. He had already been shot while still in his chopper. The next day, the Rangers he had set out to evacuate took off and he was nearly hit with more friendly fire from a Phantom jet. Finally he saw the right uniforms heading toward him. Part 2 of 3.

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  Stuart Jamison - Army +9 Total Videos

  9th Infantry Division (ARVN)

  Stuart Jamison recalls observing the reality and immediacy of death as his unit assaults a Viet Cong company during Phase II of the Tet Offensive.

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  Laurie Druyor - Navy +4 Total Videos

  USS Sanctuary

  One night, while Laurie was eating dinner, the USS Sanctuary got a call about a plane crash. She vividly remembers the patients coming aboard, and the aftermath of this incident, including one boy who was MIA. As difficult as this experience was, it was nothing compared to the Tet Offensive. New wounded were coming in constantly, and trying to care for all of them at once was emotionally exhausting. (Interview conducted at, and with the assistance of, the Military Heritage Museum- https://freedomisntfree.org/.)

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  George Forrest - Army +11 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment

  They were hunkered down after fierce fighting when the call came from "Ghost 4-6." It was a group of wounded men who had pulled themselves together after the ill fated march to LZ Albany and were lost in the dark. George Forrest sent a patrol to find them, and in an incredible act of bravery, medic Daniel Torres stayed through the night with them and saved many men. Captain Forrest still had to write a gut-wrenching letter to the mother of a missing soldier. Part 3 of 4.

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  Tommy Clack - Army +8 Total Videos

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

  In a letter home, Tommy Clack expressed his worry that something bad was going to happen and it did when his unit engaged the NVA near the Cambodian border. He saw the enemy soldier stand and fire the RPG that changed his life forever.

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  LtGen Ron Christmas - Marines +16 Total Videos

  H Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division

  As Marine Captain Ron Christmas fought to regain the city of Hue, he found the enemy adept at concealment and surprise. Every soldier in a spider hole was armed with a rifle and a RPG launcher. His action during this time earned him the Navy Cross.

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  John Bates - Marines +2 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  After basic training you go to infantry training and then you go to Vietnam. John Bates knew that when he joined the Marine Corps and was eager to get on with it. The first thing he remembers when he got to Vietnam was the relentless heat. It poured through the open door of the airliner and made you take notice.

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  Philip Rivers - Marines +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  His father had served with Patton in Europe. Philip "Buddy" Rivers knew he couldn't match that but he felt it was his duty to serve. He didn't want to be drafted so he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Boot camp was a real awakening for him.

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  John Bates - Marines +2 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  John Bates had just got to Vietnam and the truck taking him to join his unit took fire on the road. He really wished he had a weapon but they had not given him one yet. He was based in An Hoa and he had two jobs at first. One was real good and one was real bad.

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  Philip Rivers - Marines +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Your buddies are everything. Philip "Buddy" Rivers gives a shout out to his closest friends that he served with in Vietnam, many of whom he stayed in touch with after the war. (Caution: strong language)

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  John Bates - Marines +2 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  He really wanted to be a Marine but John Bates went off to college to prove to his folks that he was not college material, at least not yet. Sure enough, it wasn't long before he was standing on the yellow footprints in San Diego.

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  Philip Rivers - Marines +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  It stinks being the new guy. When Philip Rivers got to his unit in the field, some jokers stole his boots. The rookie Marine was just getting used to the heat and the humidity of Vietnam and life in the field when he got his first Purple Heart.

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  Mary Ann McMinn - Army +3 Total Videos

  unknown Unit Information

  When Army nurse Mary Ann McMinn got to the 95th Evacuation Hospital in Da Nang, she found a close knit team of doctors, nurses and Navy Corpsmen. She was well trained but had never seen an amputee so, naturally, she was assigned to an orthopedic ward full of amputees. One of her main tasks was weening the patients off the addictive painkillers.

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  Philip Rivers - Marines +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Philip Rivers went to Vietnam as an empty headed eighteen year old but he has learned a thing or two about that war and he draws parallels to the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Caution: strong language)

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  Mary Ann McMinn - Army +3 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  Mary Ann McMinn and her fellow nurses did some service in Vietnamese orphanages but they also used their down time to throw a party now and then. It was a close knit team and she still is in touch with some of them.

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  Philip Rivers - Marines +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  Philip Rivers was assaulting a tree line across a rice paddy when a short mortar round came in just a few feet away. Fortunately, the mud and water absorbed the worst of the blast. (Caution: strong language)

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  Mary Ann McMinn - Army +3 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  She thought it wasn't fair that the men had to go to Vietnam and the women did not, so Mary Ann McMinn joined the training program for Army nurses. That was a big help for her family struggling to pay for her university education. When the time came at the end of her training, she volunteered to go.

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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  The platoon had lost so many men that they were made a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol team. Their job was to use stealth to locate the enemy and call in the larger force to engage. Leo Hill was with them, silently moving through the night when, suddenly, a column of 30 NVA crossed their path.

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  Philip Rivers - Marines +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  The advice from his dad came too late. Philip Rivers could have taken a ship home from Vietnam but he opted for the flight. With no decompression time, he was wandering the streets of San Diego. Eventually, he shared a house with some buddies from his unit which made for a great ad hoc support group.

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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  Don't get married until I get back from Vietnam. That's what Leo Hill told the girl he saw on his last day stateside. When he got to Vietnam, on his very first day in the jungle, they put him on point. As he slashed away with his machete, he got firsthand knowledge of the insect life in Vietnam.

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  Mary Ann McMinn - Army +3 Total Videos

  95th Evacuation Hospital

  There was the good, cars and stores full of goods, and then there was the bad. No one wanted to hear about Vietnam. Staying in the service helped Army nurse Mary Ann McMinn to keep an even keel when she returned from her tour.

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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  School wasn't working out for him so Leo Hill went to the recruiter's office where he saw a brochure about paratroopers. This is what I want. The recruiter said you're in.

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  Philip Rivers - Marines +6 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment

  The intel was wrong. There was supposed to be no enemy in the area but Philip River's platoon walked into a big ambush. For a day and a night they were pinned down and surrounded until Cobra's chased away the bad guys. Then, inexplicably, it was off to China Beach for some R&R.