Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
10:30 | Tom Reilly’s Vietnam service took a new direction when he took an assignment as a war correspondent. He carried a camera along with his rifle, and documented the action for Stars and Stripes and the Army Times.
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Tom Reilly felt the call to serve and dropped his deferments to let the draft take him. After basic, he was offered a slot at Officer Candidate School, but, to him, that was “the sorriest thing I ever saw in the service,” and he declined.
When he arrived in Vietnam at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Tom Reilly was assigned to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade at Long Binh, and began a routine of sweeps, patrols and ambushes. Long periods of monotony were the rule, but he soon got a taste of action.
The Viet Cong were tough and smart, recollects Tom Reilly. He describes the twin tactics of hit and run, in which they presented no target, and the rigging of booby traps, which made targets of the GI’s, long after the guerillas were gone. He clearly remembers the incident at the Sea of Reeds when Edward Powers was killed.
Tom Reilly was nearly killed in Vietnam seven times. Once, an RPG landed in a pond next to him and sizzled like a giant Alka Seltzer in the water. His friend, Dennis Haines, was not so lucky when three snipers opened up.
The Viet Cong ruined a USO show with a rocket attack, causing Tom Reilly to dash for cover. He remembers the civilians, though, as unfailingly polite and gracious people, especially the Le family of Saigon.
The marksmanship of many of his fellow soldiers was subpar, according to Tom Reilly. He also asserts that the bombing halt ahead of negotiations caused a great increase in VC and NVA attacks.
Eyewitness to an accidental massacre, Vietnam War correspondent Tom Reilly was forever changed by the experience. After the war, it was thirteen years before anyone thanked him for his service, and that was all he ever asked for.
In-theater photos taken by Tom Reilly (former infantryman), during his time as a war correspondent attached to the 7th Infantry, give a great firsthand view of what life was like for an infantry soldier and the people of S. Vietnam during the war.
