Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
7:04 | While in combat on the ground, Saunders would often get air support from Air Force helicopters and planes. There was a firefight he recalls that lasted for an entire day, in which he and the other men witnessed heavy casualties. Some time after he came home, he discovered that he only remembers bits and pieces of what happened because a military friend of his described parts he was involved in that he had no recollection of.
Keywords : Stephen Saunders Vietnam air support Air Force firefight combat casualties memory coming home C-130 aircraft C-123 Fort Lonely valley grenade whirlybird helicopter under fire
Stephen Saunders is originally from Brodhead Wisconsin, and his father was part of the effort in the Pacific in the Army during World War II. Saunders wanted to be a paratrooper, and so he signed up for the Army and went to Fort Knox for basic training, and then to Fort Benning for jump school.
When he got to Vietnam, Saunders landed in Tan Son Nhut in Saigon. He was placed in a replacement depot for a few days until the Army had somewhere to put him. He talks about the men he flew over with, and what kind of jobs awaited him when he arrived in country.
Saunders remembers assault missions he went on in helicopters, and what weekly life was like out in the jungles of Vietnam. He describes it as vivid memory bursts of combat followed by weeks at a time of nothing. Because of this, he can only remember the instances of combat and not much about what he did in his downtime.
Saunders remembers a few significant close calls, one of which was when he and a few other men were undercover in an enemy base camp spying on some North Vietnamese. A group of NVA walked right past them and they were lucky that they never made a sound the entire time.
Another close call that Saunders talks about is the time he was sleeping on a mine, and another time where one of the helicopters went down. He had a few interactions with the wildlife there and worked indirectly with ARVN troops. There were a few humorous stories too, one of which happened during an ambush. (Caution: Some strong content.)
After he came home, Saunders made an effort to reconnect with his old war buddies and they reconnected at the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Army Airborne in 1990. He remembers people who were an inspiration to him during his time in the Army, and makes meaningful reflections on his past.
