COMBAT STORIES FROM Vietnam

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Showing : Vietnam Videos

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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  He'd been in the Army for a while but, in Vietnam, he was the new guy. Leo Hill was back in the rear during a big firefight and most of his platoon was wiped out. When he returned, the Captain said you are the new platoon sergeant.

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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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  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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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  The unit had already had one devastating friendly fire incident and they nearly had another. Leo Hill was in a foxhole in the triple canopy jungle when a Phantom let loose a bomb that hit a tall tree then careened straight towards him.

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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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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  Three men were wounded by the mortar shell. Leo Hill was hit in the neck by shrapnel but the other two were worse. One had both legs hit and the other was bloody from head to toe. That guy owes Leo a beer, big time. Part 2 of 2.

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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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  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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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  Coming home was difficult for Leo Hill. First there were the protestors at the airport. Then there was the woman who rejected him when she found out he served in Vietnam. This caused him to begin keeping his service a secret.

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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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  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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  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

  They were going to help out a unit that was hit bad. Leo Hill was the point man and as he crawled up Hill 875, his biggest worry was being shot by the guys he was there to help. He got to the top and did his best to comfort the wounded. The next day, they assaulted the enemy position. It did not go well. Part 1 of 2.

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  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  He had one eye on a future as an airline pilot and another on the present where the draft was coming for him. Tom Morrissey enlisted in the Army because it was the only branch that would let him go to flight school without a four year degree.

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  Jeff Lippka +16 Total Videos

  Navy Corpsman (Attached Multiple Units)

  The word came that Khe Sanh was going to be closed. Jeff Lippka's new location was Camp Big John on the Cua Viet River. It was in a much safer area and that was welcome news. Then he was transferred to the 1st Medical Battalion at Phu Bai. Life was a lot less tense.

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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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  Dennis Eakin - Army +7 Total Videos

  159th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion, 101st Airborne Division

  His second tour of Vietnam was at the controls of a Chinook. Dennis Eakin got shot at a lot less on this tour, especially after he moved to a maintenance detachment. Shortly after his birthday he got two pieces of really good news. He had a new daughter and he was going home.

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  Tom Morrissey - Army +11 Total Videos

  117th Assault Helicopter Company

  The helicopter outfit was a Special Missions Unit which meant they did anything that Army command needed. Huey pilot Tom Morrissey would often join large combat assaults which impressed him with their intricate staging. If only they had built the aircraft with a cigarette lighter.

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  Leo Hill - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade

  It was very gratifying. When eighteen year old Leo Hill was field promoted to platoon sergeant, the more seasoned men in the platoon accepted him in that role. Vietnam was tough. It was a life without beds or showers and, surprisingly, with a lot of boredom.