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Lee Riley

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Saddle up! The Marines were used to helicopters but this time they were ordered to board trucks. Hue City was under siege as the Tet Offensive raged across the entire country. Lee Riley recalls that they were under fire the minute they got there and it didn't let up for months. (5:12)

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It was a war every day. For Lee Riley and the other Marines in his unit, there was no let up in the fighting. The battle for Hue City was long and brutal but at least Gen. Westmoreland removed the restrictions under which they were operating. (5:36)

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Why would you extend for another six months in Vietnam? Lee Riley did and his reasoning may surprise you. They made an MP out of him for that period and it suited him just fine. He ran into a Vietnamese boy who explained to him exactly why America would fail in Vietnam and it had the ring of truth. (5:10)

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Lee Riley is still not back from Vietnam. When he returned, he went straight to the VA and told them he was not the same person who left. Besides the PTSD there was the Agent Orange, the Camp Lejeune water and a slew of related health issues. But the reunions of his unit give him something to hold on to. (5:02)

Dana Averill

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All he knew about Vietnam was from John Wayne in The Green Berets but he knew he wanted some excitement in his life. Dana Averill enlisted in the Marines in 1968 and he got his wish. (4:40)

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Within a week of arriving in Vietnam, Dana Averill's unit lost several Marines KIA. He wasn't feeling good about the math considering he was going to be there for a year. What did I get myself into? But that smoothed out as he got acclimated. (4:57)

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There was very little down time. You were always on patrol or setting up an ambush or on guard. When Dana Averill did have a breather, nothing was so sweet as some mail from back home. (4:08)

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Dana Averill was wounded twice in Vietnam. He describes those incidents in which he received shrapnel from land mines. They were traumatic, not because of what happened to him but because of what happened to the other Marines who were wounded. (Caution: Graphic Material) (8:02)

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Dana Averill was in the rear waiting to go home and he felt guilty. His guys were still out there. When he got home, he was very fortunate to not experience the vitriol from anti-war protestors directed at some servicemen returning from Vietnam. He did have a smart mouth buddy whose greeting teed him off. (3:26)

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Was it worth it? Dana Averill is not sure if Vietnam was but he's proud of his tour and feels that no one who was there should feel ashamed of what he did. He had good leadership and good buddies there and now he has the reunions. (4:04)