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00:00:09They are names engraved in black marble.
00:00:20Almost 60,000 names, the Americans who died in the Vietnam War.
00:00:26All of them.
00:00:28All of them.
00:00:32They are names and they are memories to their families and their friends
00:00:37and the strangers who come to this place and grieve for them.
00:00:44Grieve for them all because they all were us.
00:00:54Facing that heartbreaking black marble wall,
00:00:57haunted and weary and dauntless, are three American fighting men representing all of those who fought in Vietnam.
00:01:07Look at their eyes and read some questions.
00:01:10Why were we there?
00:01:12Has our blood been wasted?
00:01:14Has our country forgotten what we endured?
00:01:24They were sent halfway around the world to fight in rice paddies and elephant grass.
00:01:29To understand what they gave for their country, we must understand more than the numbers of dead and wounded.
00:01:37We must understand the danger they faced and the nature of the war they fought.
00:01:44And the courage with which they fought.
00:02:11And the courage with which they fought it.
00:02:31The Vietnam War really should be called the Indochina War.
00:02:35It involved not only North and South Vietnam, but the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia.
00:02:41Thousands of American airstrikes were launched from bases in Thailand.
00:02:45But much of the actual combat was centered in South Vietnam.
00:02:49Often it happened without warning, a fearsome test of skill and courage.
00:02:54What you will see on this videocassette is some of the most remarkable combat coverage filmed by CBS News in
00:03:01Vietnam.
00:03:02It's told with the words and voices of the correspondents and GIs who were there in the middle of the
00:03:07firefights.
00:03:08Most of the reports are in color, but the first is not.
00:03:11It was filmed in 1965, just before CBS News began using color film.
00:03:17Even in black and white, though, you may recognize the correspondent.
00:03:22His name is Morley Safer.
00:03:25Behind me over here is a UH-1D medevac helicopter.
00:03:31We were coming into one of the passes near Anke, near Anke Pass, and we were shot down.
00:03:39The chopper must have taken at least five or six hits.
00:03:43One went past my face, broke the plexiglass, and hit, or rather bruised, the arm of our sound man, Bob
00:03:53Funk.
00:03:54There are two U.S. 1st Cavalry lying out there somewhere, injured.
00:04:02That was the purpose of the mission we came in on to evacuate these men.
00:04:06We're not exactly pinned down, but somewhere in the woods there are a couple of snipers who have enough firepower
00:04:13anyway to bring down this helicopter.
00:04:16Make sure you identify a target!
00:04:21They're bringing the wounded man through any minute now.
00:04:24I believe there's one on up the road there.
00:04:27These troopers are trying to make the sniper show himself.
00:04:32There's a lot of firing going on, most of it outgoing.
00:04:35That is, our troops shooting out.
00:04:40The wounded man will probably be brought through this little trail we see right now.
00:04:50Boy, hit through the shoulder.
00:04:52One of his buddies was wounded trying to get him out.
00:04:58Mercado, holler for Rockwell to bring my gear here.
00:05:02Holler for Rockwell to come here with my gear.
00:05:13And finally he was pulled down, and finally a second medevac helicopter came through the curtain of bullets to take
00:05:21him out.
00:05:22And just as the medevac came in, the boy died.
00:05:26He was 17.
00:05:32For most of the afternoon, the unit, two companies of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, was pinned down by a
00:05:39group of snipers.
00:05:43It was accurate and effective fire.
00:05:46And steadily through the day, men were brought down from the jungle slopes, picked off by a single shot.
00:05:53What happened?
00:05:53I went down to get Sowers there. He was laying out in the open.
00:05:57I left him up the bank there, and they were shooting at me.
00:06:00I got him up on the bank, and Barraza grabbed him by the feet, and Sergeant Frazier, platoon sergeant.
00:06:05They pulled him on the hill. I just got on the hill, and got on the hill, and grabbed my
00:06:11rifle, and he shot my rifle out of my hand.
00:06:12He got me an arm, just strapping over my rifle with my arm.
00:06:15How's your buddy?
00:06:17He's hit bad. He's hit up in the neck, and it came out the center of his back.
00:06:23He's hit bad.
00:06:28I want you to sit up real easy.
00:06:31Hold on. Take him up easy. Take him up easy.
00:06:35Our platoon lay huddled behind a hedgerow.
00:06:38Round the casualties, an overworked medic and the chaplain, Captain Bill Lord of New Iberia, Louisiana.
00:06:45Give them peace, body, and mind. We pray, Lord, that you'll make the time pass quickly for them in convalescence.
00:06:53Be with their friends and buddies as they continue the fight. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:07:02To send more men into the jungle was only to invite more casualties. So the battalion called for an artillery
00:07:08barrage to blanket the area.
00:07:10The commander wanted the shells to fall less than 50 yards from our line, and the artillerymen happily obliged.
00:07:18For this correspondent and CBS News cameraman Jim Wilson and soundman Bob Funk, it was a tragic end to a
00:07:28tragic and hair-raising day.
00:07:29As we saw our UH-1D medical evacuation helicopter, the crippled but still salvageable machine take one of the first
00:07:39rounds.
00:07:40In seconds, it was a giant sheet of flame. And as dusk came and the artillery ceased, the snipers on
00:07:49the hillside came out of their tunnels for another night's work.
00:07:55Courage comes in many forms. It is one thing to risk your life to save a wounded buddy. It's something
00:08:01else to risk your life for a man who already is dead.
00:08:05It happened. The year was 1967, and our correspondent was John Lawrence.
00:08:15Delta Company, 5th of the 7th Battalion, 2nd Platoon. There is an enemy machine gun on the other side of
00:08:21the hedgerow, perhaps 20 yards away.
00:08:24And there are snipers on both flanks. The machine gun has killed one man and wounded six so far.
00:08:31You better believe I did. You guys are on your own, buddy.
00:08:40Hey, Carter!
00:08:42Keep going, Carter!
00:08:44Get out of the other way! Get out!
00:08:512nd Platoon tries to pull itself together enough to pull back away from the machine gun on the other side
00:08:56of the hedgerow.
00:08:57Run it out! Stay by the dude! Go that way!
00:09:01Huh?
00:09:02I don't know!
00:09:10Safely away from the machine gun, still worried about the snipers.
00:09:16It is a long way from San Francisco to South Vietnam.
00:09:23It was longer across that last rice paddy.
00:09:32By pulling back, the men left behind the body of the one who was killed by the machine gun, a
00:09:38PFC who had red hair and freckles, and joined the platoon last month.
00:09:44Most do not remember his name.
00:09:46You were with him when he was hit.
00:09:49What happened?
00:09:51He just dropped.
00:09:53We didn't even know where the rounds came from at first.
00:09:55Then we saw a gook standing about 10 feet away, and we got him.
00:09:59There is a lull.
00:10:00The platoon leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Bass, thinks about going back for the dead man.
00:10:06Express 6, this is 2-6.
00:10:09I can't draw back. I got one KIA laying up there on a dike. I can't get to him right
00:10:13now. I can't leave him there, over.
00:10:16There's 6 of these KIA, you sure can. Get your ass out of there, over.
00:10:20I don't think we should go to this.
00:10:22Tell the old man, say, we're taking a change.
00:10:24Old man told me not to go get him.
00:10:26What are you going to do, leave him there?
00:10:28We can get him out of the stackers.
00:10:30Now, you missed us. We built a floor and he's fighting there all night.
00:10:33Better get somebody else killed.
00:10:37He's not doing anybody in the floor.
00:10:44You're about to go get one of your men. Would you explain the details of this?
00:10:48Yeah, he got hit. The first man that got hit, he got it in the head, and they can't leave
00:10:51him out there. What the heck?
00:10:52We're just going to go in, pull him off the dike, and bring him back here, and get him out
00:10:55where he can get buried.
00:10:56Might that enemy machine gun still be active?
00:10:59No, no. I got another man hurt trying to get it, so I don't think it's there. I put a
00:11:03frag in the hole, so what the heck.
00:11:04If it is, I'm not going to stick my head up. I can promise you that.
00:11:11The rest of 2nd Platoon fires cover as Lieutenant Bass, his radio man, and a squad sergeant go back for
00:11:17the body of the new man who was killed by the machine gun.
00:11:22There are a hundred platoons fighting a hundred small battles in nameless hamlets like this every week of the war.
00:11:29They are called firefights. And in the grand strategy of things, this firefight had little meaning for anyone but the
00:11:37redheaded kid who was killed here.
00:11:40Express 626.
00:11:49That same year, 1967, Don Webster was caught in a Viet Cong ambush of American troops.
00:11:58Boy, those bullets are close.
00:12:01How many men are loaded with that, did you say?
00:12:03They just brought in that gun. Maybe a few minutes before they get a chance to use it.
00:12:10And now, suddenly, it started to rain. These summer monsoon rains that hit in a flash and leave just as
00:12:16fast.
00:12:18They're working on it, trying to save his life.
00:12:27They're giving him artificial respiration.
00:12:34As a matter of fact, they couldn't get in with too much heavy fire.
00:12:38He had to start his heart beating again.
00:12:41These frantic efforts were to no avail. The wounded man was dead.
00:12:49It's amazing when a situation like this, how much you can hear and how little you can see.
00:12:53Everybody's flat on their face in the grass.
00:12:56Can't see a thing. No smoke, no flames, no nothing.
00:12:59But it sounds like the whole world's exploding around you.
00:13:12In November 1967, Communist troops attacked the base at Docto in the Central Highlands,
00:13:19pounding it with artillery and mortar fire.
00:13:21The fighting around Docto raged for three weeks, the largest battle of the war so far.
00:13:29Early on, the enemy tried, but failed, to overrun the airstrip.
00:13:35These men, the survivors of Bravo Company, told Robert Shackney what had happened.
00:13:41Well, the roughest part was when it first started.
00:13:44The ground attack, the mortar attack, and they were hitting us with rockets.
00:13:48All three at the same time.
00:13:50We had to get our stuff together and fight back.
00:13:53We didn't have any positions dug in.
00:13:56All we could do was fight right on the ground behind trees, behind rucksacks and everything else.
00:14:01We did a good job.
00:14:02Did they ever get in your perimeter?
00:14:04At one time, they were about 10 meters outside.
00:14:07We stacked up the bodies, and there they lay.
00:14:10This is the man here that did most of the work yesterday.
00:14:12And you are?
00:14:14Sergeant Ortiz.
00:14:16The greatest man in the world.
00:14:18Somebody else tell me what Sergeant Ortiz did.
00:14:21Sergeant Ortiz, all of our men were pinned down, so Sergeant Ortiz was down on a machine gun.
00:14:25And he helped me, where I get all my men back, and all 6-0's men back, and all 5
00:14:31-9's men back.
00:14:32And he stayed down on a machine gun until everybody was back.
00:14:35Standing up in the open, I might say, firing down on the NVA, and then ran back to our lines
00:14:41while we supported him.
00:14:42I'd like to add something to that.
00:14:43He also sat down behind a log in front of our line, had men behind our line toss hand grenades
00:14:50to him so that he could throw them down further and get them right on the enemy.
00:14:57Sergeant, when you did all that, why?
00:14:59I don't know.
00:15:03In 1969, the year after the Tet Offensive, a new president, Richard Nixon, began reducing the number of American troops
00:15:11in Vietnam, turning more of the war over to South Vietnamese forces.
00:15:15But the change was gradual, and there was plenty of fighting yet to be done.
00:15:20Combat coverage at its best did more than show bullets and blood.
00:15:24It told you something about the men, who they were, what they felt, and how they performed in battle.
00:15:29Here's a 1970 report from Richard Threlkeld.
00:15:35It's dawn, and Alpha Troop 1-9 is commuting to war.
00:15:3921 GIs bound for a jungle clearing a mile from the Cambodian border.
00:15:46American soldiers, hiking their way through the sweaty jungles of South Vietnam, searching for an elusive enemy.
00:15:53The temperature is almost 100 degrees, and the jungle stifles even the tiniest breeze.
00:15:59The going is slow.
00:16:01There could be a North Vietnamese regiment hiding a few yards away, and no one would see it.
00:16:06Nobody talks, so you start thinking.
00:16:08Specialist Corps Dwayne Boer is thinking he's going to meet his fiancée in Honolulu in two weeks, and he will
00:16:16show her the silver star the general pinned on him yesterday.
00:16:22Dwayne Boer is the lone medic in the platoon.
00:16:24He's scared, scared from the moment he gets out of the chopper to the moment it picks him up.
00:16:29Scared that someday he's going to get killed, picking up a wounded buddy.
00:16:34Jorgensen just became a sergeant, but he doesn't like it.
00:16:38He'd rather be up Walking Point, where the action is.
00:16:41He's already got three purple hearts, so everybody calls him Hero.
00:16:45Then there's Lieutenant Hublin.
00:16:47Everybody calls him Blue.
00:16:49That's his radio call.
00:16:50Blue didn't want to come to Vietnam, and he'd much rather be a businessman than a soldier.
00:16:55But right now, he's in charge of the lives of 21 men.
00:17:00Somewhere in this jungle, there's several hundred North Vietnamese soldiers who could wipe out this little American unit to the
00:17:07last man in an unguarded moment.
00:17:10Today, though, it's quiet.
00:17:11A few bunkers uncovered, then a quick lunch, and back down the trail to the pickup zone.
00:17:16Just a peaceful walk in the sun.
00:17:35Okay, would you roll in a 2-7-0 from the smoke, approximately 1-0-0 meters away from it.
00:17:44I'll just you from here.
00:17:49All right, who's going in?
00:17:50All right, give me some cover.
00:18:00All right!
00:18:10Get him back here!
00:18:11Get him back here if you can.
00:18:13Can you move him?
00:18:15Can you move him?
00:18:17Okay, try and bring him back here.
00:18:19Remember to stop the bleeding.
00:18:22And de Valle, the medic, having survived another rescue mission, brings back the wounded man.
00:18:27Who is it? Who is it? The question spreads down the line.
00:18:31Oh, Christ, it's Hero, the sergeant who likes to walk point.
00:18:35How bad is it? A couple of leg wounds.
00:18:38We were walking down the trail. I was walking point, and we noticed the side trail.
00:18:43It was one of the side trails we came down. It had more use on it than when we first
00:18:46came down it.
00:18:47So I looked up and spotted, it was an NVA, he had a green uniform at an AK, and it
00:18:54was like a quick draw old thing.
00:18:55I opened up in him, he opened up in me.
00:18:59Yeah, I'm afraid it works that way. But he's lying up there on the trail.
00:19:06I got hit in both legs.
00:19:07Pop smoke, 4-3. Pop a smoke over here.
00:19:11That's about it.
00:19:13Ed?
00:19:15Well, I've got seven months in country now. Three purple hearts. I don't need a fourth.
00:19:23The enemy soldier who shot Jorgensen cannot be found.
00:19:26He may have survived or dragged himself off to die.
00:19:30Most of the time, you never really know.
00:19:32The problem now is to get Hero out of here.
00:19:35So Blue calls in the medevac helicopter and sets up a perimeter to protect it.
00:19:41Hero has stopped making brave jokes now.
00:19:44The shock has worn off and the pain has begun.
00:19:48The helicopter hovers over the jungle and in the midst of the firefight, his buddies put Hero on the rescue
00:19:54chopper.
00:19:54And he's pulled up a hundred feet, a hundred feet to a hospital bed and a one-way ticket out
00:20:01of the Vietnam War.
00:20:02And then it's quiet again.
00:20:04Alpha Troop 1-9 blessed one man, gingerly making its way back through the heat and the smell of gunpowder
00:20:11back to the pickup zone.
00:20:14At the end of April, 1970, President Nixon ordered American troops into Cambodia.
00:20:20He called it an incursion, not an invasion.
00:20:23But it lasted for two months.
00:20:26The purpose was to destroy enemy bases and supply lines.
00:20:29But at times, that mission was extremely dangerous.
00:20:32Gary Shepard reported the combat of one American unit.
00:20:36Bravo Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, moved into Cambodia two weeks ago and has met with continuous heavy enemy contact.
00:20:45In 14 days, the company has fought against North Vietnamese forces on 20 separate occasions.
00:20:51Cameraman Norman Lloyd, on assignment for CBS News, filmed and recorded these scenes when Bravo Company moved into a large
00:20:59communist bunker complex six miles north of the Vietnamese border.
00:21:03The main enemy force had apparently pulled out, but a rear guard element was left behind to slow down the
00:21:10American advance.
00:21:24The North Vietnamese were well dug in, in heavily fortified bunkers like this one, just a few inches of it
00:21:30visible above the ground.
00:21:32One of its occupants was killed during the battle, but two others, who were apparently wounded, somehow managed to slip
00:21:38out, perhaps to die in the dense jungle only a few yards away.
00:21:43When the fighting ended, the men of Bravo Company moved into the camp.
00:21:47The main buildings burned to the ground.
00:21:55The next morning, Bravo Company has hardly moved more than a few hundred yards when it runs into an enemy
00:22:01ambush.
00:22:07Move it up there.
00:22:10Move it up there.
00:22:11Move it up there.
00:22:12You got your squad by the way to the left of the serp.
00:22:22Move it up there.
00:22:25Get the show, move it up.
00:22:27During the first few minutes of the fighting, Bravo Company suffers one man killed and three wounded.
00:22:33The medics work furiously to patch up those who are still alive,
00:22:36while the rest of the company pours a sheet of fire at the enemy positions.
00:22:41Bravo Company began its campaign inside Cambodia with 123 men.
00:22:47Its strength is now down to 89, and Lieutenant Lewis is the third commanding officer in four days.
00:22:54The first was killed in action, the second was wounded.
00:22:58Lieutenant Lewis says despite the fact that the company is down to two officers, himself and one other lieutenant,
00:23:04the men's morale is still high, but the tension of the past 14 days of combat is written on each
00:23:10man's face
00:23:11as he waits for the order to move out again, down another jungle trail, to some place where he knows
00:23:18the enemy is waiting.
00:23:23As you have observed already, much of the Vietnam War film told the stories of young American men in battle.
00:23:31It should be noted, however, that young American women also were serving in Vietnam.
00:23:36They were not assigned to combat, but they had to deal with the awful results of combat.
00:23:41Ed Rabel told their story in 1971.
00:23:45If you are a nurse at the 91st Evacuation Hospital overlooking the South China Sea,
00:23:51you can steal away to the beach and pretend there is no war and that there are no war casualties.
00:23:59But you know such pretense is short-lived, that you really cannot get away,
00:24:04that the flapping blades of a medical evacuation helicopter will shatter your dream
00:24:09and deliver the war right to your doorstep.
00:24:13A young American, his right arm blown away and his legs splintered,
00:24:19will be fighting for his life in the emergency room just yards away.
00:24:23The victim of a booby trap, he pleads with you to save his legs.
00:24:28Do you want to take both of my legs?
00:24:30I don't know.
00:24:30Please don't.
00:24:31Not unless we have to, believe me. That's the last thing we want to do.
00:24:35I've given you my arm. Please don't take my legs.
00:24:37You have been here nearly a year and you wonder how many more armless and legless men will pass before
00:24:44your eyes.
00:24:45I kind of just try and see that there's somebody that needs help
00:24:52and I try not to let my personal feelings get involved.
00:24:56I think if I thought about each one and each wound, I wouldn't be able to function.
00:25:00An examination has been made and a decision reached.
00:25:04The young lieutenant's legs are to be saved.
00:25:07He is lucky.
00:25:09Another booby trap victim, brought in later, will have both of his legs amputated.
00:25:15Mike.
00:25:16Mike?
00:25:17Do you have any allergies?
00:25:20Nothing that you're allergic to. Penicillin?
00:25:23No.
00:25:23Anything?
00:25:24Nurse Linda Sorensen will help with the operation as she has with scores of others.
00:25:29It may be winding down a little, but it's still, things that are happening, the mind actions and things, just
00:25:36shouldn't be happening.
00:25:38It may be going down a little bit, but we still see the guys. The guys that are over here
00:25:43are still being hurt.
00:25:45He, um, he was really, it's funny because I felt that he kind of, he was kind of better off
00:25:52than a lot of them are because he didn't have any abdominal wounds or anything.
00:25:55So he'll survive pretty, you know, he'll have a pretty smooth recovery because it's his legs.
00:26:00But you say smooth recovery and then you think, well, you know, the guy hasn't got any legs.
00:26:05It was grim work in those operating rooms, but lives were being saved.
00:26:11Lives that would have been lost in earlier wars.
00:26:13Part of the credit goes to the medevac helicopters and pilots who would brave enemy fire to rescue wounded men
00:26:20from the battlefield.
00:26:22Morton Dean went along on one of those missions from a dusty army post called Hawk Hill, 350 miles north
00:26:29of Saigon.
00:26:34The emergency call indicated that there are three injured, wounded GIs at a point about 60 miles from Hawk Hill.
00:26:42We're on our way, flying at about 1,500 feet above what has to be considered insecure, hostile territory.
00:26:50And we should reach the pickup point in about 15 minutes.
00:26:55Man, this is going to be a wet race, Fatty. It's going to be just a landing.
00:26:58Okay, no.
00:26:58Andy, not.
00:26:59I'll do that.
00:27:00It was real fine.
00:27:01This building just attacked.
00:27:02No lights in.
00:27:03Real fine.
00:27:11Hey, something just hit us in the tail.
00:27:15Okay, slow it up, slow it up.
00:27:17Tail up.
00:27:18Okay, nice and down, down, down.
00:27:20Stay down, son.
00:27:21The medic thinks a grenade has exploded near the tail.
00:27:25A slight jolt, but the ship is okay.
00:27:29Okay, don't worry.
00:27:30Just pull him off the litter when they can pick it up.
00:27:33You try your darndest to get in there, even if you're taking fire and all this spit.
00:27:38You try and pick this person up because you know they're really hurt.
00:27:41And you go crazy.
00:27:42You just wonder if that's the time, you know, if this is the one that's going to be there, you
00:27:47know, it's going to get me.
00:27:53Hey, take all the tracks off the pack.
00:27:56Take all the tracks off the pack.
00:27:59All the planes.
00:28:14Now the takeoff, another hazard.
00:28:22Several uniformed North Vietnamese regulars are spotted by the medic.
00:28:26He and the crew chief return their fire.
00:28:35Okay, we've got our three wounded GIs on board.
00:28:39At least one of them has hit pretty bad.
00:28:42We took a little fire on the way out of this pickup area.
00:28:45The medic is beginning to do his job.
00:28:48We should be back at the, uh, at Hawk Hill in about 15 minutes right now.
00:28:54The medic's got a very...
00:28:58The medic's got a busy, busy few minutes ahead of him before we get back to Hawk Hill.
00:29:07Dustoff has returned.
00:29:12Later, the diagnosis.
00:29:15Yes, they will live.
00:29:16They are fortunate they will not lose their limbs.
00:29:20One man will need to have a portion of his face reconstructed.
00:29:26Sometimes their lives depend on you.
00:29:28I mean, you hold it in your hands.
00:29:30As a medic, you know, it's just hard to say.
00:29:34But right then, you hold life and death in your hand.
00:29:37Roger, if I need, uh...
00:29:40Yes, sir, sir.
00:29:41Yes, sir.
00:29:42Yes, sir.
00:29:4522-4 charge, Roger.
00:29:46I have one open letter standing by.
00:29:48Doc Barron?
00:29:49Yeah.
00:29:49One open letter.
00:29:50About five minutes a saw.
00:29:52Something's wrong with one of the guy's legs.
00:29:53Soon, the radio is active again.
00:29:56The Dustoff crews are off on another mission.
00:30:00Their motto is strive to save lives.
00:30:03So often, their missions are successful.
00:30:06But too often, the war speaks with finality.
00:30:10Booby traps and bullets do not comprehend mercy.
00:30:13And not even the heroism of the Dustoff crews can intervene.
00:30:29That will be washed the IV.
00:30:35Bicarb ready.
00:30:36Bicarb in.
00:30:37Quiet enough.
00:30:57Flash lights, please.
00:30:59Flash lights.
00:31:36How many are coming in now?
00:31:38Two.
00:31:38I think there's three more.
00:31:40Three?
00:31:41I believe there's three.
00:31:47In the later years of the Vietnam War, helicopter missions became especially dangerous.
00:31:52The enemy's anti-aircraft fire was improving, and helicopters were vulnerable birds.
00:31:58The men who flew them were something special, as Jed Duval discovered.
00:32:03The official name of this outfit is Delta Troop 3rd of the 5th Cavalry,
00:32:08but everyone uses simply the nickname Charlie Horse.
00:32:11Charlie Horse is one of many fighting units in Vietnam composed of helicopter soldiers.
00:32:16It is a volunteer job.
00:32:18Charlie Horse and the outfits like it are full of men, pilots and crews,
00:32:21who asked to be here, have remained in Vietnam for one year long tour after another.
00:32:27Someone has to do it.
00:32:29And most of the ones that stay feel they can do it better than they got it just coming over
00:32:33here.
00:32:34I think they actually believe that, or they feel the same way I do,
00:32:38that I'm actually helping somebody over here.
00:32:40That I'm actually doing something that's worthwhile.
00:32:43That's why they stay.
00:32:45In two months over the terrain west of Quezon, Charlie Horse lost 14 of its men in action.
00:32:51Men who are close to death are close to each other.
00:32:54So I'd like for everybody to join in while we welcome some of our newbies into our fellowship here.
00:33:02We'll start out by singing a little song.
00:33:16Let's do it.
00:33:30Let's do it.
00:33:36The boisterous play includes dousing the new men with beer.
00:33:42The day after the singing and beer tossing,
00:33:45Charlie Horse lost five kills when three of its choppers were shot down.
00:33:50That day too, Charlie Horse was rescuing others who were shot down but lived through it.
00:33:55Rescue is not the main mission, scouting is.
00:33:57But they happened on this one, a machine that had gone down and was burning.
00:34:02Riflemen who ride with Charlie Horse guarded the downed bird.
00:34:06There were no enemy around, but one never knows if that will be the case until he lands.
00:34:13Another similar mission.
00:34:14A small chopper, a scout from a sister unit down, having hit the side of a hill.
00:34:19All three aboard dead.
00:34:22A man worries about becoming accustomed, hardened to this.
00:34:26He wonders if he should allow himself to make friends.
00:34:29Wonders if love for a buddy has become a luxury.
00:34:32You know the enemy's out there, and you know it happens when you see your buddy's getting killed.
00:34:37You just try not to think about it.
00:34:39When it happens, it happens.
00:34:42I guess that's all you can say.
00:34:44It's in the back of your mind, but if you think about it too much, you can't do your job
00:34:47because you're nervous.
00:34:48Charlie Horse pilots are fully aware that the danger is constant and substantial where they fly.
00:34:53They are proud to face it, defy it, every day.
00:34:59At least one enemy soldier is seen by the scout.
00:35:01There's an AK and a pack laying on a rock here.
00:35:05We got a gook.
00:35:06We got a gook.
00:35:08Okay, roll in that little creek there.
00:35:11We're taking Brian out of there.
00:35:13That's it, right there, right there.
00:35:14Okay, go straight up.
00:35:16Go straight up.
00:35:17Okay, I think you got him.
00:35:19Well, that was quick.
00:35:23First thing out, he got a gook.
00:35:25Put some 50 in there before we look.
00:35:27Good idea.
00:35:31That's it.
00:35:32That's it, my friend, right in there.
00:35:37Oh, that's beautiful, beautiful.
00:35:40You really caught him with your pants down.
00:35:42Yeah, roger, pants down.
00:35:44In the evening, they commute home to Quang Tri.
00:35:47But they do not get away from the war.
00:35:52Near where Charlie Horse parks its machines, there is a small spare chapel.
00:35:57The men of the outfit who are killed are remembered with dignity and brevity.
00:36:01I'm having more about it.
00:36:07Shrewd and huff.
00:36:10The other sound tax.
00:36:13The other sound tax.
00:36:26Freaking, I'm not going to bet who you are.
00:36:36So, this is a long-term view.
00:36:39If your family takes care of you...
00:36:42The line has some blood.
00:36:44The other sound affects you all, right?
00:37:04We have one more film to show you.
00:37:06Sergeant Beausoleil here is part of the story,
00:37:09but so are the other men of his platoon.
00:37:12We're going back to 1965,
00:37:14the year that marked the beginning of the American buildup in Vietnam.
00:37:18The correspondent is Charles Corralt.
00:37:20He'd gone to Vietnam to spend a few days with one unit of American soldiers
00:37:25before and during the Christmas holiday truce.
00:37:28Charles Corralt, Christmas in Vietnam.
00:37:31His name is Sergeant Ralph Beausoleil.
00:37:34We filmed him on the day of truce and on the days of combat.
00:37:37We'll never forget him.
00:37:38Maybe you'll never forget him either.
00:37:40Today is Christmas Day here, the 25th.
00:37:44And there's silence.
00:37:45You don't hear the usual artillery rounds firing from back there
00:37:50and landing out here.
00:37:52I'm here in the obvious view of our sniper,
00:37:56if he should be there to fire today.
00:37:59It's been a strange feeling ever since yesterday.
00:38:04No noise, no firing, no planes even.
00:38:09This is something that you always hear,
00:38:11airplanes bombing and strafing in the night way out in the distance.
00:38:15And not even that last night.
00:38:16It was so quiet, it was uncomfortable.
00:38:19I think that very few people slept last night
00:38:22because of the silence.
00:38:24And yet, something that we all want.
00:38:27This is what we're here for,
00:38:28to bring silence to this country.
00:38:51Everything you're about to see took place in Vietnam on Christmas
00:38:54and on the days just preceding Christmas.
00:38:57We thought you might be interested to know what it was like
00:39:00along these 300 yards of front line near the Iron Triangle.
00:39:05The enemy is right there,
00:39:08down this line of rubber trees where the jungle begins.
00:39:12And here, facing the enemy,
00:39:14is the 3rd Platoon, A Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Infantry.
00:39:18This is the week of Christmas in Vietnam.
00:39:23Maybe what made Christmas Day seem so especially quiet to Ralph Bausole
00:39:26was that the war with the enemy snipers on Christmas week
00:39:30had been so especially violent.
00:39:35Alpha, Oscar, Alpha, Oscar.
00:39:36This is Alpha, November.
00:39:37Alpha, November, over.
00:39:39I don't think he's going to fire.
00:39:40It's too early.
00:39:49Yeah, he's in there for one with our minds again.
00:39:53Come on, Dad.
00:40:17Let's go get him then.
00:40:20Let's go.
00:40:21Get your rifle, Glennon.
00:40:22Want to keep monitoring?
00:40:23Yeah.
00:40:23Tell him we're on the way down to get him.
00:40:25Okay.
00:40:29Come on, Sergeant, let's drop that line.
00:40:30I'm not interested in that line.
00:40:31Let's go.
00:40:33When the sniper shoots at them, of course,
00:40:35they know what the damage is.
00:40:37Every time they shoot at him,
00:40:38they have to go find out.
00:40:40That means going beyond the barbed wire
00:40:42into the country of the enemy,
00:40:44Victor Charlie, VC.
00:40:46It's dangerous work,
00:40:48and this time Sergeant Bosselet decides
00:40:50it's not worth the risk
00:40:51that Charlie may be waiting
00:40:52at the jungle's edge.
00:40:54He decides they'll put off the search.
00:41:11Does he have nerve or doesn't he have nerve, huh?
00:41:13I haven't telling you?
00:41:15He's a challenge, that guy.
00:41:17He really is.
00:41:18For Ralph Bosselet's third platoon,
00:41:20the Vietnam War is here
00:41:22at a rubber plantation called Lai Khe,
00:41:25which is the 1st Division's 3rd Brigade headquarters.
00:41:28And not just at Lai Khe,
00:41:29but on the perimeter.
00:41:31And not just on the perimeter,
00:41:32but on this little bit of it.
00:41:34A piece of ground
00:41:36which has belonged in recent years
00:41:38exclusively to the Viet Cong,
00:41:39and which now is shared
00:41:41by Ralph Bosselet.
00:41:43This is the area we've been working in.
00:41:47And we've cleared into there
00:41:49about 15 meters.
00:41:50I think yesterday we found four mines,
00:41:54and the day before that we found five.
00:41:55And they're all clustered
00:41:57around the mines that we laid for them.
00:42:00They're booby-trapping your booby traps.
00:42:02They're booby-trapping our booby-trapping.
00:42:03Exactly.
00:42:04We find them.
00:42:05There's no problem.
00:42:06We haven't had an accident here yet, thank God,
00:42:09by tripping off one of theirs.
00:42:11And I think they're getting pretty well disgusted with it
00:42:13because they haven't no real success with it.
00:42:16Maybe they stop all this nonsense
00:42:18of booby-trapping out here.
00:42:26That's my platoon medic on the right there.
00:42:31Good man.
00:42:31He was caught in a couple of bad situations
00:42:35every time we sent a patrol out.
00:42:38He has to accompany the patrol,
00:42:39and we change squads every time we send a patrol,
00:42:41but it's always the same medic.
00:42:45God's got a good hand on him
00:42:46because he was in that ambush
00:42:49where we lost half the squad,
00:42:50and the other half was injured.
00:42:52He's the only man that come out
00:42:54completely unscratched, sent him.
00:42:56And Sergeant Deuth, which is to his left,
00:42:57was one of the fire teammates
00:42:58in that particular ambush,
00:43:00and he got a few shrapnel wounds.
00:43:02As you can see, he's back in operation again.
00:43:06He's my college grad from Colorado.
00:43:10And here we have Sergeant Guerrero.
00:43:12He was hurt in Baobang also.
00:43:15He took a shrapnel in the chest
00:43:19and the legs.
00:43:21As you can see, he's fit for duty again, too,
00:43:24and he's glad to be back.
00:43:25He got tired of the hospital.
00:43:30Good man.
00:43:31That's Berger, the platoon JD.
00:43:34Good man.
00:43:37Another man with very little fear in his heart.
00:43:41This is Sergeant Wheeler.
00:43:43Two days ago, he re-enlisted right here
00:43:45to fill his own vacancy, needless to say.
00:43:49He's got a pocket full of money
00:43:51and no place to go.
00:43:54This is PFC Riggs.
00:43:56This is my radio operator,
00:43:57and he's been my radio operator
00:43:58since I've been here.
00:44:00In the Battle of Baobang,
00:44:01we were really hit hard and heavily.
00:44:05And every time he'd bring ammo,
00:44:06he wouldn't come back to the CP.
00:44:07He'd go down to the holes
00:44:08and drop it off at the holes.
00:44:10And all this time during fire,
00:44:11he's a little bit nervous now.
00:44:13I guess he sat and he thought about what he did,
00:44:15and he's just a little bit nervous.
00:44:17But I'm pretty sure if it happened again,
00:44:18he'd do it again.
00:44:20He's just all heart, all heart.
00:44:23This is Esaias.
00:44:25He's one of the demolition men I have.
00:44:27He doesn't fear demolition any too much.
00:44:30As a matter of fact, I consider him a nut.
00:44:32And my other two are inside there.
00:44:33One is Sergeant Duenas,
00:44:34and the other is Sergeant Corona.
00:44:36And these are the people
00:44:36that I send out forward of me
00:44:38to clear the mines.
00:44:39They haven't missed one yet, thank God.
00:44:41They're real good, real good.
00:44:43One of the problems we run into,
00:44:44you see, this is a trail.
00:44:45At one time, it had been a horse trail.
00:44:46It's a double trail.
00:44:47And it's grown over now.
00:44:49Well, I have a man right inside there
00:44:51about five meters into the jungle.
00:44:53And I can see him.
00:44:54I don't know.
00:44:55I imagine you're having a little bit of trouble
00:44:56protecting him.
00:44:57Well, it's kind of dark in there.
00:44:58Berger, wave your hand.
00:45:00You see him in there?
00:45:01Yeah, now I see him, just barely.
00:45:03And he is pale, deathly pale.
00:45:07Sometimes I wonder if he's sick or not.
00:45:08Wave your hand again, Berger.
00:45:12And imagine you get a Vietnamese in there
00:45:15who's dark-complexed anyway.
00:45:16And you'd never be able to see him
00:45:17unless he moves.
00:45:20We have a sniper that comes and visit us
00:45:22every day from 1 to 2 o'clock.
00:45:23And he fires from just about where
00:45:26Sergeant Guerrero is.
00:45:27That's my chubby one.
00:45:29He fires right from in there.
00:45:31He's a bad shot, terrible shot.
00:45:34How do you know he's not going to fire
00:45:35on us right now?
00:45:37There's no way of telling him.
00:45:39Well, he won't fire from up here
00:45:39because I've got my patroon through here.
00:45:41But as you can see, it sticks out over there.
00:45:42He might fire from over there
00:45:43or he might fire from over there.
00:45:45It's just a chance you take.
00:45:46Like I said, he's a terrible shot.
00:45:48And his first shot would be a warning
00:45:50and then he's gone anyway.
00:45:51So he learned to live with it.
00:45:53Yeah, really.
00:45:54He learned to live with it.
00:45:56I wish I could meet him.
00:45:57I hope he comes over for Christmas
00:45:58when we have this armistice.
00:45:59I can shake his hand because he's good.
00:46:01He is good.
00:46:01He's got to be good when he's got a platoon
00:46:05sitting out there from 1 to 2 o'clock
00:46:07trying to find him.
00:46:10Trying to find him and he's good.
00:46:15There's my fearless ones laying their minds.
00:46:21It's going to be dangerous.
00:46:22You know one of the things that I worry all the time about
00:46:24is that if I ever lose him,
00:46:27how in tarnation will I ever retrieve my minds?
00:46:32It is well known in A Company, by the way,
00:46:34that Ralph Bosselay,
00:46:35who speaks so freely of the heroism of others,
00:46:37was put in for a silver star himself
00:46:39after the last battle.
00:46:40He never speaks of that.
00:46:42He, like most of these men,
00:46:43would rather talk about the chow or the weather
00:46:45or that eternal subject of speculation
00:46:48among infantrymen, home.
00:46:52What's Christmas going to be like
00:46:53at your house, back home?
00:46:55Oh, this is a riot.
00:46:57This is a riot.
00:46:57If my wife decides to let the children fix the tree,
00:47:02which she does with close supervision,
00:47:05it'll be quite the thing.
00:47:07Home, where the kids did fix the tree this year,
00:47:09is in Seaside, California.
00:47:12Ralph Bosselay volunteered to go to Vietnam,
00:47:15and then he started worrying about his children
00:47:17running around on the streets of New York,
00:47:19where he ran around as a child.
00:47:20So he bought this house
00:47:22and moved his family into it.
00:47:24And they all had seven days there together
00:47:26before his division shipped out.
00:47:32I have a regular first sergeant of my own.
00:47:35That's my oldest daughter, Elena.
00:47:36She's a dictator.
00:47:38She really lays down the laws.
00:47:41She has to handle each bulb
00:47:42and pass them to the juniors, you know.
00:47:44And my second oldest, Bali,
00:47:46she's wanting to understudy her,
00:47:49take her job over.
00:47:50Oh, it's going to be something else.
00:47:52My little Ralph, he's the man of the house now.
00:47:55He'll be trying to be helpful.
00:47:58He's only five,
00:47:59so you can imagine how helpful he's going to be.
00:48:02And I have my next one, Alicia.
00:48:05I know she's going to be in the middle of everything,
00:48:08you know, that angel's hair all over her hair
00:48:10and glittering all over
00:48:12and dropping them little ornaments.
00:48:14And Tony, the baby.
00:48:17I don't envy my wife's job back there setting up a tree.
00:48:19It's going to be murder back there.
00:48:28Wish I was there.
00:48:29I'd like to see it.
00:48:31Next year, I'm going to sit there and just watch
00:48:32and let my wife go crazy.
00:48:34Let her go out of her mind
00:48:36trying to control them five children.
00:48:41Christmas.
00:48:42Just a normal Christmas at home, huh?
00:48:44I look forward to that.
00:48:46Lord willing, next year I'll be home
00:48:47and we'll make up for this one.
00:48:53Holy Mary, Mother of God,
00:48:55pray for us sinners now at the hour of our death.
00:48:57Amen.
00:48:57In the name of the Father,
00:48:58and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
00:49:00Amen.
00:49:01Please, God, take care of my Father.
00:49:07These are mines.
00:49:09Once armed, they are made to shatter
00:49:11at the slightest touch
00:49:12into thousands of lethal chunks of steel.
00:49:14If you're nervous, you shouldn't handle mines.
00:49:18The man in the middle
00:49:19is the 3rd platoon's demolitions expert,
00:49:21Sergeant Jose Duenas,
00:49:22who was never nervous.
00:49:24Jose Duenas woke up every morning
00:49:26in the days before Christmas
00:49:27knowing that his job today
00:49:29was to crawl through a jungle
00:49:30heavily mined by the enemy
00:49:32to lay mines.
00:49:33When you get in there, Sergeant Duenas,
00:49:34if they're not in there far enough,
00:49:35just push them out some more.
00:49:36I want you to work behind that security.
00:49:40Sergeant Duenas, the one that keeps
00:49:42going back and forth in there
00:49:44while my platoon is out here,
00:49:45he's from Guam,
00:49:46and he was, you know,
00:49:47during the occupation of Guam,
00:49:49he was a fighter.
00:49:50He's always been a fighter.
00:49:52So whenever I have my platoon here,
00:49:53I let him go freelance
00:49:55up and down in there and finding him.
00:49:57It's hard to walk through that jungle
00:49:59and not trip one of my trip mines.
00:50:00It really is.
00:50:02It's equally as hard for us
00:50:02to walk through
00:50:03and not trip one of theirs.
00:50:04They use vines.
00:50:05We use wire
00:50:06and they use vines
00:50:07and vines is what we cut
00:50:08to get through that stuff.
00:50:10Boy, it's a ticklish business.
00:50:13But with my three experts,
00:50:14I haven't had any trouble yet.
00:50:18Ralph Bosley always spoke
00:50:19of Duenas as his best man,
00:50:21not only at spotting Charlie's mines,
00:50:23but also at spotting Charlie.
00:50:26Well, you spotted him twice
00:50:27the same way
00:50:27and both times you spotted him,
00:50:29the damn fool was out there
00:50:30and now you want to wave him
00:50:30and fire again.
00:50:33I don't think he's going to fire.
00:50:34You don't think he's going to fire
00:50:35this time?
00:50:40You see him out there?
00:50:43Well, the same thing
00:50:44I've seen before,
00:50:45the movement.
00:50:48He hasn't been wrong yet.
00:50:49I've seen him
00:50:49from both times he was out there,
00:50:51so I can reasonably assume
00:50:54that he is out there.
00:50:56I guess he's out there
00:50:57to check our progress, really,
00:50:59to see just what we're doing out there.
00:51:02You notice how he skirted this area already?
00:51:04So evidently he knows
00:51:04we got that dog thing in mind already.
00:51:10No movement?
00:51:11No movement?
00:51:12You figure he moved further
00:51:12to the right already, huh?
00:51:14Yep.
00:51:17When you hear they go bang,
00:51:18you know what happened.
00:51:19And this time it's going to be
00:51:20from the center
00:51:20rather than from the flank.
00:51:22Sergeant Ray Floyd,
00:51:24forward observer,
00:51:25pulling in mortar rounds
00:51:26on the spot
00:51:27where Duenas
00:51:27saw the sniper.
00:51:51Duenas, see something?
00:51:59You've got to keep asking him
00:52:00because he'll sit there
00:52:00and stare at him
00:52:01and see him moving
00:52:02and won't say a word
00:52:02until he's ready to toot at him.
00:52:04By that time,
00:52:05he shot at somebody else.
00:52:07November,
00:52:08on the way, over.
00:52:09You should be right
00:52:10underneath that wood line.
00:52:11You should see it clear.
00:52:12And then the breathless silence
00:52:14of men who know
00:52:15they're being stared at,
00:52:16staring back
00:52:17at the jungle's edge,
00:52:18waiting for the mortar round
00:52:19to land,
00:52:20waiting for the enemy's
00:52:21first movement.
00:52:27Light, light.
00:52:31Too high.
00:52:32Too high.
00:52:39First place, light.
00:52:50No, no, no, no.
00:52:52Drop.
00:52:525-5, all right.
00:53:07They think they got him,
00:53:08but they know
00:53:09the enemy called Charlie
00:53:10is really a squad of snipers
00:53:12or a platoon
00:53:13firing in rotation.
00:53:15These are the two specialists
00:53:16working on the problem.
00:53:17Duenas,
00:53:18who knows where the sniper is,
00:53:20and Floyd,
00:53:21who knows how to hit him
00:53:22with the big guns.
00:53:25Yeah, well, see,
00:53:25this is what I'm getting at.
00:53:27Right now,
00:53:27we're too far to the right
00:53:28as we're looking at him,
00:53:29and if we, uh,
00:53:31if we know where he's got
00:53:33to go across there,
00:53:34and every day he seems
00:53:34to go right back out
00:53:35through the thing,
00:53:36he seems to go this way.
00:53:37If he fires from here,
00:53:39you can expect him to go there.
00:53:40If you spotted a movement here,
00:53:42you can expect him here again.
00:53:43This happens every time.
00:53:44We never fail yet.
00:53:46Just leave it where it is
00:53:47and make a shift from it.
00:53:48You'd be better off.
00:53:49Because if you start
00:53:50bringing it in
00:53:51and see what the ground
00:53:52looks like,
00:53:53we'll get up.
00:53:55I know where he's got to go.
00:53:56See, before we're just
00:53:57shooting out there.
00:54:00We'll find out
00:54:01what it looks like.
00:54:02I'll tell you
00:54:02where we get fired from.
00:54:04Right here.
00:54:05Where he's sitting at?
00:54:06Right straight down there.
00:54:09And we'll spot him from here
00:54:10in three places,
00:54:11the movement,
00:54:12and then we can expect
00:54:14to be shot at
00:54:14from that area
00:54:15twice now.
00:54:17He got one of our boys
00:54:18right here.
00:54:21Floyd, the artillery sergeant,
00:54:23decides he has to go out
00:54:24in the afternoon
00:54:25through the minefield
00:54:26to see the ground
00:54:27for himself.
00:54:28Duenius will lead him.
00:54:30We think we've got a hit.
00:54:31We'll go out this afternoon
00:54:31and check for blood.
00:54:32Over.
00:54:36There were so many
00:54:37explosions along that perimeter,
00:54:39that mined and booby-trapped
00:54:40and enemy-infested
00:54:41line of jungle,
00:54:42that we could not be sure
00:54:44which explosion it was.
00:54:46All we knew was that
00:54:47McFall and Sergeant Floyd,
00:54:48the artillery observer,
00:54:50and Sergeant Duenius,
00:54:51the quiet expert on mines,
00:54:52were out there
00:54:53with a squad covering them.
00:54:55And then suddenly
00:54:56there was a call
00:54:57for medics
00:54:58to the third platoon perimeter.
00:55:01Sergeant Floyd,
00:55:03who had to see
00:55:04the ground for himself.
00:55:05He was the one,
00:55:06apparently,
00:55:07who tripped the mine.
00:55:13Part of Ralph Bossolet's platoon,
00:55:15ignoring the danger,
00:55:16had raced into the jungle
00:55:17to pull the three men out.
00:55:19Another had driven a truck
00:55:21across the sniper's line of fire
00:55:23to serve as an ambulance
00:55:24for Floyd,
00:55:25and now drove it
00:55:27as fast as it would go,
00:55:29a wild half-mile
00:55:30through the rubber trees,
00:55:32down the perimeter,
00:55:33to the battalion aid station.
00:55:45Sergeant Floyd,
00:55:46who had to see
00:55:47the ground for himself.
00:55:52Four inch A,
00:55:53four inch A's wrapped.
00:55:56Damn.
00:55:57Hey, don't lose that water.
00:55:59Okay.
00:56:01That morphine
00:56:02has started working
00:56:02in a couple of minutes.
00:56:03Yeah.
00:56:08Yes, ma'am,
00:56:08I'll pick it up.
00:56:14Give him a tetanus shot.
00:56:16All I gotta say,
00:56:20that little Charlie fella
00:56:21runs around out there
00:56:22bothering us all the time.
00:56:23I hope they get him.
00:56:24I hope they get him.
00:56:26Give me another
00:56:26edge in, Chuck.
00:56:28I'm sure they will.
00:56:30I guess he earned
00:56:31your purple eye.
00:56:33What were you doing out there?
00:56:35We were just
00:56:37physically reconning
00:56:38the area to see,
00:56:40you know,
00:56:40this morning
00:56:41where the sniper was
00:56:42this morning.
00:56:43Hey, Joe,
00:56:43another four inch rap.
00:56:44We were looking for,
00:56:49maybe possibly
00:56:50they hit him this morning,
00:56:51you know,
00:56:51we were looking around there
00:56:52and evidently
00:56:53he booby-trapped
00:56:55our booby-traps
00:56:56because the sergeant
00:56:57with me knew,
00:56:59he knew where
00:56:59the hours were set up.
00:57:03And,
00:57:05it's just one of those things.
00:57:07How about some more water?
00:57:09But that's the way
00:57:10it goes, I guess.
00:57:11Win some,
00:57:12lose some.
00:57:16How's the sergeant
00:57:17that's with us?
00:57:19I want to,
00:57:20I want to know
00:57:21how he is.
00:57:23Floyd asking about
00:57:24Duanyas,
00:57:24the sergeant from Guam,
00:57:26the expert on mines.
00:57:28He said he wanted
00:57:28to know how Duanyas was.
00:57:31But Duanyas went
00:57:32to another aid station
00:57:33and nobody could tell him.
00:57:35Jack?
00:57:36I thought we could put
00:57:37across there
00:57:37to rest his head on.
00:57:38Yes, sir.
00:57:39I'm going to be a little
00:57:40uncomfortable.
00:57:43Now,
00:57:44just turn it around.
00:57:46I'll put it around
00:57:46at rest.
00:57:53You feeling better now
00:57:54with this other morphine?
00:57:55Not yet, man.
00:57:56That leg's about to get me.
00:57:57Oh, you will.
00:57:58I'll be better.
00:58:02Now,
00:58:02try to keep that arm
00:58:04quiet, right?
00:58:04So that bottle's drained,
00:58:06they'll take it out for you.
00:58:07Okay?
00:58:07That's it, sir.
00:58:07That morphine will take
00:58:08a hole in about 15 minutes.
00:58:10Damn.
00:58:28Hey, look, Floyd!
00:58:38Santa Claus in the background.
00:58:41At the Brigade Hospital,
00:58:42Corona tried to stop crying.
00:58:45Ralph Bosselay
00:58:45didn't even try to stop.
00:58:47It was there they found out
00:58:48that in the explosion
00:58:49which wounded Floyd
00:58:50and McFall,
00:58:52Jose Duanyas was killed.
00:58:57They sat on ammunition boxes
00:58:59Christmas morning
00:59:00here at Lai K
00:59:00in a chapel with no roof
00:59:02because the roof
00:59:03because the roof
00:59:03was blown off
00:59:03by the Viet Cong.
00:59:05And that way,
00:59:06they celebrated Christmas.
00:59:08For God so loved the world
00:59:10and gave his only son.
00:59:13But whosoever believeth in him
00:59:16should not perish,
00:59:18but have everlasting life.
00:59:22Drink this in remembrance
00:59:23that Christ died for you
00:59:25and feed on him
00:59:27in your heart
00:59:28by faith
00:59:28with thanksgiving.
00:59:42And now the blessing
00:59:44of God,
00:59:44Almighty Father,
00:59:46Son,
00:59:46and Holy Spirit
00:59:47support you,
00:59:48sustain you,
00:59:49lead and bless you now
00:59:51and forevermore.
00:59:53Amen.
00:59:55Then they picked up
00:59:56their rifles
00:59:57and went back
00:59:57to the perimeter.
00:59:58Because of the truce,
01:00:00the truce which came
01:00:00too late for Duanyas,
01:00:02they had some time
01:00:03on Christmas
01:00:03to think their own thoughts.
01:00:06Oh, Duanyas,
01:00:08he's a little man
01:00:09in statue.
01:00:10He's very short.
01:00:12The pictures show
01:00:14that he's small,
01:00:15but he was a giant
01:00:16among men.
01:00:16They never complained,
01:00:18never showed
01:00:19any type of emotion.
01:00:21Never.
01:00:21No matter how dangerous
01:00:23the job was,
01:00:24he'd just shrug
01:00:26and go do the job.
01:00:28It cost.
01:00:30There's no way,
01:00:31there's no easy way
01:00:31to win a war.
01:00:33It's all hard.
01:00:35I lost my best man.
01:00:36Every time I lose one,
01:00:37it's like a son.
01:00:39And I write my wife
01:00:40and I tell her
01:00:41who it was,
01:00:42by name usually.
01:00:44She's very religious,
01:00:45so she probably
01:00:46says a prayer for him too.
01:00:50And all you can do
01:00:51is tell them
01:00:51how well they were,
01:00:53how brave they died
01:00:54and the fact that
01:00:57she has to face it,
01:00:58maybe one of these days
01:00:59it's going to be me.
01:01:02Jose Duanyas
01:01:03was the bravest man
01:01:04I ever met.
01:01:05He was,
01:01:06as Ralph Bossolet
01:01:07said he was,
01:01:08without fear.
01:01:11If you're the kind
01:01:12who prays,
01:01:12you might pray
01:01:13that these other brave men,
01:01:15the third platoon
01:01:15of A Company,
01:01:17all leave this terrible
01:01:19place safely
01:01:20and come home
01:01:21to you next Christmas.
01:01:24This is Charles Kirovd.
01:01:28One postscript
01:01:29to that story,
01:01:30Sergeant Raymond Floyd
01:01:31returned home safely,
01:01:32but he lost a leg.
01:01:34And the war,
01:01:35of course,
01:01:36would not be ended
01:01:36by the following Christmas.
01:01:38For Americans,
01:01:39the war in Vietnam
01:01:40was just beginning.
01:01:42This is Walter Cronkite,
01:01:44and this has been
01:01:44one of a continuing series
01:01:46of videocassettes
01:01:47on the Vietnam War.
01:01:49and this has been
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