Landing craft like this were in short supply in the Spring of 1944.
CREDIT: "French Coast dead ahead--helmeted Yankee soldier
User page: bd476 / Honor and Respect
Landing craft like this were in short supply in the Spring of 1944.
CREDIT: "French Coast dead ahead--helmeted Yankee soldier
Landing craft like this were in short supply in the Spring of 1944.
CREDIT: "French Coast dead ahead--helmeted Yankee soldier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlPA7yiA_ws
Several years ago I promised a friend that I would continue to look for one of his friends who was a Colonel in the Screaming Eagles stationed in Chu Lai, Viet Nam around 1965-1970. Unfortunately the man's name is extremely common, and every single person I've written to says they are not the same person. I even looked on the Wall's list online and contacted a couple of Screaming Eagles in VN sites. The U.S. Army can't disclose any info without a Social Security number and it must be from a relative.
My friend Tom has since passed away from thyroid cancer but I continue looking.Tom was a Lt. in the USN and had been a guest along with his ship's Captain, of the Screaming Eagles Colonel. The Colonel wanted to show Tom and the USN Captain the layout of Chu Lai so the three of them went on what turned out to be an interesting helicopter ride.
They started taking ground fire yet Tom said that the Colonel didn't seem to notice. Tom says the Colonel just leaned back in his pilot's seat, sighed and said how a hot day like that day made him wish for a big bowl of pistachio ice cream. Tom said it was unusual for Army Colonels to pilot their own helicopters.
Tom had also been on the USS Forrestal, the same ship as John McCain but had been transferred off two weeks prior to the accidental explosion. Tom said he lost many friends that day. When I asked Tom if he had ever been up river with the Swift Boats, Tom replied that he had, just one time and that it had been the most frightening experience of his life.
The Chu Lai videos are videos I have been going through. I also uploaded a dog handler video because another friend was a dog handler in Viet Nam. Scary job there.
I stumbled onto that video of the Battle of Ia Drang awhile back. Incredible video. Have watched it several times. Going to have to go watch the Mel Gibson movie again. Have also watched the several series of Vietnam videos on youtube, most more than once. Our guys definitely won the battles over there. Traitors Walter Cronkite, et al, lost the war for us.
Agree they won the battles and news media lost the war for us, Jim.
A year or two ago there was a Vietnamese woman I was chatting with while we were waiting in line at Trader Joe's. She told me that she was very grateful that American troops came to Viet Nam because she had her Father a little longer than if we hadn't been there. She wanted me and (everyone else at Trader Joe's within earshot) to hear her and to understand that American troops protected South Vietnamese.
She said that she and her entire family would have been executed by the VC because her Father worked for the South Vietnamese government. She said that the very day the American troops left, her Father was arrested and thrown in prison. She said that her family stayed instead of fleeing in hopes that somehow her father would be released. She said that her entire family waited for years and then finally her Father was released from prison, still alive but sadly he only lived a short time. She said that he had been tortured in prison.
She raised her voice a number of times saying that the South Vietnamese invited American troops in, and desperately needed them to protect them from the invading communists from the North.