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Military Campaign Stories

Cpl Carl Reiner, U.S. Army Air Forces (1942–1946)

Cpl Carl Reiner, U.S. Army Air Forces (1942–1946)

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Carl Reiner was a multifaceted American entertainer, celebrated for his significant contributions to comedy, television, film, and literature. But did you know that Carl Reiner was also a veteran? Carl Reiner’s World War II service took him from a Signal Corps radio classroom to the Army’s Special Services entertainment units, where he used humor to boost morale across the Pacific instead of fighting on the front lines. That experience not only kept him out of some of the war’s deadliest battles, it launched a lifetime in comedy that TogetherWeServed proudly honors today. Carl Reiner’s Early Life Carl Reiner was born on March 20, 1922, in the Bronx, New York, to Jewish Austrian immigrant parents, growing up in a working-class home during the Great Depression. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was a watchmaker and an inventor. When Carl Reiner was sixteen years old, he worked as a machinist’s helper, repairing sewing machines for eight dollars a week. He discovered acting in...

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Vietnam War – Battle of Ngok Tavak & Kham Duc

Vietnam War – Battle of Ngok Tavak & Kham Duc

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Kham Duc Special Forces Camp (A-105), was located on the western fringes of Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. In the spring of 1968, it was the only remaining border camp in Military Region I. Backup responsibility for the camp fell on the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal), based at Chu Lai on the far side of the province. Battle Of Ngok Begins As Kham Duc Becomes Outpost The camp had originally been built for President Diem, who enjoyed hunting in the area. The 1st Special Forces Detachment (A-727B) arrived in September 1963 and found the outpost to be an ideal border surveillance site with an existing airfield. The camp was located on a narrow grassy plain surrounded by rugged, virtually uninhabited jungle. The only village in the area, located across the airstrip, was occupied by post dependents, camp followers, and merchants. The camp and airstrip were bordered by the Ngok Peng Bum ridge to the west and Ngok Pe Xar mountain, looming over Kham Duc to the east. Steeply banked...

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Service Reflections of LT David G. Potter, U.S. Coast Guard (1968-1973)

Service Reflections of LT David G. Potter, U.S. Coast Guard (1968-1973)

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In Spring 1968, the Vietnam War was very hot and heavy. Politicians were screaming about men hiding in colleges. I finished my college degree (B.S., wildlife biology, Washington State University) and received a research assistant full scholarship to Penn State for a master’s degree studying wood ducks. Drove 90 miles, including changing a flat tire on a snowy road shoulder, to hear my draft board take minimal time to decide I would be drafted if I didn’t get into an Officer program.

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5 Medal of Honor Stories Overlooked by History

5 Medal of Honor Stories Overlooked by History

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These days, to be considered for the Medal of Honor, a member of the U.S. armed forces has to have a pretty well-documented action of "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty." The action has to happen in combat, with incontestable evidence, usually involving eyewitness accounts. Early Medal of Honor Stories Were Barely Recorded But the earliest Medal of Honor stories weren't as well-documented. They tend to be so short and so limited that we barely know anything about the conspicuous gallantry of the recipients, let alone the recipients themselves.  When the United States military was established, it didn't have the kind of awards and decorations system we have in place today. Officers in the Revolutionary War were awarded special gold medals, but (with the exception of the three enlisted men who captured British spy John Andre), the only award for your average troop was the Badge of Military Merit, which later became the...

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Bayonet Charge

Bayonet Charge

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Following World War I, Americans reached the conclusion that our country's participation in that war had been a disastrous mistake, one which should never be repeated again. This resulted in a major segment of the population becoming "isolationist" hoping to avoid dragging the country into another disastrous foreign war. Lewis Lee Millett Enlisted Before America Entered the War Even when Nazi German invaded Poland in 1939 and began conquering and controlling much of continental Europe, most Americans were adamant we stay out of the war - even though the war in Europe posed a serious challenge to the U.S. neutrality. Americans eager to help fight fascism and Hitler grew frustrated. A large number of these were young American males. Romanticized by the idea of fighting in battle and not wanting to wait until the United States decided to enter the war, many crossed the border into Canada. Among them was a South Dartmouth, MA. teenager by the name of Lewis Lee Millett. But before Millett...

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Made in Taiwan by T.C. Brown

Made in Taiwan by T.C. Brown

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T.C. Brown's "Made in Taiwan: A Naïve American's Chaotic Journey to Manhood in an Exotic Culture During Radical Times" is a Vietnam-era memoir set mostly in the bars, back alleys, and barracks of Taiwan. Brown, a church-going kid from Columbus, Ohio, joined the Air Force in 1968 at age 18, hoping to play in the Air Force Band, and instead found himself shipped to Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taichung. From 1968 to 1973, he served as a military policeman in Taiwan and Vietnam.  Made in Taiwan Reveals Harsh Reality Now, years later, he mines his experience with a reporter's eye for detail, along with a veteran's unease about what those experiences did to him. Brown was the embodiment of small-town Midwestern innocence: devout, inexperienced, and "fresh-faced." Upon joining the military, he stepped into what felt like an off-brand Las Vegas dropped into central Taiwan.  Within 24 hours of arrival, he's riding the "CCK Smoker" bus into Taichung and discovering the "Dirty...

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GWOT – The Battle of 73 Easting

GWOT – The Battle of 73 Easting

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In late February 1991, the desert along the Iraq–Kuwait border was a wholly unremarkable and barren place. There were no towns to name the coming battle; just wind, dust, and a flat horizon marred only by burning oil wells and the silhouettes of armored vehicles.  The Battle of 73 Easting Started as a Map Line To make sense of that emptiness, coalition planners drew a grid across the map. One of those north–south lines, labeled "73 Easting," would become shorthand for the last great tank battle of the 20th century. But on the morning of February 26, it was just another imaginary line in the sand. The battle that formed around it began months earlier, when Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait triggered Operation Desert Shield, the massive U.S.-led deployment to defend Saudi Arabia and prepare to evict Iraqi forces.  After a 43-day air campaign that wrecked much of Iraq's command and logistics, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf approved a bold ground plan: a huge, sweeping "left hook" by...

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The Defiant One: Col Robin Olds, U.S. Air Force (1942-1973)

The Defiant One: Col Robin Olds, U.S. Air Force (1942-1973)

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Fighter pilots used to say that there was a glass case in the Pentagon building to the precise dimension of then-Colonel Robin Olds, who would be frozen in time and displayed wearing his tank-less flight suit, crashed fore and aft cap, gloves, and torso harness with .38 pistol and survival knife. Beside the case was a fire ax beneath a sign reading: "In case of war, break glass." Born for War and Raised to Fly It was something of an exaggeration, but it contained an element of truth: Robin Olds was built for war. And he was born to fly. It was imprinted in his genes. Born July 14, 1922, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Robin Olds was the son of then-Capt. (later Maj. Gen.) Robert Olds and his wife Eloise, who died when Robin was four. The oldest of four, Olds spent the majority of his childhood at Langley Field, Virginia where his father was stationed as an aide to Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell. In 1925 when he was only three, he accompanied his father to Mitchell's famed court-martial. Dressed in a...

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Korean War – Night Fighter Team

Korean War – Night Fighter Team

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On January 21, 1953, during Korea’s Winter War. Night fighter team "George" of composite squadron three (VC-3) was operating from USS Oriskany (CVA-34) in the Sea of Japan. The Night Fighter Team Filed a Misleading Report Excerpt from combat report: Saw 75-100 trucks on G-3, seven trucks seen damaged. Meager to intense AA, much rifle fire was seen. The plane hit by 30 cal. Item - Lt. James L. Brown, USNR assigned F4U-5N #124713. One-night landing aboard without incident. 2.6 combat hours. Combat strike report comments, like that above, were distilled from the intelligence officers debriefing of pilots from returning strikes and later filed with higher command. They, in turn, used these reports from the pilots who flew the combat missions, and reported what happened, to plan later strikes, select subsequent targets, and subject to political considerations, the overall conduct of the war. Seldom did they tell what happened. It was just as well. Here is what really happened that night....

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Service Reflections of Capt Al Kyle, U.S. Marine Corps (1967-1971)

Service Reflections of Capt Al Kyle, U.S. Marine Corps (1967-1971)

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My dad and father-in-law were both career Marines – a big-time influence! Also, I had an NROTC scholarship to Duke University, and graduated in 1967. I was a Marine officer for four years, from 1967 to 1971. Before graduation, we were asked our preferences for a duty station. We were given three choices: West Coast, East Coast, or Vietnam, and were guaranteed to get one of our first three choices. HA! Virtually every graduate ended up in Vietnam.

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Korean War – Firefight at Outpost 3 (1952)

Korean War – Firefight at Outpost 3 (1952)

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"There were 80 of us on that hill when an estimated 600-800 Chinese hit us hard that night. Sixty-six of us were killed, wounded or missing."PFC Edgar "Bart"Dauberman, USMC "Easy"Company, 2d Battalion 5th Marines  In the spring of 1952, General James A. Van Fleet, USA, Commander, 8th United States Army in Korea and supreme commander of all Allied Forces in Korea, undertook one of the most audacious operations in the history of warfare. With his Army fully engaged against Chinese and North Korean communists across the Korean peninsula, General Van Fleet completely realigned his entire force. Dubbed Operation Mixmaster, thousands of men and vehicles and thousands upon thousands of tons of supplies and equipment were shuttled hundreds of miles to new positions over a period of more than one week. It was a daringly unprecedented operation, and the Chinese and North Koreans, who could have ruined it all, were caught flatfooted. Hill Became the First Test of the Jamestown Line...

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United States Marines in the Civil War

United States Marines in the Civil War

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Although it was absolutely critical to the Union's grand, overarching plan to defeat the Confederate States, we don't hear much about the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, save for a few critical battles. We tend to hear or see even less about the Marine Corps' role in preserving the Union. The simple truth is the Marine Corps was just so small (around 3,000 Marines) compared to the Union Army, and as a result, didn't fight large-formation battles.  U.S. Marines Showed Value In Union Strategy Most importantly, the Corps was struggling to define its role in the U.S. military, but that doesn't mean Marines did nothing of significance during the war. The Anaconda Plan, the Union strategy that would split the Confederacy in two and control the Mississippi River while strangling its ability to trade, get supplies, and sell valuable cotton in foreign markets, required a considerable naval force. It also needed men with the unique skill set of both a land and sea force. That's where the...

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