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Vietnam War

Vietnam Beyond by Gerald E. Augustine

Vietnam Beyond by Gerald E. Augustine

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When Gerald Augustine shipped off to Vietnam in 1966, he brought a 1949 Kodak Brownie Hawkeye box camera at the behest of his mother. It turned out to be a great decision.  About the Author of Vietnam Beyond He used the camera to document his experiences during and after the Vietnam War, and some of these images are included in his new book, "Vietnam Beyond." A Middletown, Connecticut native, Augustine graduated from high school in 1963 and went on to study at Central Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut. He was soon drafted into the Army in 1965, serving with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade. On August 4, 1966, he was sent to Vietnam.  Augustine spent much of his time in Southeast Asia in combat. As a machine gunner, this meant ambush patrols, search-and-destroy missions, and helicopter assaults. He got a brief reprieve from the jungles only because an eye injury forced him to go to Saigon for surgery. There, he realized how far removed the...

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Famous Navy Unit: HA(L)-3 Seawolves

Famous Navy Unit: HA(L)-3 Seawolves

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Steeped in the political turmoil of an unpopular war and faced with unfamiliar terrain, embedded enemy supply practices, and tactics keying on stealth, by 1965, the US faced new and novel threats from Viet Cong forces with no ready recourse. Striving for any means to achieve supremacy, the Army turned to tried-and-true tactics while seeking a breakthrough military strategy. The answer, formation of the all-volunteer Navy Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3 (HA(L)-3), quickly renowned by their call sign "Seawolf." Utilizing hand-me-down equipment acquired from the Army and newly trained personnel, HA(L)-3 would go on to become the most highly decorated squadron in naval aviation history. During the squadron's five-year tenure, the Seawolves flew more than 120,000 missions with two-hundred wounded and forty-four KIA, earning the following commendations and landmark recognition. But just how was such unprecedented success possible in the face of antiquated equipment and the absence of...

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Service Reflections of CPT Kent Whitman, U.S. Army (1967-1987)

Service Reflections of CPT Kent Whitman, U.S. Army (1967-1987)

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Vietnam cranking up made it easy for me to select ROTC as my elective course while attending the University of Mass Amherst with a college deferment. We need the draft back. I knew I would be called to go after college, so I decided to do it as an Officer. I did well in ROTC, so I was offered a Regular Army Commission instead of the Reserve commission.
Despite them being similarly reserved and not the type of men to brag, I could hardly wait to visit them so I could beg them to tell me war stories. The experiences they shared with me made a lasting impression during my early childhood, which further aroused my desire to serve my country.

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SSgt William Hart Pitsenbarger, U.S. Air Force (1962-1966)

SSgt William Hart Pitsenbarger, U.S. Air Force (1962-1966)

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Born in 1944 in Piqua, Ohio, William Hart Pitsenbarger was an ambitious only child. He wanted to quit high school to join the U.S. Army Special Forces' "Green Berets," but his parents convinced him to stay in school. After graduating in 1962, Pitsenbarger decided to join the Air Force and on New Year's Eve 1962, he was on a train bound for basic training in San Antonio, Texas. Pitsenbarger's Early Life and Education During his basic training in early 1963, "Pits" - as he was known to his friends - learned his military skills in a series of demanding schools. After Air Force basic training, he volunteered for pararescue work and embarked on a rigorous training program, which included U.S. Army parachute school, survival school, a rescue and survival medical course, and the U.S. Navy's scuba diving school. More Air Force rescue training and jungle survival school followed. His final training was in air crash rescue and firefighting.  His first assigned was to the Rescue Squadron...

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The History of Bob Hope USO Shows

The History of Bob Hope USO Shows

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Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the USO knows a little about the history of Bob Hope’ USO shows. Since 1941, the United Service Organizations has provided support to the service members of the United States military. At all stages of a service member’s active duty and even beyond, USO volunteers are ready to provide support.  At enlistmentOn deploymentWith their familiesAway from homeWhen injured in serviceReturning to civilian life The History of Bob Hope USO Shows Bob Hope’s USO shows were a staple for many decades, entertaining generations of military personnel in the United States Armed Forces. Driving Force Behind the USO Tours Though he wore many hats as an entertainer, starting out as a dancer, film actor, and radio comedian, Bob Hope is perhaps best remembered as the driving force behind the USO tours that featured the United States’ greatest entertainers traveling to show their support for the troops and lift the spirits of those fighting on the front lines. This...

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Famous Army Unit: 563rd Transportation Company

Famous Army Unit: 563rd Transportation Company

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The complexion of war has changed significantly through millennia of human conflict and continues to evolve with new technologies and lessons learned on the battlefield. But despite this changing environment, one constant does exist: effective logistics and supply chain integrity can change the tide of battle and determine outcomes. Until World War II, a historical reliance on fixed fortifications led to straightforward solutions for combat support; however, the global scale of conflict and new, unbridled mobility forever changed the face of military logistics. In fact, much of the war's best-known strategies were directed solely at disrupting enemy supply chains (Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Drumbeat, Battle of the Bulge, Island Hopping, and more). Surprisingly, by 1966 military logistics and combat supply tactics had not significantly advanced apart from the introduction of helicopters to the battlefield. So as the Vietnam War escalated, UN forces confronted novel threats...

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Vietnam War – The Battle of Hue

Vietnam War – The Battle of Hue

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Another Leatherneck, a black-bearded machine gunner, led a charge up a mountain of rubble that had once been a stately tower, shouting: "We're Marines, let's go!". These episodes illustrate the battle of the Hue Citadel - a grim, struggle through the courtyards and battlements of the old imperial fort. The fight pits U.S. and Vietnamese Marines, determined to take the Citadel, against North Vietnamese soldiers equally determined to hold it. John Olson, a photographer with the Pacific edition of "Stars and Stripes" spent three days with the 3rd Platoon of Delta Company, 1st Bn, 5th Marines. Attack of The Hue Tower Over the East Gate Thursday morning, Olson said, the platoon moved forward through the narrow alleys and tree-lined streets of a housing area to attack the tower over the east gate. They dashed at a half-crouch into a courtyard but didn't make it across. Three Communist rockets crashed into the yard. The radio operator was blown nearly in half. Several other Marines were...

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The Road Not Taken by Max Boot

The Road Not Taken by Max Boot

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In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War. In this epic biography of Edward Lansdale (1908 - 1987), the man said to be the fictional model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American, best-selling historian Max Boot demonstrates how Lansdale pioneered a "hearts and mind" diplomacy, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam. It was a visionary policy that, as Boot reveals, was ultimately crushed by America's giant military bureaucracy, steered by elitist generals and blueblood diplomats who favored troop build-ups and napalm bombs over winning the trust of the people. Through dozens of interviews and access to never-before-seen documents-including long-hidden love letters-Boot recasts this cautionary American story, tracing the bold rise and the crashing fall of the roguish "T. E. Lawrence of Asia" from the battle of Dien Bien Phu to the humiliating American evacuation...

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LTC Darrell Elmore, U.S. Army (1956-1994)

LTC Darrell Elmore, U.S. Army (1956-1994)

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LTC Darrell Elmore remembers, "In June 1964, I was part of an operation designed to intercept a VC propaganda team reported to be parading a small group of U.S. Prisoners of War along the border between Cambodia and Vietnam. The purpose was to show the locals and the VC units that the Americans were easily beaten in combat. In charge of this operation was Saigon based, Maj. LaMar and the 1st SFG A-Team at Trang Sup, a camp about 12 kilometers north of Tay Ninh.  The Operational Plan LaMar Designed in Vietnam War The operational plan LaMar designed was to employ the classic military hammer and anvil tactics used successfully by Alexander the Great in his conquest of the known world. The first element of his plan was a superior infantry force setting up a blocking position. The second element was an airmobile cavalry using armed helicopters to drive the enemy out of hiding into a clearing into the waiting friendly infantry units ready to blow them away. Several American Special...

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