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Soldiers adapt.
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00:00:19,811 --> 00:00:21,859
You go over there
with one mindset, you know,
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00:00:21,980 --> 00:00:23,402
and then you adapt.
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00:00:23,524 --> 00:00:25,492
You adapt to the atrocities
of war.
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00:00:25,609 --> 00:00:27,077
You adapt to...
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00:00:29,446 --> 00:00:33,622
...killing and dying, you know.
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00:00:33,784 --> 00:00:35,627
After a while
it doesn't bother you.
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00:00:38,455 --> 00:00:40,375
Well, I should say it doesn't
bother you as much.
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00:00:41,833 --> 00:00:45,337
When I first arrived in Vietnam,
there were some...
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00:00:46,755 --> 00:00:48,274
there were some interesting
things that happened
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00:00:48,298 --> 00:00:51,472
and I questioned
some of the Marines.
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00:00:51,635 --> 00:00:56,232
I was made to realize that this
is war, and this is what we do.
13
00:00:57,891 --> 00:00:59,518
And that stuck in my head.
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00:00:59,643 --> 00:01:00,519
This is war.
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00:01:00,644 --> 00:01:02,738
This is what we do.
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00:01:02,854 --> 00:01:06,575
And after a while
you embrace that.
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00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,078
This is war.
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00:01:10,195 --> 00:01:11,538
This is what we do.
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00:01:25,752 --> 00:01:28,801
This evening I came here
to speak to you about Vietnam.
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00:01:28,922 --> 00:01:31,846
There is progress
in the war itself,
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00:01:32,009 --> 00:01:35,263
rather dramatic progress
considering the situation
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that actually prevailed when we
sent our troops there in 1965.
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00:01:40,142 --> 00:01:44,522
The grip of the Viet Cong
on the people is being broken.
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# If you can just
get your mind together #
25
00:01:51,361 --> 00:01:56,367
# Then come across to me #
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00:01:56,533 --> 00:01:59,161
In the summer of 1967,
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the men overseeing the war
in Vietnam
28
00:02:01,788 --> 00:02:03,790
remained outwardly optimistic...
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00:02:03,915 --> 00:02:07,590
whatever private doubts
they may have held.
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00:02:07,711 --> 00:02:10,214
# But first #
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00:02:10,339 --> 00:02:13,092
# Are you experienced? #
32
00:02:15,719 --> 00:02:19,724
# Have you ever been
experienced? #
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00:02:19,890 --> 00:02:24,145
The American military
command in Vietnam, MACV,
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00:02:24,269 --> 00:02:27,739
claimed to have killed
200,000 enemy troops
35
00:02:27,856 --> 00:02:29,574
and had told the president
36
00:02:29,733 --> 00:02:32,737
that the all-important
"crossover point"...
37
00:02:32,861 --> 00:02:36,081
the moment when U.S. and ARVN
forces were killing
38
00:02:36,198 --> 00:02:39,247
more Viet Cong
and North Vietnamese troops
39
00:02:39,368 --> 00:02:42,918
than the enemy could replace...
appeared to have been reached
40
00:02:43,038 --> 00:02:45,962
in almost all of South Vietnam.
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00:02:46,083 --> 00:02:48,336
But the United States
had suffered
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00:02:48,460 --> 00:02:52,135
nearly 75,000 casualties.
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00:02:52,255 --> 00:02:58,729
By July 4,
14,624 Americans had died,
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00:02:58,845 --> 00:03:00,472
and, off the record,
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00:03:00,597 --> 00:03:04,943
many officers were much less
sanguine than their commanders.
46
00:03:05,102 --> 00:03:10,484
From Saigon, R.W. Apple
of the New York Times summarized
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00:03:10,607 --> 00:03:15,204
their views: "Victory is not
close at hand," he wrote.
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00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,120
In fact,
"It may be beyond reach."
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00:03:29,292 --> 00:03:31,670
It was true that the enemy
rarely won a battle
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00:03:31,795 --> 00:03:34,639
in the traditional military
sense that they drove
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00:03:34,756 --> 00:03:36,633
the Americans from the field.
52
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,054
But it was also true
that no American victory
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00:03:40,178 --> 00:03:41,896
seemed to matter.
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00:03:42,013 --> 00:03:47,645
Battered enemy units were
quickly reinforced and rearmed.
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00:03:47,769 --> 00:03:51,319
Pacification...
winning the hearts and minds
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00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,070
of the South Vietnamese people...
was not working.
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00:03:55,193 --> 00:03:59,494
Saigon still controlled
only a fraction of a country
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00:03:59,614 --> 00:04:01,491
roughly the size of Florida,
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00:04:01,658 --> 00:04:03,376
and its government remained
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00:04:03,493 --> 00:04:07,714
unpopular and riddled
with corruption.
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00:04:07,831 --> 00:04:11,426
President Johnson had been
forced to raise taxes
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00:04:11,543 --> 00:04:14,888
to meet the war's
ever-climbing cost.
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00:04:15,005 --> 00:04:19,135
His ambitious social program...
his War on Poverty...
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00:04:19,259 --> 00:04:21,762
was in retreat.
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00:04:21,887 --> 00:04:26,688
# Trumpets and violins
I can hear in the distance #
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00:04:26,808 --> 00:04:31,689
That summer, racial
unrest would grip American cities.
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00:04:31,813 --> 00:04:35,192
# Maybe now
you can't hear them #
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00:04:35,317 --> 00:04:37,194
# But you will #
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00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,365
The president would have
to send the Army into Detroit
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00:04:41,490 --> 00:04:43,709
to end five days of rioting
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00:04:43,867 --> 00:04:48,168
that left 43 dead and hundreds
of buildings razed.
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00:04:49,456 --> 00:04:53,381
Twenty-six more died
in Newark, New Jersey,
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00:04:53,543 --> 00:04:56,092
demonstrating yet again
how wide a gap
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00:04:56,213 --> 00:05:00,719
remained between black
and white Americans.
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00:05:00,884 --> 00:05:06,562
Only a third of the country saw
any sign of progress in Vietnam,
76
00:05:06,723 --> 00:05:09,727
and half of the country
now disapproved
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00:05:09,851 --> 00:05:14,027
of the president's handling
of the war.
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00:05:14,147 --> 00:05:17,242
Meanwhile,
Le Duan and his comrades
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00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,700
who ran things in Hanoi,
were secretly planning
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00:05:20,821 --> 00:05:25,327
a new offensive that they
believed would destroy
81
00:05:25,450 --> 00:05:28,249
what they called the puppet
government in Saigon
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00:05:28,411 --> 00:05:32,132
and convince the United States
the war could never be won
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00:05:32,249 --> 00:05:35,093
on the battlefield.
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00:05:36,962 --> 00:05:40,011
There's the old
apocryphal story that, in 1967,
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00:05:40,131 --> 00:05:42,099
they went to the basement
of the Pentagon
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00:05:42,217 --> 00:05:44,436
when the mainframe computers
took up the whole basement,
87
00:05:44,594 --> 00:05:46,688
and they put on the old
punch cards everything
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00:05:46,805 --> 00:05:48,325
you could quantify...
numbers of ships,
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00:05:48,431 --> 00:05:50,743
numbers of airplanes, numbers of
tanks, numbers of helicopters,
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00:05:50,767 --> 00:05:54,647
artillery, machine gun, ammo...
everything you could quantify,
91
00:05:54,771 --> 00:05:57,775
put it in the hopper and said,
"When will we win in Vietnam?"
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00:05:57,941 --> 00:05:59,534
Went away on Friday.
93
00:05:59,651 --> 00:06:01,494
The thing ground away
all weekend.
94
00:06:01,611 --> 00:06:04,581
Came back on Monday and there
was one card in the output tray
95
00:06:04,698 --> 00:06:07,577
and it said, "You won in 1965."
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00:06:07,701 --> 00:06:09,499
The only problem
is the enemy gets a vote
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00:06:09,619 --> 00:06:11,246
and they weren't
on the punch cards.
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00:06:19,087 --> 00:06:23,433
There were nearly half a
million American soldiers in Vietnam
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00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:25,769
by the middle of 1967,
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00:06:25,886 --> 00:06:28,605
with thousands more on the way.
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00:06:28,722 --> 00:06:32,977
Only 20% would ever
be in combat.
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00:06:33,143 --> 00:06:36,613
The rest served
in support units.
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00:06:36,730 --> 00:06:40,325
None of them had been taught
very much about the people
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00:06:40,442 --> 00:06:43,321
against whom... and for whom...
they had been asked to fight.
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00:06:45,405 --> 00:06:48,249
Troops called the Vietnamese
"gooks"...
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00:06:48,366 --> 00:06:51,666
a term first used
by U.S. Marines to refer
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00:06:51,786 --> 00:06:54,005
to the people of Haiti
and Nicaragua
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00:06:54,122 --> 00:06:57,672
during the American occupation
of those countries,
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00:06:57,834 --> 00:07:01,509
and then applied
to the Asian enemy in Korea.
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00:07:01,671 --> 00:07:06,598
Or "slopes," an epithet for the
Japanese during the Pacific War,
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00:07:06,718 --> 00:07:11,645
or "dinks," an Australian term
for the Chinese.
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00:07:11,765 --> 00:07:14,268
And so in basic training
they taught you
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00:07:14,392 --> 00:07:16,520
that you were going to be
fighting gooks.
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00:07:16,686 --> 00:07:19,530
It was part of the song
that you sang
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00:07:19,689 --> 00:07:21,862
as you jogged down the road.
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00:07:21,983 --> 00:07:24,202
As you went through
bayonet training,
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you were not talking about
Vietnamese.
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00:07:26,738 --> 00:07:30,038
You were always
talking about gooks.
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00:07:30,158 --> 00:07:33,662
Vietnamese might be people,
but gooks are-are...
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00:07:33,787 --> 00:07:35,164
are close to being animals.
121
00:07:35,288 --> 00:07:39,543
GIs called
Vietnamese homes "hooches"-
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00:07:39,668 --> 00:07:42,547
a corruption of the Japanese
word for dwelling places
123
00:07:42,671 --> 00:07:45,971
that they had learned during
the battle for Okinawa
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00:07:46,091 --> 00:07:48,264
in the Second World War.
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00:07:48,385 --> 00:07:53,562
Soldiers referred to older
Vietnamese women as "mama sans,"
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00:07:53,682 --> 00:07:56,231
the term they used for women
who ran whorehouses
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00:07:56,393 --> 00:07:59,146
in occupied Japan.
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00:07:59,270 --> 00:08:02,023
The Viet Cong
and the North Vietnamese
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00:08:02,148 --> 00:08:06,403
called GIs "invaders,"
"imperialists,"
130
00:08:06,569 --> 00:08:08,242
and...
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00:08:08,405 --> 00:08:10,248
"American bandits."
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00:08:15,495 --> 00:08:20,251
South Vietnam had been divided
into four tactical zones.
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00:08:20,375 --> 00:08:24,676
By the summer of 1967,
American troops were fighting
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00:08:24,796 --> 00:08:26,423
in all four of them.
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00:08:28,842 --> 00:08:31,595
In IV Corps,
the "Brown Water Navy"
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00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,439
patrolled the rivers
and canals and marshes
137
00:08:34,597 --> 00:08:37,771
of the densely populated
Mekong Delta,
138
00:08:37,892 --> 00:08:41,021
searching for the enemy.
139
00:08:41,146 --> 00:08:45,822
In III Corps, the Army continued
to sweep the thick jungles
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00:08:45,942 --> 00:08:49,412
of the Iron Triangle,
the Viet Cong sanctuary
141
00:08:49,529 --> 00:08:53,079
near Saigon that was supposed
to have been permanently denied
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00:08:53,199 --> 00:08:58,626
to the enemy by big American
operations earlier in the year.
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00:08:58,747 --> 00:09:01,796
In II Corps,
a series of bloody battles
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00:09:01,958 --> 00:09:06,555
in the Central Highlands
around Dak To temporarily drove
145
00:09:06,671 --> 00:09:11,802
North Vietnamese troops
back into Cambodia and Laos.
146
00:09:11,926 --> 00:09:16,397
But some of the most intense
combat would take place
147
00:09:16,514 --> 00:09:20,860
in I Corps... made up of the
five northernmost provinces
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00:09:20,977 --> 00:09:23,981
of South Vietnam...
where the Marines would bear
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00:09:24,147 --> 00:09:26,445
the brunt of the fighting.
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00:09:26,566 --> 00:09:29,820
More than two-and-a-half million
people lived there,
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00:09:29,986 --> 00:09:32,080
all but 2% of them within
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00:09:32,197 --> 00:09:34,495
the narrow rice-growing
river valleys
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00:09:34,616 --> 00:09:37,290
along the South China Sea.
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00:09:37,410 --> 00:09:41,165
The Marines wanted to eradicate
the Viet Cong there,
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00:09:41,289 --> 00:09:43,542
and provide security
to the people,
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00:09:43,666 --> 00:09:46,545
village by village,
hamlet by hamlet.
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00:09:46,669 --> 00:09:50,344
The vast, largely empty
highlands that stretched
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00:09:50,465 --> 00:09:53,685
westward all the way to Laos,
the Marines argued,
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00:09:53,802 --> 00:09:56,521
could be left to the enemy.
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00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,148
"The real war is among
the people,"
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00:09:59,265 --> 00:10:02,109
said Marine lieutenant
general Victor Krulak,
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00:10:02,227 --> 00:10:04,855
"and not among the mountains."
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00:10:04,979 --> 00:10:07,357
But General William
Westmoreland,
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00:10:07,482 --> 00:10:10,452
the American commander,
feared that thousands
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00:10:10,568 --> 00:10:14,289
of North Vietnamese Army
regulars... the NVA...
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00:10:14,405 --> 00:10:18,581
were planning to seize
the two northernmost provinces.
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00:10:18,701 --> 00:10:23,878
Finding and destroying them
remained his first goal.
168
00:10:25,708 --> 00:10:28,461
He insisted
the Third Marine Division
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00:10:28,586 --> 00:10:30,805
move north to meet
that challenge,
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00:10:30,922 --> 00:10:36,304
establish a base at Dong Ha and
man strongpoints at Gio Linh,
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00:10:36,427 --> 00:10:43,902
Con Thien, Cam Lo, Camp Carroll,
the Rockpile and Khe Sanh.
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00:10:44,018 --> 00:10:47,568
Khe Sanh overlooked Route 9,
the East-West highway
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00:10:47,730 --> 00:10:51,325
that Westmoreland hoped would
one day carry American troops
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00:10:51,442 --> 00:10:55,447
across the border into Laos,
where North Vietnamese men
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00:10:55,572 --> 00:10:59,418
and supplies were streaming
south on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
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00:11:02,745 --> 00:11:05,749
But the thousands of Marines
monitoring the border
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00:11:05,874 --> 00:11:08,923
would find themselves within
range of highly accurate
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00:11:09,085 --> 00:11:12,680
North Vietnamese artillery
and rocket launchers
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00:11:12,797 --> 00:11:14,595
hidden within the DMZ.
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00:11:23,641 --> 00:11:24,517
Tell me...
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You came here at full strength?
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00:11:25,768 --> 00:11:27,441
I had 13 men when I came.
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00:11:27,604 --> 00:11:30,107
And it's four days later now
and how many are still here?
184
00:11:30,273 --> 00:11:31,273
Six.
185
00:11:36,571 --> 00:11:40,246
The rifles have been jamming,
the mud's been...
186
00:11:40,366 --> 00:11:41,834
it slowed everything down.
187
00:11:41,951 --> 00:11:43,544
And the artillery comes in
everywhere.
188
00:11:43,661 --> 00:11:46,084
And, ah, it just gets
pretty futile
189
00:11:46,206 --> 00:11:47,458
and frustrating sometimes.
190
00:11:51,586 --> 00:11:54,305
I can't say that I'm scared
stiff, but I'm scared.
191
00:11:54,464 --> 00:11:57,513
I mean, after a while,
you know it's going to come.
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00:11:57,634 --> 00:11:58,954
And you can't do nothing
about it.
193
00:11:59,052 --> 00:12:00,349
And you just look to God.
194
00:12:00,470 --> 00:12:02,114
# Well, my pad is very messy #
195
00:12:02,138 --> 00:12:03,731
# And there's whiskers
on my chin. #
196
00:12:03,848 --> 00:12:06,818
Private First
Class John Musgrave
197
00:12:06,935 --> 00:12:09,563
of Fairmount, Missouri,
who had volunteered to join
198
00:12:09,687 --> 00:12:11,485
the 3rd Marine Division,
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00:12:11,606 --> 00:12:15,406
was sent to the battle-scarred
countryside around Con Thien,
200
00:12:15,526 --> 00:12:18,905
a few kilometers south
of the DMZ.
201
00:12:21,658 --> 00:12:25,333
For the Marines in northern
I Corps in the 3rd Marine Division
202
00:12:25,453 --> 00:12:29,048
in the spring and summer of 1967
we called the DMZ
203
00:12:29,165 --> 00:12:30,587
the "Dead Marine Zone."
204
00:12:30,708 --> 00:12:34,508
Musgrave's 1st
Battalion had already suffered
205
00:12:34,671 --> 00:12:38,175
so many casualties in a series
of bloody sweeps
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00:12:38,299 --> 00:12:41,894
that it was believed to be
a hard-luck outfit.
207
00:12:42,011 --> 00:12:45,515
They were called
the "Walking Dead."
208
00:12:45,682 --> 00:12:48,526
.# I'm a
man, yes I am, and I can't... #
209
00:12:48,685 --> 00:12:52,360
I joined the Marine
Corps to be in the varsity.
210
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,905
And I felt like I wasn't varsity
unless I was up north
211
00:12:56,025 --> 00:12:57,322
fighting the NVA.
212
00:12:57,443 --> 00:13:00,538
I have never regretted
that decision.
213
00:13:00,697 --> 00:13:04,998
There were times when
we were under artillery fire,
214
00:13:05,118 --> 00:13:08,713
where I thought, you know,
"What-what were you thinking?"
215
00:13:08,830 --> 00:13:14,428
Here it is in a nutshell:
if I lived to be 63 years old,
216
00:13:14,544 --> 00:13:16,638
I didn't want to look
in the mirror some morning
217
00:13:16,754 --> 00:13:19,154
and have a guy looking back at
me that hadn't done everything
218
00:13:19,215 --> 00:13:21,013
for what he believed,
219
00:13:21,134 --> 00:13:24,889
that let somebody else
do the harder part.
220
00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,570
Every major contact I remember
with the NVA was initiated
221
00:13:32,687 --> 00:13:34,189
by them ambushing us.
222
00:13:34,314 --> 00:13:37,614
They wouldn't hit us
unless they outnumbered us.
223
00:13:37,734 --> 00:13:39,611
And we were fighting
in their yard.
224
00:13:42,697 --> 00:13:44,074
They knew the ground; we didn't.
225
00:13:47,910 --> 00:13:49,833
They were just really good.
226
00:14:08,514 --> 00:14:11,438
The North Vietnamese
carried Soviet-made,
227
00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:14,438
seemingly indestructible AK-47s.
228
00:14:15,897 --> 00:14:20,778
The Marines had to fight
with newly issued M-16 rifles
229
00:14:20,902 --> 00:14:25,078
that had for a time
a potentially fatal design flaw:
230
00:14:25,198 --> 00:14:27,917
they needed constant cleaning
231
00:14:28,034 --> 00:14:31,129
and often jammed
in the middle of firefights.
232
00:14:31,287 --> 00:14:34,291
Their rifles
worked; ours didn't.
233
00:14:34,457 --> 00:14:37,802
The M-16 was a piece of shit.
234
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:39,560
You can't throw
your bullets at the enemy
235
00:14:39,629 --> 00:14:40,926
and have them be effective.
236
00:14:41,047 --> 00:14:45,518
And that rifle
malfunctioned on us repeatedly.
237
00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,164
My hatred for them was pure.
238
00:15:14,330 --> 00:15:15,877
Pure.
239
00:15:15,998 --> 00:15:17,875
I hated them so much.
240
00:15:19,252 --> 00:15:20,595
And I was so scared of them.
241
00:15:21,754 --> 00:15:24,007
Boy, I was terrified of them.
242
00:15:24,173 --> 00:15:26,471
And the scareder I got,
the more I hated them.
243
00:15:53,536 --> 00:15:56,836
I only killed one
human being in Vietnam.
244
00:15:56,956 --> 00:16:00,210
And that was the first man
that I ever killed.
245
00:16:00,334 --> 00:16:04,259
And I was sick with guilt
about killing that guy
246
00:16:04,380 --> 00:16:06,382
and thinking I'm going
to have to do this
247
00:16:06,549 --> 00:16:07,675
for the next 13 months.
248
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,223
I'm-I'm going to go crazy.
249
00:16:10,386 --> 00:16:13,139
And I saw a Marine step
on a bouncing Betty mine,
250
00:16:13,264 --> 00:16:16,393
and that's when I made
my deal with the devil
251
00:16:16,517 --> 00:16:20,238
and that I said, "I will never
kill another human being
252
00:16:20,354 --> 00:16:22,573
"as long as I'm in Vietnam.
253
00:16:22,690 --> 00:16:27,787
"However, I will waste
as many gooks as I can find.
254
00:16:27,904 --> 00:16:31,249
"I'll wax as many dinks
as I can find.
255
00:16:31,407 --> 00:16:34,411
"I'll smoke as many zips
as I can find.
256
00:16:34,535 --> 00:16:37,584
But I ain't gonna kill anybody,"
you know?
257
00:16:37,705 --> 00:16:41,005
Turn the subject into an object.
258
00:16:41,125 --> 00:16:43,093
It's Racism 101.
259
00:16:43,252 --> 00:16:45,380
It turns out to be
a very necessary tool
260
00:16:45,505 --> 00:16:48,054
when you have children
fighting your wars,
261
00:16:48,174 --> 00:16:50,893
for them to stay sane
doing their work.
262
00:16:57,308 --> 00:16:59,857
On one early
patrol, Musgrave watched
263
00:16:59,977 --> 00:17:04,608
an American fighter swoop down
to drop napalm on enemy troops
264
00:17:04,732 --> 00:17:07,030
hidden behind a hedgerow.
265
00:17:07,151 --> 00:17:10,826
He could hear their AK-47s
firing at the plane
266
00:17:10,947 --> 00:17:14,542
until the instant
they were engulfed in flames.
267
00:17:14,659 --> 00:17:18,380
"If the enemy is willing to die
like that," he thought,
268
00:17:18,496 --> 00:17:21,375
"this is going to be
one very long war."
269
00:17:23,918 --> 00:17:26,137
They knew if they
would pop the ambush close
270
00:17:26,254 --> 00:17:27,801
and then get amongst you,
271
00:17:27,964 --> 00:17:31,468
we couldn't or would hesitate
to call in air on ourselves.
272
00:17:34,637 --> 00:17:38,767
So that... firefights
like that we called brawls.
273
00:17:38,891 --> 00:17:40,734
They were very intimate.
274
00:17:40,851 --> 00:17:42,319
And they were very deadly.
275
00:17:42,478 --> 00:17:45,322
And they were
absolutely terrifying.
276
00:17:49,402 --> 00:17:53,578
The Marines were spread too
thin to hold any of the territory
277
00:17:53,698 --> 00:17:56,167
they fought so hard to take.
278
00:17:56,284 --> 00:18:00,755
Again and again, they were sent
out from one stronghold
279
00:18:00,871 --> 00:18:04,876
or another along the DMZ,
looking for enemy soldiers.
280
00:18:05,001 --> 00:18:08,676
The disillusionment for
me began when I was going back
281
00:18:08,796 --> 00:18:11,845
to fight at places
we'd already fought before.
282
00:18:11,966 --> 00:18:15,470
We had fought, captured,
and then left
283
00:18:15,595 --> 00:18:17,643
and the NVA came right back.
284
00:18:17,763 --> 00:18:19,891
You don't like getting wounded
285
00:18:20,016 --> 00:18:21,734
in places you've already
been before.
286
00:18:24,020 --> 00:18:26,364
War is a real estate business.
287
00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,324
We're supposed to take
real estate away from the enemy
288
00:18:29,442 --> 00:18:33,288
and then deny the enemy access
to that real estate.
289
00:18:33,404 --> 00:18:39,582
On the morning of July 2,
1967, the 1st Battalion launched
290
00:18:39,702 --> 00:18:44,082
yet another sweep of the area
northeast of Con Thien.
291
00:18:44,206 --> 00:18:47,961
When they reached a crossroads
called "The Marketplace,"
292
00:18:48,085 --> 00:18:52,431
barely a mile and quarter from
their base, they were ambushed.
293
00:18:52,548 --> 00:18:55,927
One company
was virtually annihilated.
294
00:18:59,639 --> 00:19:04,395
John Musgrave's company
rushed to rescue the survivors,
295
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,404
only to be pinned down there
as well.
296
00:19:10,232 --> 00:19:14,988
It was one of the worst clays the
Marine Corps endured in Vietnam:
297
00:19:15,112 --> 00:19:21,290
53 dead and 190 wounded were
carried off the battlefield.
298
00:19:21,410 --> 00:19:25,460
Thirty-four more dead
had to be left behind,
299
00:19:25,581 --> 00:19:29,302
and when Marines fought
their way back two days later
300
00:19:29,418 --> 00:19:32,262
to retrieve their bodies,
they found that a number
301
00:19:32,380 --> 00:19:38,433
had died because their M-16s had
jammed as the enemy closed in.
302
00:19:38,552 --> 00:19:41,726
Many had been executed,
shot in the face
303
00:19:41,847 --> 00:19:44,600
or back of the head
at close range.
304
00:19:44,767 --> 00:19:47,691
Some bodies had been
booby-trapped,
305
00:19:47,812 --> 00:19:50,656
others mutilated.
306
00:19:50,773 --> 00:19:53,993
Marine amphibious
force headquarters
307
00:19:54,110 --> 00:19:57,865
was so desperate to get
North Vietnamese prisoners,
308
00:19:57,988 --> 00:20:01,162
that they offered us
three day in-country R&R
309
00:20:01,283 --> 00:20:03,377
if we'd bring a prisoner in.
310
00:20:03,494 --> 00:20:04,837
Yeah, good luck.
311
00:20:04,954 --> 00:20:06,331
You know?
312
00:20:06,455 --> 00:20:08,753
Don't you know who...
what we're doing up here?
313
00:20:08,874 --> 00:20:10,547
Do you know who we're fighting?
314
00:20:12,336 --> 00:20:14,839
I want to make this clear,
we did not torture prisoners
315
00:20:14,964 --> 00:20:17,843
and we did not mutilate them.
316
00:20:23,389 --> 00:20:26,939
But to be a prisoner you had to
make it to the rear, you know.
317
00:20:27,059 --> 00:20:30,359
If he was with...
fell into our hands
318
00:20:30,479 --> 00:20:32,356
he was just one sorry fucker.
319
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,578
I don't know how to explain it
that it would make sense.
320
00:20:53,753 --> 00:20:54,980
Roxbury, where I grew up,
321
00:20:55,004 --> 00:20:56,677
was the African-American
neighborhood,
322
00:20:56,839 --> 00:21:00,639
and South Boston was
the Irish-Catholic bastion.
323
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,478
You know,
there was a lot of hate.
324
00:21:02,595 --> 00:21:06,190
South Boston folks hated us,
we hated them.
325
00:21:06,348 --> 00:21:07,565
And ironically, um...
326
00:21:10,269 --> 00:21:11,987
You know, you end up in a war.
327
00:21:13,773 --> 00:21:15,992
And the Vietnamese didn't care
328
00:21:16,108 --> 00:21:17,908
whether you were from
Roxbury or South Boston.
329
00:21:17,943 --> 00:21:19,911
They saw you as American.
330
00:21:20,029 --> 00:21:23,249
And they wanted to kill you
because you're American.
331
00:21:23,365 --> 00:21:27,711
Private Roger Harris had
joined the Marines in part, he said,
332
00:21:27,828 --> 00:21:30,172
because he wanted to be
"a gladiator,"
333
00:21:30,289 --> 00:21:33,384
a killer of his country's
enemies.
334
00:21:33,542 --> 00:21:36,716
On July 28, two weeks after
335
00:21:36,879 --> 00:21:40,884
John Musgrave's badly mangled
1st Battalion was pulled back
336
00:21:41,050 --> 00:21:42,723
to rest and recover,
337
00:21:42,885 --> 00:21:46,935
Roger Harris and the 2nd
Battalion moved out of Con Thien
338
00:21:47,056 --> 00:21:50,811
and into the southern half of
the Demilitarized Zone itself.
339
00:21:53,020 --> 00:21:54,623
We wanted the
North Vietnamese Army
340
00:21:54,647 --> 00:21:56,945
to expose themselves.
341
00:21:57,066 --> 00:21:59,990
So, basically,
you put the bait out there,
342
00:22:00,110 --> 00:22:04,411
and then we could call in
and rain hell on them.
343
00:22:04,532 --> 00:22:08,833
Roger Harris's
battalion advanced into the DMZ
344
00:22:08,953 --> 00:22:13,424
along a rough cart track
that led to the Ben Hai River.
345
00:22:13,582 --> 00:22:17,712
But planners had failed to see
that a concrete bridge
346
00:22:17,837 --> 00:22:19,714
over an impassable stream
347
00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:24,219
was too narrow and too weak
to carry armored vehicles.
348
00:22:24,343 --> 00:22:29,099
Now the Marines had no choice
but to violate a cardinal rule
349
00:22:29,223 --> 00:22:30,725
of infantry tactics...
350
00:22:30,850 --> 00:22:35,902
turn around and try to go back
the way they had come.
351
00:22:36,021 --> 00:22:39,116
The enemy was waiting.
352
00:22:45,281 --> 00:22:48,125
Massive ambushes and...
353
00:22:49,785 --> 00:22:53,756
...and, um, a lot of death.
354
00:22:53,873 --> 00:22:55,750
And...
355
00:22:57,293 --> 00:22:58,920
...craziness.
356
00:22:59,044 --> 00:23:03,845
The Marines were forced to
run a bloody gauntlet of mortars,
357
00:23:03,966 --> 00:23:07,812
machine gun fire and
rocket-propelled grenades.
358
00:23:07,970 --> 00:23:12,646
I had the utmost respect for
the North Vietnamese Army soldiers.
359
00:23:12,766 --> 00:23:18,944
When you see someone jump out
and confront a tank, you know,
360
00:23:19,064 --> 00:23:21,158
with a big 50-caliber
machine gun on it
361
00:23:21,317 --> 00:23:24,196
and a 90-millimeter cannon
on it,
362
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,496
and an individual takes on
the tank,
363
00:23:28,657 --> 00:23:30,250
I think that says something.
364
00:23:31,911 --> 00:23:34,664
Roger Harris's
company held up the rear,
365
00:23:34,830 --> 00:23:38,676
hounded by enemy
soldiers on all sides.
366
00:23:41,003 --> 00:23:44,348
The Marines staggered back
out of the DMZ
367
00:23:44,506 --> 00:23:47,555
alongside the battered
armored vehicles
368
00:23:47,676 --> 00:23:51,476
heaped with dead
and wounded Americans.
369
00:23:51,597 --> 00:23:54,476
The battalion suffered
214 casualties.
370
00:23:57,645 --> 00:24:01,024
Wasn't a good
day for Marines at all.
371
00:24:01,148 --> 00:24:02,365
A lot of people died.
372
00:24:02,524 --> 00:24:03,764
People got their legs shot off.
373
00:24:03,817 --> 00:24:05,694
People got run over by tanks.
374
00:24:08,364 --> 00:24:11,208
I don't want to talk about it
because it's...
375
00:24:14,453 --> 00:24:16,922
it's not a good day,
wasn't a good day.
376
00:25:25,816 --> 00:25:29,161
This is "bau cu",
the day of voting in Vietnam,
377
00:25:29,278 --> 00:25:32,157
and it's a solemn day
in the village of Hung Thao Phu
378
00:25:32,281 --> 00:25:34,909
and in other villages
throughout the country.
379
00:25:35,034 --> 00:25:37,457
And these people have dressed up
in their Sunday best for it.
380
00:25:40,372 --> 00:25:43,342
South Vietnamese
prime minister Nguyen Cao Ky
381
00:25:43,459 --> 00:25:47,430
had crushed
his Buddhist opponents in 1966,
382
00:25:47,546 --> 00:25:49,924
but he had been forced
by the Americans
383
00:25:50,049 --> 00:25:53,349
and his political rivals
to make at least tentative moves
384
00:25:53,469 --> 00:25:57,144
toward democracy...
election of a national assembly,
385
00:25:57,306 --> 00:26:00,435
a new constitution,
and a promise of elections
386
00:26:00,559 --> 00:26:03,654
for president
and vice president.
387
00:26:03,812 --> 00:26:08,568
But when Ky's old adversary
Nguyen Van Thieu declared
388
00:26:08,692 --> 00:26:11,491
he wanted to challenge Ky
for the top spot,
389
00:26:11,612 --> 00:26:14,661
things in Saigon had threatened
to come apart again.
390
00:26:17,159 --> 00:26:19,759
We were watching
the rivalry between Thieu and Ky.
391
00:26:19,828 --> 00:26:21,830
And that was a game.
392
00:26:21,997 --> 00:26:24,841
In Vietnam, the country
was watching like a...
393
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,753
we were watch...
watching a movie.
394
00:26:27,878 --> 00:26:30,051
And Thieu and Ky
was watching as to,
395
00:26:30,172 --> 00:26:32,971
not whoever had the support
of the people,
396
00:26:33,092 --> 00:26:37,393
but who had the support of the
Americans and the White House.
397
00:26:37,513 --> 00:26:40,858
Ellsworth Bunker,
the American ambassador,
398
00:26:40,974 --> 00:26:44,478
called both men to his residence
and warned that
399
00:26:44,603 --> 00:26:48,358
the United States would not
tolerate another power struggle:
400
00:26:48,482 --> 00:26:52,032
Thieu and Ky needed to meet
with their fellow generals
401
00:26:52,152 --> 00:26:54,621
and decide who would run
for president
402
00:26:54,738 --> 00:26:57,241
and who would be
his running mate.
403
00:26:57,366 --> 00:26:59,789
Thieu emerged on top.
404
00:26:59,910 --> 00:27:02,834
He was unassuming
and unflappable,
405
00:27:02,955 --> 00:27:05,504
interested largely
in accumulating power
406
00:27:05,624 --> 00:27:08,719
and personal wealth
and was thought unlikely
407
00:27:08,877 --> 00:27:11,551
ever to embarrass Washington.
408
00:27:11,713 --> 00:27:15,058
Ky would be his vice president.
409
00:27:15,217 --> 00:27:20,144
Together, they won with only
35% of the vote.
410
00:27:20,264 --> 00:27:23,359
No one who had called
for an end to the war
411
00:27:23,475 --> 00:27:25,694
had been allowed to run.
412
00:27:25,811 --> 00:27:28,314
Many Buddhists had boycotted
the election,
413
00:27:28,438 --> 00:27:33,569
and Viet Cong intimidation had
kept many more from the polls.
414
00:27:33,694 --> 00:27:36,618
But the State Department
immediately declared
415
00:27:36,738 --> 00:27:39,617
the election
an important "step forward."
416
00:27:41,577 --> 00:27:45,047
Some South Vietnamese
did believe that a measure
417
00:27:45,164 --> 00:27:48,259
of stability had finally
been achieved.
418
00:27:48,417 --> 00:27:51,421
Others were not so sure.
419
00:27:53,005 --> 00:27:57,226
In terms of corruption,
yes, they were corrupt.
420
00:27:57,342 --> 00:28:01,939
Both Thieu and Ky,
they abused their position.
421
00:28:02,055 --> 00:28:05,901
We pay a very high price
for having leaders
422
00:28:06,018 --> 00:28:08,692
like a Ky and Thieu.
423
00:28:08,812 --> 00:28:11,190
And we continue
to pay the price.
424
00:28:16,570 --> 00:28:19,369
My father
was in the United States Army.
425
00:28:19,489 --> 00:28:22,117
And then when the Air Force
came about he switched over
426
00:28:22,242 --> 00:28:24,540
to the Air Force.
427
00:28:24,661 --> 00:28:29,462
I grew up out of the country in
desegregated settings.
428
00:28:29,583 --> 00:28:32,427
I was usually the only
little black girl in the class.
429
00:28:32,544 --> 00:28:34,512
If you look
at my class pictures I look
430
00:28:34,630 --> 00:28:38,225
like the little chocolate chip
in the vanilla ice cream.
431
00:28:38,342 --> 00:28:41,266
I was always a good student.
432
00:28:41,386 --> 00:28:44,105
I remember people saying,
"Oh, you speak so well."
433
00:28:44,223 --> 00:28:46,146
And the unstated part
is "for a black girl,"
434
00:28:46,266 --> 00:28:48,940
probably a Negro girl
or colored girl, at that point.
435
00:28:49,061 --> 00:28:53,658
Eva Jefferson's father
had served a year on airbases
436
00:28:53,815 --> 00:28:57,365
in Vietnam and returned home
convinced the United States
437
00:28:57,486 --> 00:28:59,989
had no business being there.
438
00:29:00,155 --> 00:29:03,659
But when his daughter entered
Northwestern University
439
00:29:03,784 --> 00:29:08,836
in the Chicago suburb
of Evanston in September 1967,
440
00:29:08,956 --> 00:29:13,211
the war was not uppermost
in students' minds.
441
00:29:13,335 --> 00:29:16,589
The war was not really an issue.
442
00:29:16,713 --> 00:29:18,511
It's like,
"Well, no, the president has
443
00:29:18,674 --> 00:29:20,597
"our best interests at heart.
444
00:29:20,717 --> 00:29:22,515
"He, of course,
would only prosecute a war
445
00:29:22,636 --> 00:29:23,979
that made sense."
446
00:29:24,096 --> 00:29:26,849
And I think most of America
felt that way.
447
00:29:29,017 --> 00:29:31,019
At the University of Nebraska,
448
00:29:31,186 --> 00:29:34,065
Jack Todd also supported
the war.
449
00:29:34,189 --> 00:29:38,535
He had felt so strongly about it
in 1966 that he had signed up
450
00:29:38,694 --> 00:29:41,618
for Marine officer training.
451
00:29:41,738 --> 00:29:44,332
I went into the Marine Corps
452
00:29:44,449 --> 00:29:46,702
thinking this was
all I wanted to do.
453
00:29:46,868 --> 00:29:48,791
I mean my...
my goal was to be commander,
454
00:29:48,912 --> 00:29:50,209
a platoon commander in Vietnam.
455
00:29:51,748 --> 00:29:55,048
But as time went
by and the war went on,
456
00:29:55,210 --> 00:29:57,554
Todd and many of his
fellow students
457
00:29:57,671 --> 00:29:59,298
began to change their minds.
458
00:30:00,674 --> 00:30:03,052
All young people
go through changes.
459
00:30:03,218 --> 00:30:06,017
But we were going through
astronomical changes
460
00:30:06,138 --> 00:30:08,357
at such a rapid rate.
461
00:30:10,267 --> 00:30:13,862
All the music, the culture,
everything that we listened to,
462
00:30:13,979 --> 00:30:16,073
everything that we thought
was transforming
463
00:30:16,189 --> 00:30:19,944
and the core of it all
was Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam.
464
00:30:20,068 --> 00:30:21,911
It just kept going
in the background.
465
00:30:22,070 --> 00:30:23,830
First, it was kind of like
a background noise
466
00:30:23,864 --> 00:30:25,707
and then it got to be
the elephant in the room.
467
00:30:25,824 --> 00:30:27,747
And then it was the elephant
sitting on your head
468
00:30:27,909 --> 00:30:29,502
and we...
we couldn't escape this.
469
00:30:29,619 --> 00:30:32,919
Todd attended
officer training school
470
00:30:33,081 --> 00:30:35,755
at Camp Upshur
in Quantico, Virginia.
471
00:30:35,876 --> 00:30:38,755
But doubts about the war
followed him there, too.
472
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,693
I guess the emotional
things that were happening
473
00:30:43,717 --> 00:30:46,266
on the ground, the photographs
that we saw, the news images,
474
00:30:46,386 --> 00:30:49,310
and the fact that there
was no discernible progress,
475
00:30:49,431 --> 00:30:52,776
that really started to eat away
at what we thought.
476
00:30:52,893 --> 00:30:55,988
In the summer of '67,
I was at Camp Upshur, you know,
477
00:30:56,104 --> 00:30:58,482
wanting to go
kill Vietnamese people.
478
00:30:58,607 --> 00:31:02,908
And in October, I was
completely against the war.
479
00:31:06,239 --> 00:31:08,788
Westmoreland came
in last night to me...
480
00:31:08,909 --> 00:31:12,914
And he says that he has
concentrated more firepower
481
00:31:13,038 --> 00:31:16,508
and bombing in the last week
on the DMZ
482
00:31:16,625 --> 00:31:20,471
and they've concentrated more
on us than has ever been
483
00:31:20,587 --> 00:31:22,635
concentrated
in any equivalent period
484
00:31:22,798 --> 00:31:24,300
in the history of warfare...
485
00:31:24,424 --> 00:31:25,550
Yeah.
486
00:31:25,675 --> 00:31:26,944
...much more
than was ever poured on
487
00:31:26,968 --> 00:31:28,311
Berlin or Tokyo,
488
00:31:28,428 --> 00:31:32,808
and that his only defense
of the DMZ to stop
489
00:31:32,933 --> 00:31:35,812
this aggression up there
with the North Vietnamese
490
00:31:35,936 --> 00:31:39,566
trying to come in
is bombing their gun positions.
491
00:31:39,689 --> 00:31:41,157
Yeah.
492
00:31:41,274 --> 00:31:43,127
And it would just be
suicide if we stopped the bombing
493
00:31:43,151 --> 00:31:45,449
as these idiots talking about.
494
00:31:45,570 --> 00:31:47,197
When you say stop the bombing
495
00:31:47,322 --> 00:31:50,075
you say,
"Kill more American Marines."
496
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:51,076
That's all it means.
497
00:31:51,201 --> 00:31:52,453
Yeah.
498
00:31:52,577 --> 00:31:55,797
Now if we stop
bombing, without their talking
499
00:31:55,914 --> 00:31:58,667
and without any reciprocity
on their part,
500
00:31:58,792 --> 00:32:00,794
it just means we kill more
Americans, that's all.
501
00:32:00,919 --> 00:32:01,919
Yeah.
502
00:32:08,969 --> 00:32:12,519
Neither the ongoing
bombing of the North,
503
00:32:12,639 --> 00:32:15,984
nor the concentrated bombing
around the DMZ,
504
00:32:16,101 --> 00:32:18,024
nor the behind-the-scenes offers
505
00:32:18,145 --> 00:32:20,694
made by President Johnson
to stop it
506
00:32:20,856 --> 00:32:23,735
had any discernible effect
on Le Duan
507
00:32:23,859 --> 00:32:27,204
and the other men
who ran North Vietnam.
508
00:32:27,362 --> 00:32:30,286
But Le Duan,
like Lyndon Johnson,
509
00:32:30,407 --> 00:32:32,375
was in trouble that summer.
510
00:32:32,492 --> 00:32:35,371
The war with the Americans
had produced little more
511
00:32:35,495 --> 00:32:37,372
than a bloody stalemate.
512
00:32:37,539 --> 00:32:40,463
Some Viet Cong commanders
in the South
513
00:32:40,584 --> 00:32:44,885
resented Hanoi's insistence
on directing their tactics.
514
00:32:45,046 --> 00:32:49,222
Many North Vietnamese civilians
were weary of the war
515
00:32:49,342 --> 00:32:52,221
and of the bombing
that had disrupted their lives
516
00:32:52,345 --> 00:32:55,849
and destroyed so much
of their infrastructure.
517
00:32:55,974 --> 00:32:58,523
The country's most revered
figures,
518
00:32:58,643 --> 00:33:03,069
Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap,
were urging patience,
519
00:33:03,190 --> 00:33:07,240
continuing to wage a war of
attrition, they still believed,
520
00:33:07,402 --> 00:33:10,451
would pay off in the end.
521
00:33:10,572 --> 00:33:14,042
Hanoi's Soviet and Chinese
patrons offered
522
00:33:14,159 --> 00:33:17,038
conflicting advice, as well.
523
00:33:17,162 --> 00:33:21,383
To silence his critics
and break the stalemate,
524
00:33:21,500 --> 00:33:23,923
Le Duan began to devise
and promote
525
00:33:24,085 --> 00:33:27,430
a new and riskier version
of the plan for victory
526
00:33:27,547 --> 00:33:30,972
he had tried in 1964.
527
00:33:31,092 --> 00:33:36,565
He called it the "General
Offensive, General Uprising."
528
00:33:36,681 --> 00:33:40,436
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
units would launch
529
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,815
scores of coordinated attacks
on South Vietnamese cities
530
00:33:44,940 --> 00:33:48,069
and towns and military bases.
531
00:33:48,193 --> 00:33:50,412
That offensive,
Le Duan believed,
532
00:33:50,529 --> 00:33:54,033
would ignite
a mass civilian uprising.
533
00:33:54,157 --> 00:33:58,628
These simultaneous blows
would destroy the Saigon regime
534
00:33:58,745 --> 00:34:02,591
and leave Washington with
no choice but to withdraw.
535
00:34:53,842 --> 00:34:55,402
We talk about our own hubris.
536
00:34:55,468 --> 00:34:57,562
There's some hubris
on their side as well.
537
00:34:57,679 --> 00:34:59,522
And once they had
convinced themselves
538
00:34:59,681 --> 00:35:02,309
that this was going to be
a great success,
539
00:35:02,434 --> 00:35:05,404
it is what some wags have called
drinking your own bathwater.
540
00:35:06,855 --> 00:35:08,249
They decided it's going to be
a victory,
541
00:35:08,273 --> 00:35:10,241
even though there are people
in the South saying,
542
00:35:10,358 --> 00:35:11,780
"Hey, this is not a great idea."
543
00:35:11,901 --> 00:35:15,576
But these people are charged
with subjectivism
544
00:35:15,697 --> 00:35:18,325
and basically are told
to shut up and keep rolling.
545
00:35:18,450 --> 00:35:22,751
Le Duan neutralized
those who opposed his plan.
546
00:35:22,871 --> 00:35:26,000
Members of General Giap's staff
were arrested.
547
00:35:26,124 --> 00:35:28,673
So was Ho Chi Minh's secretary.
548
00:35:45,435 --> 00:35:50,111
Hundreds of less prominent
figures-journalists, students,
549
00:35:50,231 --> 00:35:53,451
even highly decorated heroes
of the French War...
550
00:35:53,568 --> 00:35:55,741
were also rounded up.
551
00:35:55,862 --> 00:35:58,661
Many were locked up
in the old French prison
552
00:35:58,782 --> 00:36:02,412
that the American POWs
also confined there called
553
00:36:02,535 --> 00:36:04,958
the "Hanoi Hilton."
554
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,801
The date eventually chosen
for the attack would be
555
00:36:08,917 --> 00:36:12,467
January 31, 1968,
556
00:36:12,587 --> 00:36:16,558
the first day of the Vietnamese
Lunar New Year celebration,
557
00:36:16,675 --> 00:36:19,519
known as Tet.
558
00:36:19,636 --> 00:36:23,607
Hundreds, then thousands,
of North Vietnamese regulars
559
00:36:23,723 --> 00:36:26,772
in civilian clothes
began slipping southward
560
00:36:26,935 --> 00:36:31,532
to join tens of thousands
of Viet Cong already in place.
561
00:37:42,635 --> 00:37:44,933
In preparation
for the coming offensive,
562
00:37:45,054 --> 00:37:47,728
the North Vietnamese hoped
to lure American
563
00:37:47,849 --> 00:37:51,023
and South Vietnamese forces
away from cities
564
00:37:51,144 --> 00:37:53,363
and big military bases.
565
00:37:53,521 --> 00:37:56,900
To do that, they would mount
a series of assaults
566
00:37:57,025 --> 00:38:02,498
on remote outposts near
Cambodia, Laos, and the DMZ.
567
00:38:02,614 --> 00:38:07,586
These preliminary attacks became
known as the "Border Battles."
568
00:38:07,702 --> 00:38:11,047
Con Thien would be the first.
569
00:38:14,334 --> 00:38:16,507
In September and October,
570
00:38:16,628 --> 00:38:19,598
John Musgrave's
and Roger Harris's outfits
571
00:38:19,714 --> 00:38:22,183
took turns defending Con Thien
572
00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:26,180
as the North Vietnamese
tightened the noose around them.
573
00:38:26,304 --> 00:38:29,899
The only way in or out
was by helicopter.
574
00:38:32,227 --> 00:38:36,573
Con Thien in Vietnamese means
"Hill of Angels."
575
00:38:38,733 --> 00:38:42,237
Time at Con Thien
was time in the barrel.
576
00:38:46,658 --> 00:38:49,662
We were the fish,
they had the shotguns,
577
00:38:49,786 --> 00:38:51,834
they stuck in the barrel
and blasted away.
578
00:38:51,955 --> 00:38:54,629
And they were gonna hit
something every shot.
579
00:38:54,749 --> 00:38:57,753
Because Con Thien
was such a small area,
580
00:38:57,877 --> 00:38:59,754
and they pounded it
with that artillery
581
00:38:59,921 --> 00:39:01,798
from North Vietnam,
they couldn't miss.
582
00:39:08,805 --> 00:39:12,981
I've never been, uh, as afraid.
583
00:39:13,101 --> 00:39:15,320
In fact that's why I'm not
afraid of anything now.
584
00:39:15,436 --> 00:39:17,780
I mean...
585
00:39:17,939 --> 00:39:19,236
there's nothing you can do.
586
00:39:19,357 --> 00:39:22,987
You just listen to the sounds
of the rockets coming over.
587
00:39:23,111 --> 00:39:26,615
And you just pray
that they don't land on you.
588
00:39:26,781 --> 00:39:29,375
The big question really seems
to be whether or not
589
00:39:29,492 --> 00:39:32,746
the North Vietnamese
intend to overrun Con Thien.
590
00:39:32,871 --> 00:39:35,670
The Marines have tripled
the number of troops
591
00:39:35,790 --> 00:39:37,133
guarding the outpost,
592
00:39:37,250 --> 00:39:38,811
and they've moved up more
battalions to be ready
593
00:39:38,835 --> 00:39:40,382
to reinforce.
594
00:39:40,503 --> 00:39:42,426
I sat in water.
595
00:39:42,547 --> 00:39:44,299
I slept in water.
596
00:39:44,465 --> 00:39:48,140
I ate in water,
because our holes were full.
597
00:39:48,261 --> 00:39:50,389
I mean a flooded foxhole
could drown a wounded man.
598
00:39:50,513 --> 00:39:53,107
Spend your clay
filling up sand bags,
599
00:39:53,224 --> 00:39:56,854
trying to create barriers that
you just put another layer on,
600
00:39:56,978 --> 00:39:58,651
put another layer on.
601
00:39:58,771 --> 00:40:03,197
A lot of mud, blood, uh...
602
00:40:03,318 --> 00:40:04,490
and artillery.
603
00:40:05,695 --> 00:40:06,992
It's red clay up there.
604
00:40:07,113 --> 00:40:09,707
And it's real sticky
and it could just grab onto you
605
00:40:09,824 --> 00:40:11,622
and pull your boots off.
606
00:40:11,743 --> 00:40:13,086
It's hard to run in that stuff.
607
00:40:13,202 --> 00:40:14,829
And running,
when you're at a place
608
00:40:14,954 --> 00:40:16,557
where they're firing
heavy artillery at you,
609
00:40:16,581 --> 00:40:17,753
running's pretty important.
610
00:40:19,542 --> 00:40:21,636
During the siege
in the fall of 1967,
611
00:40:21,753 --> 00:40:23,847
we were getting newspaper
articles in the mail
612
00:40:24,005 --> 00:40:27,305
from our families and we were
being called the Alamo.
613
00:40:27,425 --> 00:40:30,269
You know, hey,
we knew what the Alamo was.
614
00:40:30,386 --> 00:40:32,434
We knew what happened there.
615
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,359
Like almost like every
hour there'd be a barrage.
616
00:40:45,526 --> 00:40:49,156
People get blown to bits,
literally blown to bits.
617
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:52,955
You find a...
a boot with a leg in it, right.
618
00:40:53,076 --> 00:40:55,499
And so is the leg
white or black?
619
00:40:55,620 --> 00:40:57,543
So who... who was
the white Marine that was here?
620
00:40:57,664 --> 00:40:58,711
Who was the black?
621
00:40:58,831 --> 00:41:00,833
So then you try to remember
and you tag it
622
00:41:00,959 --> 00:41:02,302
and put that in the green bag.
623
00:41:02,418 --> 00:41:05,046
And that's what goes back,
you know,
624
00:41:05,213 --> 00:41:07,432
as Marine Lance Corporal
so and so.
625
00:41:07,548 --> 00:41:10,552
And so, but sometimes you're not
even sure because the body
626
00:41:10,718 --> 00:41:12,758
has literally been blown
to bits, and the only thing
627
00:41:12,804 --> 00:41:15,273
that's left is a foot
or a piece of an arm.
628
00:41:15,390 --> 00:41:19,941
I carried a wallet calendar
from Clifford Forlow Insurance.
629
00:41:20,061 --> 00:41:22,189
He was my dad's insurance agent.
630
00:41:22,313 --> 00:41:25,817
And I marked off
each of the days religiously.
631
00:41:25,942 --> 00:41:30,539
And then in October,
we went up to Con Thien again.
632
00:41:30,655 --> 00:41:35,502
I just stopped, because
I thought, "This is pointless.
633
00:41:35,618 --> 00:41:37,746
"I'm not getting...
I'm not gonna go home.
634
00:41:37,870 --> 00:41:39,247
"I'm not gonna make it home.
635
00:41:39,372 --> 00:41:41,249
What...
you know, what's the point?"
636
00:41:41,416 --> 00:41:43,259
So I just quit marking them off.
637
00:41:44,919 --> 00:41:47,200
I had the opportunity
to call my mother, you know.
638
00:41:47,255 --> 00:41:49,804
And I was telling my mother
what was happening over there
639
00:41:49,924 --> 00:41:52,052
and I was telling her
how she shouldn't believe
640
00:41:52,176 --> 00:41:55,931
what she sees in the newspaper
and-and sees on television
641
00:41:56,097 --> 00:41:58,270
because we're losing the war.
642
00:41:58,391 --> 00:42:00,894
And I said, "You'll probably
never see me again
643
00:42:01,019 --> 00:42:04,193
"because we're the most northern
outpost that the Marines have,
644
00:42:04,313 --> 00:42:05,690
"you know.
645
00:42:05,815 --> 00:42:08,015
"We could literally could look
right into North Vietnam.
646
00:42:08,067 --> 00:42:10,490
We could see the sparks
when the guns fired on us."
647
00:42:10,611 --> 00:42:13,785
And I said, "And everybody
in my unit is dying, you know.
648
00:42:13,948 --> 00:42:15,791
And I probably won't be
coming back."
649
00:42:15,908 --> 00:42:17,956
And my mother said,
"No, you're coming back."
650
00:42:18,119 --> 00:42:20,918
She said, "I talk to God
every day and you're special.
651
00:42:21,039 --> 00:42:23,258
You're coming back."
652
00:42:23,374 --> 00:42:25,718
And I said, "Ma, everybody's
mother thinks that
653
00:42:25,835 --> 00:42:27,428
"they're special, you know.
654
00:42:27,545 --> 00:42:29,468
I'm putting pieces
of special people in bags."
655
00:42:31,632 --> 00:42:33,392
And I was feeling
that my mother's in denial.
656
00:42:33,509 --> 00:42:35,807
She just doesn't want to face
the fact that her only son
657
00:42:35,928 --> 00:42:37,805
is gonna die in Vietnam.
658
00:42:37,972 --> 00:42:39,440
And I said,
"Ma, this isn't a joke."
659
00:42:39,557 --> 00:42:41,243
I said, "Everybody's dying
over here, you know.
660
00:42:41,267 --> 00:42:42,314
Everybody's dying."
661
00:42:42,435 --> 00:42:43,937
And she said,
"You're not gonna die.
662
00:42:44,062 --> 00:42:45,484
You're not gonna die."
663
00:42:45,646 --> 00:42:47,819
And, uh, the last thing
she said to me was,
664
00:42:47,982 --> 00:42:49,984
"God has a plan for you."
665
00:42:50,151 --> 00:42:51,243
And I said, "Yeah, right."
666
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:52,360
And I hung up.
667
00:42:57,241 --> 00:42:59,960
Mr. Stout, during what period
of time were you in Vietnam?
668
00:43:00,078 --> 00:43:03,173
I was in Vietnam
from September of 1966
669
00:43:03,289 --> 00:43:05,462
to September of 1967, one year.
670
00:43:05,583 --> 00:43:06,926
And with what unit?
671
00:43:07,043 --> 00:43:08,841
With the 1st Brigade
of the 101st Airborne.
672
00:43:08,961 --> 00:43:11,305
During the time
that you were in Vietnam,
673
00:43:11,422 --> 00:43:13,345
did you personally witness
any atrocities
674
00:43:13,508 --> 00:43:15,385
on the part of American troops?
675
00:43:15,510 --> 00:43:16,510
Yes, I did.
676
00:43:18,096 --> 00:43:21,475
Dennis Stout from
Phoenix, Arizona, had enlisted
677
00:43:21,599 --> 00:43:26,355
in the Army at 20, and
served nine months in combat.
678
00:43:26,521 --> 00:43:29,991
Wounded three times,
he became an Army reporter
679
00:43:30,108 --> 00:43:35,865
covering the 327th Regiment
of the 101st Airborne.
680
00:43:35,988 --> 00:43:40,289
He would spend most of his time
with a unique commando platoon
681
00:43:40,409 --> 00:43:41,831
called "Tiger Force"...
682
00:43:41,953 --> 00:43:45,207
small, handpicked teams,
capable of remaining
683
00:43:45,373 --> 00:43:48,047
in the jungle
for weeks at a time,
684
00:43:48,209 --> 00:43:50,803
fast-moving and deadly,
685
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:54,675
intended to
"out-guerrilla the guerrillas."
686
00:43:56,050 --> 00:43:58,724
Tiger Force fought in six
different provinces,
687
00:43:58,845 --> 00:44:01,849
repeatedly suffering
heavy losses.
688
00:44:05,101 --> 00:44:08,355
If you've lost your
best friend and you want revenge,
689
00:44:08,479 --> 00:44:11,699
it's the officers who say,
"No, you can't do that."
690
00:44:11,816 --> 00:44:14,865
And if you do it,
then there's consequences.
691
00:44:14,986 --> 00:44:17,705
But when the officers, and
it includes the platoon leader
692
00:44:17,822 --> 00:44:20,746
and the battalion commander,
are telling you that this is
693
00:44:20,867 --> 00:44:25,464
what you're supposed to do, then
it gets completely out of hand.
694
00:44:25,580 --> 00:44:29,585
Some at MACV worried
that such a freewheeling outfit,
695
00:44:29,709 --> 00:44:33,430
operating on its own,
would be difficult to control.
696
00:44:35,256 --> 00:44:38,760
But General Westmoreland
and commanders in the field
697
00:44:38,926 --> 00:44:43,432
admired Tiger Force
for its reliable ferocity.
698
00:44:43,556 --> 00:44:47,652
In the summer of 1967,
Tiger Force was sent
699
00:44:47,768 --> 00:44:50,271
to the fertile Song Ve Valley.
700
00:44:50,396 --> 00:44:53,275
The entire population
had already been herded
701
00:44:53,441 --> 00:44:57,947
from their homes and crowded
into a refugee camp.
702
00:44:58,112 --> 00:45:01,241
But some had come back
to resume the farming
703
00:45:01,365 --> 00:45:03,618
they had always done.
704
00:45:05,119 --> 00:45:08,293
The valley had officially been
declared a free-fire zone,
705
00:45:08,414 --> 00:45:12,464
and Tiger Force's
officers took that literally.
706
00:45:12,627 --> 00:45:16,382
"There are no friendlies,"
one lieutenant told his men.
707
00:45:16,505 --> 00:45:19,304
"Shoot anything that moves."
708
00:45:22,887 --> 00:45:25,811
Over a seven-month period,
they killed scores
709
00:45:25,973 --> 00:45:28,442
of unarmed civilians.
710
00:45:28,559 --> 00:45:32,029
Among their victims
were two blind brothers;
711
00:45:32,146 --> 00:45:36,652
an elderly Buddhist monk;
women, children, and old people
712
00:45:36,776 --> 00:45:38,904
hiding in underground shelters;
713
00:45:39,028 --> 00:45:42,282
and three farmers
trying to plant rice.
714
00:45:42,406 --> 00:45:46,832
All were reported as
"enemy... killed in action."
715
00:45:49,747 --> 00:45:53,672
These atrocities
were committed by soldiers
716
00:45:53,793 --> 00:45:56,012
of units I was assigned to
as a reporter
717
00:45:56,170 --> 00:45:57,968
for the Army newspapers,
such as...
718
00:45:58,089 --> 00:46:01,468
Tiger Force was
not the only platoon
719
00:46:01,592 --> 00:46:05,142
Dennis Stout covered
that crossed the line.
720
00:46:05,263 --> 00:46:08,312
One such incident was
the rape and killing
721
00:46:08,432 --> 00:46:10,184
of a Vietnamese girl.
722
00:46:10,351 --> 00:46:15,027
She was captured,
kept for interrogation.
723
00:46:15,189 --> 00:46:18,033
Over a two-day period,
she was raped, then,
724
00:46:18,150 --> 00:46:19,962
on the morning of the third day,
she was killed.
725
00:46:19,986 --> 00:46:23,365
Was she raped
by more than one person?
726
00:46:23,489 --> 00:46:27,039
Yes, all but the medic
and myself,
727
00:46:27,159 --> 00:46:28,879
and possibly one other man
from the platoon.
728
00:46:29,036 --> 00:46:30,036
Did you protest?
729
00:46:30,121 --> 00:46:32,169
Did you try in any way
to have them stopped?
730
00:46:32,290 --> 00:46:35,544
Yes. After the rape incident,
I complained
731
00:46:35,668 --> 00:46:40,048
to the battalion sergeant major,
and his response was that
732
00:46:40,172 --> 00:46:42,391
this type of thing happens
in all wars,
733
00:46:42,550 --> 00:46:45,895
and that I was not to mention
it; it was a common occurrence.
734
00:46:46,012 --> 00:46:50,267
Then later, I went to
the chaplain, told him about it,
735
00:46:50,391 --> 00:46:52,610
he made
an investigation himself,
736
00:46:52,727 --> 00:46:54,980
found that this was true,
went with me
737
00:46:55,104 --> 00:46:56,526
to the sergeant major.
738
00:46:56,647 --> 00:47:00,743
The sergeant major then
said that...
739
00:47:00,860 --> 00:47:02,713
well, he told the chaplain
to stick to religion,
740
00:47:02,737 --> 00:47:06,241
sent him away, and then
he told me to keep quiet,
741
00:47:06,407 --> 00:47:10,037
that I did not have to return
from the next operation.
742
00:47:11,579 --> 00:47:14,583
Years later,
another soldier came forward
743
00:47:14,707 --> 00:47:17,381
with more allegations
of war crimes,
744
00:47:17,501 --> 00:47:20,926
and an Army investigation
would find probable cause
745
00:47:21,088 --> 00:47:25,935
to try 18 members of Tiger Force
for murder or assault.
746
00:47:27,094 --> 00:47:29,563
But no charges
were ever brought.
747
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,775
The official records were buried
in the archives.
748
00:47:34,769 --> 00:47:36,612
They should
have all gone to jail.
749
00:47:36,771 --> 00:47:38,193
They were guilty of murder.
750
00:47:38,314 --> 00:47:39,657
Period.
751
00:47:39,774 --> 00:47:43,199
At the same time,
I felt like that incident,
752
00:47:43,319 --> 00:47:46,539
which I think was an aberration,
not the norm,
753
00:47:46,655 --> 00:47:49,249
tarred all veterans, and
there are hundreds of thousands
754
00:47:49,367 --> 00:47:51,119
of veterans who went
and did their duty,
755
00:47:51,243 --> 00:47:53,621
and as honorable
as they possibly could,
756
00:47:53,788 --> 00:47:55,506
and they're tarred
with the same brush.
757
00:47:57,625 --> 00:48:00,879
One of the things
that I learned in the war is that
758
00:48:01,003 --> 00:48:05,554
we're not the top species on
the planet because we're nice.
759
00:48:05,674 --> 00:48:08,848
We are a very aggressive
species.
760
00:48:08,969 --> 00:48:10,642
It is in us.
761
00:48:10,763 --> 00:48:14,063
And people talk a lot about
how, "Well, the military turns
762
00:48:14,183 --> 00:48:17,153
kids into killing machines"
and stuff.
763
00:48:18,771 --> 00:48:21,490
And I'll always argue that
it's just finishing school.
764
00:48:21,607 --> 00:48:26,204
What we do with civilization
is that we learn to inhibit
765
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:29,665
and rope in these
aggressive tendencies.
766
00:48:29,782 --> 00:48:32,080
And we have to recognize them.
767
00:48:32,201 --> 00:48:36,001
I worry about a whole country
that doesn't recognize it.
768
00:48:36,122 --> 00:48:38,058
'Cause you think of how
many times we get ourselves
769
00:48:38,082 --> 00:48:41,427
in scrapes as a nation because
we're always the good guys.
770
00:48:41,544 --> 00:48:44,388
Sometimes, I think if we thought
that we weren't always
771
00:48:44,505 --> 00:48:46,883
the good guys, we might actually
get in less wars.
772
00:48:51,345 --> 00:48:52,597
Mr. Rubin,
773
00:48:52,721 --> 00:48:55,440
how do you realistically expect
to shut down the Pentagon?
774
00:48:55,558 --> 00:48:58,653
The Pentagon represents
the murder of people
775
00:48:58,769 --> 00:49:00,021
throughout the world.
776
00:49:00,146 --> 00:49:02,194
And the American people
have no control
777
00:49:02,314 --> 00:49:03,691
of what their government's
doing.
778
00:49:03,816 --> 00:49:07,241
And so we're going to go there
in the scores of thousands,
779
00:49:07,361 --> 00:49:10,410
and block doors
and fill hallways,
780
00:49:10,531 --> 00:49:12,533
so the work
of the Pentagon stops.
781
00:49:12,700 --> 00:49:14,748
Because the work
of the Pentagon should stop.
782
00:49:14,869 --> 00:49:17,150
The only thing to do with
the Pentagon is to shut it down.
783
00:49:19,874 --> 00:49:22,548
# It was back in 1942 #
784
00:49:22,668 --> 00:49:24,887
# I was a member
of a good platoon #
785
00:49:25,045 --> 00:49:28,219
# We were on maneuvers
in Louisiana #
786
00:49:28,382 --> 00:49:30,225
# One night
by the light of the moon #
787
00:49:30,384 --> 00:49:33,888
# The captain told us
to ford a river #
788
00:49:34,054 --> 00:49:36,603
# That's how it all begun #
789
00:49:36,724 --> 00:49:39,147
# We were knee deep
in the Big Muddy #
790
00:49:39,268 --> 00:49:42,021
# The big fool says to push on #
791
00:49:42,146 --> 00:49:45,776
There was a major
demonstration either in New York
792
00:49:45,900 --> 00:49:50,497
or in Washington
every fall and every spring.
793
00:49:50,613 --> 00:49:53,617
We decided that we would go to
the demonstration
794
00:49:53,741 --> 00:49:57,291
in Washington at the Lincoln
Memorial in the fall of '67,
795
00:49:57,411 --> 00:50:00,005
but we would take as many
people out of that demonstration
796
00:50:00,122 --> 00:50:03,922
as we could and lead them
to the Pentagon.
797
00:50:04,043 --> 00:50:08,469
And at the Pentagon, try to do
something more militant
798
00:50:08,589 --> 00:50:12,219
than simply stand around and
make speeches opposing the war,
799
00:50:12,343 --> 00:50:15,222
which is what these
demonstrations had become.
800
00:50:15,346 --> 00:50:16,823
# No man will be able to swim. #
801
00:50:16,847 --> 00:50:20,101
And when the time
came to lead people away
802
00:50:20,267 --> 00:50:22,440
from the Lincoln Memorial
toward the Pentagon,
803
00:50:22,561 --> 00:50:25,110
50,000 people marched.
804
00:50:25,231 --> 00:50:27,484
# Men, follow me, I'll lead on #
805
00:50:27,608 --> 00:50:30,532
# We were neck deep
in the Big Muddy #
806
00:50:30,653 --> 00:50:33,623
# The big fool says
to push on. #
807
00:50:33,781 --> 00:50:37,536
Bill Zimmerman, now an
assistant professor of psychology
808
00:50:37,660 --> 00:50:40,288
at Brooklyn College,
had been against the war
809
00:50:40,412 --> 00:50:42,210
since the beginning.
810
00:50:42,331 --> 00:50:46,802
Then we found when we got
there concentric defense perimeters
811
00:50:46,961 --> 00:50:50,010
that had been set up
around the Pentagon to keep us
812
00:50:50,130 --> 00:50:51,723
at a distance from the building.
813
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:56,266
We pushed against them,
we tore down their fences.
814
00:50:56,387 --> 00:50:58,230
# With the
captain dead and gone #
815
00:50:58,347 --> 00:51:00,033
# We stripped and dived
and found his body. #
816
00:51:00,057 --> 00:51:02,776
I was working that weekend day.
817
00:51:02,893 --> 00:51:07,148
The secretaries who were working
in my area were frightened
818
00:51:07,273 --> 00:51:11,779
to hell what these
Vietnam protesters would do.
819
00:51:11,902 --> 00:51:13,296
They thought they were
going to come into the building
820
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:14,367
and rape them.
821
00:51:14,488 --> 00:51:16,832
Some of them actually
came over the walls.
822
00:51:16,991 --> 00:51:18,868
# The big fool
said to push on. #
823
00:51:18,993 --> 00:51:22,372
It was a sense of revolution.
824
00:51:23,622 --> 00:51:25,420
# Waist deep in the Big Muddy #
825
00:51:25,541 --> 00:51:27,418
# The big fool says to push on #
826
00:51:27,543 --> 00:51:30,342
# Waist deep in the Big Muddy #
827
00:51:30,504 --> 00:51:32,506
# The big fool says
to push on. #
828
00:51:32,631 --> 00:51:36,852
God knows what we were going
to do when we got in the building.
829
00:51:36,969 --> 00:51:38,846
Some people, the hippies,
830
00:51:39,013 --> 00:51:40,813
said they were going
to levitate the building.
831
00:51:40,931 --> 00:51:44,276
Other people wanted to commit
vandalism in the building.
832
00:51:44,393 --> 00:51:46,816
Other people wanted to
distribute antiwar literature
833
00:51:46,937 --> 00:51:49,190
in the building, talk to people.
834
00:51:49,315 --> 00:51:52,694
Just the idea of getting
into the headquarters
835
00:51:52,818 --> 00:51:54,866
of the United States military...
836
00:51:56,697 --> 00:51:59,951
It was the first time
that antiwar demonstrators
837
00:52:00,075 --> 00:52:04,421
had confronted active-duty
military personnel.
838
00:52:04,538 --> 00:52:07,132
We didn't consider them
the enemy.
839
00:52:07,249 --> 00:52:10,719
We considered them
victims of the war.
840
00:52:10,836 --> 00:52:15,842
But we began to see our own
government as the enemy.
841
00:52:15,966 --> 00:52:20,221
President Johnson believed
that international communism
842
00:52:20,346 --> 00:52:22,815
was somehow behind
the demonstration.
843
00:52:22,931 --> 00:52:26,276
He had directed the CIA
to come up with the evidence,
844
00:52:26,393 --> 00:52:30,148
and was furious
when it found none.
845
00:52:32,441 --> 00:52:33,317
Mr. President?
846
00:52:33,442 --> 00:52:34,318
Yes.
847
00:52:34,443 --> 00:52:35,319
This is General Eisenhower.
848
00:52:35,444 --> 00:52:36,644
How've you been,
Mr. President?
849
00:52:36,695 --> 00:52:39,574
I'm doing fine
under the circumstances.
850
00:52:39,740 --> 00:52:42,334
But we just had hell,
and these college students,
851
00:52:42,451 --> 00:52:44,294
I've had Hoover in after them.
852
00:52:44,411 --> 00:52:47,915
They came marched here,
and we arrested 600 of them,
853
00:52:48,040 --> 00:52:51,089
and we gave 29 of them
pretty tough times.
854
00:52:51,251 --> 00:52:54,551
We found most of them
really were mentally diseased.
855
00:52:54,672 --> 00:52:58,722
Hoover's taken 256 that turned
in supposedly their draft cards.
856
00:52:58,842 --> 00:53:01,095
So, you're dealing
with mental problems,
857
00:53:01,261 --> 00:53:03,355
I think that we talk
too damn much
858
00:53:03,472 --> 00:53:05,645
about civil liberties
and constitutional rights
859
00:53:05,766 --> 00:53:07,234
of the individual and not enough
860
00:53:07,351 --> 00:53:08,773
about the rights of the masses.
861
00:53:08,936 --> 00:53:10,246
That's why we have it.
862
00:53:10,270 --> 00:53:12,238
We have freely elected people
and we've got to
863
00:53:12,356 --> 00:53:13,733
stand behind them.
864
00:53:13,857 --> 00:53:16,235
I think your
government's in trouble, General.
865
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:18,203
I think it's in...
I don't want to say this.
866
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:19,993
But I think we're in more danger
867
00:53:20,114 --> 00:53:21,991
from these
left-wing influences now
868
00:53:22,116 --> 00:53:24,960
than we've ever been
in 37 years I've been here.
869
00:53:25,119 --> 00:53:28,123
And they're working
in my party from within.
870
00:53:28,247 --> 00:53:30,796
And Bobby thinks he's going
to get the nomination.
871
00:53:30,916 --> 00:53:35,137
Allard Lowenstein, a
38-year-old attorney from New York,
872
00:53:35,254 --> 00:53:38,258
shared the antiwar fervor
of the protestors,
873
00:53:38,382 --> 00:53:40,134
but he believed
the most effective way
874
00:53:40,300 --> 00:53:43,975
to end the fighting was to work
within the political system,
875
00:53:44,138 --> 00:53:45,981
not outside it.
876
00:53:46,098 --> 00:53:48,817
The answer, he said,
was to stop Lyndon Johnson
877
00:53:48,934 --> 00:53:52,484
from getting
a second full term as president.
878
00:53:52,604 --> 00:53:56,734
He had traveled the country
all year in search of someone
879
00:53:56,859 --> 00:53:59,487
willing to challenge
the president in the upcoming
880
00:53:59,611 --> 00:54:01,454
Democratic primaries.
881
00:54:01,572 --> 00:54:04,746
He asked Senator Robert Kennedy
of New York,
882
00:54:04,867 --> 00:54:07,837
who had begun to criticize
the Johnson administration
883
00:54:07,995 --> 00:54:09,338
over the war.
884
00:54:09,496 --> 00:54:12,750
He asked
Lieutenant General James Gavin.
885
00:54:12,875 --> 00:54:16,800
He asked Senator George McGovern
of South Dakota.
886
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:19,014
They all turned him down.
887
00:54:19,173 --> 00:54:22,768
Lowenstein kept looking.
888
00:54:27,806 --> 00:54:32,858
At Fort Sill, Oklahoma,
on November 17, 1967,
889
00:54:33,020 --> 00:54:36,194
friends and family
of a fallen soldier gathered
890
00:54:36,356 --> 00:54:39,781
for a funeral,
one of five military funerals
891
00:54:39,902 --> 00:54:42,280
held there that month.
892
00:54:42,404 --> 00:54:47,205
First Sergeant Pascal Cleatus
Poolaw had been killed
893
00:54:47,326 --> 00:54:49,829
as he tried to drag
one of his wounded men
894
00:54:49,953 --> 00:54:54,709
off the battlefield near
the village of Loc Ninh.
895
00:54:54,833 --> 00:54:59,930
He was a remarkable soldier,
had been awarded one Silver Star
896
00:55:00,047 --> 00:55:05,429
in World War II, two more in
Korea, and was awarded a fourth,
897
00:55:05,552 --> 00:55:09,773
posthumously,
for his gallantry in Vietnam.
898
00:55:09,890 --> 00:55:12,939
He was a Kiowa Indian.
899
00:55:13,060 --> 00:55:15,859
He and three of his sons
were among
900
00:55:15,979 --> 00:55:20,985
the 42,000 Native Americans
who would serve in Vietnam,
901
00:55:21,109 --> 00:55:24,784
the highest per capita
service rate of any ethnic group
902
00:55:24,905 --> 00:55:27,078
in the United States.
903
00:55:27,199 --> 00:55:32,080
Pascal Poolaw's widow spoke
at the ceremony.
904
00:55:32,246 --> 00:55:35,841
"He has followed the trail
of the great chiefs," she said.
905
00:55:35,958 --> 00:55:41,135
"His people hold him in honor
and highest esteem.
906
00:55:41,255 --> 00:55:45,431
"He has given his life
for the people and the country
907
00:55:45,592 --> 00:55:49,768
he loved so much."
908
00:55:54,601 --> 00:55:55,853
# When the truth is found #
909
00:55:55,978 --> 00:55:59,983
# To be hes #
910
00:56:00,107 --> 00:56:02,860
# And all the joy #
911
00:56:02,985 --> 00:56:07,286
# Within you dies #
912
00:56:07,447 --> 00:56:09,791
# Don't you want somebody
to love? #
913
00:56:09,908 --> 00:56:13,378
# Don't you need somebody
to love? #
914
00:56:13,495 --> 00:56:17,090
# Wouldn't you love somebody
to love? #
915
00:56:17,207 --> 00:56:21,553
# You better find somebody
to love #
916
00:56:21,670 --> 00:56:23,468
# Love. #
917
00:56:28,302 --> 00:56:31,181
I didn't hear the word
"hippie" until I was at Con Thien
918
00:56:31,305 --> 00:56:32,740
and we got a Playboy, somebody
got a Playboy in the mail,
919
00:56:32,764 --> 00:56:35,643
which was obviously very
important to us.
920
00:56:35,767 --> 00:56:37,815
And there was an article
on Haight-Ashbury
921
00:56:37,978 --> 00:56:39,538
and pictures of the girls
running around
922
00:56:39,646 --> 00:56:41,239
without their tops,
you know, free love.
923
00:56:41,356 --> 00:56:42,733
And they were hippies.
924
00:56:42,858 --> 00:56:45,327
And we thought it was
"hip pie" cause it had two Ps.
925
00:56:45,485 --> 00:56:47,283
You know,
"Hey, I'm gonna go home
926
00:56:47,404 --> 00:56:48,701
"and be one of these hip pies
927
00:56:48,822 --> 00:56:50,422
"because the girls
don't wear no clothes.
928
00:56:50,449 --> 00:56:52,827
You know, and they'll
go to bed with anybody."
929
00:56:52,951 --> 00:56:54,168
You know, even I could score.
930
00:56:54,328 --> 00:56:58,208
But the only information I had
of the peace movement
931
00:56:58,332 --> 00:56:59,959
came from Stars and Stripes.
932
00:57:00,083 --> 00:57:03,553
And that wasn't
a real objective newspaper.
933
00:57:03,670 --> 00:57:06,014
And so I hated them
934
00:57:06,131 --> 00:57:08,008
before I ever even knew
anything about them.
935
00:57:14,348 --> 00:57:18,353
The monsoon rains
continued to make life miserable
936
00:57:18,477 --> 00:57:21,856
for John Musgrave and
the other Marines at Con Thien.
937
00:57:21,980 --> 00:57:25,951
But by early November, the
worst of the shelling had ended.
938
00:57:26,068 --> 00:57:29,538
American airstrikes,
artillery, and Navy fire
939
00:57:29,696 --> 00:57:32,950
had taken a fearful toll
on the besieging enemy.
940
00:57:34,826 --> 00:57:40,253
Before dawn on November 7, two
companies of Musgrave's outfit
941
00:57:40,374 --> 00:57:43,093
were sent half a mile
into the countryside
942
00:57:43,210 --> 00:57:46,555
northwest of the base
to sweep the area again.
943
00:57:48,465 --> 00:57:52,060
We got into an
area that was old hedgerows
944
00:57:52,219 --> 00:57:54,267
that's grown over with jungle.
945
00:57:54,388 --> 00:57:56,732
Very difficult to see very far.
946
00:57:56,890 --> 00:57:59,894
In the clear area, we had three
NVA show themselves
947
00:58:00,060 --> 00:58:03,439
and start just spraying
30 rounds out of their AKs
948
00:58:03,563 --> 00:58:04,564
and then booking.
949
00:58:05,899 --> 00:58:09,870
The company commander himself
said, "I want their bodies.
950
00:58:09,987 --> 00:58:11,409
Bring me their bodies."
951
00:58:11,530 --> 00:58:14,750
Everything's about body count,
right?
952
00:58:14,908 --> 00:58:17,878
We said, "Man, this is as
old as Custer.
953
00:58:17,995 --> 00:58:20,373
"These guys are showing
themselves to draw us
954
00:58:20,497 --> 00:58:21,589
"into an ambush.
955
00:58:21,748 --> 00:58:24,251
"Lieutenant, don't do this,"
you know.
956
00:58:24,376 --> 00:58:27,926
"Please, these guys are bait."
957
00:58:28,088 --> 00:58:30,261
Well, the skipper says,
"We got to go.
958
00:58:30,382 --> 00:58:32,384
We got to go."
959
00:58:32,509 --> 00:58:35,763
And... we went.
960
00:58:38,765 --> 00:58:41,109
And I can't tell you
a whole lot about the ambush.
961
00:58:41,268 --> 00:58:43,270
I was one of the first people
to be shot.
962
00:58:43,395 --> 00:58:45,147
One round put me down.
963
00:58:46,982 --> 00:58:50,452
And my grenadier was down, and
we were trying to get him back.
964
00:58:50,569 --> 00:58:54,619
And Marines, from the first day
in boot camp,
965
00:58:54,781 --> 00:58:57,250
you learn that Marines
don't leave their dead,
966
00:58:57,367 --> 00:59:00,792
and they never,
never leave their wounded.
967
00:59:02,289 --> 00:59:04,963
And that's why I'm alive today.
968
00:59:05,083 --> 00:59:09,304
First guy that came for me...
I was lying on my face...
969
00:59:10,964 --> 00:59:13,342
he reached down and stuck his
arms under my shoulders
970
00:59:13,467 --> 00:59:17,813
and lifted me up and the machine
gun wasn't any far,
971
00:59:17,929 --> 00:59:23,481
was maybe nine feet, ten feet
at the most, away from me.
972
00:59:23,643 --> 00:59:25,145
This is a very intimate ambush.
973
00:59:25,270 --> 00:59:26,270
It's a brawl.
974
00:59:27,856 --> 00:59:31,906
And he fired a burst into my
chest that blew me out
975
00:59:32,027 --> 00:59:35,531
of the Marine's arms that was
holding me and then he was shot.
976
00:59:38,241 --> 00:59:44,465
Another very brave young Marine,
this 18-year-old from Louisiana,
977
00:59:44,581 --> 00:59:47,630
his first firefight,
had seen what happened
978
00:59:47,751 --> 00:59:50,880
and still came for me.
979
00:59:51,004 --> 00:59:55,680
And he reached for me, and he
was shot I think in the forearm.
980
00:59:55,801 --> 00:59:58,554
And he was laying beside me.
981
00:59:58,678 --> 01:00:00,531
Now, I've got a hole
through my chest big enough
982
01:00:00,555 --> 01:00:02,102
to stick your fist through.
983
01:00:03,100 --> 01:00:04,272
I'm dying and I know it.
984
01:00:05,644 --> 01:00:08,193
And I heard this horrible
screaming going on,
985
01:00:08,355 --> 01:00:11,985
and I was trying to figure out
who was screaming like that,
986
01:00:12,109 --> 01:00:13,361
because it sounded so...
987
01:00:19,282 --> 01:00:20,909
And then I realized it was me.
988
01:00:23,703 --> 01:00:26,126
When they began to drag us out,
they were being pursued
989
01:00:26,248 --> 01:00:30,048
by the North Vietnamese,
and they would drop us
990
01:00:30,168 --> 01:00:31,795
and lay on top of us.
991
01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:33,217
They knew... we were both dying.
992
01:00:33,380 --> 01:00:36,680
The grenadier had been shot
in the right side of his chest.
993
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:38,894
They knew... we were both dead.
994
01:00:39,010 --> 01:00:41,638
But we were still alive.
995
01:00:41,763 --> 01:00:43,265
So, they weren't gonna leave us.
996
01:00:43,390 --> 01:00:45,484
They would die before
they would leave us.
997
01:00:45,600 --> 01:00:47,640
And they covered us with their
bodies and fired back
998
01:00:47,727 --> 01:00:50,947
at the NVA and then they'd jump
up and drag us a little farther
999
01:00:51,064 --> 01:00:53,408
and then drop us and
lay back on top of us.
1000
01:00:53,525 --> 01:00:56,404
And I kept telling them
to leave me.
1001
01:00:56,528 --> 01:00:58,121
And I meant it.
I meant it.
1002
01:00:58,238 --> 01:01:02,288
But all of a sudden I got scared
that they might really leave me.
1003
01:01:04,786 --> 01:01:07,255
I was triaged three times.
1004
01:01:07,372 --> 01:01:10,171
And the senior corpsman said,
1005
01:01:10,292 --> 01:01:12,019
"He's either shot through
the heart or the lungs.
1006
01:01:12,043 --> 01:01:13,229
There's nothing
I can do for him."
1007
01:01:13,253 --> 01:01:14,846
And he just turned away.
1008
01:01:14,963 --> 01:01:17,057
I went, "Well, okay."
1009
01:01:18,049 --> 01:01:21,679
And then, a helicopter came in.
1010
01:01:21,803 --> 01:01:23,350
And they threw me into the bird.
1011
01:01:25,891 --> 01:01:29,111
And the corpsman on the bird
straddled me, stood over me,
1012
01:01:29,269 --> 01:01:32,239
and looked down at me, and then
looked up at the door gunner
1013
01:01:32,355 --> 01:01:36,110
and went...
get me out of the way
1014
01:01:36,276 --> 01:01:37,336
because he couldn't work on me.
1015
01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:38,862
I was a dead man.
1016
01:01:40,947 --> 01:01:42,824
And they flew me
to Delta Med at Dong Ha.
1017
01:01:42,949 --> 01:01:47,045
And I thought,
"Okay, I made it this far."
1018
01:01:47,162 --> 01:01:48,802
And this doctor comes
over and looks at me
1019
01:01:48,914 --> 01:01:50,461
and I'm conscious.
1020
01:01:50,582 --> 01:01:52,801
I'm lucid.
1021
01:01:52,918 --> 01:01:54,295
And he checks
a couple of things.
1022
01:01:54,419 --> 01:01:55,688
And I've got this huge hole
in me.
1023
01:01:55,712 --> 01:01:57,273
And he looks at me
right in the eye, and he says,
1024
01:01:57,297 --> 01:01:59,015
"What's your religion, Marine?"
1025
01:01:59,132 --> 01:02:01,134
And I said,
"Well, I'm a Protestant."
1026
01:02:01,301 --> 01:02:02,445
And he says,
"Get a chaplain over here.
1027
01:02:02,469 --> 01:02:04,016
I can't help this man."
1028
01:02:04,137 --> 01:02:05,137
And then he walked away.
1029
01:02:06,514 --> 01:02:11,771
Another surgeon walks by,
and he looked at me,
1030
01:02:11,895 --> 01:02:15,900
and I was raised
to always be nice to people.
1031
01:02:16,024 --> 01:02:19,824
And when he looked at me,
I smiled at him and nodded.
1032
01:02:19,945 --> 01:02:24,075
And he said, "Why isn't
somebody helping this man?"
1033
01:02:24,199 --> 01:02:25,496
And inside I'm going,
1034
01:02:25,617 --> 01:02:27,337
"Yeah, why isn't somebody
helping this man?"
1035
01:02:28,453 --> 01:02:31,332
When they put me to sleep,
I thought,
1036
01:02:31,498 --> 01:02:34,502
"Boy, this is really it,"
you know.
1037
01:02:34,668 --> 01:02:37,217
And it was kind of, "Okay, God,
1038
01:02:37,337 --> 01:02:39,931
into your hands,
I deliver my spirit."
1039
01:02:41,174 --> 01:02:43,017
And I thought that was it.
1040
01:02:45,011 --> 01:02:47,264
And when I woke up in the
surgical intensive care ward,
1041
01:02:47,389 --> 01:02:49,767
which was a Quonset hut,
1042
01:02:49,891 --> 01:02:52,394
I thought, "Holy mackerel."
1043
01:02:52,519 --> 01:02:56,524
I just couldn't...
I couldn't believe it.
1044
01:03:00,277 --> 01:03:01,699
Yesterday over Hanoi,
1045
01:03:01,820 --> 01:03:03,538
three American planes
were shot down
1046
01:03:03,697 --> 01:03:06,291
and at least two
of their pilots captured.
1047
01:03:06,408 --> 01:03:09,958
One of them was Lieutenant
Commander John McCain III,
1048
01:03:10,078 --> 01:03:13,173
the son of the U.S. Naval
commander in Europe.
1049
01:03:50,869 --> 01:03:54,419
Hanoi was so pleased
to have captured the son
1050
01:03:54,539 --> 01:03:57,918
of an American admiral that they
allowed a French journalist
1051
01:03:58,043 --> 01:04:00,546
to interview McCain
in the hospital.
1052
01:04:00,670 --> 01:04:04,891
He had just had his broken bones
set without even an aspirin
1053
01:04:05,008 --> 01:04:06,430
for the pain.
1054
01:04:06,551 --> 01:04:07,751
What is your name?
1055
01:04:07,844 --> 01:04:10,893
Lieutenant Commander
John McCain.
1056
01:04:11,014 --> 01:04:13,984
How many raids have you done
until the last one?
1057
01:04:14,100 --> 01:04:15,898
About 23.
1058
01:04:16,019 --> 01:04:20,695
In which circumstances
have you been shot down?
1059
01:04:20,815 --> 01:04:25,571
I was on a flight
over the city of Hanoi,
1060
01:04:25,695 --> 01:04:32,795
and I was bombing and I was hit
by either a missile
1061
01:04:32,911 --> 01:04:34,584
or anti-aircraft fire.
1062
01:04:34,704 --> 01:04:41,679
I'm not sure which, and the
plane continued straight down,
1063
01:04:41,795 --> 01:04:50,476
and I ejected
and broke my leg and both arms
1064
01:04:50,595 --> 01:04:57,319
and went into a lake;
parachuted into a lake.
1065
01:04:57,477 --> 01:05:02,233
And I was picked up by some
North Vietnamese
1066
01:05:02,357 --> 01:05:08,410
and taken to the hospital,
where I almost died.
1067
01:05:08,530 --> 01:05:10,783
I would just like to tell...
1068
01:05:15,120 --> 01:05:17,498
...my wife...
1069
01:05:18,331 --> 01:05:20,880
...I will get well...
1070
01:05:23,503 --> 01:05:30,182
...and I love her
and I hope to see her soon.
1071
01:05:31,719 --> 01:05:34,313
After the
interview, McCain was beaten
1072
01:05:34,431 --> 01:05:38,481
for not expressing sufficient
gratitude to his captors.
1073
01:05:46,317 --> 01:05:50,788
All through the fall
of 1967, the North Vietnamese
1074
01:05:50,905 --> 01:05:54,660
and the Viet Cong continued
their series of "Border Battles"
1075
01:05:54,784 --> 01:05:57,287
in preparation
for their surprise offensive,
1076
01:05:57,412 --> 01:05:59,335
still months away.
1077
01:05:59,456 --> 01:06:03,177
Con Thien, where John Musgrave
was wounded,
1078
01:06:03,293 --> 01:06:04,715
had been the first.
1079
01:06:04,878 --> 01:06:08,553
Then came the ARVN base
at Song Be.
1080
01:06:08,715 --> 01:06:11,138
The South Vietnamese outpost
adjacent to
1081
01:06:11,259 --> 01:06:14,308
the provincial capital
of Loc Ninh was next.
1082
01:06:14,429 --> 01:06:17,353
There, large units of
North Vietnamese
1083
01:06:17,474 --> 01:06:21,229
and Viet Cong regulars
mounted a coordinated attack,
1084
01:06:21,394 --> 01:06:24,739
and then fought for five days
to hold on to the ground
1085
01:06:24,856 --> 01:06:28,736
they'd gained, something they
had never done before.
1086
01:06:28,860 --> 01:06:32,410
American commanders
were puzzled.
1087
01:06:32,572 --> 01:06:37,169
Then, in early November,
reports reached MACV
1088
01:06:37,285 --> 01:06:39,538
that five North Vietnamese
regiments
1089
01:06:39,662 --> 01:06:43,917
and a Viet Cong battalion...
some 7,000 men in all...
1090
01:06:44,083 --> 01:06:46,711
had begun massing
in the Central Highlands
1091
01:06:46,836 --> 01:06:51,467
around the U.S. Special Forces
camp at Dak To again.
1092
01:06:51,591 --> 01:06:56,222
Among the North Vietnamese
regulars was Nguyen Thanh Son,
1093
01:06:56,346 --> 01:06:59,600
who had been so eager to fight
that he too had filled
1094
01:06:59,766 --> 01:07:03,771
his pockets with rocks
to pass his physical.
1095
01:07:17,909 --> 01:07:21,334
As the NVA
deployed their troops,
1096
01:07:21,454 --> 01:07:24,378
Westmoreland sent his to Dak To,
1097
01:07:24,499 --> 01:07:28,049
exactly what
the enemy wanted him to do.
1098
01:07:28,169 --> 01:07:33,391
Among the Americans were the
men of the elite 173rd Airborne,
1099
01:07:33,508 --> 01:07:37,103
Westmoreland's Fire Brigade.
1100
01:07:41,558 --> 01:07:45,734
We all knew in a general
sense that we wouldn't be brought back
1101
01:07:45,853 --> 01:07:48,823
if there wasn't something big
going on.
1102
01:07:48,982 --> 01:07:54,364
You just knew that the area was
crawling with North Vietnamese,
1103
01:07:54,487 --> 01:07:58,993
and that they were there
not to avoid contact with us,
1104
01:07:59,158 --> 01:08:01,786
but they were there
to have contact with us.
1105
01:08:03,204 --> 01:08:05,457
First Lieutenant
Matthew Harrison was now
1106
01:08:05,582 --> 01:08:08,335
with Alpha Company
of the 2nd Battalion,
1107
01:08:08,501 --> 01:08:11,004
the same rifle company
that had been ambushed
1108
01:08:11,129 --> 01:08:16,351
and so badly shattered back in
June on the slopes of Hill 1338,
1109
01:08:16,467 --> 01:08:19,095
just 14 miles to the east.
1110
01:08:19,220 --> 01:08:22,850
This wasn't like the Viet
Cong where if you could find them,
1111
01:08:22,974 --> 01:08:24,191
you could kill them.
1112
01:08:24,350 --> 01:08:25,630
Our problem wasn't finding them.
1113
01:08:25,727 --> 01:08:27,967
Our problem was what to do
with them once you found them.
1114
01:08:28,062 --> 01:08:33,193
The 174th NVA
Regiment was waiting.
1115
01:08:33,359 --> 01:08:37,114
Nguyen Thanh Son and his men
were already dug in
1116
01:08:37,238 --> 01:08:40,287
on the high ground they knew
the Americans would want
1117
01:08:40,408 --> 01:08:45,164
to command: Hill 875.
1118
01:09:06,392 --> 01:09:11,569
On Sunday
morning, November 19, 1967,
1119
01:09:11,731 --> 01:09:15,156
Alpha, Charlie, and
Delta Companies were ordered
1120
01:09:15,276 --> 01:09:18,155
to take Hill 875.
1121
01:09:18,279 --> 01:09:21,749
Matt Harrison had been wounded
in an earlier fight
1122
01:09:21,866 --> 01:09:24,665
and was not permitted
to accompany his men.
1123
01:09:24,786 --> 01:09:29,087
He anxiously followed
their progress over the radio.
1124
01:09:29,207 --> 01:09:33,883
Heavy artillery and flights
of F-100s blasted the hillside
1125
01:09:34,003 --> 01:09:37,803
ahead of them, meant to
knock out enemy positions
1126
01:09:37,924 --> 01:09:41,098
before the paratroopers
ever got within range.
1127
01:09:58,069 --> 01:10:00,447
The three companies
moved up the slope,
1128
01:10:00,571 --> 01:10:02,949
Charlie and Delta in the lead,
1129
01:10:03,116 --> 01:10:06,290
Alpha bringing up the rear.
1130
01:10:06,411 --> 01:10:09,836
The paratroopers stepped warily
into a clearing
1131
01:10:09,956 --> 01:10:13,176
filled with fallen trees
from the morning's bombardment
1132
01:10:13,292 --> 01:10:18,014
and only a little over 300 yards
from the summit.
1133
01:10:33,312 --> 01:10:36,282
Thousands of automatic
weapon rounds ripped through the air.
1134
01:10:36,399 --> 01:10:39,448
Chinese-made grenades came
rolling and bumping
1135
01:10:39,569 --> 01:10:40,946
down the slopes.
1136
01:10:41,070 --> 01:10:45,291
The Americans sought cover where
they could behind fallen trees,
1137
01:10:45,408 --> 01:10:48,036
scrabbled at the earth
with their helmets,
1138
01:10:48,161 --> 01:10:50,334
trying to dig fighting holes.
1139
01:10:57,211 --> 01:11:00,090
Charlie and Delta companies
were pinned down
1140
01:11:00,214 --> 01:11:03,013
and being torn to pieces.
1141
01:11:04,510 --> 01:11:06,308
Meanwhile,
near the foot of the hill,
1142
01:11:06,429 --> 01:11:09,524
other North Vietnamese troops
surprised Alpha Company
1143
01:11:09,640 --> 01:11:10,937
from behind.
1144
01:11:11,058 --> 01:11:14,107
They were first spotted
moving up through the trees
1145
01:11:14,228 --> 01:11:17,858
by a private from the Bronx
named Carlos Lozada.
1146
01:11:17,982 --> 01:11:21,111
As the men of his
company scrambled up the slope,
1147
01:11:21,235 --> 01:11:23,033
dragging their wounded
with them,
1148
01:11:23,154 --> 01:11:25,703
Lozada provided
what cover he could,
1149
01:11:25,823 --> 01:11:28,576
firing his M-60 machine gun
from his hip...
1150
01:11:28,701 --> 01:11:31,420
before a bullet
hit him in the head.
1151
01:11:32,830 --> 01:11:37,631
He would be awarded
a posthumous Medal of Honor.
1152
01:11:37,752 --> 01:11:41,632
Back home, the battle led
the nightly news.
1153
01:11:43,466 --> 01:11:46,345
The Battle of
Dak To is now on its 19th day,
1154
01:11:46,469 --> 01:11:48,813
and already ranks
among the bloodiest campaigns
1155
01:11:48,930 --> 01:11:50,352
of the Vietnam War.
1156
01:11:50,473 --> 01:11:52,066
There's no sign yet
of any let-up.
1157
01:11:52,225 --> 01:11:53,727
Over the weekend,
three companies
1158
01:11:53,851 --> 01:11:57,822
of the 173rd Airborne Brigade
moved down this river valley,
1159
01:11:57,939 --> 01:12:00,738
up which North Vietnamese
normally infiltrate,
1160
01:12:00,900 --> 01:12:03,949
until they got down here
by Hill 875.
1161
01:12:04,070 --> 01:12:06,414
Then, they came under heavy fire
from the hill.
1162
01:12:06,531 --> 01:12:08,579
Two of the three companies
charged the hill,
1163
01:12:08,741 --> 01:12:10,584
the other stayed back
as a rear guard.
1164
01:12:10,701 --> 01:12:11,998
They found a...
1165
01:12:12,119 --> 01:12:15,168
By early afternoon,
the three companies
1166
01:12:15,289 --> 01:12:17,542
had basically been decapitated.
1167
01:12:17,667 --> 01:12:19,419
The company commanders
were dead;
1168
01:12:19,585 --> 01:12:22,589
most of the officers and
most of the NCOs were dead.
1169
01:12:24,549 --> 01:12:27,223
The survivors from
all three companies clustered
1170
01:12:27,343 --> 01:12:30,017
in the clearing
and did their best to set up
1171
01:12:30,137 --> 01:12:31,764
a defensive circle.
1172
01:12:31,931 --> 01:12:36,562
American bombs and napalm
pounded enemy positions
1173
01:12:36,686 --> 01:12:40,156
until it grew
almost too dark to see.
1174
01:13:08,509 --> 01:13:13,310
Then, another American plane
roared in and dropped two bombs.
1175
01:13:13,472 --> 01:13:16,351
One landed among
the hidden enemy troops.
1176
01:13:17,643 --> 01:13:22,149
The other fell directly
on the Americans.
1177
01:13:22,315 --> 01:13:27,071
In a fraction of a second,
42 were killed.
1178
01:13:27,194 --> 01:13:31,119
A badly hit lieutenant managed
to find a working radio.
1179
01:13:31,240 --> 01:13:34,665
"No more fucking planes,"
he shouted into it.
1180
01:13:34,785 --> 01:13:37,504
"You're killing us up here."
1181
01:13:39,081 --> 01:13:41,334
The fighting
on the hillside continued.
1182
01:13:41,500 --> 01:13:45,880
The men ran out of water,
began to run out of ammunition.
1183
01:13:46,005 --> 01:13:50,806
Helicopters that tried to ferry
in supplies were shot down.
1184
01:13:52,178 --> 01:13:58,276
The following day, Matt Harrison
was able to chopper in.
1185
01:13:58,392 --> 01:13:59,985
It was chaos.
1186
01:14:00,102 --> 01:14:02,821
It was collections of guys
who had who had tunneled
1187
01:14:02,939 --> 01:14:05,112
and dug down behind trees.
1188
01:14:05,232 --> 01:14:08,657
These were guys who had gone
without water in that heat
1189
01:14:08,778 --> 01:14:10,246
for two days.
1190
01:14:10,363 --> 01:14:14,288
And almost every one of them
was wounded.
1191
01:14:14,408 --> 01:14:18,458
And then all around were bodies,
1192
01:14:18,579 --> 01:14:22,880
guys who had been shot
and blown up.
1193
01:14:23,000 --> 01:14:24,593
It was the third circle of hell.
1194
01:14:27,380 --> 01:14:31,851
On November 23, two
fresh battalions of the 173rd
1195
01:14:31,968 --> 01:14:34,471
finally made it
to the top of the hill,
1196
01:14:34,595 --> 01:14:37,394
for which so many had died.
1197
01:14:37,556 --> 01:14:39,274
But the night before,
1198
01:14:39,392 --> 01:14:42,271
the surviving North Vietnamese
troops had slipped down
1199
01:14:42,395 --> 01:14:48,744
the other side and disappeared
into Cambodia and Laos.
1200
01:14:48,859 --> 01:14:51,453
The powers that be
decided it would be important
1201
01:14:51,570 --> 01:14:56,041
to our morale for us to be in on
the taking the top of the hill.
1202
01:14:56,158 --> 01:15:01,289
I had 26 guys left out of a
company that started out of 140,
1203
01:15:01,414 --> 01:15:04,088
and all 26 had been wounded.
1204
01:15:04,208 --> 01:15:08,463
Then Harrison and his
exhausted men were helicoptered
1205
01:15:08,587 --> 01:15:10,339
to the top of yet another hill.
1206
01:15:16,053 --> 01:15:18,272
It was Thanksgiving.
1207
01:15:18,389 --> 01:15:21,643
Chinook helicopters clattered
down out of the sky,
1208
01:15:21,767 --> 01:15:25,397
carrying huge containers of
hot turkey and mashed potatoes
1209
01:15:25,521 --> 01:15:29,992
and cranberry sauce so that
the 173rd could have
1210
01:15:30,109 --> 01:15:32,032
their Thanksgiving dinner.
1211
01:15:32,153 --> 01:15:34,702
If there are any more remote
or dangerous spots
1212
01:15:34,822 --> 01:15:36,822
to spend Thanksgiving Day
in Vietnam than this one,
1213
01:15:36,907 --> 01:15:39,001
then most of these men
have never seen them.
1214
01:15:39,118 --> 01:15:42,497
There was a TV cameraman
and reporter off to the side
1215
01:15:42,621 --> 01:15:44,214
using us as a backdrop.
1216
01:15:44,331 --> 01:15:47,005
And I remember hearing
the reporter intone,
1217
01:15:47,126 --> 01:15:50,255
"Today is November 23,
Thanksgiving Day,"
1218
01:15:50,379 --> 01:15:54,134
and I was really angry.
1219
01:15:54,258 --> 01:15:58,138
It's as though
we were entertainers.
1220
01:15:59,680 --> 01:16:05,403
107 Americans
had died taking Hill 875;
1221
01:16:05,519 --> 01:16:08,363
another 282 were wounded.
1222
01:16:08,481 --> 01:16:10,199
Ten more were missing.
1223
01:16:10,316 --> 01:16:14,071
The number of North Vietnamese
casualties is unknown,
1224
01:16:14,195 --> 01:16:18,166
but their losses are thought
to have been staggering.
1225
01:16:19,742 --> 01:16:24,088
Back in June, Matt Harrison had
lost two West Point classmates
1226
01:16:24,205 --> 01:16:26,833
on Hill 1338.
1227
01:16:26,957 --> 01:16:30,006
He lost two more on Hill 875.
1228
01:16:30,127 --> 01:16:33,722
Of the eight with whom he had
served in the 2nd Battalion,
1229
01:16:33,839 --> 01:16:38,140
four were now dead
and two had been wounded.
1230
01:16:40,721 --> 01:16:44,191
To take tops of mountains
in a triple canopy jungle
1231
01:16:44,308 --> 01:16:47,482
along the Cambodian-Laotian
border accomplished nothing
1232
01:16:47,603 --> 01:16:49,731
of any importance.
1233
01:16:51,524 --> 01:16:56,030
The Battle for Hill 875 was,
in my thinking today,
1234
01:16:56,195 --> 01:16:59,540
a microcosm of what we were
doing and what went wrong
1235
01:16:59,657 --> 01:17:01,000
in Vietnam.
1236
01:17:01,117 --> 01:17:04,872
There was no reason to take
that hill.
1237
01:17:04,995 --> 01:17:08,670
We literally got to the top
of the hill
1238
01:17:08,791 --> 01:17:15,470
about mid-day on November 23
and sat there for,
1239
01:17:15,589 --> 01:17:17,387
I don't know,
half an hour, an hour,
1240
01:17:17,550 --> 01:17:21,475
just kind of gathering ourselves
and everything together.
1241
01:17:21,595 --> 01:17:24,849
Chinooks came in,
took us off the hill.
1242
01:17:24,974 --> 01:17:28,820
And I doubt that there's been
an American on Hill 875
1243
01:17:28,936 --> 01:17:30,984
since November 23.
1244
01:17:31,105 --> 01:17:33,358
We accomplished nothing.
1245
01:17:33,482 --> 01:17:37,032
A new phase is now starting.
1246
01:17:37,153 --> 01:17:40,077
We have reached an important
point when the end
1247
01:17:40,197 --> 01:17:42,416
begins to come into view.
1248
01:17:44,160 --> 01:17:47,755
As Matt Harrison and
his men fought for Hill 875,
1249
01:17:47,913 --> 01:17:50,507
the Johnson administration
was in the midst
1250
01:17:50,624 --> 01:17:52,422
of a "Success Offensive,"
1251
01:17:52,543 --> 01:17:57,390
a PR campaign aimed at
shoring up support for the war
1252
01:17:57,506 --> 01:17:59,975
and the way it was being waged.
1253
01:18:00,092 --> 01:18:04,313
MACV released a new and
surprisingly low estimate
1254
01:18:04,430 --> 01:18:08,401
of enemy forces to show how much
damage the United States
1255
01:18:08,517 --> 01:18:09,860
had done to them.
1256
01:18:09,977 --> 01:18:14,323
It was only two-thirds of the
total suggested by the CIA,
1257
01:18:14,440 --> 01:18:16,863
because, after a bitter
and prolonged debate
1258
01:18:16,984 --> 01:18:19,828
behind the scenes,
Westmoreland had chosen
1259
01:18:19,945 --> 01:18:22,994
to exclude from it
the part-time guerrillas...
1260
01:18:23,115 --> 01:18:27,120
farmers, old men, women,
even children...
1261
01:18:27,286 --> 01:18:30,961
who helped place the mines,
grenades, and booby traps
1262
01:18:31,123 --> 01:18:33,125
that accounted
for more than a third
1263
01:18:33,292 --> 01:18:35,795
of all American casualties.
1264
01:18:35,920 --> 01:18:38,924
General Westmoreland
also told the press
1265
01:18:39,048 --> 01:18:42,598
that the impressive body counts
his commanders reported
1266
01:18:42,718 --> 01:18:45,312
were "very, very conservative."
1267
01:18:45,429 --> 01:18:47,932
It probably represented,
he said,
1268
01:18:48,057 --> 01:18:52,608
"50 percent or even less of the
enemy that has been killed."
1269
01:18:52,728 --> 01:18:56,403
Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker
joined the chorus,
1270
01:18:56,523 --> 01:19:00,198
using a metaphor first used
13 years earlier
1271
01:19:00,319 --> 01:19:02,788
by the French commander
in Vietnam,
1272
01:19:02,905 --> 01:19:07,456
not long before their great
defeat at Dien Bien Phu.
1273
01:19:07,576 --> 01:19:10,796
And I think we're now
beginning to see light
1274
01:19:10,913 --> 01:19:12,256
at the end of the tunnel.
1275
01:19:12,373 --> 01:19:15,468
Mr. Ambassador, you talk about
light at the end of the tunnel.
1276
01:19:15,584 --> 01:19:17,086
How long is this tunnel?
1277
01:19:17,211 --> 01:19:19,760
Well, I don't think that
you can put it
1278
01:19:19,880 --> 01:19:25,683
into any particular timeframe,
a situation like this.
1279
01:19:27,221 --> 01:19:31,522
LBJ's Success
Offensive succeeded.
1280
01:19:31,684 --> 01:19:34,984
The number of Americans
who believed the United States
1281
01:19:35,104 --> 01:19:39,735
was making real progress
in the war grew.
1282
01:19:39,858 --> 01:19:43,203
Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara
1283
01:19:43,320 --> 01:19:47,370
did not take part in
the public relations campaign.
1284
01:19:47,491 --> 01:19:51,121
He had become so disillusioned
with the war he'd done so much
1285
01:19:51,245 --> 01:19:53,714
to plan and prosecute
that he wrote
1286
01:19:53,872 --> 01:19:56,170
another secret memo
to the president,
1287
01:19:56,292 --> 01:20:00,217
advising Johnson to freeze
American troop levels,
1288
01:20:00,337 --> 01:20:03,932
turn over ground operations
to the South Vietnamese,
1289
01:20:04,049 --> 01:20:06,427
and halt the bombing
of North Vietnam
1290
01:20:06,552 --> 01:20:09,556
"in order to bring about
negotiations."
1291
01:20:09,680 --> 01:20:13,275
There was no reason to believe,
McNamara wrote,
1292
01:20:13,392 --> 01:20:17,022
that the prolonged "infliction
of grievous casualties,
1293
01:20:17,146 --> 01:20:19,774
"or the heavy punishment
of air bombardment,
1294
01:20:19,898 --> 01:20:22,902
"will suffice to break the will
of the North Vietnamese
1295
01:20:23,027 --> 01:20:24,404
"and Viet Cong.
1296
01:20:24,570 --> 01:20:27,665
"The continuation of our
present course of action
1297
01:20:27,781 --> 01:20:32,628
"in Southeast Asia would be
dangerous, costly in lives,
1298
01:20:32,745 --> 01:20:35,965
and unsatisfactory
to the American people."
1299
01:20:36,081 --> 01:20:39,255
Johnson never responded.
1300
01:20:39,418 --> 01:20:42,422
Instead, he arranged
for McNamara to become
1301
01:20:42,546 --> 01:20:45,425
the president of the World Bank.
1302
01:20:45,591 --> 01:20:49,437
McNamara would keep silent
about the doubts he had harbored
1303
01:20:49,595 --> 01:20:51,643
since the beginning
of the ground war
1304
01:20:51,764 --> 01:20:55,268
for the next 28 years.
1305
01:20:55,434 --> 01:20:58,404
His successor as
defense secretary would be
1306
01:20:58,520 --> 01:20:59,737
Clark Clifford,
1307
01:20:59,855 --> 01:21:03,325
a prominent Washington lawyer
and trusted counselor
1308
01:21:03,442 --> 01:21:06,912
to Democratic presidents,
whom Johnson was sure would be
1309
01:21:07,029 --> 01:21:08,747
supportive of the war.
1310
01:21:08,864 --> 01:21:10,912
Students of Harvard...
1311
01:21:11,033 --> 01:21:14,253
Meanwhile, Allard
Lowenstein's yearlong search
1312
01:21:14,370 --> 01:21:16,793
for a Democratic challenger
to the president
1313
01:21:16,914 --> 01:21:18,916
had finally succeeded.
1314
01:21:19,041 --> 01:21:24,969
On November 30, 1967, Minnesota
senator Eugene McCarthy
1315
01:21:25,130 --> 01:21:26,973
announced that he would run.
1316
01:21:27,091 --> 01:21:29,719
This is an issue
which has to be taken
1317
01:21:29,843 --> 01:21:33,268
to the people of the country
in the campaign of 1968.
1318
01:21:36,475 --> 01:21:39,479
By the end of 1967,
1319
01:21:39,603 --> 01:21:45,030
20,057 Americans
had died in Vietnam.
1320
01:21:45,150 --> 01:21:48,495
The time had come,
General Westmoreland said,
1321
01:21:48,612 --> 01:21:52,458
for an "all-out offensive
on all fronts."
1322
01:21:56,120 --> 01:21:59,715
But the enemy was just a month
away from launching
1323
01:21:59,832 --> 01:22:02,802
an all-out offensive
of its own.
1324
01:22:17,891 --> 01:22:23,773
# I see a red door
and I want it painted black #
1325
01:22:23,897 --> 01:22:29,779
# No colors anymore,
I want them to turn black #
1326
01:22:29,903 --> 01:22:32,076
# I see the girls walk by #
1327
01:22:32,197 --> 01:22:35,918
# Dressed in
their summer clothes #
1328
01:22:36,034 --> 01:22:42,132
# I have to turn my head
until my darkness goes #
1329
01:22:42,249 --> 01:22:48,006
# I see a line of cars
and they're all painted black #
1330
01:22:48,130 --> 01:22:54,012
# With flowers and my love,
both never to come back #
1331
01:22:54,136 --> 01:23:00,064
# I see people turn their heads
and quickly look away #
1332
01:23:00,225 --> 01:23:06,198
# Like a newborn baby,
it just happens every day #
1333
01:23:06,315 --> 01:23:12,243
# I look inside myself
and see my heart is black #
1334
01:23:12,362 --> 01:23:18,165
# I see my red door and
must have it painted black #
1335
01:23:18,285 --> 01:23:24,213
# Maybe then I'll fade away
and not have to face the facts #
1336
01:23:24,333 --> 01:23:30,431
# It's not easy facing up
when your whole world is black #
1337
01:23:30,547 --> 01:23:36,645
# No more will my green sea
go turn a deeper blue #
1338
01:23:36,762 --> 01:23:42,940
# I could not foresee
this thing happening to you #
1339
01:23:43,060 --> 01:23:48,908
# If I look hard enough
into the setting sun #
1340
01:23:49,024 --> 01:23:54,952
# My love will laugh with me
before the morning comes #
1341
01:23:55,113 --> 01:24:00,961
# I see a red door
and I want it painted black #
1342
01:24:01,119 --> 01:24:07,001
# No colors anymore,
I want them to turn black #
1343
01:24:07,125 --> 01:24:09,127
# I see the girls walk by #
1344
01:24:09,294 --> 01:24:13,094
# Dressed in
their summer clothes #
1345
01:24:13,215 --> 01:24:19,143
# I have to turn my head
until my darkness goes #
1346
01:24:24,142 --> 01:24:25,485
# I wanna see it painted #
1347
01:24:25,602 --> 01:24:29,277
# Painted, painted,
painted black #
1348
01:24:29,398 --> 01:24:31,275
# Yeah. #
109732
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