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It's been 50 years since the war
of the United States in Vietnam.

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A war that changed
the world forever

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as well as people
who fought in it.

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More than any
another war,

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TV crews were allowed to follow
American soldiers in battle

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and record everything with the camera.

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Military police went to the embassy
and they are trying to take out the shooters

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That was something unprecedented

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and it never happened again.

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That's me, right there.

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This allows us to tell the story
of the war as it happened.

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To find
the people on the recordings.

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And, half a century later,

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bring them together.

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I'm so happy to see you.

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You may have seen
films about Vietnam.

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But that's the real story.

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Told only by those
who were there.

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MY SON WAS KILLED! IN VIETNAM
FOR WHAT? USA

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ADAPTATION | REVIEW | SYNCHRONY:
WANT TO JOIN US? | loschulosteam@gmail.com

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EPISODE ONE BOOTS ON THE FIELD

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1965 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Once again, have a good day,
ladies and gentlemen.

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It's Tuesday,
March 9, 1965.

25
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And March certainly
It's been a wonderful month so far.

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SAN FRANCISCO

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I was 18 years old,

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I got home from work, and my mother
I was sitting on the porch, crying.

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US ARMY

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My father was there
with a brown envelope in his hand.

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Laughing, saluting.

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Anyway, I opened it and it said:

33
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 �Greetings and regards,

34
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your friends
and neighbors elected you

35
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to serve in the Armed Forces
of the United States of America.

36
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You're going to Vietnam."

37
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I didn't even know where it was.

38
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I WANT YOU
FOR THE US ARMY

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Typical American boys
are being recruited.

40
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This is the biggest
country's recruitment center.

41
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I was 17 years old.

42
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And there was that thing of "the
army makes you a man!"

43
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I always wanted to be a hero.

44
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Yes, why not?

45
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We watched John Wayne.

46
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Everything we had
It was the movies.

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US MARINE

48
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That's what we knew
about the war.

49
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July 1965.

50
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The US sent 75,000 troops

51
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to fight against
communist North Vietnam.

52
00:04:02,826 --> 00:04:05,704
Many are teenagers who ended up
leaving high school.

53
00:04:09,249 --> 00:04:12,794
I was a Garland boy,
Texas.

54
00:04:14,505 --> 00:04:17,382
I just wanted to be like my father,
be proud to serve my country.

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US ARMY

56
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But I was still shy.
You know, I

57
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Wow, I never had
a date until the age of 17, you know?

58
00:04:28,936 --> 00:04:32,356
I was sitting on my back
in a big old army plane

59
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with a few hundred men.

60
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But that's where I met Bowman.

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We sat next to each other,

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Bowman was smart.

63
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He wouldn't be afraid
to fight with anyone.

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And that's part of the reason I
I wanted to be close to him because he

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He could protect me.

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There was a guy in my unit
called Gary.

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He said, "Captain,
if you agree,

68
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I would like to be assigned
to serve with Bowman."

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I thought, "Who is this guy?"

70
00:05:05,055 --> 00:05:08,851
"I don't know this guy. Why
that he wants to serve with me?" He knows?

71
00:05:08,934 --> 00:05:12,229
Gary was young,
kind of naive and all that.

72
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We taught him how to smoke,
and drinking beer, and

73
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I think,
From that day on, he turned

74
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I think he turned
my younger brother.

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The jet landed,
and they opened the back door.

76
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It looked like they had
open an oven at 260 �C.

77
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That heat entered the plane
and slapped us in the face.

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After the heat, they give
face to face with camera crews.

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Their experience will be filmed
like no other war.

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What's it like to be in Vietnam now,
soldier?

81
00:05:53,854 --> 00:05:55,731
Well, I'm glad to be here.

82
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- Are you happy to be off the plane?
- I am.

83
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What's it like to be here in Vietnam,
soldier?

84
00:06:00,611 --> 00:06:02,571
- It's very hot.
- Really hot?

85
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For sure.

86
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- Thank you very much and good luck.
- Thank you very much.

87
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Good morning, men.

88
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Good morning, sir.

89
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Okay, first of all,
Welcome to Company A.

90
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It's a great pleasure
have you in Company A.

91
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It's the best company in this world, it's
battalion.

92
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The best battalion in this division.

93
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I wish you all
write to their mothers or wives

94
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letting you know they arrived,
which arrived well.

95
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You're here, you're in a good place
unit, are being well looked after, etc.

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Because they will be.

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The senior leader said, "Okay.
I'll give you some information.

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First of all,
don't irritate anyone.

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Everyone carries a gun."

100
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And he said, "At some point
This year, you're going to go crazy.

101
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Maybe more than once, but you
They're going to go crazy this year."

102
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And we all kind of laughed
and we play with it,

103
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but he was totally right.

104
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The US Army is putting itself
in the middle of a civil war

105
00:07:13,684 --> 00:07:19,356
between communist North Vietnam
and US ally South Vietnam.

106
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The enemy is everywhere.

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They are called "Viet Cong".
Communist Vietnamese.

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Everyone calls them "VC".

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And before the politicians
or the American people,

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soldiers on the field
are the first to notice

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that this war will not be
what they thought.

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Go, get to the mark! Let's go!

113
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Yes. Got it. Let's go.

114
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There! Go there!

115
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Okay, I want

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The first battle
of the Vietnam War

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happens in 14
November 1965.

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NOVEMBER 1965
AI DRANG BATTLE

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Commander Tony Nadal is
leading his men in this battle.

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US AIR CAVALRY

121
00:09:06,129 --> 00:09:07,965
- Thank you, ma'am.
- It's a pleasure.

122
00:09:10,717 --> 00:09:14,513
I was in charge of that
company about a month ago

123
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and I believed that

124
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it was time
to earn it.

125
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I've been to Ranger School,
in Special Forces, etc.

126
00:09:26,775 --> 00:09:29,778
But it was the first time that those
soldiers were in a battle.

127
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They would follow me

128
00:09:33,657 --> 00:09:36,326
if you trusted me,
if they considered me competent.

129
00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:38,120
Make them move. Back off.

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The river is blocked.
They're on the other hill.

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A camera crew captures
one of the first encounters with the enemy� 

132
00:09:54,970 --> 00:09:58,849
when a young soldier
Vietnamese emerges from the jungle.

133
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He is isolated from his unit
and is terrified.

134
00:10:13,864 --> 00:10:15,949
We captured some prisoners.

135
00:10:16,575 --> 00:10:18,577
We had an interpreter
Vietnamese with us.

136
00:10:20,287 --> 00:10:22,581
And he asked:
"What are you doing here?"

137
00:10:22,664 --> 00:10:25,751
And he replied:
"We came to kill Americans."

138
00:10:26,585 --> 00:10:30,088
"Oh, huh?
And where are your strengths?"

139
00:10:30,589 --> 00:10:33,675
He pointed to a mountain range
and said, "There's a regiment there,

140
00:10:33,759 --> 00:10:35,636
and there's a half-regiment there.

141
00:10:37,054 --> 00:10:39,765
And there's more east of here."

142
00:10:45,604 --> 00:10:49,358
We were probably
outnumbered, fifteen to one.

143
00:10:52,694 --> 00:10:54,112
US AIR CAVALRY

144
00:10:54,196 --> 00:10:55,614
I was scared to death.

145
00:11:01,787 --> 00:11:05,499
But I went out with my two
radio operators.

146
00:11:06,875 --> 00:11:08,627
And we move on.

147
00:11:27,604 --> 00:11:29,731
I'll watch the back.
Go! Go! Go!

148
00:11:29,815 --> 00:11:30,816
Fire!

149
00:11:33,026 --> 00:11:34,026
Fire!

150
00:11:36,363 --> 00:11:38,282
Flank. Watch your flank!

151
00:11:43,203 --> 00:11:44,580
To the ground! To the ground!

152
00:11:50,335 --> 00:11:52,337
Stay down! Stay down!

153
00:11:52,421 --> 00:11:55,048
We were immobilized
by enemy fire.

154
00:11:55,382 --> 00:11:56,425
To the ground!

155
00:12:05,893 --> 00:12:09,605
I thought, "Here I am
in command for 30 days,

156
00:12:09,688 --> 00:12:12,983
and the survival of this battalion,

157
00:12:13,066 --> 00:12:16,737
With these forces around, it depends
of the defense of this landing area."

158
00:12:22,868 --> 00:12:25,287
If you want to get out of there alive,

159
00:12:25,370 --> 00:12:29,041
they need to protect the area
where helicopters can land.

160
00:12:35,297 --> 00:12:38,675
They keep
position for six hours.

161
00:12:40,177 --> 00:12:42,930
So,
things get more complicated.

162
00:12:47,976 --> 00:12:51,980
News arrives that a platoon
nearby was surrounded.

163
00:12:57,361 --> 00:13:00,030
I gathered my troops,
as many as I could,

164
00:13:01,323 --> 00:13:02,533
and gave a motivational speech.

165
00:13:02,908 --> 00:13:06,870
"These are your friends, your comrades,
and we will bring them back.

166
00:13:07,371 --> 00:13:11,208
And you need to follow me,
because I will lead the way.

167
00:13:11,667 --> 00:13:14,378
Now, prepare your bayonets
and let's go."

168
00:13:40,028 --> 00:13:43,824
Suddenly a machine gun
or something like that opened fire.

169
00:13:48,745 --> 00:13:50,914
I was talking
with the young man by my side� 

170
00:13:52,708 --> 00:13:54,835
when I saw his chest explode.

171
00:14:01,925 --> 00:14:03,302
He fell.

172
00:14:03,969 --> 00:14:08,557
And my sergeant, Jack Gale,
a great friend of mine,

173
00:14:09,516 --> 00:14:10,601
a good soldier,

174
00:14:11,518 --> 00:14:12,686
he fell.

175
00:14:13,353 --> 00:14:16,398
And when I leaned in,

176
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He said to me, "Say
to my wife that I love her."

177
00:14:21,195 --> 00:14:22,529
And the

178
00:14:24,114 --> 00:14:25,949
There he died.

179
00:14:26,033 --> 00:14:30,245
And I took his radio away
and gave it to someone else.

180
00:14:39,713 --> 00:14:41,465
It's hard for me
talk about it.

181
00:14:46,637 --> 00:14:48,680
I spoke to his wife yesterday.

182
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First contact with the enemy

183
00:15:01,818 --> 00:15:05,322
took the life of 17
Tony Nadal's men.

184
00:15:07,366 --> 00:15:10,452
But the squad
lost was rescued.

185
00:15:11,578 --> 00:15:13,163
Wait

186
00:15:13,914 --> 00:15:14,914
Shoot!

187
00:15:19,211 --> 00:15:22,172
Finally,
the US brings the artillery.

188
00:15:22,256 --> 00:15:23,256
Fire!

189
00:15:24,508 --> 00:15:27,553
And claims victory
at the Battle of Ia Drang.

190
00:15:29,763 --> 00:15:31,974
The first of the Vietnam War.

191
00:15:43,861 --> 00:15:47,573
In the following months,
the US increases its forces

192
00:15:47,656 --> 00:15:49,908
for 250 thousand soldiers.

193
00:15:49,992 --> 00:15:54,246
MAY 1966
US TROOPS IN VIETNAM: 260,000

194
00:15:54,663 --> 00:15:59,042
Many are anxious
to get a taste of the action.

195
00:16:02,129 --> 00:16:03,964
Hey! Smile, mom!

196
00:16:05,883 --> 00:16:08,010
We are protecting our homeland.

197
00:16:08,093 --> 00:16:11,263
This is our job here,
protect our people at home

198
00:16:11,346 --> 00:16:13,849
before the situation
reach them.

199
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:19,563
That's what we were trained to do. And
we will triumph. We will win.

200
00:16:20,022 --> 00:16:23,817
In the summer of 1966, troops
of the USA are fighting battles

201
00:16:23,901 --> 00:16:27,321
with Viet Cong guerrillas
throughout South Vietnam.

202
00:16:27,404 --> 00:16:29,198
From the border
with North Vietnam

203
00:16:29,281 --> 00:16:32,284
to the interior of the capital,
Saigon.

204
00:16:41,752 --> 00:16:42,878
It's in the forest!

205
00:16:42,961 --> 00:16:45,714
Whitty, go to the forest!
That way!

206
00:16:48,133 --> 00:16:52,054
And that's where Bowman and Gary
are patrolling.

207
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,102
They noticed something mysterious.

208
00:17:00,270 --> 00:17:04,900
When they entered Viet Cong territory,
They couldn't see the enemy.

209
00:17:05,483 --> 00:17:08,945
When we got there,
we get into gunfights.

210
00:17:09,029 --> 00:17:11,073
After they stopped,

211
00:17:11,156 --> 00:17:14,535
We were going to sweep the area
and we couldn't find anything.

212
00:17:14,617 --> 00:17:16,619
We didn't find bodies, nor

213
00:17:16,703 --> 00:17:19,455
We found some tracks
of blood and things like that.

214
00:17:20,415 --> 00:17:22,709
But it was as if everything
disappeared.

215
00:17:28,048 --> 00:17:30,300
One day, they did
a sweep through the village.

216
00:17:40,644 --> 00:17:42,396
I think it was
the platoon sergeant.

217
00:17:42,479 --> 00:17:45,232
He said, "Bowman, come on
and take a look at that binquer.

218
00:17:45,315 --> 00:17:47,025
See if there's anyone there."

219
00:17:48,235 --> 00:17:51,405
I said, "Okay, I guess"

220
00:17:53,156 --> 00:17:55,158
Come on, Bush! Let's go!

221
00:17:58,745 --> 00:18:02,541
I had to go down several steps
to enter the binquer, you know?

222
00:18:02,624 --> 00:18:06,461
And I went down, and there was the door,
and I looked in front of me,

223
00:18:07,296 --> 00:18:09,298
there was another trapdoor going down.

224
00:18:13,010 --> 00:18:15,012
So I went down the trapdoor

225
00:18:17,431 --> 00:18:18,932
and turned on my flashlight� 

226
00:18:20,684 --> 00:18:23,145
and I was in a tunnel.

227
00:18:37,492 --> 00:18:41,622
You feel every drop of sweat
running down your body.

228
00:18:45,292 --> 00:18:48,587
In that tunnel,
there were cans of ammunition,

229
00:18:48,670 --> 00:18:50,756
boxes with documents inside.

230
00:18:52,841 --> 00:18:56,053
E� 
There was an escape tunnel next to it.

231
00:18:57,262 --> 00:18:59,181
I went to the end of that tunnel.

232
00:19:00,766 --> 00:19:04,353
It opened into a large space,
like this, you know?

233
00:19:04,728 --> 00:19:07,105
Spaces where
they could operate on people.

234
00:19:07,189 --> 00:19:09,566
They had locations
for soldiers to sleep.

235
00:19:10,150 --> 00:19:12,819
And there could be three
or four levels below.

236
00:19:14,404 --> 00:19:15,697
It was incredible.

237
00:19:17,783 --> 00:19:19,284
I said, "Holy shit!"

238
00:19:22,287 --> 00:19:24,957
If these tunnels were
spread across Vietnam,

239
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:26,542
we would be in trouble.

240
00:19:33,423 --> 00:19:36,969
They're starting to understand
the scale of what they are facing.

241
00:19:37,594 --> 00:19:40,264
But the US military
remain confident.

242
00:19:40,931 --> 00:19:42,599
They never lost a war

243
00:19:43,475 --> 00:19:46,144
and they don't intend to miss this one.

244
00:20:15,841 --> 00:20:18,468
There is no shortage
of offensive capacity.

245
00:20:19,052 --> 00:20:22,014
The problem is knowing where to use it.

246
00:20:43,368 --> 00:20:45,704
When it arrives
a gunshot report,

247
00:20:45,787 --> 00:20:49,541
coming from an area considered
a Viet Cong fortress,

248
00:20:49,625 --> 00:20:51,752
the marines are sent.

249
00:20:52,836 --> 00:20:55,506
One of these marines
 � Malik Edwards.

250
00:20:55,589 --> 00:20:59,968
MARINES

251
00:21:08,143 --> 00:21:09,353
I remember that we

252
00:21:09,436 --> 00:21:10,854
US MARINE

253
00:21:10,938 --> 00:21:14,316
Whatever was going on
That day, everything depended on us.

254
00:21:14,399 --> 00:21:16,068
We were going to a village.

255
00:21:18,153 --> 00:21:20,989
But the tension was greater,

256
00:21:21,949 --> 00:21:23,909
because the superiors
used the words:

257
00:21:23,992 --> 00:21:27,120
"If they are attacked in the village,
destroy the village."

258
00:21:27,204 --> 00:21:28,288
They said it.

259
00:21:31,542 --> 00:21:35,170
That was the first time
that we received an order like this.

260
00:21:39,091 --> 00:21:42,553
They shot us immediately.

261
00:21:51,353 --> 00:21:53,188
So we were agitated.

262
00:21:53,897 --> 00:21:55,107
We were agitated.

263
00:21:55,190 --> 00:21:58,151
You know, because now we
We were ready to destroy.

264
00:22:04,867 --> 00:22:06,034
Come on!

265
00:22:12,457 --> 00:22:14,334
I went to a cabin.

266
00:22:15,752 --> 00:22:18,338
And I was ready to shoot.

267
00:22:18,422 --> 00:22:20,299
Before I could do that,

268
00:22:20,757 --> 00:22:23,218
a Vietnamese man came out and said

269
00:22:23,302 --> 00:22:24,636
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

270
00:22:25,053 --> 00:22:28,515
He went to the house

271
00:22:28,599 --> 00:22:30,767
and pulled the side of the house.

272
00:22:31,310 --> 00:22:35,772
And that's when I saw
women and children.

273
00:22:35,856 --> 00:22:39,651
They just huddled there,
crying, scared and everything.

274
00:22:42,779 --> 00:22:45,199
These are the women
and village children,

275
00:22:45,282 --> 00:22:46,575
filmed later that day.

276
00:22:54,750 --> 00:22:56,251
I didn't shoot them.

277
00:22:57,169 --> 00:22:59,546
But that scared me.

278
00:23:01,381 --> 00:23:03,091
That scared me.

279
00:23:03,175 --> 00:23:06,136
I fell to my knees
and I was thinking, "Oh my God."

280
00:23:12,809 --> 00:23:16,772
I'm stuck in that
moment until today.

281
00:23:16,855 --> 00:23:18,482
Those children

282
00:23:22,653 --> 00:23:25,447
And you think, "Oh my God,
What are we doing here?"

283
00:23:37,417 --> 00:23:42,589
Meanwhile, Bowman and Gary are
becoming "the tunnel guys".

284
00:23:48,762 --> 00:23:50,806
Whenever they found a tunnel

285
00:23:51,598 --> 00:23:53,350
"Bowman, Heeter, come here.

286
00:23:53,433 --> 00:23:55,435
We have a tunnel
for you to explore."

287
00:23:58,230 --> 00:23:59,481
We did this together.

288
00:24:01,275 --> 00:24:03,443
Nobody wanted to go,
so we were.

289
00:24:05,821 --> 00:24:07,197
Spiders could appear.

290
00:24:07,281 --> 00:24:09,741
There are spiders
the size of a fist per wool.

291
00:24:11,410 --> 00:24:13,662
Had to have
Beware of traps.

292
00:24:14,454 --> 00:24:15,956
They had wire traps.

293
00:24:17,207 --> 00:24:20,627
We don't know when someone
would appear from who knows where

294
00:24:20,711 --> 00:24:22,212
and shoot us.

295
00:24:22,296 --> 00:24:24,131
Yes, it was crazy.

296
00:24:24,214 --> 00:24:28,051
After a while,
It became almost an addiction.

297
00:24:28,135 --> 00:24:31,054
We were looking forward to that
adrenaline rush.

298
00:24:34,850 --> 00:24:37,769
There was a tunnel in which it was
I need to crawl on all fours,

299
00:24:37,853 --> 00:24:41,773
but the tunnel got bigger,
and I was staggering,

300
00:24:41,857 --> 00:24:43,442
and, you know

301
00:24:43,525 --> 00:24:46,236
I didn't care about anything.

302
00:24:46,987 --> 00:24:49,865
And I ended up in a room.

303
00:24:49,948 --> 00:24:56,079
I looked to the right, and there was
assembled bamboo bunk beds.

304
00:24:56,163 --> 00:24:58,665
And there were men
There were people in them.

305
00:24:58,749 --> 00:25:02,294
I thought, "Holy shit!" E� 

306
00:25:02,878 --> 00:25:04,421
You immediately start

307
00:25:04,505 --> 00:25:06,590
You don't even think
in what you are doing.

308
00:25:07,216 --> 00:25:10,928
I just started
pulling the trigger on the .45.

309
00:25:11,929 --> 00:25:17,309
And I think I hit the first guy. The
other guys were running around.

310
00:25:17,392 --> 00:25:19,520
Some were trying to leave
through the other tunnel.

311
00:25:20,354 --> 00:25:24,441
When the bolt slid back
on my .45 and it locked in place,

312
00:25:24,525 --> 00:25:27,653
I knew I had no more bullets
and it was time to leave.

313
00:25:28,153 --> 00:25:32,741
So I went back through the tunnel
and climbed through the trapdoor.

314
00:25:32,824 --> 00:25:34,576
I was scared as hell

315
00:25:34,660 --> 00:25:39,373
and I caught about 4kg, 7kg of C-4.

316
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,126
I opened the trapdoor,
I pulled the explosives igniter,

317
00:25:43,210 --> 00:25:46,630
I just threw the explosives there,
I closed the trapdoor,

318
00:25:46,713 --> 00:25:49,967
I came back and stood on the ground.

319
00:25:50,050 --> 00:25:52,469
Suddenly,
the floor went "boom", just like that.

320
00:25:53,303 --> 00:25:54,303
So� 

321
00:26:03,438 --> 00:26:06,817
Now, Bowman might
have seen more tunnels

322
00:26:06,900 --> 00:26:08,527
than any other American.

323
00:26:09,194 --> 00:26:13,156
But he still doesn't understand
completely what they are for

324
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,618
or what people
Down there they think.

325
00:26:17,786 --> 00:26:22,249
The Americans arrived
to Vietnam and started the war.

326
00:26:26,170 --> 00:26:28,297
But they didn't understand
the Vietnamese people.

327
00:26:28,380 --> 00:26:30,299
VIETCONG

328
00:26:30,382 --> 00:26:32,467
I helped dig the tunnels.

329
00:26:32,551 --> 00:26:35,095
The Popular Army
he was very poor.

330
00:26:35,179 --> 00:26:38,182
We didn't have many weapons.

331
00:26:39,266 --> 00:26:43,103
But we had
a lot of desire to fight.

332
00:26:49,985 --> 00:26:52,905
VIETCONG

333
00:26:53,488 --> 00:26:56,074
Where are you
Did you find this recording?

334
00:27:01,246 --> 00:27:04,541
We dig tunnels in a way

335
00:27:04,625 --> 00:27:08,212
that they connected the villages
for effective combat.

336
00:27:12,341 --> 00:27:17,095
We had a real bond.

337
00:27:19,139 --> 00:27:23,519
We ate together,
we slept together.

338
00:27:27,147 --> 00:27:30,442
We kept warm,
like a family.

339
00:27:32,069 --> 00:27:35,155
The tunnels were our salvation.

340
00:27:37,324 --> 00:27:41,245
But the main
reason for these tunnels

341
00:27:41,912 --> 00:27:45,916
was that they would be
a launching pad

342
00:27:46,959 --> 00:27:49,336
for an attack on Saigon.

343
00:27:53,465 --> 00:27:58,178
Until then, all battles
in Vietnam they occurred in the jungles.

344
00:27:58,262 --> 00:28:00,806
Far from the center of US power.

345
00:28:01,557 --> 00:28:03,141
But that was about to change.

346
00:28:04,184 --> 00:28:08,063
The Viet Cong were extending
its tunnels to Saigon,

347
00:28:08,146 --> 00:28:10,232
the capital of the South.

348
00:28:19,783 --> 00:28:24,371
Currently, there are approximately 267,000
American soldiers in Vietnam.

349
00:28:27,457 --> 00:28:32,296
It's a little scary to remember that,
at the beginning of 1965, there were 23,000.

350
00:28:33,255 --> 00:28:35,716
And across the country,
the enemy still maintains

351
00:28:35,799 --> 00:28:37,551
the same territory
which he always maintained.

352
00:28:37,634 --> 00:28:39,636
US ARMY

353
00:28:44,808 --> 00:28:51,106
February 1967. The US sets up
the biggest operation so far:

354
00:28:51,607 --> 00:28:54,276
"Operation Junction City".

355
00:28:55,903 --> 00:29:00,949
More than 30,000 men are sent
to a jungle north of Saigon,

356
00:29:02,159 --> 00:29:03,911
to arrest
enemy combatants

357
00:29:03,994 --> 00:29:06,914
and find the center
of Viet Cong operations.

358
00:29:11,126 --> 00:29:16,089
Search and destroy teams are
led by specialized units:

359
00:29:17,966 --> 00:29:19,259
the tunnel rats.

360
00:29:23,055 --> 00:29:25,474
Get out of the way.
Just go in there armed.

361
00:29:29,311 --> 00:29:33,023
After a while, Gary and I
We started to get very close.

362
00:29:33,482 --> 00:29:34,525
Careful.

363
00:29:36,568 --> 00:29:41,448
We were acquaintances. "Oh,
yes, they are tunnel rats.

364
00:29:41,532 --> 00:29:43,659
They are crazy people."

365
00:29:46,787 --> 00:29:48,539
We felt safe together.

366
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,711
We entered the tunnels,
one at a time.

367
00:29:55,337 --> 00:29:58,382
What if I didn't leave after right?
time, he would look for me.

368
00:29:58,632 --> 00:30:00,175
Few people would do that.

369
00:30:01,301 --> 00:30:05,055
We slept in the same trench. We stayed
close to keep us warm.

370
00:30:05,889 --> 00:30:07,599
We developed love for each other.

371
00:30:07,683 --> 00:30:12,604
I mean, it's more than just
a brotherly love or, you know,

372
00:30:13,647 --> 00:30:19,653
You know he would die for you,
and he knows you would die for him.

373
00:30:31,373 --> 00:30:34,001
September 1967.

374
00:30:34,585 --> 00:30:38,338
Bowman's company is
on patrol in the jungle for three weeks

375
00:30:38,422 --> 00:30:40,215
when you encounter problems.

376
00:30:41,967 --> 00:30:46,680
One day, we were in an area
where there were many tunnels.

377
00:30:49,266 --> 00:30:51,977
We were up there
and we kept getting shot at.

378
00:30:55,522 --> 00:30:58,942
And the captain wanted to leave
and catch the shooter.

379
00:31:02,321 --> 00:31:05,282
But I wasn't in a good mood
feeling about the situation.

380
00:31:07,492 --> 00:31:08,619
Let's go!

381
00:31:13,207 --> 00:31:15,626
Bring these people here.

382
00:31:15,709 --> 00:31:19,129
The captain said, "Skeeter, we have
to go. They are killing our men."

383
00:31:19,213 --> 00:31:20,339
I said, "Let's go."

384
00:31:25,344 --> 00:31:28,180
I jumped up screaming, "Stop! Stop!"

385
00:31:29,348 --> 00:31:31,642
At that moment,
I saw Gary walking around.

386
00:31:44,071 --> 00:31:45,948
Gary went flying through the air.

387
00:31:51,745 --> 00:31:54,248
I stepped on the mine
and I heard that click.

388
00:31:54,957 --> 00:31:58,585
When you hear that click and see
that one of mine, you just

389
00:31:58,669 --> 00:31:59,878
You know it's gone.

390
00:32:01,713 --> 00:32:03,048
But I

391
00:32:04,383 --> 00:32:06,218
I couldn't find my leg
and I asked the captain:

392
00:32:06,301 --> 00:32:07,427
"Where's my leg?"

393
00:32:07,511 --> 00:32:08,720
And he said

394
00:32:08,804 --> 00:32:11,557
He pointed to my head. My foot
It was here, close to my head.

395
00:32:12,057 --> 00:32:13,475
E� 

396
00:32:16,061 --> 00:32:18,605
You want to do something,
and there is nothing you can do.

397
00:32:18,689 --> 00:32:20,274
There's nothing you can do.

398
00:32:20,357 --> 00:32:23,318
That was my companion,
my friend. That was

399
00:32:23,902 --> 00:32:24,987
my companion.

400
00:32:26,905 --> 00:32:27,948
Yes.

401
00:32:49,428 --> 00:32:53,015
We managed to get him out of there
and we put him in a helicopter.

402
00:32:54,850 --> 00:32:57,603
I sat on the dike.
I just cried.

403
00:32:59,271 --> 00:33:00,647
I cried like a child.

404
00:33:02,107 --> 00:33:05,652
After he was gone, never
I felt so alone in my life.

405
00:33:07,446 --> 00:33:09,323
Nothing else mattered.

406
00:33:10,199 --> 00:33:11,533
Nothing.

407
00:33:27,591 --> 00:33:32,346
I had no idea
Where was the USA?

408
00:33:32,429 --> 00:33:35,766
or why they came to ours
country and killed our people.

409
00:33:40,854 --> 00:33:44,483
But we had all kinds
of weapons, sharp metal spikes.

410
00:33:44,566 --> 00:33:49,821
We plant thorns in the tunnels
to kill them.

411
00:33:56,620 --> 00:34:01,124
The Americans were huge,
like buffaloes.

412
00:34:01,208 --> 00:34:04,586
This made them
easier targets.

413
00:34:10,676 --> 00:34:14,638
North Vietnamese soldiers were
better trained and motivated� 

414
00:34:14,721 --> 00:34:16,181
US AIR CAVALRY

415
00:34:16,264 --> 00:34:17,306
It's what we expected.

416
00:34:20,978 --> 00:34:22,980
We knew they were
a difficult enemy.

417
00:34:32,947 --> 00:34:35,826
I thought the Viet Cong
they were just going to lie down

418
00:34:35,909 --> 00:34:37,077
US AIR CAVALRY

419
00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:39,496
and run away when we wave
the Stars and Stripes.

420
00:34:39,580 --> 00:34:40,914
That didn't happen.

421
00:34:40,998 --> 00:34:43,417
This wasn't going to be so easy.

422
00:34:48,338 --> 00:34:51,757
It wasn't like a traditional war.
There were no front lines.

423
00:34:51,842 --> 00:34:52,842
US MARINE

424
00:34:52,926 --> 00:34:54,303
There were no people
facing you.

425
00:34:56,388 --> 00:34:58,432
And we walked

426
00:35:00,309 --> 00:35:02,269
almost everywhere.

427
00:35:02,644 --> 00:35:03,644
We were bait!

428
00:35:08,650 --> 00:35:14,114
What happens is that you regress
to their animal instincts.

429
00:35:16,116 --> 00:35:18,118
You let
your feelings aside.

430
00:35:19,828 --> 00:35:22,873
You get everything out of your mind,
minus the combat.

431
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,044
That's where I started
doing crazy things.

432
00:35:27,127 --> 00:35:29,963
US ARMY

433
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:37,471
Near the end of my shift,

434
00:35:37,554 --> 00:35:42,100
a machine gun
started shooting at us.

435
00:35:43,769 --> 00:35:45,395
Down!

436
00:35:45,479 --> 00:35:47,272
And I didn't care anymore.

437
00:35:48,524 --> 00:35:52,069
I told them:
"I'm going to flank this guy."

438
00:35:53,737 --> 00:35:55,989
I watched him and was going to shoot him.

439
00:35:56,073 --> 00:36:00,744
I pulled out my rifle,
I went to shoot and nothing happened.

440
00:36:02,871 --> 00:36:03,872
So� 

441
00:36:06,416 --> 00:36:08,418
I don't know if I should say this.

442
00:36:09,253 --> 00:36:12,923
Anyway, I went crazy� I just

443
00:36:13,006 --> 00:36:16,176
I had an old French faction.

444
00:36:17,052 --> 00:36:19,096
And the tip of it was cut off.

445
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:24,226
Flat. It looked almost like a cleaver.

446
00:36:25,018 --> 00:36:27,813
I came up behind him and

447
00:36:29,523 --> 00:36:31,400
I was just screaming.
Just screaming.

448
00:36:31,483 --> 00:36:34,319
And I just
And he lifted his head and

449
00:36:35,362 --> 00:36:37,447
that was it. I� 

450
00:36:40,701 --> 00:36:42,369
Things move in slow motion.

451
00:36:42,452 --> 00:36:45,706
And you see me

452
00:36:45,789 --> 00:36:48,000
Anyway, I reached him,
I ripped his ear off

453
00:36:48,083 --> 00:36:53,380
and I buried the knife in the side
from his neck, and that was it.

454
00:36:53,463 --> 00:36:54,798
E� 

455
00:36:58,468 --> 00:36:59,636
But then I felt

456
00:37:00,929 --> 00:37:03,265
all this power

457
00:37:05,475 --> 00:37:06,476
and hate.

458
00:37:08,812 --> 00:37:09,729
Anger.

459
00:37:09,730 --> 00:37:12,149
I was mad at God,
I was mad at everyone

460
00:37:12,941 --> 00:37:14,610
who put me in that position,

461
00:37:16,820 --> 00:37:18,822
that made me
feel good about it.

462
00:37:22,492 --> 00:37:23,493
E� 

463
00:37:26,079 --> 00:37:28,457
Then I realized
that he was really crazy.

464
00:37:29,082 --> 00:37:34,046
I think that's when I realized
that I was crazy. So� 

465
00:37:36,757 --> 00:37:40,928
"You're going to go crazy.
Probably more than once."

466
00:37:41,929 --> 00:37:45,057
And he was right.
He was right.

467
00:37:45,807 --> 00:37:46,808
So� 

468
00:38:03,033 --> 00:38:05,953
People asked me what it was
my worst experience in Vietnam.

469
00:38:06,036 --> 00:38:07,704
And I said, "Go home."

470
00:38:11,083 --> 00:38:13,752
That was the moment
where I felt most alone.

471
00:38:16,296 --> 00:38:19,508
I worked
to the telephone company.

472
00:38:20,217 --> 00:38:23,262
And Gary always told me
who lived in Plano, Texas.

473
00:38:23,595 --> 00:38:24,721
E� 

474
00:38:24,805 --> 00:38:26,515
I had a great friend

475
00:38:26,598 --> 00:38:29,101
I worked there
with operators and such.

476
00:38:29,643 --> 00:38:31,520
I said:
"Can you help me find a guy?"

477
00:38:31,603 --> 00:38:34,106
GRABBING THE CROSS

478
00:38:34,189 --> 00:38:36,191
I gave the name
Gary's and everything.

479
00:38:39,903 --> 00:38:43,240
She called him,
He called me, and we met.

480
00:38:46,994 --> 00:38:48,620
That helped me get over it.

481
00:38:54,334 --> 00:38:56,545
Who would have thought we would be here?

482
00:38:56,628 --> 00:38:58,964
- Huh?
- Fifty years later, fishing.

483
00:38:59,047 --> 00:38:59,964
Yeah.

484
00:38:59,965 --> 00:39:02,009
Yes, I thought we
We would both be dead.

485
00:39:05,470 --> 00:39:07,556
He is the best
person I know.

486
00:39:10,893 --> 00:39:12,936
We're still best friends and

487
00:39:16,648 --> 00:39:18,275
I hope it stays like this forever.

488
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:30,829
DECEMBER 1967

489
00:39:30,913 --> 00:39:33,290
At the end of 1967,

490
00:39:33,373 --> 00:39:36,793
the American army seems
have a certain degree of control.

491
00:39:39,046 --> 00:39:41,924
But things are about to
to become much more intense.

492
00:39:43,425 --> 00:39:46,512
There are shocking events
in Vietnam tonight.

493
00:39:47,095 --> 00:39:50,682
The North Vietnamese are about to
to launch a surprise attack

494
00:39:50,766 --> 00:39:51,892
Fire!

495
00:39:51,975 --> 00:39:55,395
in more than a hundred cities in the south.

496
00:39:58,023 --> 00:40:00,943
How could this
be happening?

497
00:40:08,033 --> 00:40:10,285
NARRATOR: ETHAN HAWKE

498
00:40:58,667 --> 00:41:00,502
All archive images
of this series are real

499
00:41:00,586 --> 00:41:01,962
and were filmed
during the Vietnam War.

500
00:41:02,045 --> 00:41:04,423
In cases where filming an event
specific was not available,

501
00:41:04,506 --> 00:41:07,092
we use material that illustrates
comparable moments in war.

502
00:41:11,930 --> 00:41:14,391
Subtitles: Carla Piccoli