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- Original file by zfeet -
- Resynced by Ornlu Wolfjarl -
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ROGER HARRIS: Soldiers adapt.
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You go over there with
one mindset, you know,
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and then you adapt.
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You adapt to the atrocities of war.
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You adapt to...
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...killing and dying, you know.
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After a while it doesn't bother you.
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Well, I should say it
doesn't bother you as much.
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When I first arrived in
Vietnam, there were some...
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(sighs)
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there were some interesting
things that happened
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and I questioned some of the Marines.
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I was made to realize that this
is war, and this is what we do.
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And that stuck in my head.
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This is war.
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This is what we do.
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And after a while you embrace that.
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This is war.
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This is what we do.
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("Are You Experienced?" by the
Jimi Hendrix Experience playing)
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This evening I came here to
speak to you about Vietnam.
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There is progress in the war itself,
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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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The grip of the Viet Cong on
the people is being broken.
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HENDRIX: d If you can just
get your mind together d
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(rapid gunfire)
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d Then come across to me
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NARRATOR: In the summer of 1967,
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the men overseeing the war in Vietnam
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remained outwardly optimistic...
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whatever private doubts they may have held.
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HENDRIX: d But first
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d Are you experienced?
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(airplane flying overhead)
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(explosion)
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d Have you ever been experienced? d
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NARRATOR: The American military
command in Vietnam, MACV,
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claimed to have killed 200,000 enemy troops
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and had told the president
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that the all-important "crossover point"...
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the moment when U.S. and
ARVN forces were killing
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more Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops
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than the enemy could replace...
appeared to have been reached
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in almost all of South Vietnam.
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But the United States had suffered
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nearly 75,000 casualties.
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By July 4, 14,624 Americans had died,
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and, off the record,
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many officers were much less
sanguine than their commanders.
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From Saigon, R.W. Apple of
theNew York Time s summarized
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their views: "Victory is not
close at hand," he wrote.
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In fact, "It may be beyond reach."
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("Are You Experienced?" by the
Jimi Hendrix Experience playing)
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(rapid gunfire)
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It was true that the enemy
rarely won a battle
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in the traditional military
sense that they drove
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the Americans from the field.
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But it was also true
that no American victory
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seemed to matter.
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Battered enemy units were
quickly reinforced and rearmed.
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Pacification... winning the hearts and minds
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of the South Vietnamese
people... was not working.
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Saigon still controlled only
a fraction of a country
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roughly the size of Florida,
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and its government remained
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unpopular and riddled with corruption.
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President Johnson had been
forced to raise taxes
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to meet the war's ever-climbing cost.
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His ambitious social program...
his War on Poverty...
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was in retreat.
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HENDRIX: d Trumpets and violins
I can hear in the distance d
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NARRATOR: That summer, racial
unrest would grip American cities.
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HENDRIX: d Maybe now
you can't hear them d
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d But you will
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NARRATOR: The president would have
to send the Army into Detroit
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to end five days of rioting
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that left 43 dead and
hundreds of buildings razed.
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Twenty-six more died in Newark, New Jersey,
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demonstrating yet again how wide a gap
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remained between black and white Americans.
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Only a third of the country saw
any sign of progress in Vietnam,
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and half of the country now disapproved
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of the president's handling of the war.
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Meanwhile, Le Duan and his comrades
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who ran things in Hanoi,
were secretly planning
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a new offensive that they
believed would destroy
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what they called the puppet
government in Saigon
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and convince the United States
the war could never be won
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on the battlefield.
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JAMES WILLBANKS: There's the old
apocryphal story that, in 1967,
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they went to the basement of the Pentagon
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when the mainframe computers
took up the whole basement,
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and they put on the old
punch cards everything
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you could quantify... numbers of ships,
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numbers of airplanes, numbers of
tanks, numbers of helicopters,
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artillery, machine gun, ammo...
everything you could quantify,
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put it in the hopper and said,
"When will we win in Vietnam?"
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Went away on Friday.
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The thing ground away all weekend.
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Came back on Monday and there
was one card in the output tray
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and it said, "You won in 1965."
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The only problem is the enemy gets a vote
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and they weren't on the punch cards.
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NARRATOR: There were nearly half a
million American soldiers in Vietnam
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by the middle of 1967,
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with thousands more on the way.
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Only 20% would ever be in combat.
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The rest served in support units.
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None of them had been taught
very much about the people
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against whom... and for whom...
they had been asked to fight.
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Troops called the Vietnamese "gooks"...
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a term first used by U.S. Marines to refer
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to the people of Haiti and Nicaragua
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during the American occupation
of those countries,
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and then applied to the
Asian enemy in Korea.
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Or "slopes," an epithet for the
Japanese during the Pacific War,
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or "dinks," an Australian
term for the Chinese.
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And so in basic training they taught you
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that you were going to be fighting gooks.
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It was part of the song that you sang
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as you jogged down the road.
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As you went through bayonet training,
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you were not talking about Vietnamese.
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You were always talking about gooks.
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Vietnamese might be people,
but gooks are-are...
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are close to being animals.
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NARRATOR: Gis called
Vietnamese homes "hooches"...
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a corruption of the Japanese
word for dwelling places
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that they had learned during
the battle for Okinawa
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in the Second World War.
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Soldiers referred to older
Vietnamese women as "mama sans,"
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the term they used for
women who ran whorehouses
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in occupied Japan.
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The Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese
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called Gis "invaders," "imperialists,"
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and (speaking Vietnamese)...
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"American bandits."
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South Vietnam had been divided
into four tactical zones.
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By the summer of 1967,
American troops were fighting
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in all four of them.
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In IV Corps, the "Brown Water Navy"
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patrolled the rivers and canals and marshes
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of the densely populated Mekong Delta,
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searching for the enemy.
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In III Corps, the Army continued
to sweep the thick jungles
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of the Iron Triangle,
the Viet Cong sanctuary
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near Saigon that was supposed
to have been permanently denied
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to the enemy by big American
operations earlier in the year.
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In II Corps, a series of bloody battles
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in the Central Highlands around
Dak To temporarily drove
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North Vietnamese troops back
into Cambodia and Laos.
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But some of the most intense
combat would take place
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in I Corps... made up of the
five northernmost provinces
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of South Vietnam... where
the Marines would bear
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the brunt of the fighting.
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More than two-and-a-half
million people lived there,
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all but 2% of them within
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the narrow rice-growing river valleys
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along the South China Sea.
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The Marines wanted to eradicate
the Viet Cong there,
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and provide security to the people,
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village by village, hamlet by hamlet.
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The vast, largely empty
highlands that stretched
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westward all the way to
Laos, the Marines argued,
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could be left to the enemy.
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"The real war is among the people,"
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said Marine lieutenant
general Victor Krulak,
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"and not among the mountains."
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But General William Westmoreland,
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the American commander,
feared that thousands
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of North Vietnamese Army
regulars... the NVA...
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were planning to seize the
two northernmost provinces.
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Finding and destroying them
remained his first goal.
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(helicopter blades beating)
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He insisted the Third Marine Division
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move north to meet that challenge,
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establish a base at Dong Ha and
man strongpoints at Gio Linh,
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Con Thien, Cam Lo, Camp Carroll,
the Rockpile and Khe Sanh.
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Khe Sanh overlooked Route
9, the East-West highway
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that Westmoreland hoped would
one day carry American troops
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across the border into Laos,
where North Vietnamese men
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and supplies were streaming
south on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
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But the thousands of Marines
monitoring the border
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would find themselves within
range of highly accurate
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North Vietnamese artillery
and rocket launchers
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hidden within the DMZ.
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("I'm a Man" by The Spencer
Davis Group playing"
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(explosions)
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JOHN LAURENCE: Tell me...
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You came here at full strength?
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I had 13 men when I came.
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And it's four days later now
and how many are still here?
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Six.
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("I'm a Man" continues)
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The rifles have been
jamming, the mud's been...
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it slowed everything down.
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And the artillery comes in everywhere.
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And, ah, it just gets pretty futile
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and frustrating sometimes.
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("I'm a Man" continues)
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I can't say that I'm scared
stiff, but I'm scared.
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I mean, after a while, you
know it's going to come.
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And you can't do nothing about it.
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And you just look to God.
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SPENCER DAVIS GROUP: d
Well, my pad is very messy
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d And there's whiskers on my chin. d
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NARRATOR: Private First Class John Musgrave
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of Fairmount, Missouri, who
had volunteered to join
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the 3rd Marine Division,
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was sent to the battle-scarred
countryside around Con Thien,
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a few kilometers south of the DMZ.
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(explosion)
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JOHN MUSGRAVE: For the Marines in northern
I Corps in the 3rd Marine Division
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00:12:24,844 --> 00:12:28,477
in the spring and summer
of 1967 we called the DMZ
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the "Dead Marine Zone."
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NARRATOR: Musgrave's 1st
Battalion had already suffered
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00:12:34,011 --> 00:12:37,545
so many casualties in a
series of bloody sweeps
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that it was believed to
be a hard-luck outfit.
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They were called the "Walking Dead."
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SPENCER DAVIS GROUP: d I'm a
man, yes I am, and I can't... d
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MUSGRAVE: I joined the Marine
Corps to be in the varsity.
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And I felt like I wasn't
varsity unless I was up north
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fighting the NVA.
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I have never regretted that decision.
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There were times when we
were under artillery fire,
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00:13:04,451 --> 00:13:08,017
where I thought, you know,
"What-what were you thinking?"
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Here it is in a nutshell: if
I lived to be 63 years old,
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00:13:13,919 --> 00:13:16,019
I didn't want to look in
the mirror some morning
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and have a guy looking back at
me that hadn't done everything
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for what he believed,
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00:13:20,487 --> 00:13:24,256
that let somebody else do the harder part.
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Every major contact I remember
with the NVA was initiated
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by them ambushing us.
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They wouldn't hit us unless
they outnumbered us.
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And we were fighting in their yard.
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They knew the ground; we didn't.
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They were just really good.
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NARRATOR: The North Vietnamese
carried Soviet-made,
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00:14:10,830 --> 00:14:13,798
seemingly indestructible AK-47s.
242
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The Marines had to fight with
newly issued M-16 rifles
243
00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:24,400
that had for a time a
potentially fatal design flaw:
244
00:14:24,500 --> 00:14:27,234
they needed constant cleaning
245
00:14:27,334 --> 00:14:30,468
and often jammed in the
middle of firefights.
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MUSGRAVE: Their rifles worked; ours didn't.
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The M-16 was a piece of shit.
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You can't throw your bullets at the enemy
249
00:14:38,935 --> 00:14:40,237
and have them be effective.
250
00:14:40,337 --> 00:14:44,772
And that rifle malfunctioned
on us repeatedly.
251
00:14:50,873 --> 00:14:53,773
(gunfire)
252
00:15:10,409 --> 00:15:13,509
My hatred for them was pure.
253
00:15:13,609 --> 00:15:15,211
Pure.
254
00:15:15,311 --> 00:15:17,210
I hated them so much.
255
00:15:18,543 --> 00:15:19,911
And I was so scared of them.
256
00:15:21,012 --> 00:15:23,312
Boy, I was terrified of them.
257
00:15:23,411 --> 00:15:25,746
And the scareder I got,
the more I hated them.
258
00:15:52,685 --> 00:15:55,985
MUSGRAVE: I only killed one
human being in Vietnam.
259
00:15:56,086 --> 00:15:59,351
And that was the first
man that I ever killed.
260
00:15:59,452 --> 00:16:03,486
And I was sick with guilt
about killing that guy
261
00:16:03,587 --> 00:16:05,620
and thinking I'm going to have to do this
262
00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:06,888
for the next 13 months.
263
00:16:06,987 --> 00:16:09,454
I'm-I'm going to go crazy.
264
00:16:09,553 --> 00:16:12,354
And I saw a Marine step
on a bouncing Betty mine,
265
00:16:12,455 --> 00:16:15,655
and that's when I made
my deal with the devil
266
00:16:15,756 --> 00:16:19,489
and that I said, "I will never
kill another human being
267
00:16:19,590 --> 00:16:21,824
"as long as I'm in Vietnam.
268
00:16:21,923 --> 00:16:27,025
"However, I will waste as
many gooks as I can find.
269
00:16:27,124 --> 00:16:30,492
"I'll wax as many dinks as I can find.
270
00:16:30,593 --> 00:16:33,625
"I'll smoke as many zips as I can find.
271
00:16:33,725 --> 00:16:36,793
But I ain't gonna kill anybody," you know?
272
00:16:36,894 --> 00:16:40,226
Turn the subject into an object.
273
00:16:40,327 --> 00:16:42,328
It's Racism 101.
274
00:16:42,427 --> 00:16:44,528
It turns out to be a very necessary tool
275
00:16:44,627 --> 00:16:47,196
when you have children fighting your wars,
276
00:16:47,295 --> 00:16:50,029
for them to stay sane doing their work.
277
00:16:56,430 --> 00:16:58,997
NARRATOR: On one early
patrol, Musgrave watched
278
00:16:59,098 --> 00:17:03,765
an American fighter swoop down
to drop napalm on enemy troops
279
00:17:03,864 --> 00:17:06,200
hidden behind a hedgerow.
280
00:17:06,299 --> 00:17:09,999
He could hear their AK-47s
firing at the plane
281
00:17:10,100 --> 00:17:13,767
until the instant they
were engulfed in flames.
282
00:17:13,866 --> 00:17:17,602
"If the enemy is willing to
die like that," he thought,
283
00:17:17,702 --> 00:17:20,602
"this is going to be one very long war."
284
00:17:23,103 --> 00:17:25,336
MUSGRAVE: They knew if they
would pop the ambush close
285
00:17:25,435 --> 00:17:27,037
and then get amongst you,
286
00:17:27,136 --> 00:17:30,669
we couldn't or would hesitate
to call in air on ourselves.
287
00:17:33,771 --> 00:17:37,938
So that... firefights like
that we called brawls.
288
00:17:38,039 --> 00:17:39,906
They were very intimate.
289
00:17:40,005 --> 00:17:41,506
And they were very deadly.
290
00:17:41,607 --> 00:17:44,439
And they were absolutely terrifying.
291
00:17:48,474 --> 00:17:52,674
NARRATOR: The Marines were spread too
thin to hold any of the territory
292
00:17:52,775 --> 00:17:55,241
they fought so hard to take.
293
00:17:55,342 --> 00:17:59,843
Again and again, they were
sent out from one stronghold
294
00:17:59,942 --> 00:18:04,044
or another along the DMZ,
looking for enemy soldiers.
295
00:18:04,143 --> 00:18:07,778
MUSGRAVE: The disillusionment for
me began when I was going back
296
00:18:07,877 --> 00:18:10,944
to fight at places we'd
already fought before.
297
00:18:11,045 --> 00:18:14,578
We had fought, captured, and then left
298
00:18:14,678 --> 00:18:16,746
and the NVA came right back.
299
00:18:16,847 --> 00:18:19,013
You don't like getting wounded
300
00:18:19,114 --> 00:18:20,847
in places you've already been before.
301
00:18:23,115 --> 00:18:25,447
War is a real estate business.
302
00:18:25,548 --> 00:18:28,416
We're supposed to take real
estate away from the enemy
303
00:18:28,515 --> 00:18:32,382
and then deny the enemy
access to that real estate.
304
00:18:32,483 --> 00:18:38,683
NARRATOR: On the morning of July 2,
1967, the 1st Battalion launched
305
00:18:38,784 --> 00:18:43,084
yet another sweep of the
area northeast of Con Thien.
306
00:18:43,184 --> 00:18:46,952
When they reached a crossroads
called "The Marketplace,"
307
00:18:47,053 --> 00:18:51,420
barely a mile and quarter from
their base, they were ambushed.
308
00:18:51,519 --> 00:18:54,921
One company was virtually annihilated.
309
00:18:58,587 --> 00:19:03,455
John Musgrave's company rushed
to rescue the survivors,
310
00:19:03,556 --> 00:19:06,455
only to be pinned down there as well.
311
00:19:09,224 --> 00:19:14,058
It was one of the worst days the
Marine Corps endured in Vietnam:
312
00:19:14,157 --> 00:19:20,359
53 dead and 190 wounded were
carried off the battlefield.
313
00:19:20,458 --> 00:19:24,526
Thirty-four more dead
had to be left behind,
314
00:19:24,627 --> 00:19:28,361
and when Marines fought their
way back two days later
315
00:19:28,460 --> 00:19:31,294
to retrieve their bodies,
they found that a number
316
00:19:31,393 --> 00:19:37,462
had died because their M-16s had
jammed as the enemy closed in.
317
00:19:37,563 --> 00:19:40,762
Many had been executed, shot in the face
318
00:19:40,863 --> 00:19:43,663
or back of the head at close range.
319
00:19:43,763 --> 00:19:46,696
Some bodies had been booby-trapped,
320
00:19:46,797 --> 00:19:49,664
others mutilated.
321
00:19:49,764 --> 00:19:52,999
MUSGRAVE: Marine amphibious
force headquarters
322
00:19:53,098 --> 00:19:56,866
was so desperate to get
North Vietnamese prisoners,
323
00:19:56,965 --> 00:20:00,166
that they offered us
three day in-country R&R
324
00:20:00,266 --> 00:20:02,367
if we'd bring a prisoner in.
325
00:20:02,467 --> 00:20:03,834
Yeah, good luck.
326
00:20:03,935 --> 00:20:05,334
You know?
327
00:20:05,435 --> 00:20:07,736
Don't you know who...
what we're doing up here?
328
00:20:07,835 --> 00:20:09,535
Do you know who we're fighting?
329
00:20:11,302 --> 00:20:13,902
I want to make this clear,
we did not torture prisoners
330
00:20:14,003 --> 00:20:16,902
and we did not mutilate them.
331
00:20:23,372 --> 00:20:26,939
But to be a prisoner you had to
make it to the rear, you know.
332
00:20:27,038 --> 00:20:30,373
If he was with... fell into our hands
333
00:20:30,472 --> 00:20:32,373
he was just one sorry fucker.
334
00:20:43,175 --> 00:20:45,509
I don't know how to explain
it that it would make sense.
335
00:20:47,108 --> 00:20:50,409
("Green Onions" by Booker T.
& the M.G.s playing)
336
00:20:53,610 --> 00:20:54,820
HARRIS: Roxbury, where I grew up,
337
00:20:54,844 --> 00:20:56,578
was the African-American neighborhood,
338
00:20:56,677 --> 00:21:00,512
and South Boston was the
Irish-Catholic bastion.
339
00:21:00,611 --> 00:21:02,411
You know, there was a lot of hate.
340
00:21:02,512 --> 00:21:06,147
South Boston folks hated us, we hated them.
341
00:21:06,247 --> 00:21:07,513
And ironically, um...
342
00:21:07,612 --> 00:21:10,081
(sighs)
343
00:21:10,180 --> 00:21:11,913
You know, you end up in a war.
344
00:21:13,749 --> 00:21:15,981
And the Vietnamese didn't care
345
00:21:16,082 --> 00:21:17,890
whether you were from
Roxbury or South Boston.
346
00:21:17,914 --> 00:21:19,915
They saw you as American.
347
00:21:20,016 --> 00:21:23,251
And they wanted to kill you
because you're American.
348
00:21:23,350 --> 00:21:27,651
NARRATOR: Private Roger Harris had
joined the Marines in part, he said,
349
00:21:27,751 --> 00:21:30,117
because he wanted to be "a gladiator,"
350
00:21:30,217 --> 00:21:33,352
a killer of his country's enemies.
351
00:21:33,453 --> 00:21:36,685
On July 28, two weeks after
352
00:21:36,785 --> 00:21:40,853
John Musgrave's badly mangled
1st Battalion was pulled back
353
00:21:40,954 --> 00:21:42,686
to rest and recover,
354
00:21:42,786 --> 00:21:46,821
Roger Harris and the 2nd
Battalion moved out of Con Thien
355
00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:50,688
and into the southern half of
the Demilitarized Zone itself.
356
00:21:52,855 --> 00:21:54,465
HARRIS: We wanted the North Vietnamese Army
357
00:21:54,489 --> 00:21:56,823
to expose themselves.
358
00:21:56,922 --> 00:21:59,857
So, basically, you put the bait out there,
359
00:21:59,958 --> 00:22:04,291
and then we could call in
and rain hell on them.
360
00:22:04,392 --> 00:22:08,725
NARRATOR: Roger Harris's
battalion advanced into the DMZ
361
00:22:08,826 --> 00:22:13,326
along a rough cart track that
led to the Ben Hai River.
362
00:22:13,425 --> 00:22:17,661
But planners had failed to
see that a concrete bridge
363
00:22:17,761 --> 00:22:19,662
over an impassable stream
364
00:22:19,762 --> 00:22:24,163
was too narrow and too weak
to carry armored vehicles.
365
00:22:24,263 --> 00:22:29,030
Now the Marines had no choice
but to violate a cardinal rule
366
00:22:29,129 --> 00:22:30,664
of infantry tactics...
367
00:22:30,764 --> 00:22:35,797
turn around and try to go
back the way they had come.
368
00:22:35,898 --> 00:22:39,032
The enemy was waiting.
369
00:22:39,131 --> 00:22:41,832
(explosion, rapid gunfire)
370
00:22:45,100 --> 00:22:47,932
Massive ambushes and...
371
00:22:48,033 --> 00:22:49,500
(gunfire, shouting)
372
00:22:49,601 --> 00:22:53,567
...and, um, a lot of death.
373
00:22:53,668 --> 00:22:55,568
And...
374
00:22:57,068 --> 00:22:58,734
...craziness.
375
00:22:58,835 --> 00:23:03,735
NARRATOR: The Marines were forced to
run a bloody gauntlet of mortars,
376
00:23:03,836 --> 00:23:07,671
machine gun fire and
rocket-propelled grenades.
377
00:23:07,771 --> 00:23:12,472
HARRIS: I had the utmost respect for
the North Vietnamese Army soldiers.
378
00:23:12,571 --> 00:23:18,839
When you see someone jump out
and confront a tank, you know,
379
00:23:18,938 --> 00:23:21,073
with a big 50-caliber machine gun on it
380
00:23:21,174 --> 00:23:24,107
and a 90-millimeter cannon on it,
381
00:23:24,206 --> 00:23:28,408
and an individual takes on the tank,
382
00:23:28,507 --> 00:23:30,141
I think that says something.
383
00:23:31,776 --> 00:23:34,576
NARRATOR: Roger Harris's
company held up the rear,
384
00:23:34,677 --> 00:23:38,543
hounded by enemy soldiers on all sides.
385
00:23:40,844 --> 00:23:44,143
The Marines staggered back out of the DMZ
386
00:23:44,243 --> 00:23:47,345
alongside the battered armored vehicles
387
00:23:47,444 --> 00:23:51,245
heaped with dead and wounded Americans.
388
00:23:51,346 --> 00:23:54,245
The battalion suffered 214 casualties.
389
00:23:57,380 --> 00:24:00,848
HARRIS: Wasn't a good
day for Marines at all.
390
00:24:00,947 --> 00:24:02,214
A lot of people died.
391
00:24:02,314 --> 00:24:03,554
People got their legs shot off.
392
00:24:03,615 --> 00:24:05,515
People got run over by tanks.
393
00:24:08,148 --> 00:24:11,050
I don't want to talk
about it because it's...
394
00:24:14,284 --> 00:24:16,785
it's not a good day, wasn't a good day.
395
00:25:25,597 --> 00:25:28,964
This is "bau cu", the day
of voting in Vietnam,
396
00:25:29,065 --> 00:25:31,965
and it's a solemn day in the
village of Hung Thao Phu
397
00:25:32,066 --> 00:25:34,700
and in other villages
throughout the country.
398
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,266
And these people have dressed
up in their Sunday best for it.
399
00:25:40,134 --> 00:25:43,135
NARRATOR: South Vietnamese
prime minister Nguyen Cao Ky
400
00:25:43,234 --> 00:25:47,136
had crushed his Buddhist opponents in 1966,
401
00:25:47,235 --> 00:25:49,636
but he had been forced by the Americans
402
00:25:49,735 --> 00:25:53,070
and his political rivals to
make at least tentative moves
403
00:25:53,169 --> 00:25:56,837
toward democracy... election
of a national assembly,
404
00:25:56,938 --> 00:26:00,104
a new constitution, and
a promise of elections
405
00:26:00,205 --> 00:26:03,405
for president and vice president.
406
00:26:03,506 --> 00:26:08,307
But when Ky's old adversary
Nguyen Van Thieu declared
407
00:26:08,406 --> 00:26:11,208
he wanted to challenge Ky for the top spot,
408
00:26:11,308 --> 00:26:14,473
things in Saigon had threatened
to come apart again.
409
00:26:16,908 --> 00:26:19,548
PHAN QUANG TUE: We were watching
the rivalry between Thieu and Ky.
410
00:26:19,575 --> 00:26:21,643
And that was a game.
411
00:26:21,742 --> 00:26:24,643
In Vietnam, the country
was watching like a...
412
00:26:24,742 --> 00:26:27,511
we were watch... watching a movie.
413
00:26:27,610 --> 00:26:29,811
And Thieu and Ky was watching as to,
414
00:26:29,910 --> 00:26:32,712
not whoever had the support of the people,
415
00:26:32,812 --> 00:26:37,146
but who had the support of the
Americans and the White House.
416
00:26:37,245 --> 00:26:40,579
NARRATOR: Ellsworth Bunker,
the American ambassador,
417
00:26:40,678 --> 00:26:44,147
called both men to his
residence and warned that
418
00:26:44,246 --> 00:26:48,015
the United States would not
tolerate another power struggle:
419
00:26:48,114 --> 00:26:51,681
Thieu and Ky needed to meet
with their fellow generals
420
00:26:51,781 --> 00:26:54,281
and decide who would run for president
421
00:26:54,382 --> 00:26:56,916
and who would be his running mate.
422
00:26:57,017 --> 00:26:59,450
Thieu emerged on top.
423
00:26:59,549 --> 00:27:02,518
He was unassuming and unflappable,
424
00:27:02,617 --> 00:27:05,183
interested largely in accumulating power
425
00:27:05,283 --> 00:27:08,418
and personal wealth and
was thought unlikely
426
00:27:08,519 --> 00:27:11,251
ever to embarrass Washington.
427
00:27:11,351 --> 00:27:14,820
Ky would be his vice president.
428
00:27:14,919 --> 00:27:19,887
Together, they won with
only 35% of the vote.
429
00:27:19,986 --> 00:27:23,088
No one who had called for an end to the war
430
00:27:23,187 --> 00:27:25,421
had been allowed to run.
431
00:27:25,522 --> 00:27:28,055
Many Buddhists had boycotted the election,
432
00:27:28,156 --> 00:27:33,256
and Viet Cong intimidation had
kept many more from the polls.
433
00:27:33,356 --> 00:27:36,324
But the State Department
immediately declared
434
00:27:36,423 --> 00:27:39,325
the election an important "step forward."
435
00:27:41,225 --> 00:27:44,659
Some South Vietnamese did
believe that a measure
436
00:27:44,758 --> 00:27:47,893
of stability had finally been achieved.
437
00:27:47,992 --> 00:27:51,027
Others were not so sure.
438
00:27:52,594 --> 00:27:56,828
TUE: In terms of corruption,
yes, they were corrupt.
439
00:27:56,927 --> 00:28:01,595
Both Thieu and Ky, they
abused their position.
440
00:28:01,694 --> 00:28:05,562
We pay a very high price for having leaders
441
00:28:05,663 --> 00:28:08,331
like a Ky and Thieu.
442
00:28:08,430 --> 00:28:10,831
And we continue to pay the price.
443
00:28:12,598 --> 00:28:16,064
("Soul Dressing" by Booker T.
& The M.G.s playing)
444
00:28:16,165 --> 00:28:18,998
EVA JEFFERSON PATERSON: My father
was in the United States Army.
445
00:28:19,099 --> 00:28:21,733
And then when the Air Force
came about he switched over
446
00:28:21,833 --> 00:28:24,167
to the Air Force.
447
00:28:24,266 --> 00:28:29,067
I grew up out of the country
in desegregated settings.
448
00:28:29,168 --> 00:28:32,035
I was usually the only little
black girl in the class.
449
00:28:32,134 --> 00:28:34,135
If you look at my class pictures I look
450
00:28:34,236 --> 00:28:37,837
like the little chocolate chip
in the vanilla ice cream.
451
00:28:37,936 --> 00:28:40,837
I was always a good student.
452
00:28:40,936 --> 00:28:43,671
I remember people saying,
"Oh, you speak so well."
453
00:28:43,770 --> 00:28:45,637
And the unstated part
is "for a black girl,"
454
00:28:45,738 --> 00:28:48,438
probably a Negro girl or
colored girl, at that point.
455
00:28:48,539 --> 00:28:53,173
NARRATOR: Eva Jefferson's father
had served a year on airbases
456
00:28:53,272 --> 00:28:56,872
in Vietnam and returned home
convinced the United States
457
00:28:56,973 --> 00:28:59,506
had no business being there.
458
00:28:59,607 --> 00:29:03,207
But when his daughter entered
Northwestern University
459
00:29:03,307 --> 00:29:08,375
in the Chicago suburb of
Evanston in September 1967,
460
00:29:08,476 --> 00:29:12,775
the war was not uppermost
in students' minds.
461
00:29:12,875 --> 00:29:16,177
PATERSON: The war was not really an issue.
462
00:29:16,276 --> 00:29:18,111
It's like, "Well, no, the president has
463
00:29:18,210 --> 00:29:20,178
"our best interests at heart.
464
00:29:20,277 --> 00:29:22,077
"He, of course, would only prosecute a war
465
00:29:22,178 --> 00:29:23,546
that made sense."
466
00:29:23,645 --> 00:29:26,412
And I think most of America felt that way.
467
00:29:26,511 --> 00:29:28,480
("Strange Brew" by Cream playing)
468
00:29:28,579 --> 00:29:30,613
NARRATOR: At the University of Nebraska,
469
00:29:30,712 --> 00:29:33,647
Jack Todd also supported the war.
470
00:29:33,748 --> 00:29:38,114
He had felt so strongly about it
in 1966 that he had signed up
471
00:29:38,213 --> 00:29:41,182
for Marine officer training.
472
00:29:41,281 --> 00:29:43,882
I went into the Marine Corps
473
00:29:43,983 --> 00:29:46,282
thinking this was all I wanted to do.
474
00:29:46,382 --> 00:29:48,315
I mean my... my goal was to be commander,
475
00:29:48,417 --> 00:29:49,716
a platoon commander in Vietnam.
476
00:29:51,251 --> 00:29:54,584
NARRATOR: But as time went
by and the war went on,
477
00:29:54,685 --> 00:29:57,052
Todd and many of his fellow students
478
00:29:57,151 --> 00:29:58,818
began to change their minds.
479
00:30:00,152 --> 00:30:02,585
TODD: All young people go through changes.
480
00:30:02,686 --> 00:30:05,519
But we were going through
astronomical changes
481
00:30:05,620 --> 00:30:07,854
at such a rapid rate.
482
00:30:09,755 --> 00:30:13,421
All the music, the culture,
everything that we listened to,
483
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:15,622
everything that we thought was transforming
484
00:30:15,721 --> 00:30:19,522
and the core of it all was
Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam.
485
00:30:19,623 --> 00:30:21,456
It just kept going in the background.
486
00:30:21,557 --> 00:30:23,333
First, it was kind of
like a background noise
487
00:30:23,357 --> 00:30:25,238
and then it got to be the
elephant in the room.
488
00:30:25,323 --> 00:30:27,290
And then it was the elephant
sitting on your head
489
00:30:27,390 --> 00:30:29,024
and we... we couldn't escape this.
490
00:30:29,125 --> 00:30:32,458
NARRATOR: Todd attended
officer training school
491
00:30:32,559 --> 00:30:35,260
at Camp Upshur in Quantico, Virginia.
492
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,260
But doubts about the war
followed him there, too.
493
00:30:41,326 --> 00:30:43,170
TODD: I guess the emotional
things that were happening
494
00:30:43,194 --> 00:30:45,695
on the ground, the photographs
that we saw, the news images,
495
00:30:45,794 --> 00:30:48,762
and the fact that there was
no discernible progress,
496
00:30:48,862 --> 00:30:52,196
that really started to eat
away at what we thought.
497
00:30:52,295 --> 00:30:55,396
In the summer of '67, I was
at Camp Upshur, you know,
498
00:30:55,497 --> 00:30:57,896
wanting to go kill Vietnamese people.
499
00:30:57,997 --> 00:31:02,365
And in October, I was
completely against the war.
500
00:31:05,665 --> 00:31:08,231
JOHNSON: Westmoreland came
in last night to me...
501
00:31:08,331 --> 00:31:12,367
And he says that he has
concentrated more firepower
502
00:31:12,466 --> 00:31:16,033
and bombing in the last week on the DMZ
503
00:31:16,134 --> 00:31:19,968
and they've concentrated more
on us than has ever been
504
00:31:20,069 --> 00:31:22,168
concentrated in any equivalent period
505
00:31:22,269 --> 00:31:23,801
in the history of warfare...
506
00:31:23,901 --> 00:31:25,070
EVERETT DIRKSEN: Yeah.
507
00:31:25,169 --> 00:31:26,412
JOHNSON: ...much more
than was ever poured on
508
00:31:26,436 --> 00:31:27,770
Berlin or Tokyo,
509
00:31:27,870 --> 00:31:32,271
and that his only defense
of the DMZ to stop
510
00:31:32,371 --> 00:31:35,272
this aggression up there
with the North Vietnamese
511
00:31:35,372 --> 00:31:39,037
trying to come in is bombing
their gun positions.
512
00:31:39,138 --> 00:31:40,605
DIRKSEN: Yeah.
513
00:31:40,706 --> 00:31:42,581
JOHNSON: And it would just be
suicide if we stopped the bombing
514
00:31:42,605 --> 00:31:44,839
as these idiots talking about.
515
00:31:44,940 --> 00:31:46,606
When you say stop the bombing
516
00:31:46,707 --> 00:31:49,473
you say, "Kill more American Marines."
517
00:31:49,574 --> 00:31:50,474
That's all it means.
518
00:31:50,575 --> 00:31:51,840
DIRKSEN: Yeah.
519
00:31:51,941 --> 00:31:55,175
JOHNSON: Now if we stop
bombing, without their talking
520
00:31:55,276 --> 00:31:58,041
and without any reciprocity on their part,
521
00:31:58,142 --> 00:32:00,210
it just means we kill more
Americans, that's all
522
00:32:00,309 --> 00:32:01,309
DIRKSEN: Yeah.
523
00:32:08,343 --> 00:32:11,911
NARRATOR: Neither the ongoing
bombing of the North,
524
00:32:12,012 --> 00:32:15,446
nor the concentrated
bombing around the DMZ,
525
00:32:15,545 --> 00:32:17,479
nor the behind-the-scenes offers
526
00:32:17,580 --> 00:32:20,180
made by President Johnson to stop it
527
00:32:20,281 --> 00:32:23,214
had any discernible effect on Le Duan
528
00:32:23,313 --> 00:32:26,682
and the other men who ran North Vietnam.
529
00:32:26,782 --> 00:32:29,747
But Le Duan, like Lyndon Johnson,
530
00:32:29,847 --> 00:32:31,815
was in trouble that summer.
531
00:32:31,915 --> 00:32:34,783
The war with the Americans
had produced little more
532
00:32:34,883 --> 00:32:36,816
than a bloody stalemate.
533
00:32:36,916 --> 00:32:39,884
Some Viet Cong commanders in the South
534
00:32:39,983 --> 00:32:44,250
resented Hanoi's insistence
on directing their tactics.
535
00:32:44,350 --> 00:32:48,552
Many North Vietnamese civilians
were weary of the war
536
00:32:48,652 --> 00:32:51,553
and of the bombing that
had disrupted their lives
537
00:32:51,653 --> 00:32:55,187
and destroyed so much of
their infrastructure.
538
00:32:55,287 --> 00:32:57,853
The country's most revered figures,
539
00:32:57,953 --> 00:33:02,454
Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen
Giap, were urging patience,
540
00:33:02,555 --> 00:33:06,623
continuing to wage a war of
attrition, they still believed,
541
00:33:06,723 --> 00:33:09,822
would pay off in the end.
542
00:33:09,922 --> 00:33:13,456
Hanoi's Soviet and Chinese patrons offered
543
00:33:13,557 --> 00:33:16,457
conflicting advice, as well.
544
00:33:16,558 --> 00:33:20,793
To silence his critics
and break the stalemate,
545
00:33:20,893 --> 00:33:23,358
Le Duan began to devise and promote
546
00:33:23,458 --> 00:33:26,826
a new and riskier version
of the plan for victory
547
00:33:26,926 --> 00:33:30,394
he had tried in 1964.
548
00:33:30,493 --> 00:33:35,961
He called it the "General
Offensive, General Uprising."
549
00:33:36,062 --> 00:33:39,796
North Vietnamese and Viet
Cong units would launch
550
00:33:39,896 --> 00:33:44,130
scores of coordinated attacks
on South Vietnamese cities
551
00:33:44,230 --> 00:33:47,363
and towns and military bases.
552
00:33:47,463 --> 00:33:49,698
That offensive, Le Duan believed,
553
00:33:49,798 --> 00:33:53,331
would ignite a mass civilian uprising.
554
00:33:53,431 --> 00:33:57,900
These simultaneous blows would
destroy the Saigon regime
555
00:33:57,999 --> 00:34:01,933
and leave Washington with
no choice but to withdraw.
556
00:34:53,043 --> 00:34:54,643
WILLBANKS: We talk about our own hubris.
557
00:34:54,677 --> 00:34:56,812
There's some hubris on their side as well.
558
00:34:56,912 --> 00:34:58,777
And once they had convinced themselves
559
00:34:58,877 --> 00:35:01,612
that this was going to be a great success,
560
00:35:01,713 --> 00:35:04,713
it is what some wags have called
drinking your own bathwater.
561
00:35:06,146 --> 00:35:07,522
They decided it's going to be a victory,
562
00:35:07,546 --> 00:35:09,546
even though there are
people in the South saying,
563
00:35:09,647 --> 00:35:11,080
"Hey, this is not a great idea."
564
00:35:11,180 --> 00:35:14,947
But these people are
charged with subjectivism
565
00:35:15,047 --> 00:35:17,682
and basically are told to
shut up and keep rolling.
566
00:35:17,781 --> 00:35:22,083
NARRATOR: Le Duan neutralized
those who opposed his plan.
567
00:35:22,183 --> 00:35:25,317
Members of General Giap's
staff were arrested.
568
00:35:25,417 --> 00:35:27,983
So was Ho Chi Minh's secretary.
569
00:35:44,654 --> 00:35:49,354
NARRATOR: Hundreds of less prominent
figures... journalists, students,
570
00:35:49,454 --> 00:35:52,689
even highly decorated
heroes of the French War...
571
00:35:52,788 --> 00:35:54,923
were also rounded up.
572
00:35:55,022 --> 00:35:57,856
Many were locked up in
the old French prison
573
00:35:57,956 --> 00:36:01,657
that the American POWs
also confined there called
574
00:36:01,757 --> 00:36:04,225
the "Hanoi Hilton."
575
00:36:04,325 --> 00:36:08,058
The date eventually chosen
for the attack would be
576
00:36:08,159 --> 00:36:11,726
January 31, 1968,
577
00:36:11,826 --> 00:36:15,859
the first day of the Vietnamese
Lunar New Year celebration,
578
00:36:15,959 --> 00:36:18,828
known as Tet.
579
00:36:18,928 --> 00:36:22,894
Hundreds, then thousands, of
North Vietnamese regulars
580
00:36:22,994 --> 00:36:26,095
in civilian clothes began
slipping southward
581
00:36:26,195 --> 00:36:30,830
to join tens of thousands of
Viet Cong already in place.
582
00:37:41,809 --> 00:37:44,077
NARRATOR: In preparation
for the coming offensive,
583
00:37:44,178 --> 00:37:46,877
the North Vietnamese hoped to lure American
584
00:37:46,977 --> 00:37:50,145
and South Vietnamese
forces away from cities
585
00:37:50,246 --> 00:37:52,511
and big military bases.
586
00:37:52,612 --> 00:37:56,046
To do that, they would
mount a series of assaults
587
00:37:56,146 --> 00:38:01,681
on remote outposts near
Cambodia, Laos, and the DMZ.
588
00:38:01,781 --> 00:38:06,749
These preliminary attacks became
known as the "Border Battles."
589
00:38:06,849 --> 00:38:10,183
Con Thien would be the first.
590
00:38:13,450 --> 00:38:15,650
In September and October,
591
00:38:15,751 --> 00:38:18,752
John Musgrave's and Roger Harris's outfits
592
00:38:18,852 --> 00:38:21,317
took turns defending Con Thien
593
00:38:21,417 --> 00:38:25,318
as the North Vietnamese tightened
the noose around them.
594
00:38:25,418 --> 00:38:29,053
The only way in or out was by helicopter.
595
00:38:31,354 --> 00:38:35,688
Con Thien in Vietnamese
means "Hill of Angels."
596
00:38:35,788 --> 00:38:37,755
(explosion)
597
00:38:37,855 --> 00:38:41,321
MUSGRAVE: Time at Con Thien
was time in the barrel.
598
00:38:41,421 --> 00:38:45,556
(multiple explosions)
599
00:38:45,656 --> 00:38:48,690
We were the fish, they had the shotguns,
600
00:38:48,790 --> 00:38:50,858
they stuck in the barrel and blasted away.
601
00:38:50,958 --> 00:38:53,657
And they were gonna hit
something every shot.
602
00:38:53,758 --> 00:38:56,759
Because Con Thien was such a small area,
603
00:38:56,859 --> 00:38:58,792
and they pounded it with that artillery
604
00:38:58,891 --> 00:39:00,892
from North Vietnam, they couldn't miss.
605
00:39:07,861 --> 00:39:12,061
I've never been, uh, as afraid.
606
00:39:12,161 --> 00:39:14,428
In fact that's why I'm not
afraid of anything now.
607
00:39:14,528 --> 00:39:16,895
I mean...
608
00:39:16,995 --> 00:39:18,328
there's nothing you can do.
609
00:39:18,428 --> 00:39:22,096
You just listen to the sounds
of the rockets coming over.
610
00:39:22,197 --> 00:39:25,731
And you just pray that
they don't land on you.
611
00:39:25,830 --> 00:39:28,465
The big question really
seems to be whether or not
612
00:39:28,564 --> 00:39:31,831
the North Vietnamese intend
to overrun Con Thien.
613
00:39:31,931 --> 00:39:34,767
The Marines have tripled
the number of troops
614
00:39:34,867 --> 00:39:36,200
guarding the outpost,
615
00:39:36,300 --> 00:39:37,875
and they've moved up more
battalions to be ready
616
00:39:37,899 --> 00:39:39,468
to reinforce.
617
00:39:39,567 --> 00:39:41,500
MUSGRAVE: I sat in water.
618
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:43,400
I slept in water.
619
00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:47,168
I ate in water, because
our holes were full.
620
00:39:47,269 --> 00:39:49,434
I mean a flooded foxhole
could drown a wounded man.
621
00:39:49,535 --> 00:39:52,136
HARRIS: Spend your day
filling up sand bags,
622
00:39:52,236 --> 00:39:55,903
trying to create barriers that
you just put another layer on,
623
00:39:56,003 --> 00:39:57,670
put another layer on.
624
00:39:57,771 --> 00:40:02,238
A lot of mud, blood, uh...
625
00:40:02,337 --> 00:40:03,537
and artillery.
626
00:40:04,706 --> 00:40:06,026
MUSGRAVE: It's red clay up there.
627
00:40:06,105 --> 00:40:08,739
And it's real sticky and it
could just grab onto you
628
00:40:08,838 --> 00:40:10,640
and pull your boots off.
629
00:40:10,740 --> 00:40:12,106
It's hard to run in that stuff.
630
00:40:12,207 --> 00:40:13,906
And running, when you're at a place
631
00:40:14,006 --> 00:40:15,617
where they're firing
heavy artillery at you,
632
00:40:15,641 --> 00:40:16,840
running's pretty important.
633
00:40:19,607 --> 00:40:21,675
During the siege in the fall of 1967,
634
00:40:21,776 --> 00:40:23,908
we were getting newspaper
articles in the mail
635
00:40:24,008 --> 00:40:27,342
from our families and we
were being called the Alamo.
636
00:40:27,442 --> 00:40:30,311
You know, hey, we knew what the Alamo was.
637
00:40:30,410 --> 00:40:32,478
We knew what happened there.
638
00:40:32,577 --> 00:40:36,178
(explosions)
639
00:40:36,279 --> 00:40:38,178
(men shouting)
640
00:40:38,279 --> 00:40:40,380
(explosions continue)
641
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,380
HARRIS: Like almost like every
hour there'd be a barrage.
642
00:40:45,446 --> 00:40:49,113
People get blown to bits,
literally blown to bits.
643
00:40:49,214 --> 00:40:52,914
You find a... a boot
with a leg in it, right.
644
00:40:53,014 --> 00:40:55,415
And so is the leg white or black?
645
00:40:55,515 --> 00:40:57,475
So who... who was the white
Marine that was here?
646
00:40:57,548 --> 00:40:58,615
Who was the black?
647
00:40:58,716 --> 00:41:00,817
So then you try to remember and you tag it
648
00:41:00,916 --> 00:41:02,284
and put that in the green bag.
649
00:41:02,384 --> 00:41:05,049
And that's what goes back, you know,
650
00:41:05,150 --> 00:41:07,417
as Marine Lance Corporal so and so.
651
00:41:07,517 --> 00:41:10,551
And so, but sometimes you're
not even sure because the body
652
00:41:10,652 --> 00:41:12,728
has literally been blown to
bits, and the only thing
653
00:41:12,752 --> 00:41:15,319
that's left is a foot or a piece of an arm.
654
00:41:15,419 --> 00:41:19,987
MUSGRAVE: I carried a wallet calendar
from Clifford Forlow Insurance.
655
00:41:20,086 --> 00:41:22,221
He was my dad's insurance agent.
656
00:41:22,321 --> 00:41:25,854
And I marked off each of
the days religiously.
657
00:41:25,954 --> 00:41:30,521
And then in October, we
went up to Con Thien again.
658
00:41:30,622 --> 00:41:35,490
I just stopped, because I
thought, "This is pointless.
659
00:41:35,589 --> 00:41:37,724
"I'm not getting... I'm not gonna go home.
660
00:41:37,824 --> 00:41:39,224
"I'm not gonna make it home.
661
00:41:39,324 --> 00:41:41,258
What... you know, what's the point?"
662
00:41:41,357 --> 00:41:43,258
So I just quit marking them off.
663
00:41:44,857 --> 00:41:47,135
HARRIS: I had the opportunity
to call my mother, you know.
664
00:41:47,159 --> 00:41:49,726
And I was telling my mother
what was happening over there
665
00:41:49,826 --> 00:41:51,959
and I was telling her how
she shouldn't believe
666
00:41:52,059 --> 00:41:55,860
what she sees in the newspaper
and-and sees on television
667
00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:58,161
because we're losing the war.
668
00:41:58,261 --> 00:42:00,761
And I said, "You'll
probably never see me again
669
00:42:00,861 --> 00:42:04,128
"because we're the most northern
outpost that the Marines have,
670
00:42:04,229 --> 00:42:05,628
"you know.
671
00:42:05,729 --> 00:42:07,938
"We could literally could look
right into North Vietnam.
672
00:42:07,962 --> 00:42:10,429
We could see the sparks
when the guns fired on us."
673
00:42:10,529 --> 00:42:13,798
And I said, "And everybody in
my unit is dying, you know.
674
00:42:13,898 --> 00:42:15,764
And I probably won't be coming back."
675
00:42:15,863 --> 00:42:17,964
And my mother said, "No,
you're coming back."
676
00:42:18,064 --> 00:42:20,899
She said, "I talk to God every
day and you're special.
677
00:42:20,999 --> 00:42:23,233
You're coming back."
678
00:42:23,333 --> 00:42:25,699
And I said, "Ma, everybody's
mother thinks that
679
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:27,401
"they're special, you know.
680
00:42:27,501 --> 00:42:29,466
I'm putting pieces of
special people in bags."
681
00:42:31,567 --> 00:42:33,367
And I was feeling that
my mother's in denial.
682
00:42:33,467 --> 00:42:35,735
She just doesn't want to face
the fact that her only son
683
00:42:35,835 --> 00:42:37,769
is gonna die in Vietnam.
684
00:42:37,868 --> 00:42:39,368
And I said, "Ma, this isn't a joke."
685
00:42:39,468 --> 00:42:41,145
I said, "Everybody's dying
over here, you know.
686
00:42:41,169 --> 00:42:42,237
Everybody's dying."
687
00:42:42,337 --> 00:42:43,869
And she said, "You're not gonna die.
688
00:42:43,969 --> 00:42:45,369
You're not gonna die."
689
00:42:45,469 --> 00:42:47,704
And, uh, the last thing she said to me was,
690
00:42:47,805 --> 00:42:49,870
"God has a plan for you."
691
00:42:49,970 --> 00:42:51,104
And I said, "Yeah, right."
692
00:42:51,204 --> 00:42:52,205
And I hung up.
693
00:42:53,138 --> 00:42:54,806
(explosion)
694
00:42:57,072 --> 00:42:59,807
Mr. Stout, during what period
of time were you in Vietnam?
695
00:42:59,907 --> 00:43:03,073
I was in Vietnam from September of 1966
696
00:43:03,174 --> 00:43:05,373
to September of 1967, one year.
697
00:43:05,473 --> 00:43:06,842
And with what unit?
698
00:43:06,941 --> 00:43:08,708
With the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne.
699
00:43:08,809 --> 00:43:11,175
During the time that you were in Vietnam,
700
00:43:11,275 --> 00:43:13,310
did you personally witness any atrocities
701
00:43:13,410 --> 00:43:15,343
on the part of American troops?
702
00:43:15,442 --> 00:43:16,442
Yes, I did.
703
00:43:18,011 --> 00:43:21,411
NARRATOR: Dennis Stout from
Phoenix, Arizona, had enlisted
704
00:43:21,511 --> 00:43:26,312
in the Army at 20, and served
nine months in combat.
705
00:43:26,412 --> 00:43:29,913
Wounded three times, he
became an Army reporter
706
00:43:30,013 --> 00:43:35,780
covering the 327th Regiment
of the 101st Airborne.
707
00:43:35,879 --> 00:43:40,214
He would spend most of his time
with a unique commando platoon
708
00:43:40,315 --> 00:43:41,714
called "Tiger Force"...
709
00:43:41,815 --> 00:43:45,048
small, handpicked teams,
capable of remaining
710
00:43:45,148 --> 00:43:47,882
in the jungle for weeks at a time,
711
00:43:47,982 --> 00:43:50,616
fast-moving and deadly,
712
00:43:50,716 --> 00:43:54,483
intended to "out-guerrilla the guerrillas."
713
00:43:55,818 --> 00:43:58,519
Tiger Force fought in six
different provinces,
714
00:43:58,618 --> 00:44:01,718
repeatedly suffering heavy losses.
715
00:44:01,819 --> 00:44:03,152
(rapid gunfire)
716
00:44:04,952 --> 00:44:08,220
RION CAUSEY: If you've lost your
best friend and you want revenge,
717
00:44:08,321 --> 00:44:11,553
it's the officers who say,
"No, you can't do that."
718
00:44:11,653 --> 00:44:14,755
And if you do it, then
there's consequences.
719
00:44:14,855 --> 00:44:17,588
But when the officers, and it
includes the platoon leader
720
00:44:17,689 --> 00:44:20,622
and the battalion commander,
are telling you that this is
721
00:44:20,722 --> 00:44:25,357
what you're supposed to do, then
it gets completely out of hand.
722
00:44:25,456 --> 00:44:29,457
NARRATOR: Some at MACV worried
that such a freewheeling outfit,
723
00:44:29,557 --> 00:44:33,326
operating on its own, would
be difficult to control.
724
00:44:33,426 --> 00:44:35,026
(gunfire)
725
00:44:35,125 --> 00:44:38,659
But General Westmoreland and
commanders in the field
726
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:43,294
admired Tiger Force for
its reliable ferocity.
727
00:44:43,393 --> 00:44:47,428
In the summer of 1967, Tiger Force was sent
728
00:44:47,528 --> 00:44:50,029
to the fertile Song Ve Valley.
729
00:44:50,128 --> 00:44:53,062
The entire population
had already been herded
730
00:44:53,162 --> 00:44:57,730
from their homes and crowded
into a refugee camp.
731
00:44:57,831 --> 00:45:01,063
But some had come back
to resume the farming
732
00:45:01,163 --> 00:45:03,432
they had always done.
733
00:45:04,932 --> 00:45:08,098
The valley had officially been
declared a free-fire zone,
734
00:45:08,199 --> 00:45:12,299
and Tiger Force's officers
took that literally.
735
00:45:12,398 --> 00:45:16,267
"There are no friendlies,"
one lieutenant told his men.
736
00:45:16,367 --> 00:45:19,201
"Shoot anything that moves."
737
00:45:22,701 --> 00:45:25,668
Over a seven-month period,
they killed scores
738
00:45:25,769 --> 00:45:28,270
of unarmed civilians.
739
00:45:28,370 --> 00:45:31,870
Among their victims were
two blind brothers;
740
00:45:31,969 --> 00:45:36,470
an elderly Buddhist monk;
women, children, and old people
741
00:45:36,570 --> 00:45:38,738
hiding in underground shelters;
742
00:45:38,839 --> 00:45:42,104
and three farmers trying to plant rice.
743
00:45:42,205 --> 00:45:46,605
All were reported as
"enemy... killed in action."
744
00:45:49,473 --> 00:45:53,407
STOUT: These atrocities
were committed by soldiers
745
00:45:53,507 --> 00:45:55,741
of units I was assigned to as a reporter
746
00:45:55,842 --> 00:45:57,674
for the Army newspapers, such as...
747
00:45:57,775 --> 00:46:01,242
NARRATOR: Tiger Force was
not the only platoon
748
00:46:01,343 --> 00:46:04,909
Dennis Stout covered that crossed the line.
749
00:46:05,009 --> 00:46:08,076
One such incident was the rape and killing
750
00:46:08,176 --> 00:46:09,977
of a Vietnamese girl.
751
00:46:10,077 --> 00:46:14,879
She was captured, kept for interrogation.
752
00:46:14,978 --> 00:46:17,846
Over a two-day period, she was raped, then,
753
00:46:17,946 --> 00:46:19,756
on the morning of the third
day, she was killed.
754
00:46:19,780 --> 00:46:23,179
Was she raped by more than one person?
755
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:26,848
Yes, all but the medic and myself,
756
00:46:26,948 --> 00:46:28,709
and possibly one other
man from the platoon.
757
00:46:28,782 --> 00:46:29,782
Did you protest?
758
00:46:29,882 --> 00:46:31,949
Did you try in any way
to have them stopped?
759
00:46:32,049 --> 00:46:35,316
Yes. After the rape incident, I complained
760
00:46:35,415 --> 00:46:39,817
to the battalion sergeant major,
and his response was that
761
00:46:39,916 --> 00:46:42,183
this type of thing happens in all wars,
762
00:46:42,284 --> 00:46:45,584
and that I was not to mention
it; it was a common occurrence.
763
00:46:45,684 --> 00:46:49,985
Then later, I went to the
chaplain, told him about it,
764
00:46:50,085 --> 00:46:52,319
he made an investigation himself,
765
00:46:52,418 --> 00:46:54,686
found that this was true, went with me
766
00:46:54,787 --> 00:46:56,220
to the sergeant major.
767
00:46:56,320 --> 00:47:00,388
The sergeant major then said that...
768
00:47:00,487 --> 00:47:02,407
well, he told the chaplain
to stick to religion,
769
00:47:02,455 --> 00:47:05,988
sent him away, and then
he told me to keep quiet,
770
00:47:06,088 --> 00:47:09,756
that I did nothave t o return
from the next operation.
771
00:47:11,290 --> 00:47:14,358
NARRATOR: Years later,
another soldier came forward
772
00:47:14,458 --> 00:47:17,157
with more allegations of war crimes,
773
00:47:17,257 --> 00:47:20,725
and an Army investigation
would find probable cause
774
00:47:20,825 --> 00:47:25,726
to try 18 members of Tiger
Force for murder or assault.
775
00:47:26,826 --> 00:47:29,327
But no charges were ever brought.
776
00:47:29,426 --> 00:47:32,561
The official records were
buried in the archives.
777
00:47:34,462 --> 00:47:36,362
WILLBANKS: They should
have all gone to jail.
778
00:47:36,462 --> 00:47:37,927
They were guilty of murder.
779
00:47:38,027 --> 00:47:39,396
Period.
780
00:47:39,495 --> 00:47:42,928
At the same time, I felt
like that incident,
781
00:47:43,028 --> 00:47:46,196
which I think was an
aberration, not the norm,
782
00:47:46,297 --> 00:47:48,897
tarred all veterans, and there
are hundreds of thousands
783
00:47:48,996 --> 00:47:50,764
of veterans who went and did their duty,
784
00:47:50,865 --> 00:47:53,298
and as honorable as they possibly could,
785
00:47:53,398 --> 00:47:55,165
and they're tarred with the same brush.
786
00:47:57,265 --> 00:48:00,532
KARL MARLANTES: One of the things
that I learned in the war is that
787
00:48:00,632 --> 00:48:05,267
we're not the top species on
the planet because we're nice.
788
00:48:05,368 --> 00:48:08,533
We are a very aggressive species.
789
00:48:08,633 --> 00:48:10,302
It is in us.
790
00:48:10,402 --> 00:48:13,735
And people talk a lot about
how, "Well, the military turns
791
00:48:13,835 --> 00:48:16,803
kids into killing machines" and stuff.
792
00:48:18,403 --> 00:48:21,136
And I'll always argue that
it's just finishing school.
793
00:48:21,237 --> 00:48:25,872
What we do with civilization
is that we learn to inhibit
794
00:48:25,972 --> 00:48:29,305
and rope in these aggressive tendencies.
795
00:48:29,405 --> 00:48:31,739
And we have to recognize them.
796
00:48:31,839 --> 00:48:35,639
I worry about a whole country
that doesn't recognize it.
797
00:48:35,740 --> 00:48:37,682
'Cause you think of how
many times we get ourselves
798
00:48:37,706 --> 00:48:41,040
in scrapes as a nation because
we're always the good guys.
799
00:48:41,140 --> 00:48:44,007
Sometimes, I think if we
thought that we weren't always
800
00:48:44,107 --> 00:48:46,441
the good guys, we might
actually get in less wars.
801
00:48:49,775 --> 00:48:50,776
(static humming)
802
00:48:50,877 --> 00:48:52,142
REPORTER: Mr. Rubin,
803
00:48:52,243 --> 00:48:54,977
how do you realistically expect
to shut down the Pentagon?
804
00:48:55,078 --> 00:48:58,177
The Pentagon represents
the murder of people
805
00:48:58,277 --> 00:48:59,543
throughout the world.
806
00:48:59,643 --> 00:49:01,778
And the American people have no control
807
00:49:01,879 --> 00:49:03,278
of what their government's doing.
808
00:49:03,379 --> 00:49:06,846
And so we're going to go there
in the scores of thousands,
809
00:49:06,945 --> 00:49:10,012
and block doors and fill hallways,
810
00:49:10,112 --> 00:49:12,146
so the work of the Pentagon stops.
811
00:49:12,247 --> 00:49:14,381
Because the work of the
Pentagon should stop.
812
00:49:14,481 --> 00:49:16,757
The only thing to do with the
Pentagon is to shut it down.
813
00:49:16,781 --> 00:49:19,382
("Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"
by Pete Seeger playing)
814
00:49:19,482 --> 00:49:22,148
d It was back in 1942
815
00:49:22,249 --> 00:49:24,515
d I was a member of a good platoon d
816
00:49:24,615 --> 00:49:27,850
d We were on maneuvers in Louisiana d
817
00:49:27,949 --> 00:49:29,850
d One night by the light of the moon d
818
00:49:29,949 --> 00:49:33,517
d The captain told us to ford a river d
819
00:49:33,617 --> 00:49:36,218
d That's how it all begun
820
00:49:36,319 --> 00:49:38,752
d We were knee deep in the Big Muddy d
821
00:49:38,852 --> 00:49:41,619
d The big fool says to push on
822
00:49:41,719 --> 00:49:45,387
BILL ZIMMERMAN: There was a major
demonstration either in New York
823
00:49:45,487 --> 00:49:50,053
or in Washington every
fall and every spring.
824
00:49:50,153 --> 00:49:53,188
We decided that we would
go to the demonstration
825
00:49:53,288 --> 00:49:56,856
in Washington at the Lincoln
Memorial in the fall of '67,
826
00:49:56,955 --> 00:49:59,555
but we would take as many people
out of that demonstration
827
00:49:59,655 --> 00:50:03,456
as we could and lead them to the Pentagon.
828
00:50:03,556 --> 00:50:08,024
And at the Pentagon, try to
do something more militant
829
00:50:08,124 --> 00:50:11,759
than simply stand around and
make speeches opposing the war,
830
00:50:11,859 --> 00:50:14,826
which is what these
demonstrations had become.
831
00:50:14,926 --> 00:50:16,403
SEEGER: d No man will be able to swim.
832
00:50:16,427 --> 00:50:19,726
ZIMMERMAN: And when the time
came to lead people away
833
00:50:19,827 --> 00:50:21,995
from the Lincoln Memorial
toward the Pentagon,
834
00:50:22,095 --> 00:50:24,660
50,000 people marched.
835
00:50:24,761 --> 00:50:27,061
SEEGER: d Men, follow me, I'll lead on
836
00:50:27,161 --> 00:50:30,096
d We were neck deep in the Big Muddy d
837
00:50:30,195 --> 00:50:33,196
d The big fool says to push on. d
838
00:50:33,296 --> 00:50:37,098
NARRATOR: Bill Zimmerman, now an
assistant professor of psychology
839
00:50:37,197 --> 00:50:39,831
at Brooklyn College, had
been against the war
840
00:50:39,931 --> 00:50:41,765
since the beginning.
841
00:50:41,865 --> 00:50:46,299
ZIMMERMAN: Then we found when we got
there concentric defense perimeters
842
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:49,500
that had been set up around
the Pentagon to keep us
843
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:51,199
at a distance from the building.
844
00:50:51,300 --> 00:50:55,700
We pushed against them, we
tore down their fences.
845
00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:57,667
SEEGER: d With the
captain dead and gone d
846
00:50:57,768 --> 00:50:59,443
d We stripped and dived
and found his body. d
847
00:50:59,467 --> 00:51:02,269
LESLIE GELB: I was working
that weekend day.
848
00:51:02,369 --> 00:51:06,636
The secretaries who were working
in my area were frightened
849
00:51:06,736 --> 00:51:11,270
to hell what these Vietnam
protesters would do.
850
00:51:11,370 --> 00:51:12,780
They thought they were going
to come into the building
851
00:51:12,804 --> 00:51:13,938
and rape them.
852
00:51:14,037 --> 00:51:16,405
Some of them actually came over the walls.
853
00:51:16,505 --> 00:51:18,439
SEEGER: d The big fool
said to push on. d
854
00:51:18,538 --> 00:51:21,940
GELB: It was a sense of revolution.
855
00:51:22,039 --> 00:51:23,039
(crowd yelling)
856
00:51:23,139 --> 00:51:24,972
SEEGER: d Waist deep in the Big Muddy
857
00:51:25,072 --> 00:51:26,941
d The big fool says to push on
858
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:29,874
d Waist deep in the Big Muddy
859
00:51:29,973 --> 00:51:32,009
d The big fool says to push on. d
860
00:51:32,109 --> 00:51:36,342
ZIMMERMAN: God knows what we were going
to do when we got in the building.
861
00:51:36,442 --> 00:51:38,376
Some people, the hippies,
862
00:51:38,475 --> 00:51:40,315
said they were going to
levitate the building.
863
00:51:40,410 --> 00:51:43,777
Other people wanted to commit
vandalism in the building.
864
00:51:43,877 --> 00:51:46,243
Other people wanted to
distribute antiwar literature
865
00:51:46,344 --> 00:51:48,612
in the building, talk to people.
866
00:51:48,711 --> 00:51:52,113
Just the idea of getting
into the headquarters
867
00:51:52,212 --> 00:51:54,279
of the United States military...
868
00:51:56,078 --> 00:51:59,380
It was the first time that
antiwar demonstrators
869
00:51:59,479 --> 00:52:03,881
had confronted active-duty
military personnel.
870
00:52:03,980 --> 00:52:06,580
We didn't consider them the enemy.
871
00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:10,148
We considered them victims of the war.
872
00:52:10,248 --> 00:52:15,350
But we began to see our own
government as the enemy.
873
00:52:15,450 --> 00:52:19,717
NARRATOR: President Johnson believed
that international communism
874
00:52:19,817 --> 00:52:22,318
was somehow behind the demonstration.
875
00:52:22,419 --> 00:52:25,785
He had directed the CIA to
come up with the evidence,
876
00:52:25,885 --> 00:52:29,652
and was furious when it found none.
877
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:32,820
DWIGHT EISENHOWER: Mr. President?
878
00:52:32,921 --> 00:52:33,787
LYNDON JOHNSON: Yes.
879
00:52:33,887 --> 00:52:34,787
This is General Eisenhower.
880
00:52:34,887 --> 00:52:36,097
How've you been, Mr. President?
881
00:52:36,121 --> 00:52:39,054
I'm doing fine under the circumstances.
882
00:52:39,154 --> 00:52:41,788
But we just had hell, and
these college students,
883
00:52:41,888 --> 00:52:43,755
I've had Hoover in after them.
884
00:52:43,856 --> 00:52:47,289
They came marched here, and
we arrested 600 of them,
885
00:52:47,389 --> 00:52:50,489
and we gave 29 of them pretty tough times.
886
00:52:50,589 --> 00:52:53,925
We found most of them really
were mentally diseased.
887
00:52:54,025 --> 00:52:58,091
Hoover's taken 256 that turned
in supposedly their draft cards.
888
00:52:58,191 --> 00:53:00,558
So, you're dealing with mental problems,
889
00:53:00,658 --> 00:53:02,793
I think that we talk too damn much
890
00:53:02,893 --> 00:53:05,092
about civil liberties and
constitutional rights
891
00:53:05,192 --> 00:53:06,659
of the individual and not enough
892
00:53:06,759 --> 00:53:08,193
about the rights of the masses.
893
00:53:08,294 --> 00:53:09,636
EISENHOWER: That's why we have it.
894
00:53:09,660 --> 00:53:11,628
We have freely elected
people and we've got to
895
00:53:11,727 --> 00:53:13,129
stand behind them.
896
00:53:13,228 --> 00:53:15,694
JOHNSON: I think your
government's in trouble, General.
897
00:53:15,795 --> 00:53:17,661
I think it's in... I
don't want to say this.
898
00:53:17,762 --> 00:53:19,463
But I think we're in more danger
899
00:53:19,562 --> 00:53:21,463
from these left-wing influences now
900
00:53:21,562 --> 00:53:24,431
than we've ever been in
37 years I've been here.
901
00:53:24,531 --> 00:53:27,563
And they're working in
my party from within.
902
00:53:27,663 --> 00:53:30,231
And Bobby thinks he's going
to get the nomination.
903
00:53:30,331 --> 00:53:34,565
NARRATOR: Allard Lowenstein, a
38-year-old attorney from New York,
904
00:53:34,665 --> 00:53:37,698
shared the antiwar fervor
of the protestors,
905
00:53:37,799 --> 00:53:39,599
but he believed the most effective way
906
00:53:39,699 --> 00:53:43,401
to end the fighting was to work
within the political system,
907
00:53:43,500 --> 00:53:45,301
not outside it.
908
00:53:45,401 --> 00:53:48,136
The answer, he said, was
to stop Lyndon Johnson
909
00:53:48,235 --> 00:53:51,802
from getting a second
full term as president.
910
00:53:51,902 --> 00:53:56,069
He had traveled the country
all year in search of someone
911
00:53:56,169 --> 00:53:58,804
willing to challenge the
president in the upcoming
912
00:53:58,904 --> 00:54:00,837
Democratic primaries.
913
00:54:00,938 --> 00:54:04,139
He asked Senator Robert
Kennedy of New York,
914
00:54:04,238 --> 00:54:07,238
who had begun to criticize
the Johnson administration
915
00:54:07,338 --> 00:54:08,739
over the war.
916
00:54:08,839 --> 00:54:12,140
He asked Lieutenant General James Gavin.
917
00:54:12,239 --> 00:54:16,206
He asked Senator George
McGovern of South Dakota.
918
00:54:16,307 --> 00:54:18,442
They all turned him down.
919
00:54:18,542 --> 00:54:22,174
Lowenstein kept looking.
920
00:54:27,175 --> 00:54:32,276
At Fort Sill, Oklahoma,
on November 17, 1967,
921
00:54:32,377 --> 00:54:35,610
friends and family of a
fallen soldier gathered
922
00:54:35,710 --> 00:54:39,178
for a funeral, one of
five military funerals
923
00:54:39,278 --> 00:54:41,678
held there that month.
924
00:54:41,778 --> 00:54:46,512
First Sergeant Pascal Cleatus
Poolaw had been killed
925
00:54:46,612 --> 00:54:49,113
as he tried to drag one of his wounded men
926
00:54:49,213 --> 00:54:53,982
off the battlefield near
the village of Loc Ninh.
927
00:54:54,081 --> 00:54:59,215
He was a remarkable soldier, had
been awarded one Silver Star
928
00:54:59,316 --> 00:55:04,783
in World War II, two more in
Korea, and was awarded a fourth,
929
00:55:04,884 --> 00:55:09,117
posthumously, for his gallantry in Vietnam.
930
00:55:09,217 --> 00:55:12,284
He was a Kiowa Indian.
931
00:55:12,385 --> 00:55:15,252
He and three of his sons were among
932
00:55:15,352 --> 00:55:20,353
the 42,000 Native Americans
who would serve in Vietnam,
933
00:55:20,454 --> 00:55:24,155
the highest per capita service
rate of any ethnic group
934
00:55:24,254 --> 00:55:26,421
in the United States.
935
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:31,456
Pascal Poolaw's widow
spoke at the ceremony.
936
00:55:31,556 --> 00:55:35,189
"He has followed the trail of
the great chiefs," she said.
937
00:55:35,289 --> 00:55:40,491
"His people hold him in
honor and highest esteem.
938
00:55:40,590 --> 00:55:44,791
"He has given his life for
the people and the country
939
00:55:44,892 --> 00:55:49,059
he loved so much."
940
00:55:52,426 --> 00:55:53,768
("Somebody to Love" by
Jefferson Airplane playing)
941
00:55:53,792 --> 00:55:55,093
d When the truth is found
942
00:55:55,193 --> 00:55:59,226
d To be lies
943
00:55:59,327 --> 00:56:02,162
d And all the joy
944
00:56:02,261 --> 00:56:06,595
d Within you dies
945
00:56:06,695 --> 00:56:09,063
d Don't you want somebody to love? d
946
00:56:09,163 --> 00:56:12,664
d Don't you need somebody to love? d
947
00:56:12,763 --> 00:56:16,431
d Wouldn't you love somebody to love? d
948
00:56:16,530 --> 00:56:20,899
d You better find somebody to love d
949
00:56:20,999 --> 00:56:22,832
d Love.
950
00:56:27,567 --> 00:56:30,501
MUSGRAVE: I didn't hear the word
"hippie" until I was at Con Thien
951
00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:32,009
and we got aPlaybo y, somebody
got aPlayboy in the mail,
952
00:56:32,033 --> 00:56:34,935
which was obviously very important to us.
953
00:56:35,034 --> 00:56:37,134
And there was an article on Haight-Ashbury
954
00:56:37,234 --> 00:56:38,834
and pictures of the girls running around
955
00:56:38,902 --> 00:56:40,535
without their tops, you know, free love.
956
00:56:40,635 --> 00:56:42,035
And they were hippies.
957
00:56:42,135 --> 00:56:44,635
And we thought it was "hip
pie" cause it had two Ps.
958
00:56:44,735 --> 00:56:46,504
You know, "Hey, I'm gonna go home
959
00:56:46,603 --> 00:56:47,937
"and be one of these hip pies
960
00:56:48,036 --> 00:56:49,612
"because the girls don't wear no clothes.
961
00:56:49,636 --> 00:56:52,037
You know, and they'll go
to bed with anybody."
962
00:56:52,137 --> 00:56:53,405
You know, even I could score.
963
00:56:53,505 --> 00:56:57,439
But the only information I
had of the peace movement
964
00:56:57,538 --> 00:56:59,173
came fromStars and Stripes.
965
00:56:59,272 --> 00:57:02,806
And that wasn't a real objective newspaper.
966
00:57:02,907 --> 00:57:05,240
And so I hated them
967
00:57:05,341 --> 00:57:07,240
before I ever even knew
anything about them.
968
00:57:07,341 --> 00:57:09,908
("Somebody to Love" continues)
969
00:57:13,541 --> 00:57:17,642
NARRATOR: The monsoon rains
continued to make life miserable
970
00:57:17,742 --> 00:57:21,143
for John Musgrave and the
other Marines at Con Thien.
971
00:57:21,243 --> 00:57:25,243
But by early November, the worst
of the shelling had ended.
972
00:57:25,345 --> 00:57:28,845
American airstrikes,
artillery, and Navy fire
973
00:57:28,945 --> 00:57:32,245
had taken a fearful toll
on the besieging enemy.
974
00:57:34,045 --> 00:57:39,514
Before dawn on November 7, two
companies of Musgrave's outfit
975
00:57:39,613 --> 00:57:42,348
were sent half a mile into the countryside
976
00:57:42,448 --> 00:57:45,748
northwest of the base to
sweep the area again.
977
00:57:47,615 --> 00:57:51,249
MUSGRAVE: We got into an
area that was old hedgerows
978
00:57:51,350 --> 00:57:53,450
that's grown over with jungle.
979
00:57:53,549 --> 00:57:55,918
Very difficult to see very far.
980
00:57:56,018 --> 00:57:59,085
In the clear area, we had
three NVA show themselves
981
00:57:59,185 --> 00:58:02,686
and start just spraying 30
rounds out of their AKs
982
00:58:02,785 --> 00:58:03,785
and then booking.
983
00:58:03,885 --> 00:58:05,086
(gunfire)
984
00:58:05,186 --> 00:58:09,052
The company commander himself
said, "I want their bodies.
985
00:58:09,152 --> 00:58:10,587
Bring me their bodies."
986
00:58:10,687 --> 00:58:13,954
Everything's about body count, right?
987
00:58:14,053 --> 00:58:17,054
We said, "Man, this is as old as Custer.
988
00:58:17,154 --> 00:58:19,554
"These guys are showing
themselves to draw us
989
00:58:19,654 --> 00:58:20,788
"into an ambush.
990
00:58:20,889 --> 00:58:23,423
"Lieutenant, don't do this," you know.
991
00:58:23,523 --> 00:58:27,123
"Please, these guys are bait."
992
00:58:27,223 --> 00:58:29,424
Well, the skipper says, "We got to go.
993
00:58:29,524 --> 00:58:31,557
We got to go."
994
00:58:31,657 --> 00:58:34,958
And... we went.
995
00:58:36,093 --> 00:58:37,792
(gunfire)
996
00:58:37,892 --> 00:58:40,258
And I can't tell you a whole
lot about the ambush.
997
00:58:40,359 --> 00:58:42,393
I was one of the first people to be shot.
998
00:58:42,494 --> 00:58:44,293
One round put me down.
999
00:58:44,393 --> 00:58:45,927
(gunfire)
1000
00:58:46,027 --> 00:58:49,495
And my grenadier was down, and
we were trying to get him back.
1001
00:58:49,595 --> 00:58:53,696
And Marines, from the
first day in boot camp,
1002
00:58:53,795 --> 00:58:56,296
you learn that Marines
don't leave their dead,
1003
00:58:56,396 --> 00:58:59,930
and they never, never leave their wounded.
1004
00:59:01,364 --> 00:59:04,063
And that's why I'm alive today.
1005
00:59:04,163 --> 00:59:08,432
First guy that came for me...
I was lying on my face...
1006
00:59:08,532 --> 00:59:09,932
(gunfire)
1007
00:59:10,032 --> 00:59:12,466
he reached down and stuck
his arms under my shoulders
1008
00:59:12,565 --> 00:59:16,934
and lifted me up and the
machine gun wasn't any far,
1009
00:59:17,034 --> 00:59:22,634
was maybe nine feet, ten feet
at the most, away from me.
1010
00:59:22,734 --> 00:59:24,267
This is a very intimate ambush.
1011
00:59:24,368 --> 00:59:25,368
It's a brawl.
1012
00:59:25,468 --> 00:59:26,869
(gunfire)
1013
00:59:26,969 --> 00:59:31,036
And he fired a burst into
my chest that blew me out
1014
00:59:31,135 --> 00:59:34,669
of the Marine's arms that was
holding me and then he was shot.
1015
00:59:34,769 --> 00:59:37,237
(gunfire)
1016
00:59:37,337 --> 00:59:43,571
Another very brave young Marine,
this 18-year-old from Louisiana,
1017
00:59:43,671 --> 00:59:46,706
his first firefight, had seen what happened
1018
00:59:46,806 --> 00:59:49,973
and still came for me.
1019
00:59:50,072 --> 00:59:54,740
And he reached for me, and he was
shot I think in the forearm.
1020
00:59:54,840 --> 00:59:57,641
And he was laying beside me.
1021
00:59:57,741 --> 00:59:59,585
Now, I've got a hole through
my chest big enough
1022
00:59:59,609 --> 01:00:01,174
to stick your fist through.
1023
01:00:02,142 --> 01:00:03,342
I'm dying and I know it.
1024
01:00:03,443 --> 01:00:04,575
(gunfire)
1025
01:00:04,675 --> 01:00:07,276
And I heard this horrible
screaming going on,
1026
01:00:07,377 --> 01:00:11,044
and I was trying to figure out
who was screaming like that,
1027
01:00:11,143 --> 01:00:12,411
because it sounded so...
1028
01:00:12,512 --> 01:00:15,478
(distant gunfire)
1029
01:00:19,379 --> 01:00:21,046
And then I realized it was me.
1030
01:00:23,779 --> 01:00:26,214
When they began to drag us
out, they were being pursued
1031
01:00:26,313 --> 01:00:30,115
by the North Vietnamese,
and they would drop us
1032
01:00:30,215 --> 01:00:31,881
and lay on top of us.
1033
01:00:31,981 --> 01:00:33,315
They knew... we were both dying.
1034
01:00:33,415 --> 01:00:36,748
The grenadier had been shot in
the right side of his chest.
1035
01:00:36,848 --> 01:00:38,950
They knew... we were both dead.
1036
01:00:39,050 --> 01:00:41,717
But we were still alive.
1037
01:00:41,816 --> 01:00:43,350
So, they weren't gonna leave us.
1038
01:00:43,451 --> 01:00:45,551
They would die before they would leave us.
1039
01:00:45,650 --> 01:00:47,695
And they covered us with
their bodies and fired back
1040
01:00:47,719 --> 01:00:50,952
at the NVA and then they'd jump
up and drag us a little farther
1041
01:00:51,052 --> 01:00:53,386
and then drop us and lay back on top of us.
1042
01:00:53,486 --> 01:00:56,352
And I kept telling them to leave me.
1043
01:00:56,453 --> 01:00:58,086
And I meant it. I meant it.
1044
01:00:58,186 --> 01:01:02,320
But all of a sudden I got scared
that they might really leave me.
1045
01:01:03,687 --> 01:01:04,687
(distant gunfire)
1046
01:01:04,787 --> 01:01:07,254
I was triaged three times.
1047
01:01:07,354 --> 01:01:10,188
And the senior corpsman said,
1048
01:01:10,288 --> 01:01:11,999
"He's either shot through
the heart or the lungs.
1049
01:01:12,023 --> 01:01:13,232
There's nothing I can do for him."
1050
01:01:13,256 --> 01:01:14,923
And he just turned away.
1051
01:01:15,024 --> 01:01:17,124
I went, "Well, okay."
1052
01:01:18,090 --> 01:01:21,757
And then, a helicopter came in.
1053
01:01:21,857 --> 01:01:23,425
And they threw me into the bird.
1054
01:01:23,526 --> 01:01:25,825
(distant helicopter blades humming)
1055
01:01:25,925 --> 01:01:29,159
And the corpsman on the bird
straddled me, stood over me,
1056
01:01:29,259 --> 01:01:32,259
and looked down at me, and then
looked up at the door gunner
1057
01:01:32,359 --> 01:01:36,160
and went... get me out of the way
1058
01:01:36,260 --> 01:01:37,336
because he couldn't work on me.
1059
01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:38,895
I was a dead man.
1060
01:01:38,995 --> 01:01:40,861
(muted helicopter blades beating)
1061
01:01:40,962 --> 01:01:42,861
And they flew me to Delta Med at Dong Ha.
1062
01:01:42,963 --> 01:01:46,996
And I thought, "Okay, I made it this far."
1063
01:01:47,095 --> 01:01:48,776
And this doctor comes over and looks at me
1064
01:01:48,830 --> 01:01:50,397
and I'm conscious.
1065
01:01:50,497 --> 01:01:52,731
I'm lucid.
1066
01:01:52,830 --> 01:01:54,232
And he checks a couple of things.
1067
01:01:54,331 --> 01:01:55,608
And I've got this huge hole in me.
1068
01:01:55,632 --> 01:01:57,173
And he looks at me right
in the eye, and he says,
1069
01:01:57,197 --> 01:01:58,966
"What's your religion, Marine?"
1070
01:01:59,066 --> 01:02:01,133
And I said, "Well, I'm a Protestant."
1071
01:02:01,233 --> 01:02:02,375
And he says, "Get a chaplain over here.
1072
01:02:02,399 --> 01:02:04,000
I can't help this man."
1073
01:02:04,099 --> 01:02:05,099
And then he walked away.
1074
01:02:06,467 --> 01:02:11,735
Another surgeon walks by,
and he looked at me,
1075
01:02:11,834 --> 01:02:15,935
and I was raised to
always be nice to people.
1076
01:02:16,036 --> 01:02:19,836
And when he looked at me, I
smiled at him and nodded.
1077
01:02:19,936 --> 01:02:24,103
And he said, "Why isn't
somebody helping this man?"
1078
01:02:24,203 --> 01:02:25,504
And inside I'm going,
1079
01:02:25,603 --> 01:02:27,363
"Yeah, why isn't somebody
helping this man?"
1080
01:02:28,438 --> 01:02:31,371
When they put me to sleep, I thought,
1081
01:02:31,472 --> 01:02:34,506
"Boy, this is really it," you know.
1082
01:02:34,605 --> 01:02:37,205
And it was kind of, "Okay, God,
1083
01:02:37,305 --> 01:02:39,907
into your hands, I deliver my spirit."
1084
01:02:41,106 --> 01:02:42,974
And I thought that was it.
1085
01:02:44,975 --> 01:02:47,175
And when I woke up in the
surgical intensive care ward,
1086
01:02:47,274 --> 01:02:49,675
which was a Quonset hut,
1087
01:02:49,775 --> 01:02:52,308
I thought, "Holy mackerel."
1088
01:02:52,409 --> 01:02:56,443
I just couldn't... I couldn't believe it.
1089
01:03:00,145 --> 01:03:01,645
Yesterday over Hanoi,
1090
01:03:01,745 --> 01:03:03,511
three American planes were shot down
1091
01:03:03,610 --> 01:03:06,246
and at least two of their pilots captured.
1092
01:03:06,345 --> 01:03:09,879
One of them was Lieutenant
Commander John McCain III,
1093
01:03:09,980 --> 01:03:13,147
the son of the U.S. Naval
commander in Europe.
1094
01:03:50,687 --> 01:03:54,256
NARRATOR: Hanoi was so pleased
to have captured the son
1095
01:03:54,355 --> 01:03:57,756
of an American admiral that they
allowed a French journalist
1096
01:03:57,855 --> 01:04:00,389
to interview McCain in the hospital.
1097
01:04:00,490 --> 01:04:04,790
He had just had his broken bones
set without even an aspirin
1098
01:04:04,890 --> 01:04:06,323
for the pain.
1099
01:04:06,424 --> 01:04:07,664
INTERVIEWER: What is your name?
1100
01:04:07,723 --> 01:04:10,791
Lieutenant Commander John McCain.
1101
01:04:10,891 --> 01:04:13,958
How many raids have you
done until the last one?
1102
01:04:14,059 --> 01:04:15,825
About 23.
1103
01:04:15,926 --> 01:04:20,626
In which circumstances
have you been shot down?
1104
01:04:20,726 --> 01:04:25,495
I was on a flight over the city of Hanoi,
1105
01:04:25,595 --> 01:04:32,695
and I was bombing and I was
hit by either a missile
1106
01:04:32,795 --> 01:04:34,496
or anti-aircraft fire.
1107
01:04:34,596 --> 01:04:41,598
I'm not sure which, and the
plane continued straight down,
1108
01:04:41,697 --> 01:04:49,698
and I ejected and broke
my leg and both arms
1109
01:04:50,366 --> 01:04:57,133
and went into a lake;
parachuted into a lake.
1110
01:04:57,233 --> 01:05:02,102
And I was picked up by
some North Vietnamese
1111
01:05:02,201 --> 01:05:08,270
and taken to the hospital,
where I almost died.
1112
01:05:08,369 --> 01:05:10,636
I would just like to tell...
1113
01:05:15,004 --> 01:05:17,438
...my wife...
1114
01:05:18,237 --> 01:05:20,805
...I will get well...
1115
01:05:23,338 --> 01:05:30,074
...and I love her and I
hope to see her soon.
1116
01:05:31,575 --> 01:05:34,175
NARRATOR: After the
interview, McCain was beaten
1117
01:05:34,275 --> 01:05:38,341
for not expressing sufficient
gratitude to his captors.
1118
01:05:44,376 --> 01:05:46,044
(soldiers conversing)
1119
01:05:46,143 --> 01:05:50,579
NARRATOR: All through the fall
of 1967, the North Vietnamese
1120
01:05:50,679 --> 01:05:54,411
and the Viet Cong continued their
series of "Border Battles"
1121
01:05:54,512 --> 01:05:57,046
in preparation for their
surprise offensive,
1122
01:05:57,145 --> 01:05:59,080
still months away.
1123
01:05:59,180 --> 01:06:02,980
Con Thien, where John Musgrave was wounded,
1124
01:06:03,081 --> 01:06:04,547
had been the first.
1125
01:06:04,646 --> 01:06:08,381
Then came the ARVN base at Song Be.
1126
01:06:08,481 --> 01:06:10,949
The South Vietnamese outpost adjacent to
1127
01:06:11,049 --> 01:06:14,183
the provincial capital
of Loc Ninh was next.
1128
01:06:14,283 --> 01:06:17,216
There, large units of North Vietnamese
1129
01:06:17,316 --> 01:06:21,118
and Viet Cong regulars mounted
a coordinated attack,
1130
01:06:21,217 --> 01:06:24,585
and then fought for five days
to hold on to the ground
1131
01:06:24,685 --> 01:06:28,552
they'd gained, something
they had never done before.
1132
01:06:28,651 --> 01:06:32,253
American commanders were puzzled.
1133
01:06:32,352 --> 01:06:36,987
Then, in early November,
reports reached MACV
1134
01:06:37,088 --> 01:06:39,353
that five North Vietnamese regiments
1135
01:06:39,454 --> 01:06:43,755
and a Viet Cong battalion...
some 7,000 men in all...
1136
01:06:43,854 --> 01:06:46,456
had begun massing in the Central Highlands
1137
01:06:46,555 --> 01:06:51,223
around the U.S. Special
Forces camp at Dak To again.
1138
01:06:51,324 --> 01:06:55,957
Among the North Vietnamese
regulars was Nguyen Thanh Son,
1139
01:06:56,056 --> 01:06:59,357
who had been so eager to
fight that he too had filled
1140
01:06:59,458 --> 01:07:03,558
his pockets with rocks
to pass his physical.
1141
01:07:17,695 --> 01:07:21,161
NARRATOR: As the NVA deployed their troops,
1142
01:07:21,262 --> 01:07:24,196
Westmoreland sent his to Dak To,
1143
01:07:24,297 --> 01:07:27,863
exactly what the enemy wanted him to do.
1144
01:07:27,964 --> 01:07:33,198
Among the Americans were the men
of the elite 173rd Airborne,
1145
01:07:33,299 --> 01:07:36,900
Westmoreland's Fire Brigade.
1146
01:07:41,300 --> 01:07:45,500
MATT HARRISON: We all knew in a general
sense that we wouldn't be brought back
1147
01:07:45,601 --> 01:07:48,535
if there wasn't something big going on.
1148
01:07:48,634 --> 01:07:54,068
You just knew that the area was
crawling with North Vietnamese,
1149
01:07:54,168 --> 01:07:58,703
and that they were there not
to avoid contact with us,
1150
01:07:58,804 --> 01:08:01,537
but they were there to
have contact with us.
1151
01:08:02,937 --> 01:08:05,204
NARRATOR: First Lieutenant
Matthew Harrison was now
1152
01:08:05,305 --> 01:08:08,071
with Alpha Company of the 2nd Battalion,
1153
01:08:08,171 --> 01:08:10,705
the same rifle company
that had been ambushed
1154
01:08:10,806 --> 01:08:16,040
and so badly shattered back in
June on the slopes of Hill 1338,
1155
01:08:16,139 --> 01:08:18,808
just 14 miles to the east.
1156
01:08:18,908 --> 01:08:22,542
HARRISON: This wasn't like the Viet
Cong where if you could find them,
1157
01:08:22,641 --> 01:08:23,909
you could kill them.
1158
01:08:24,008 --> 01:08:25,309
Our problem wasn't finding them.
1159
01:08:25,409 --> 01:08:27,691
Our problem was what to do
with them once you found them.
1160
01:08:27,742 --> 01:08:32,911
NARRATOR: The 174th NVA
Regiment was waiting.
1161
01:08:33,010 --> 01:08:36,811
Nguyen Thanh Son and his
men were already dug in
1162
01:08:36,911 --> 01:08:39,978
on the high ground they knew
the Americans would want
1163
01:08:40,077 --> 01:08:44,813
to command: Hill 875.
1164
01:09:05,983 --> 01:09:11,217
NARRATOR: On Sunday
morning, November 19, 1967,
1165
01:09:11,318 --> 01:09:14,819
Alpha, Charlie, and Delta
Companies were ordered
1166
01:09:14,919 --> 01:09:17,820
to take Hill 875.
1167
01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:21,385
Matt Harrison had been
wounded in an earlier fight
1168
01:09:21,486 --> 01:09:24,321
and was not permitted to accompany his men.
1169
01:09:24,421 --> 01:09:28,721
He anxiously followed their
progress over the radio.
1170
01:09:28,822 --> 01:09:33,522
Heavy artillery and flights of
F-100s blasted the hillside
1171
01:09:33,623 --> 01:09:37,455
ahead of them, meant to
knock out enemy positions
1172
01:09:37,556 --> 01:09:40,756
before the paratroopers
ever got within range.
1173
01:09:57,627 --> 01:10:00,027
NARRATOR: The three companies
moved up the slope,
1174
01:10:00,128 --> 01:10:02,561
Charlie and Delta in the lead,
1175
01:10:02,660 --> 01:10:05,862
Alpha bringing up the rear.
1176
01:10:05,961 --> 01:10:09,430
The paratroopers stepped
warily into a clearing
1177
01:10:09,529 --> 01:10:12,762
filled with fallen trees from
the morning's bombardment
1178
01:10:12,863 --> 01:10:17,663
and only a little over 300
yards from the summit.
1179
01:10:31,099 --> 01:10:32,766
(gunfire)
1180
01:10:32,867 --> 01:10:35,868
NARRATOR: Thousands of automatic
weapon rounds ripped through the air.
1181
01:10:35,967 --> 01:10:39,035
Chinese-made grenades
came rolling and bumping
1182
01:10:39,136 --> 01:10:40,535
down the slopes.
1183
01:10:40,636 --> 01:10:44,870
The Americans sought cover where
they could behind fallen trees,
1184
01:10:44,969 --> 01:10:47,570
scrabbled at the earth with their helmets,
1185
01:10:47,669 --> 01:10:49,871
trying to dig fighting holes.
1186
01:10:49,970 --> 01:10:52,703
(gunfire)
1187
01:10:52,804 --> 01:10:54,171
(soldiers yelling)
1188
01:10:54,271 --> 01:10:56,572
(rapid gunfire)
1189
01:10:56,671 --> 01:10:59,573
Charlie and Delta companies
were pinned down
1190
01:10:59,672 --> 01:11:02,573
and being torn to pieces.
1191
01:11:02,672 --> 01:11:03,906
(gunfire)
1192
01:11:04,007 --> 01:11:05,841
Meanwhile, near the foot of the hill,
1193
01:11:05,941 --> 01:11:09,041
other North Vietnamese troops
surprised Alpha Company
1194
01:11:09,142 --> 01:11:10,474
from behind.
1195
01:11:10,575 --> 01:11:13,642
They were first spotted
moving up through the trees
1196
01:11:13,742 --> 01:11:17,443
by a private from the Bronx
named Carlos Lozada.
1197
01:11:17,542 --> 01:11:20,709
As the men of his company
scrambled up the slope,
1198
01:11:20,810 --> 01:11:22,609
dragging their wounded with them,
1199
01:11:22,709 --> 01:11:25,277
Lozada provided what cover he could,
1200
01:11:25,378 --> 01:11:28,145
firing his M-60 machine gun from his hip...
1201
01:11:28,244 --> 01:11:30,978
before a bullet hit him in the head.
1202
01:11:32,346 --> 01:11:37,179
He would be awarded a
posthumous Medal of Honor.
1203
01:11:37,279 --> 01:11:41,180
Back home, the battle led the nightly news.
1204
01:11:41,280 --> 01:11:42,881
(helicopter humming)
1205
01:11:42,980 --> 01:11:45,882
WALTER CRONKITE: The Battle of
Dak To is now on its 19th day,
1206
01:11:45,981 --> 01:11:48,281
and already ranks among
the bloodiest campaigns
1207
01:11:48,382 --> 01:11:49,816
of the Vietnam War.
1208
01:11:49,915 --> 01:11:51,549
There's no sign yet of any let-up.
1209
01:11:51,650 --> 01:11:53,182
Over the weekend, three companies
1210
01:11:53,282 --> 01:11:57,283
of the 173rd Airborne Brigade
moved down this river valley,
1211
01:11:57,384 --> 01:12:00,284
up which North Vietnamese
normally infiltrate,
1212
01:12:00,385 --> 01:12:03,452
until they got down here by Hill 875.
1213
01:12:03,551 --> 01:12:05,886
Then, they came under
heavy fire from the hill.
1214
01:12:05,985 --> 01:12:08,086
Two of the three companies
charged the hill,
1215
01:12:08,185 --> 01:12:10,053
the other stayed back as a rear guard.
1216
01:12:10,154 --> 01:12:11,486
They found a...
1217
01:12:11,587 --> 01:12:14,720
HARRISON: By early afternoon,
the three companies
1218
01:12:14,821 --> 01:12:17,088
had basically been decapitated.
1219
01:12:17,187 --> 01:12:18,987
The company commanders were dead;
1220
01:12:19,088 --> 01:12:22,156
most of the officers and
most of the NCOs were dead.
1221
01:12:22,255 --> 01:12:23,956
(soldiers yelling)
1222
01:12:24,055 --> 01:12:26,756
NARRATOR: The survivors from
all three companies clustered
1223
01:12:26,857 --> 01:12:29,557
in the clearing and did
their best to set up
1224
01:12:29,658 --> 01:12:31,324
a defensive circle.
1225
01:12:31,423 --> 01:12:36,058
American bombs and napalm
pounded enemy positions
1226
01:12:36,159 --> 01:12:39,660
until it grew almost too dark to see.
1227
01:13:07,930 --> 01:13:12,765
NARRATOR: Then, another American plane
roared in and dropped two bombs.
1228
01:13:12,866 --> 01:13:15,867
One landed among the hidden enemy troops.
1229
01:13:17,100 --> 01:13:21,668
The other fell directly on the Americans.
1230
01:13:21,767 --> 01:13:26,568
In a fraction of a second, 42 were killed.
1231
01:13:26,669 --> 01:13:30,603
A badly hit lieutenant managed
to find a working radio.
1232
01:13:30,702 --> 01:13:34,135
"No more fucking planes,"
he shouted into it.
1233
01:13:34,235 --> 01:13:36,971
"You're killingus up here."
1234
01:13:37,070 --> 01:13:38,436
(explosion)
1235
01:13:38,537 --> 01:13:40,804
The fighting on the hillside continued.
1236
01:13:40,905 --> 01:13:45,339
The men ran out of water, began
to run out of ammunition.
1237
01:13:45,438 --> 01:13:50,173
Helicopters that tried to ferry
in supplies were shot down.
1238
01:13:51,540 --> 01:13:58,640
The following day, Matt Harrison
was able to chopper in.
1239
01:13:58,740 --> 01:14:00,341
HARRISON: It was chaos.
1240
01:14:00,441 --> 01:14:03,241
It was collections of guys
who had who had tunneled
1241
01:14:03,342 --> 01:14:05,543
and dug down behind trees.
1242
01:14:05,642 --> 01:14:09,076
These were guys who had gone
without water in that heat
1243
01:14:09,177 --> 01:14:10,678
for two days.
1244
01:14:10,777 --> 01:14:14,777
And almost every one of them was wounded.
1245
01:14:14,878 --> 01:14:18,912
And then all around were bodies,
1246
01:14:19,011 --> 01:14:23,312
guys who had been shot and blown up.
1247
01:14:23,413 --> 01:14:25,046
It was the third circle of hell.
1248
01:14:27,813 --> 01:14:32,281
NARRATOR: On November 23, two
fresh battalions of the 173rd
1249
01:14:32,382 --> 01:14:34,915
finally made it to the top of the hill,
1250
01:14:35,014 --> 01:14:37,849
for which so many had died.
1251
01:14:37,948 --> 01:14:39,715
But the night before,
1252
01:14:39,815 --> 01:14:42,716
the surviving North Vietnamese
troops had slipped down
1253
01:14:42,816 --> 01:14:49,051
the other side and disappeared
into Cambodia and Laos.
1254
01:14:49,150 --> 01:14:51,785
The powers that be decided
it would be important
1255
01:14:51,886 --> 01:14:56,353
to our morale for us to be in on
the taking the top of the hill.
1256
01:14:56,452 --> 01:15:01,688
I had 26 guys left out of a
company that started out of 140,
1257
01:15:01,787 --> 01:15:04,453
and all 26 had been wounded.
1258
01:15:04,554 --> 01:15:08,855
NARRATOR: Then Harrison and his
exhausted men were helicoptered
1259
01:15:08,954 --> 01:15:10,721
to the top of yet another hill.
1260
01:15:10,821 --> 01:15:12,522
(helicopter blades whirring)
1261
01:15:16,456 --> 01:15:18,691
It was Thanksgiving.
1262
01:15:18,790 --> 01:15:22,058
Chinook helicopters clattered
down out of the sky,
1263
01:15:22,157 --> 01:15:25,791
carrying huge containers of hot
turkey and mashed potatoes
1264
01:15:25,892 --> 01:15:30,393
and cranberry sauce so
that the 173rd could have
1265
01:15:30,493 --> 01:15:32,427
their Thanksgiving dinner.
1266
01:15:32,526 --> 01:15:35,093
If there are any more
remote or dangerous spots
1267
01:15:35,194 --> 01:15:37,235
to spend Thanksgiving Day
in Vietnam than this one,
1268
01:15:37,260 --> 01:15:39,395
then most of these men
have never seen them.
1269
01:15:39,495 --> 01:15:42,896
HARRISON: There was a TV cameraman
and reporter off to the side
1270
01:15:42,996 --> 01:15:44,595
using us as a backdrop.
1271
01:15:44,696 --> 01:15:47,397
And I remember hearing the reporter intone,
1272
01:15:47,497 --> 01:15:50,563
"Today is November 23, Thanksgiving Day,"
1273
01:15:50,662 --> 01:15:54,431
and I was really angry.
1274
01:15:54,530 --> 01:15:58,432
It's as though we were entertainers.
1275
01:15:59,932 --> 01:16:05,732
NARRATOR: 107 Americans
had died taking Hill 875;
1276
01:16:05,832 --> 01:16:08,701
another 282 were wounded.
1277
01:16:08,800 --> 01:16:10,533
Ten more were missing.
1278
01:16:10,634 --> 01:16:14,467
The number of North Vietnamese
casualties is unknown,
1279
01:16:14,568 --> 01:16:18,535
but their losses are thought
to have been staggering.
1280
01:16:20,102 --> 01:16:24,469
Back in June, Matt Harrison had
lost two West Point classmates
1281
01:16:24,570 --> 01:16:27,205
on Hill 1338.
1282
01:16:27,304 --> 01:16:30,337
He lost two more on Hill 875.
1283
01:16:30,438 --> 01:16:34,072
Of the eight with whom he had
served in the 2nd Battalion,
1284
01:16:34,171 --> 01:16:38,472
four were now dead and
two had been wounded.
1285
01:16:41,039 --> 01:16:44,508
HARRISON: To take tops of mountains
in a triple canopy jungle
1286
01:16:44,607 --> 01:16:47,741
along the Cambodian-Laotian
border accomplished nothing
1287
01:16:47,841 --> 01:16:50,009
of any importance.
1288
01:16:51,741 --> 01:16:56,309
The Battle for Hill 875
was, in my thinking today,
1289
01:16:56,410 --> 01:16:59,776
a microcosm of what we were
doing and what went wrong
1290
01:16:59,877 --> 01:17:01,310
in Vietnam.
1291
01:17:01,411 --> 01:17:05,145
There was no reason to take that hill.
1292
01:17:05,244 --> 01:17:08,946
We literally got to the top of the hill
1293
01:17:09,045 --> 01:17:15,813
about mid-day on November
23 and sat there for,
1294
01:17:15,914 --> 01:17:17,747
I don't know, half an hour, an hour,
1295
01:17:17,847 --> 01:17:21,814
just kind of gathering ourselves
and everything together.
1296
01:17:21,915 --> 01:17:25,181
Chinooks came in, took us off the hill.
1297
01:17:25,281 --> 01:17:29,150
And I doubt that there's
been an American on Hill 875
1298
01:17:29,249 --> 01:17:31,316
since November 23.
1299
01:17:31,417 --> 01:17:33,683
We accomplished nothing.
1300
01:17:33,783 --> 01:17:37,317
WILLIAM WESTMORELAND: A new
phase is now starting.
1301
01:17:37,418 --> 01:17:40,351
We have reached an important
point when the end
1302
01:17:40,452 --> 01:17:42,720
begins to come into view.
1303
01:17:44,420 --> 01:17:47,986
NARRATOR: As Matt Harrison and
his men fought for Hill 875,
1304
01:17:48,087 --> 01:17:50,721
the Johnson administration was in the midst
1305
01:17:50,820 --> 01:17:52,620
of a "Success Offensive,"
1306
01:17:52,721 --> 01:17:57,588
a PR campaign aimed at shoring
up support for the war
1307
01:17:57,687 --> 01:18:00,188
and the way it was being waged.
1308
01:18:00,288 --> 01:18:04,590
MACV released a new and
surprisingly low estimate
1309
01:18:04,689 --> 01:18:08,624
of enemy forces to show how
much damage the United States
1310
01:18:08,725 --> 01:18:10,091
had done to them.
1311
01:18:10,190 --> 01:18:14,558
It was only two-thirds of the
total suggested by the CIA,
1312
01:18:14,659 --> 01:18:17,092
because, after a bitter
and prolonged debate
1313
01:18:17,191 --> 01:18:20,059
behind the scenes, Westmoreland had chosen
1314
01:18:20,160 --> 01:18:23,228
to exclude from it the
part-time guerrillas...
1315
01:18:23,327 --> 01:18:27,360
farmers, old men, women, even children...
1316
01:18:27,461 --> 01:18:31,194
who helped place the mines,
grenades, and booby traps
1317
01:18:31,294 --> 01:18:33,362
that accounted for more than a third
1318
01:18:33,463 --> 01:18:35,995
of all American casualties.
1319
01:18:36,096 --> 01:18:39,130
General Westmoreland also told the press
1320
01:18:39,231 --> 01:18:42,763
that the impressive body
counts his commanders reported
1321
01:18:42,863 --> 01:18:45,465
were "very, very conservative."
1322
01:18:45,564 --> 01:18:48,032
It probably represented, he said,
1323
01:18:48,131 --> 01:18:52,698
"50 percent or even less of the
enemy that has been killed."
1324
01:18:52,798 --> 01:18:56,499
Ambassador Ellsworth
Bunker joined the chorus,
1325
01:18:56,600 --> 01:19:00,300
using a metaphor first
used 13 years earlier
1326
01:19:00,401 --> 01:19:02,935
by the French commander in Vietnam,
1327
01:19:03,035 --> 01:19:07,602
not long before their great
defeat at Dien Bien Phu.
1328
01:19:07,701 --> 01:19:10,937
And I think we're now
beginning to see light
1329
01:19:11,037 --> 01:19:12,403
at the end of the tunnel.
1330
01:19:12,502 --> 01:19:15,637
Mr. Ambassador, you talk about
light at the end of the tunnel.
1331
01:19:15,738 --> 01:19:17,270
How long is this tunnel?
1332
01:19:17,370 --> 01:19:19,939
Well, I don't think that you can put it
1333
01:19:20,039 --> 01:19:25,839
into any particular timeframe,
a situation like this.
1334
01:19:27,372 --> 01:19:31,706
NARRATOR: LBJ's Success
Offensive succeeded.
1335
01:19:31,806 --> 01:19:35,141
The number of Americans who
believed the United States
1336
01:19:35,242 --> 01:19:39,909
was making real progress in the war grew.
1337
01:19:40,008 --> 01:19:43,342
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
1338
01:19:43,443 --> 01:19:47,509
did not take part in the
public relations campaign.
1339
01:19:47,610 --> 01:19:51,245
He had become so disillusioned
with the war he'd done so much
1340
01:19:51,344 --> 01:19:53,844
to plan and prosecute that he wrote
1341
01:19:53,945 --> 01:19:56,278
another secret memo to the president,
1342
01:19:56,378 --> 01:20:00,312
advising Johnson to freeze
American troop levels,
1343
01:20:00,413 --> 01:20:04,047
turn over ground operations
to the South Vietnamese,
1344
01:20:04,147 --> 01:20:06,548
and halt the bombing of North Vietnam
1345
01:20:06,647 --> 01:20:09,648
"in order to bring about negotiations."
1346
01:20:09,749 --> 01:20:13,381
There was no reason to
believe, McNamara wrote,
1347
01:20:13,482 --> 01:20:17,183
that the prolonged "infliction
of grievous casualties,
1348
01:20:17,282 --> 01:20:19,951
"or the heavy punishment
of air bombardment,
1349
01:20:20,051 --> 01:20:23,016
"will suffice to break the
will of the North Vietnamese
1350
01:20:23,117 --> 01:20:24,552
"and Viet Cong.
1351
01:20:24,651 --> 01:20:27,784
"The continuation of our
present course of action
1352
01:20:27,884 --> 01:20:32,753
"in Southeast Asia would be
dangerous, costly in lives,
1353
01:20:32,852 --> 01:20:36,086
and unsatisfactory to the American people."
1354
01:20:36,187 --> 01:20:39,386
Johnson never responded.
1355
01:20:39,487 --> 01:20:42,520
Instead, he arranged for McNamara to become
1356
01:20:42,621 --> 01:20:45,556
the president of the World Bank.
1357
01:20:45,655 --> 01:20:49,489
McNamara would keep silent about
the doubts he had harbored
1358
01:20:49,588 --> 01:20:51,690
since the beginning of the ground war
1359
01:20:51,789 --> 01:20:55,290
for the next 28 years.
1360
01:20:55,390 --> 01:20:58,390
His successor as defense secretary would be
1361
01:20:58,491 --> 01:20:59,724
Clark Clifford,
1362
01:20:59,824 --> 01:21:03,391
a prominent Washington
lawyer and trusted counselor
1363
01:21:03,492 --> 01:21:06,960
to Democratic presidents, whom
Johnson was sure would be
1364
01:21:07,060 --> 01:21:08,792
supportive of the war.
1365
01:21:08,892 --> 01:21:10,961
Students of Harvard...
1366
01:21:11,061 --> 01:21:14,360
NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Allard
Lowenstein's yearlong search
1367
01:21:14,461 --> 01:21:16,894
for a Democratic challenger
to the president
1368
01:21:16,995 --> 01:21:19,027
had finally succeeded.
1369
01:21:19,128 --> 01:21:25,096
On November 30, 1967, Minnesota
senator Eugene McCarthy
1370
01:21:25,197 --> 01:21:27,064
announced that he would run.
1371
01:21:27,163 --> 01:21:29,796
This is an issue which has to be taken
1372
01:21:29,896 --> 01:21:33,330
to the people of the country
in the campaign of 1968.
1373
01:21:33,431 --> 01:21:34,465
(crowd cheers)
1374
01:21:36,531 --> 01:21:39,531
NARRATOR: By the end of 1967,
1375
01:21:39,632 --> 01:21:45,099
20,057 Americans had died in Vietnam.
1376
01:21:45,201 --> 01:21:48,468
The time had come, General
Westmoreland said,
1377
01:21:48,568 --> 01:21:52,435
for an "all-out offensive on all fronts."
1378
01:21:56,070 --> 01:21:59,703
But the enemy was just a
month away from launching
1379
01:21:59,802 --> 01:22:02,836
an all-out offensive of its own.
1380
01:22:04,271 --> 01:22:06,192
("Paint in Black" by the
Rolling Stones playing)
1381
01:22:17,940 --> 01:22:23,840
d I see a red door and I
want it painted black d
1382
01:22:23,941 --> 01:22:29,841
d No colors anymore, I
want them to turn black d
1383
01:22:29,942 --> 01:22:32,143
d I see the girls walk by
1384
01:22:32,242 --> 01:22:35,944
d Dressed in their summer clothes d
1385
01:22:36,043 --> 01:22:42,145
d I have to turn my head
until my darkness goes d
1386
01:22:42,244 --> 01:22:47,946
d I see a line of cars and
they're all painted black d
1387
01:22:48,045 --> 01:22:53,947
d With flowers and my love,
both never to come back d
1388
01:22:54,046 --> 01:23:00,015
d I see people turn their
heads and quickly look away d
1389
01:23:00,114 --> 01:23:06,183
d Like a newborn baby, it
just happens every day d
1390
01:23:06,284 --> 01:23:12,184
d I look inside myself and
see my heart is black d
1391
01:23:12,285 --> 01:23:18,185
d I see my red door and must
have it painted black d
1392
01:23:18,286 --> 01:23:24,220
d Maybe then I'll fade away and
not have to face the facts d
1393
01:23:24,319 --> 01:23:30,420
d It's not easy facing up when
your whole world is black d
1394
01:23:30,521 --> 01:23:36,656
d No more will my green sea
go turn a deeper blue d
1395
01:23:36,755 --> 01:23:42,890
d I could not foresee this
thing happening to you d
1396
01:23:42,991 --> 01:23:48,792
d If I look hard enough
into the setting sun d
1397
01:23:48,891 --> 01:23:54,858
d My love will laugh with me
before the morning comes d
1398
01:23:54,959 --> 01:24:00,926
d I see a red door and I
want it painted black d
1399
01:24:01,027 --> 01:24:06,962
d No colors anymore, I
want them to turn black d
1400
01:24:07,061 --> 01:24:09,096
d I see the girls walk by
1401
01:24:09,195 --> 01:24:13,030
d Dressed in their summer clothes d
1402
01:24:13,129 --> 01:24:19,130
d I have to turn my head
until my darkness goes d
1403
01:24:19,231 --> 01:24:23,965
(humming)
1404
01:24:24,064 --> 01:24:25,431
d I wanna see it painted
1405
01:24:25,532 --> 01:24:29,233
d Painted, painted, painted black d
1406
01:24:29,332 --> 01:24:31,233
d Yeah.
1407
01:24:34,233 --> 01:24:38,233
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