Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Two months after the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong

shattered America's expectations of a quick victory

by launching the Tet Offensive, the Vietnam War

is increasingly unpopular.

[music playing]

MAN: Hundreds of young men across the country

are burning their draft cards this week in their commitment

to resist the draft.

REPORTER: Are you burning your draft card?

MAN: I don't want to get killed.

I don't mind getting in the army,

but you're going to go over in Vietnam

and die in some rice paddy for something

that not even the president can tell you what it's about.

CROWD: [CHANTING] Hell no, we won't go.

NARRATOR: As the US military presence continues to escalate,

voluntary enlistments fail to keep pace, forcing the army

to increasingly depend on the draft to fill the growing

ranks.

MAN: When do we want equality?

CROWD: Now!

MAN: When are we going to get it?

CROWD: Now.

[explosion]

[gunfire]

Run!

[music playing]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: They may call this place

the home of the combat infantryman,

but it's more like a temporary home.

Within a few months, all our asses are heading to Vietnam.

NARRATOR: 19-year-old draftee Arthur Wiknik is training

in Fort Polk, Louisiana.

For tens of thousands of recruits,

the 198,000-acre complex is their last stop before Vietnam.

[explosions]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: A month ago, the military

wasn't even on my radar.

I had just bought a new car, a 1968 Camaro.

And I had just gotten a new job at an aircraft company,

I was making pretty good money.

And then I got a draft notice.

That was such a crushing blow, because I

lived a comfortable life.

I had everything I ever wanted, and it was

going to be taken away from me.

But I still had to go, because all my friends were being

drafted.

MAN: Go, go, go.

ARTHUR WIKNIK: No matter how bad this place is,

I'd still rather be here than in Vietnam.

So when my commanding officer says

he wants to send me the NCO Candidate School to become

a squad leader, I'm about to say no.

Till he says, "You can stay in the states six more months."

I said, well, then I'll do it.

Because I don't want to go to Vietnam.

And I figured, within six months,

maybe the war will be over, or our involvement will

be so minimal that they won't be taking anybody anymore.

[explosion]

Unfortunately, when I went to the school,

the war hadn't even reached its peak yet.

[explosion]

NARRATOR: Indeed, the war Arthur Wiknik is about to enter

is in fact continuing to escalate.

[gunfire]

Although the NVA and VC suffered a military defeat during Tet,

they did win a psychological victory.

MAN: Go, go, go!

NARRATOR: Now they are launching a series of small scale attacks

to further weaken American morale.

[crowd yelling]

For a nation already in turmoil, the shocking events

of the next five months will nearly tear it apart.

[sirens]

[explosion]

[gunfire]

[shouting]

REPORTER: Has Senator Kennedy been shot?

Could-- could this have happened?

[screaming]

[sirens]

[cheering]

[music - "star spangled banner"]

NARRATOR: Against this backdrop of war and domestic unrest,

Republican Richard Nixon wins the presidency, on the promise

of restoring order at home, and achieving peace abroad.

[applause]

The greatest honor history can bestow

is the title of peacemaker.

This honor now beckons America.

The chance--

NARRATOR: But as Nixon takes the oath of office,

there are 537,000 American troops in Vietnam.

300 are being killed or wounded weekly.

[applause]

And despite the replacement of General William Westmoreland

with General Creighton Abrams as the overall commander six

months earlier.

The military situation remains virtually the same.

A tedious rhythm of search and destroy

in which American ground forces spend weeks at a time

hunting down an elusive enemy in an unforgiving terrain,

and then tallying the bodies of the dead.

For US soldiers arriving in 1969,

Vietnam is the same body count based war

that it was four years earlier.

[flies buzzing]

[MUSIC - THE AMERICAN BREED, "BEND ME, SHAPE ME"]

THE AMERICAN BREED: [SINGING] Bend me, shape me any way

you want me.

As long as you love me, it's all right.

NARRATOR: To help relieve some of the stress

on soldiers who were in continual action in the field,

the US military has in-country rest and recreation,

or R&R sites.

Although these have existed in previous wars,

Vietnam is the first time they are located in an active war

zone.

ARTHUR WIKNIK: If this is Vietnam,

this is my kind of war.

They've even got girls in bikinis.

NARRATOR: One month after arriving in Vietnam,

Sergeant Arthur Wiknik's company from the 101st Airborne

is sent for a three-day rest.

ARTHUR WIKNIK: It's great and all, but at the same time,

I kind of feel guilty.

Most of these guys have been out there fighting

the VC for months.

They deserve a chance to kick back and blow off some steam.

I don't.

But just as I'm starting to enjoy myself,

they're shuffling us back to Camp Evans.

And something big was up, but we didn't know what it was.

So we're all assembled, and our captain comes out, and tells us

that some of our buddies are in trouble out in the A Shau

Valley, and we're going to go in and help them.

Now, I had never heard of the A Shau Valley,

but some of these other guys did.

So a couple of guys are saying, oh my God, the A Shau valley.

He says, the NVA drive trucks down there.

We're going there?

What the heck's going on?

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Unknown to Wiknik, he is

about to enter one of the most viciously contested regions

in all of South Vietnam.

Located along the Laotian border,

the heavily-jungled A Shau Valley

is one of the NVA's most valuable base areas

in South Vietnam.

It serves as a funnel for soldiers and supplies

coming off the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

A week earlier, a 400-man battalion of US soldiers

discovered 1,500 NVA dug into Hill 937,

less than a mile from the border.

[explosion]

They've been locked in intense combat ever since,

and are in desperate need of reinforcements

to take the hill.

ARTHUR WIKNIK: Right away, the Supply Sergeants

starts shoving tons of ammo at us.

We're told to double up on everything.

Instead of 200 rounds of M16, take 400.

Instead of 50 rounds of M60, take 100.

Jesus, we really must be heading into something big.

I'm trying to keep it together, but you know,

I've never been in major combat before.

I mean, aside from training, I've

barely even fired my weapon.

I don't know what I'm gonna do, other than just go with my gut,

and pray that it all works out.

[helicopter whirring]

[radio chatter]

Up here, everything looks eerily picturesque.

Kind of reminds me of Vermont.

But I know better than that.

Vietnam sure as hell is not Vermont.

NARRATOR: Sergeant Arthur Wiknik and his company

are en route to Hill 937, to reinforce US troops who

have been trying to dislodge the NVA for the past week.

The hill is located along one of the many enemy pathways

into the south.

US forces are attempting to cut them off.

ARTHUR WIKNIK: When I glance around

at the other guys' faces, they're

all staring straight ahead.

So I look, I can see off in the distance,

this brown mountain top against a green backdrop.

And I knew then that-- that's probably

where we're going to go.

We hit the ground as fast as we can,

and we head straight towards this little command center.

I can hardly believe my eyes.

Filthy, unshaven GIs are everywhere.

Empty ammo boxes and C-rations thrown on the ground.

Even the air stinks like human waste.

I'm taking it all in, when one guy points to me,

and he says-- pointed at me, and said, "Hey Sergeant, you better

get those stripes off."

I said, "What do you mean?

I earned these."

And he says, "No, you got to take them off.

Because the enemy is shooting the leaders first,

and you're going to be a target when you get out there."

As he was explaining this, for me to take my stripes

off, another guy came over, and said, come on, Jim, you know.

Let these guys be.

They haven't been here yet.

They don't know what it's like.

Apparently these guys had been there

since the beginning of this battle that had been going on,

for eight days.

And then I started thinking back how

we were at a picnic, drinking beer,

while these poor bastards were going through this battle.

I just felt awful.

I just, I wanted to get away from these guys

because I don't feel like I deserved to even

be in their company.

As we settle in, I can hear these Vietnamese voices ringing

out from top of that hill.

[yelling]

Now, nobody knows what they're saying,

but the message is clear.

They want us to know that they're there,

and they're waiting for us.

NARRATOR: As Wiknik and his company

prepare for their assault up Hill 937, 15 miles to the west,

American pilots are attempting to stop enemy advances

into the south by going straight to the source of the problem--

the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Although diplomatic policy prohibits US ground troops

from entering Laos and Cambodia, where the vast majority

of the trail is located, US aircraft

are not restricted from bombing.

[explosions]

[radio chatter]

[explosions]

Despite the relentless bombing, enemy movements

along the Ho Chi Minh Trail prove impossible to stop.

With more than 6,000 miles of paths,

the NVA simply reroute themselves

around damaged areas, while a crew of 100,000 North

Vietnamese laborers work around the clock on maintenance

and repair.

The result is that enemy forces are

able to move nearly 10,000 tons of supplies

every month, forcing US ground troops to try to stop them

in an inhospitable landscape of endless jungle-covered hills.

[thunder]

KARL MARLANTES: Between the monsoon rain

and the unbearable humidity, everyone's constantly soaked.

It's bad enough we've already lost half a dozen men

to the NVA.

Now we're starting to lose them to jungle rot.

Although after being stranded out here for three days,

I suppose a little bad weather is the least of our problems.

NARRATOR: 23-year-old Marine Lieutenant Karl Marlantes

is on Hill 400, 65 miles north of Arthur Wiknik.

Three days earlier, he and his company of 170 Marines

set out to stop what they believe

to be a group of 100 NVA crossing into the south

via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Instead, they stumbled into the path of an entire enemy

regiment, numbering nearly 2,500.

Incoming!

[explosions]

KARL MARLANTES: Out here in the middle of all this shit,

it's hard to believe that just over a year ago

I was at Oxford.

[gunfire]

I was only there about five or six weeks

before I was feeling guilty.

Because there I was, sort of drinking beer, and dating

girls, and having a very wonderful time,

and my friends were over in Vietnam fighting.

So I came to that point of, all right,

you know, I can't sit here.

I sort of had this feeling I was hiding behind privilege.

That I couldn't do that anymore.

I just woke up one morning, and I said, I'm going to go.

I'm going to go to Vietnam.

[radio chatter]

[gunfire]

Now I'm stuck out here on some godforsaken hill.

Another company's a few miles away,

but the NVA have us surrounded.

[explosions]

They're hitting us with mortars all the time.

We've run out of water, even though it was a monsoon.

So we were trying to catch the fog in our ponchos,

and licking our ponchos to try and, you know.

So we were in desperate strait.

[explosions]

[radio chatter]

And we had about eight seconds of machine gun ammo left

for each.

And we divided everything evenly.

We just divided everything evenly.

And I remember just looking at a little patch of ground,

and thinking how wonderful it was just to see the earth,

you know.

And thinking about what will I miss because I'll be dead?

For the first time in days, we can actually see clear skies.

Mutter, Kilo Six.

They are off the landing.

KARL MARLANTES: And the radio crackles

to life, telling us the words we've been praying for--

choppers are on their way.

All right!

[cheering]

NARRATOR: Marine Lieutenant Karl Marlantes

is stranded atop Hill 400, near the Laotian border.

After suffering heavy casualties during intense combat

with an NVA force, he and his 170-man company

have spent the past three days without food or supplies.

KARL MARLANTES: As soon as the wounded are taken care of,

dozens of reinforcements start unloading

cases of ammo and C-rations.

God, I've never seen so many guys so happy

for such a crappy meal.

When I'm done eating, I head over to the skipper

to get our new orders.

But as he starts to speak, my entire body tenses up.

He says most of the enemy's moved on, except for about 100

that are still dug into the next hill over, Hill 484.

Then he says that since it was our company's job

to stop the NVA in the first place,

it should be our company's job to take 484 now.

I can hardly believe my ears.

I mean, we've been stuck out here for three days

without supplies, and now they want

us to continue the assault?

But the decision's already been made.

We attack at dawn.

[thunder]

As we head out to get in position, all sorts of thoughts

start running through my mind.

Thinking about how we're going to take the hill.

If we do it this way.

Yeah, that's a good idea, but how about if we do it this way.

Well, that'll work, but this will happen.

And you just try as hard as you can to come up with a solution,

and you realize that there is no solution that you'll

be able to do it without--

without losing people.

And I can remember seeing a very vague outline of that hill

above us in the darkness.

And you just go, like, you know, there's people

up there that I don't know, and they don't know me.

And we're, in the next hour or two,

we're going to be trying to kill each other?

And you just sit there, and you just

shake your head and wonder.

It's like, I'm going to go through this.

I'm not going to turn around and walk away.

You're going to go up the hill.

And at the same time, you're wondering,

why am I going up that hill?

But I already know the answer.

It's cause I'm a Marine, and we don't let each other down.

[thunder in distance]

[helicopter whirring]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: The sun's just peeking up over the horizon.

Men whisper quietly to one another.

For a moment, it's almost oddly peaceful.

NARRATOR: Sergeant Arthur Wiknik is at the base of Hill 937

in the A Shau Valley.

He and his company have joined a battalion that for the past 10

days has been attempting to take the hill.

Today, they will begin their 10th, and hopefully,

final assault.

[radio chatter]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: And then the order comes down.

Fixed bayonets.

We're going to kill everyone we see.

And if we run out of bullets, we're

going to stab them to death.

[whooshing]

[radio chatter]

NARRATOR: At 8:00, US pilots begin a 30-minute bombardment

of Hill 937.

[explosions]

Tango, Tango, 240.

NARRATOR: At 8:30, every American fire base within range

begins 90 minutes of intense preparatory fire.

[explosions]

At 10 o'clock, the artillery falls silent,

and the ground assault begins.

[gunfire]

[yelling]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: You're thinking you're going

to go up in an orderly fashion.

But it's just, it's just not that way.

It's all chaos.

It's all shooting.

Guys start peeling off in different directions,

trying to get away from whatever's happening around

them. [gunfire]

[yelling]

[gunfire]

Over all that noise, you can hear the bullets coming in.

It sounds crazy.

You can literally hear them hitting the dirt

in front of you.

And I can't figure out why the hell they're picking on me.

And then I realize, I never took my stripes off.

They're trying to kill me because--

they're trying to kill me because I'm a leader.

Well, I didn't have a knife, I didn't have anything.

I wasn't going to cut my stripes off now.

I'm too busy trying to keep from getting killed.

So I got up, and I just started firing at that spot

again, put another magazine, and get up and start firing.

And the third time I went to do that, something suddenly

blinded me.

When I reach up to protect my eyes,

something suddenly hits me in the chest.

Knocks me backwards.

And for a second all I can think is, this is it.

I'm going to die on a hill out in the middle of nowhere.

But then the pain starts getting more intense.

And what had happened was this enemy soldier that was shooting

at me, his first round came in, hit the dirt

in front of my face, blasted the dirt in my eyes.

And when I reached up, his second round,

it didn't penetrate my body, but it had enough power

to knock me right on my ass.

There's no way in hell I'll be this lucky again.

So I yelled at my guys, "I want you to follow me."

I took off running.

As I ran, bullets were coming, bullet were nipping at my feet.

I just start running up that hill.

[gunfire]

Jumping over abandoned bunkers, not even paying any attention

to what's going on around me.

All I know is if I'm going to survive,

I've got to get to the top of that hill.

[gunfire]

[gunfire]

Get in the hole.

Get in the hole.

[gunfire]

KARL MARLANTES: Everybody's flat on the ground, kissing dirt.

If we don't find a way to take out those bunkers,

we're all going to end up dead.

NARRATOR: Marine Lieutenant Karl Marlantes is on Hill 484.

Hours earlier, he and his company

began an assault against approximately 100 NVA

who were dug into the hill.

[gunfire]

KARL MARLANTES: I holler at one of my gunners, and I said,

you gotta engage that machine gun that's coming

out that bunker up there.

You've gotta keep them busy.

And he laid down, and they started a machine gun duel.

That machine gun shooting at him, and him shooting back.

And he was pumping blood, because he'd

been hit in the leg.

And you could see the blood coming out of his leg

as his heart was beating.

And this kid just kept shooting.

[gunfire]

But he kept that machine gun down.

And I thought, this is it.

And I started running up the hill.

And I thought I was all by myself.

But out of the corner of my eye, I see all my guys,

just seconds behind me.

And when we get to the bunkers, everyone opens up.

[gunfire]

Just seconds behind me.

And we hit those bunkers, and I start running down the line,

throwing hand grenades into them.

And everybody else was coming with me.

And we took the hill.

[helicopter whirring]

Four men from my platoon died taking Hill 484.

And every one of them was a friend.

To try and be a leader, you have to order people

to do things that kills them.

And that's hard.

And it's usually your best guys.

Because if, if, if you know it's going to be tough,

you put your best guys to make sure that we get the job done.

And then your best guys die.

That's always a tough one.

I carry that with me.

[faraway helicopter whirring]

[explosion]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: I'm hunkered down,

bracing for the next wave of gunfire,

but it's strangely calm.

All I hear is some rifle shots and a few hand grenades off

in the distance.

And I see someone coming up.

And he flashes me the peace sign.

And then I realize, that's my guys coming up the hill.

NARRATOR: On May 20, 1969, after 10 days of brutal fighting,

US forces successfully secure Hill 937.

The cost to the US--

70 American soldiers killed, and 372 wounded.

The cost to the enemy, more than 600 killed.

Although US forces win the hill and the battle of the body

count, the majority of the 1,500 North Vietnamese

originally spotted on Hill 937 escape into Laos.

[soldiers chattering]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: I'm so thrilled, I don't even know what to say.

I can't believe I survived.

We've actually taken this bitch of a hill.

[helicopter whirring]

Right as I'm about to sit down and rest for a second, a couple

of soldiers come over to me and they say, "Hey, you know,

they got a name for this hill."

So I say, "Really, what is it?"

And they said, "Well, they call it Hamburger Hill."

"OK, why do they call it that?"

"Well, because it was a human meat grinder.

And that's why they gave it that name.

And there's even a sign over there, on that stump."

So I went over and looked, and there was a sign there

that said, "Hamburger Hill."

It was stuck to a tree stump with a bayonet.

And I was looking at the sign, I said, OK.

I see a few tiny words scrawled on a piece of paper pinned

beneath it.

They read, "Was it worth it?"

For a moment, I looked around at the blasted-out tree stumps,

and the empty, hollow bomb craters.

And the moans of the wounded start to fill my ears,

and the smell of cordite starts to burn my nose.

And I just stand there thinking, was it worth it?

Was Hamburger Hill really worth it?

God, I-- I certainly hope so.

[helicopter whirring]

REPORTER: The battle for a Hamburger Hill

near the Laotian border is over.

A dozen North Vietnamese snipers were killed today--

ARTHUR WIKNIK: So much for savoring victory.

They're already making us pack up and leave this damn hill.

NARRATOR: On June 5, 1969, 16 days after heroically seizing

Hamburger Hill, US forces abandon it.

Three weeks later, the NVA retake the hill

without a fight.

KARL MARLANTES: Hamburger Hill was just on a larger scale

what happened all over--

all over Vietnam.

So on the tactical level, it was easy to understand

what our job was.

On the more esoteric level, there was no objective.

I mean, you think about World War II--

which my father fought, and my uncles--

well, at first, you know, if you're in the Pacific,

you take this island, you take that island,

and you get closer to Tokyo.

And you can sort of measure your progress like, oh, looks

like we're winning.

Or you land in Normandy, then you liberate Paris,

and then you head, go across the Rhine, and--

you had, you had objectives.

Vietnam was the first war where it was unclear.

How do you know when you've won?

NARRATOR: On June 27, in a groundbreaking 12-page cover

story, "Life Magazine" publishes the photographs

of 242 Americans killed in Vietnam in just one week.

Many mistakenly believe that all of the men

died taking Hamburger Hill.

The battle suddenly ignites a firestorm of controversy.

[music playing]

MAN: President Nixon, when he was running,

during the campaign, stated he had a peace plan.

We'd like to know what it is.

MAN: We want to show Mr. Nixon that there are so many people

opposed to the war that it is politically possible for him

to end it now.

REPORTER: Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts

delivered a brief speech criticizing what he called,

"The senseless and irresponsible military pride, in which

American men are sent to their deaths in pointless

battles like this one for Hamburger Hill."

[yelling]

NARRATOR: Although US forces have fought

battles like Hamburger Hill many times in the past,

the American public--

still traumatized by the Tet Offensive,

and frustrated with President Nixon

for not delivering the peace he promised--

comes to see the battle as representative

of the entire Vietnam War.

An unjustifiable loss of American lives.

The cumulative effect of four years of graphic news coverage,

an ever-increasing death toll, and the building anger

over a seemingly endless war, push some Americans

to look for an outlet for their frustrations.

For the first time in US history,

the American soldier will bear the burden of the public's

disapproval.

KARL MARLANTES: And I remember my last day so clearly,

because I landed in Da Nang.

And in Da Nang, it was like, that was the airfield where you

went home from.

I was so filled with joy that I'd sort of escaped.

I'd made it.

ARTHUR WIKNIK: Soon as we get off the ground,

everybody starts screaming and yelling.

Everything imaginable.

They're throwing stuff around, pillows, everything.

Once we got airborne, the pilot says,

"Gentlemen, if anybody wants a last look at Vietnam,

I can fly up the coast for a little bit."

And everybody yelled out a collective obscenity

at the pilot, no.

KARL MARLANTES: Where my brother picked me up at the airport,

and, you know, tearful reunion.

And then he said, "Well, you know,

we've got to go outside now."

And he said, "I gotta warn you, it's not going

to be very pleasant out there."

And I said, "What?"

And he said, "Well, there's kind of trouble with protesters."

I thought, trouble?

I just came from Vietnam, what's the problem.

And I just felt like a million bucks.

I'm strolling down through the terminal, my uniform,

my duffel bag, my chest full of medals.

I'm so proud.

Nothing was going to change that mood.

Until people started looking at me.

We go out, and we got in his car,

and these protesters were pounding

on the car with the bottoms of their signs,

and they were shouting at me.

And they were pounding on the window,

and snarling, and calling me names.

And that was my welcome home.

It was-- I was just sort of stunned.

ARTHUR WIKNIK: And as I'm looking around,

watching people, I see some people whispering,

pointing at me.

And all that proud patriotism I felt

was just being drained away.

And as that room filled up, all the seats

were being filled, except the one on my left

and the one on the right.

People would rather sit on the floor

or stand up against the wall than sit next to me.

I never felt so alone, so unwanted,

uncared for in my life.

I just-- I just had to go home and get out of that uniform.

Something I was so proud of had become something

to be ashamed of.

[crying]

KARL MARLANTES: I just had this sense of,

I could reach across the street, and just

show you that I'm just me.

And that the people that, you know,

you're-- you're protesting about, and deriding are--

are just kids trying to do a good job.

But there was no reaching across the street.

[music playing]

ARTHUR WIKNIK: So after my cousin picked me up

and we left the airport, we drove home.

And soon as I got in the house, my father

was sitting at the table, his mouth dropped.

And they couldn't even--

they were speechless, they couldn't talk.

So I said, "Where's mom?"

Says, "Well, she's sleeping."

"Sleeping?

It's 10:00."

So I go in there, in the bedroom.

I said, "Mom, I'm home."

It was just so great to be home.