Original subtitles

MICHAEL C. HALL: This film documents the Vietnam War

in the words of Americans who served there.

It features home movies and rare archival footage collected

during a worldwide search, and now

presented in high definition.

Many scenes are graphic in nature,

and viewer discretion is advised.

[explosions]

I was in World War II, fellow.

And I served for years.

I know what it's about.

I have a son that's gonna go into the Army.

[sirens]

LYNDON B. JOHNSON: We fight because we must fight if we are

to live in a world where every country can shape

its own destiny.

We will not be defeated.

[music playing]

MICHAEL C. HALL: In the spring of 1969,

four years after the first ground combat troops landed

in Da Nang, there are more than half a million US troops

in Vietnam.

[indistinct shouting]

MICHAEL C. HALL: But the war that once garnered

the vast majority of America's support

has drastically changed.

[indistinct shouting]

MICHAEL C. HALL: Years of growing frustration

over a military strategy that focuses on enemy bodies instead

of territory has caused public support to plummet.

Woo!

MICHAEL C. HALL: And for the first time,

the American soldiers in Vietnam are

feeling the effects of the anti-war movement at home.

Having run on a campaign pledge of peace

with honor, six months after taking office,

President Nixon meets with South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van

Thieu, and announces his plan to end American involvement

in Vietnam.

RICHARD NIXON: After five years, in which more and more

Americans have been sent to Vietnam,

we finally have reached the point

where we can begin to bring Americans home from Vietnam.

MICHAEL C. HALL: The US military now

begins the long and complicated process

of withdrawing American troops and training the South

Vietnamese to take over full combat responsibilities.

The strategy is called Vietnamization.

DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: Our hearts and minds are here.

They're back home where most of us think we belong.

MICHAEL C. HALL: 24-year-old Don Devore is an artillery man

with the 1st Infantry Division, stationed at Fire Base Jim,

just north of Saigon.

Nine months earlier, Devore received his draft notice

at the same time his wife found out she was pregnant.

DON DEVORE: Last fall, when my wife told me she was pregnant

and I got my draft notice, I recall being violently

sick to my stomach.

I mean, it was just an awful feeling.

I had no desire to go into the service.

I had no desire to probably have to go to Vietnam.

We all really had the same mission--

let's get this over with.

DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: Let's stay safe,

and let's get back home to our families,

because we all know we're trying to get the hell out of here.

And none of us wants to be the last guy

to die for a lost cause--

Vietnam.

Bad enough that we're out here in the middle of this crap.

Now on top of that, we've got this damn ARVN

hanging over our shoulders.

[gunshots]

Gery Benedetti is a 24-year-old coxswain

in the brown-water Navy.

As part of the Vietnamization process,

he and his fellow sailors are training the South Vietnamese

to operate US boats and weapons in the Mekong Delta.

With over 3,000 miles of twisting rivers,

streams, and canals, the Delta is a watery version

of the Ho Chi Minh trail used by enemy soldiers

to move men, weapons, and supplies into the south.

It's also home to over half the population of South Vietnam--

an estimated 8 million people--

and produces nearly 70% of the country's rice,

making it one of the most highly contested areas in South

Vietnam.

YOUNG GERY BENEDETTI [VOICEOVER]:

I don't know how the hell we're supposed to teach

these guys to take over for us.

I mean, our Navy's been out on these rivers for years

trying to stop the Viet Cong, and we're still

having a hell of a time.

Well, if you ask me, from my perspective

and from the perspective of a lot of--

GERY BENEDETTI: --guys I worked with on the rivers,

it didn't seem to be that good of an idea.

What it was is lack of knowledge of the boat.

I mean, they're brought up in the rice paddies.

They can shoot.

A farmer can shoot, but he can also fix a tractor.

These guys didn't have tractors, they had water buffalo.

So to put that--

YOUNG GERY BENEDETTI [VOICEOVER]:

--on a piece of machinery--

you can't do it.

Especially out here, in the middle of all this.

I mean, the VC ambushes every chance they get.

And when that happens, it takes everything

we got just to stop them.

[gun shots]

[helicopter propeller]

VOICE ON RADIO: To the left.

The [inaudible] are five three.

Hey, it's coming from that now, too.

YOUNG GERY BENEDETTI [VOICEOVER]:

Forget about winning.

It's going to take everything they've got just to survive.

DEBBIE [VOICEOVER]: Hello, Daddy.

This is Debbie.

How are you today?

When you have time are you-- DAVID [VOICEOVER]: Hello, Dad.

This is David.

And I'd just like to tell you a few things that happened.

I don't have too many things to say.

DEBBIE [VOICEOVER]: I like to get them.

That's what makes me want to write back, OK?

See ya.

Buh-bye.

WOMAN [VOICEOVER]: Remember that I love you with all my heart,

I miss you with all my heart, and I hope we never

have to be separated again.

Just hope that the war can be over.

Take care.

I love you.

NARRATOR: Anne Purcell's husband, Ben,

has been missing in action in Vietnam for 13 months,

ever since the helicopter he was riding in was shot down.

Since then, she and her five children

have had no contact with him and no information as to

whether or not he is still alive.

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: I haven't listened to Ben's

tapes since he went missing.

It's far too painful.

But he is still all I ever think about.

Most mornings, it's a struggle to get out of bed.

If it weren't for the children, I probably wouldn't even

bother.

So when the military officer--

ANNE PURCELL: --called and said, may I come out?

And I said, sure.

And so he came out and handed me a little piece of paper.

And it said, your husband's status is being changed

from missing in action to POW, because a Viet Cong soldier

has been captured.

And on him, he had all the interrogation papers

of the men that were aboard the helicopter.

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: As I run outside

to tell the children, I'm suddenly

overcome with the sheer simple beauty of the day.

It's as if I've spent the last year seeing the entire world

through a dark gray veil.

And now, finally, that gray is gone.

Of course, I realize that none of this

means Ben is still alive.

A lot could have happened in the last 13 months.

But still, I feel like I've finally got something

to hold on to.

I've got hope.

[rock music playing]

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: There's

are no words to describe this place

other than Woodstock is one weird, wild place,

and I'm loving every minute of it.

NARRATOR: Don Devore's world has quickly changed.

Three days ago, he was in Vietnam.

Now, he's home on emergency leave because his wife

went into early labor.

She and the baby are fine, but his sleepy hometown

has undergone quite a change.

DON DEVORE: I got on Route 17.

It was a parking lot.

I thought perhaps there was an accident or something,

but it was just so many cars there.

I couldn't believe it.

I turned on the radio, and they were reporting on Woodstock.

So I called some friends who lived nearby in the area,

and they came over, and the said--

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: Let's go to Woodstock.

[MUSIC - COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH,

"I FEEL LIKE I'M FIXIN' TO DIE RAG]

COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD: [SINGING] Well, come on, all of you

big, strong men.

Uncle Sam needs your help again.

Got himself in a terrible jam way down yonder in Vietnam.

Put down your books, pick up a gun,

we're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: Other

than being the only guy with short hair,

I feel like I fit in here way better than I ever

did in Vietnam.

COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD: [SINGING] Don't ask me.

I don't give a damn. Next up is Vietnam.

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: I just

didn't resonate with Vietnam.

COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD: [SINGING] And it's five, six, seven--

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: With these two separate worlds,

you know?

COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD: [SINGING] Well, there ain't no time

to wonder why--

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: But as much

as I try to push it out of my mind, I know none of this

is going to last.

COUNTRY JOE MCDONALD: [SINGING] Man, this war is no go.

There's plenty good money--

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: Couple

of days when this leave's over, Woodstock, my family,

and my brand-new baby will all be a distant memory, cause

I'll be back in Vietnam.

Every day here is the same as it was before I left.

We send out round after round for hours at a time,

and then we sit back and wait, bored out of our minds,

until it starts again.

[explosion]

It's a pontoon.

[inaudible]

NARRATOR: After a week in the US,

Don Devore is back at Firebase Jim.

He and his fellow soldiers have just

learned that Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader of North

Vietnam, has died.

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: They're

saying we're supposed to have a cease fire in honor of Ho's

death, but we all learned from Tet that ceasefires don't mean

shit.

[gunshots]

[voices on radio]

Our units in the field have been calling in for artillery

support all day.

I bet we fired at least 1,000 rounds in the last few hours.

[yelling]

NARRATOR: Like all fire support bases,

Firebase Jim provides artillery cover

for American or South Vietnamese infantry units in the field.

When these troops come under attack,

they depend upon nearby fire bases for survival.

Fire.

[rock music playing]

[explosions]

[men yelling]

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: Come sunset, things die down,

but we're still on full alert.

NARRATOR: Not surprisingly, enemy forces

launch the majority of their attacks at night,

under the cover of dark.

Fire bases such as Jim are considered primary targets.

And since the bases are immobile,

the VC have ample time to scope out any weaknesses.

Watch out for him.

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: We may own the day, but the North

Vietnamese--

DON DEVORE: --the Viet Cong, they own the night.

That was their time.

VOICE ON RADIO: Whiskey, [inaudible] six.

DON DEVORE: I always felt that that's when the advantage went

over to them, because then, a lot of the modern weaponry

and techniques that we had just didn't apply to the nighttime.

And at night was when we were most aware that we were very

vulnerable.

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: Some nearby bases

got hit last night, so everyone's on edge.

[voice on radio]

Me and five other guys are assigned to guard duty

at the fire control bunker.

Our orders are to radio in coordinates

as soon as a target's spotted, although right now, I--

I'm so tense I can barely talk.

[explosion]

All of a sudden, I hear an explosion

on top of the bunker--

DON DEVORE: --hit.

Yeah, I wasn't sure what it was, but I could see a very nervous

look on the faces of some of the others.

And I heard somebody say it sounded like an RPG

going off-- a Rocket-Propelled Grenade.

All of a sudden, this terror just goes through everybody.

MAN: Three times four!

[inaudible]

DON DEVORE: I heard somebody yell,

there are dinks in the wire.

[explosion]

[yelling]

It exploded, I think, right next to my feet.

And that's the one that hit me.

And it literally picked me a couple of feet right up

off the ground, slammed me back down,

[yelling]

And then I could feel a lot of pain--

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: --a lot of pain up and down

the left side of my body.

When I look over at my left arm, it's a mangled, bloody mess.

That's the last thing I remember before blacking out.

[helicopter propeller]

NARRATOR: By dawn, the attack on Firebase Jim is over.

As usual, the enemy withdraws at first light,

when American firepower is once again most effective.

YOUNG DON DEVORE [VOICEOVER]: When I open my eyes,

a bunch of guys are cheering for me,

kind of like a football player who's been hurt on the field.

I was now being carried off to the yells and screams

of the crowd.

[yelling]

As we lift off, a calm starts to come over me.

I can see out the side door that the morning sun is starting

to set in--

kind of a purplish red sky.

And all I can think to myself is, I'm alive.

For me, this craziness is over.

PROTESTERS: One, two, three, four--

NARRATOR: In the fall of 1969, the anti-war movement

is heating up.

[cheering]

On October 15, more than one million people

across the country in both small towns and large cities

participate in the Vietnam Moratorium Demonstrations.

[MUSIC - THE ZOMBIES, "TIME OF THE SEASON]

COLIN BLUNSTONE: [SINGING] It's the time of the season when

the love runs high.

In this time, give it to me easy, and then let

me try with pleasured hands to take you in the sun

to promised lands.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, even though the total number of troops

is starting to be reduced, the military still

needs men to fill its ranks and a draft to meet that need.

March 11.

NARRATOR: For years, local draft boards

have been widely criticized for a deferment policy that

gives preference to students and the wealthy.

So on December 1, 1969, the Selective Service

holds its first draft lottery since World War II.

June 25.

NARRATOR: 366 plastic balls, each marked with a different

birth date, including February 29,

are drawn to determine a completely random draft

order for men between the ages of 19 and 25.

MAN READING DRAFT: July 4--

279.

[music - "jingle bells"]

CHOIR: [SINGING] Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle,

jingle all the way.

Dashing, dashing, dashing, dashing--

dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, o'er

the fields we go, laughing all the way.

Bells on bobtails--

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: The children

have been the happiest I've seen them since Ben left.

CHOIR: [SINGING] What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing

song tonight.

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: Why, it actually even

feels like Christmas this year.

CHOIR: [SINGING] Jingle all the way.

Oh what fun it is--

NARRATOR: Anne Purcell and her family

are celebrating their first holiday

since learning her husband, Ben, is among the approximately 400

known prisoners of war being held in North Vietnam.

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: Ever since we got the news

about Ben, all the children think

he'll be coming home soon.

My daughter, Debbie, is convinced--

ANNE PURCELL: --that we were going

to get a letter at Christmas.

And she would go to the mailbox every day.

It just broke my heart.

I just wanted to cry.

And I said, Debbie, you know, I hope we get mail,

but I just don't want you to just be there every day

and agonize over this.

And I guess I agonized over it as much as she did.

But she still went every day, and she was so disappointed

that we didn't get one.

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: It breaks my heart

to see her so disappointed.

But even more, it makes me realize that I've actually

got to do something.

CHOIR: [SINGING] All is calm, all is bright.

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: I can't just sit back

and hope anymore.

I've got to do whatever it takes to make my family whole again.

CHOIR: [SINGING] Mother and child.

Holy infant so te--

YOUNG GERY BENEDETTI [VOICEOVER]:

Cruising down these rivers surrounded by people who still

live like they're in the Stone Age,

you can almost forget that we're in the middle of a war zone.

Although, that's the best way to get yourself killed,

because out here, everything can change in a second,

and you never see it coming.

NARRATOR: Gery Benedetti and his crew

have been patrolling in the Mekong Delta

for the past 12 months.

Their current assignment is to pick up

a group of Navy SEALs who have come under attack by the Viet

Cong.

They're on board what's known as an alpha boat, which

is specifically designed to withstand

underwater explosions.

YOUNG GERY BENEDETTI [VOICEOVER]:

The further we go, the narrower the river gets, to the point

where it's less than 100 feet across.

And you're looking, expecting to get--

GERY BENEDETTI: --shot at at any time.

And you can't see anything, because all you can see

is jungle.

You can't see beyond the jungle, because it's really thick.

So you're going down there, and you're

wondering what's happens if--

YOUNG GERY BENEDETTI [VOICEOVER]:

You're expecting it at any time.

[gunshots]

Suddenly, we're taking sniper fire from the shoreline.

Everybody opens up.

You don't even know what the hell you're shooting.

You just keep shooting.

COMMANDER [ON RADIO]: Cease fire!

Declare a cease fire!

YOUNG GERY BENEDETTI [VOICEOVER]: Over the radio,

I hear the commander screaming, cease fire!

Cease fire!

This is Jester Alpha.

Cease fire!

When the smoke finally clears, you can see what we've hit.

It's a little village full of people, all dead.

I can feel my blood starting to boil, because, you know,

the VC, they do this on purpose.

They hide behind these people, and then

they fire on us, because they know we'll fire back.

It's their way of making sure the civilians don't trust us.

In a few more weeks, I'll be going home.

When I do, I sure as hell hope the South Vietnamese

can pick up the slack.

Because judging from how these VC treat these people,

God help them if they can't.

NARRATOR: In Paris, peace talks between North and South

Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the United States are deadlocked.

After nearly two years, almost all that has been agreed upon

is the shape of the negotiating table.

Hoping to speed up the process, National Security Advisor Henry

Kissinger begins secret meetings with North Vietnamese

negotiator Le Duc Tho.

Meanwhile, Nixon's Vietnamization program

is being slowly but steadily implemented.

Throughout the country, US troops

are handing over equipment, bases,

and years of military knowledge to the South Vietnamese.

US SOLDIER: It's going to be a shambles.

There are good ARVNs.

Don't get me wrong.

There are some really crack outfits.

But the rest of them--

I don't want any part of it.

It's gonna be bad.

If they can't get a support now, what's

it going to be like when there's less and less of us?

NARRATOR: As it becomes clear that America's goal is no

longer full-fledged military victory, but instead

an honorable exit from Vietnam, the morale of troops

is affected.

US SOLDIER: That stuff smells pretty strong.

It is.

This is really nice stuff over here.

[laughter]

Then you empty it out, and you stick the bowl in the barrel.

Blow into the bowl, and when it comes out,

you get really stoned.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

I picked a hell of a time to come back to this country.

Although the main reason I did is

because I'm dying for a chance to command a battalion.

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Colonel James Anderson

is an aide to General Creighton Abrams, the overall US

military commander in Vietnam.

Seven years after serving as an advisor to the ARVN,

Anderson now prepares to take command

of an American battalion.

JAMES ANDERSON: General Abrams turned to me one night

at the dinner table, and he said, Jim.

He said, why don't you take command of that battalion?

It was almost as though to say, OK, wise guy.

You seem to have all the answers.

Why don't you go show me?

And I said, I'd love to take command of that battalion.

[helicopter propeller]

NARRATOR: Anderson will soon discover just how important

unifying his men is.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

The door to battalion headquarters opens, and in walk

a bunch of generals.

They swear me to secrecy and get right to the point.

How long before you can be prepared--

JAMES ANDERSON: --to make a combat assault into Cambodia?

And I said, are we talking about in terms of hours, days, weeks,

months?

And they said, we're talking about hours.

NARRATOR: For years, the North Vietnamese

have used neighboring Cambodia as a refuge.

Much of the Ho Chi Minh Trail runs through the country,

and large stores of enemy weapons and supplies

are hidden along the border.

But since the start of hostilities,

US policy has prohibited its ground troops

from entering the country for risk of widening the war.

In early 1970, however, President Nixon

sees a window of opportunity when the Cambodian leader,

Norodom Sihanouk, is ousted by the pro-American General Lon

Nol.

Despite the political risk, Nixon decides a chance

at destroying the NVA's capacity to launch assaults into South

Vietnam is worth the gamble.

And so he issues top secret orders, sending US troops

into Cambodia.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

It's like a shot of adrenaline straight into my vein.

Within hours, hundreds of soldiers are assembling.

Massive amounts of ammo and supplies

are being flown in and distributed.

No one can contain their excitement.

We've been waiting a long time for this--

a chance to cross that forbidden line and see what's

on the other side.

We're finally going into Cambodia.

I haven't slept in almost 24 hours,

and yet I feel more awake now than I ever have in my life.

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Colonel James Anderson

is leading his battalion from the 1st Air Cavalry

into Cambodia.

Ahead of them stretch waves of tactical fighters and B-52

bombers, while below race mile-long columns of mechanized

infantry and armor.

Altogether, 30,000 US troops are poised for action.

Their mission is twofold.

First, decimate enemy sanctuaries

and disrupt NVA supply lines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

And second, attempt to find and destroy

the communist military command center known as COSVN, which

is rumored to be located in the Fishhook region.

[helicopter propeller]

[yelling]

Go, go, go, go, go.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

As soon as we hit the ground and get organized, we move out.

I don't intend to waste any time finding what the enemy's been

hiding.

OK, let's go.

Go, go.

[bird chirping]

VOICE ON RADIO: Roger.

We just came upon a trotter here.

[inaudible] a small village.

Doesn't seem like there's any movement in here.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

It doesn't take long.

Within two hours, we come across a massive enemy training

and supply dock.

[inaudible] port.

Start coming this way.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

Right away, the guys start calling it The City,

because it has almost everything you could imagine that you

would have in a city.

JAMES ANDERSON: --that you would have in a city anyplace else.

So you had schools.

You had hospitals.

You had ammunition storage areas.

I don't know how many tons--

hundreds of tons of rice that were in there.

I was shocked that it was that large

and it was that close to the border.

I don't think we were more than seven--

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

--seven miles into Cambodia.

So if there's that much here, I can only

imagine how much is out there.

There's so many supplies, it'll take months to destroy it all.

And the last thing I want to do is

get so hung up with this that we fail our primary objective.

So I order two of my rifle companies

to stay back at the city and oversee its destruction

while I take the other three companies

and head out to find the NVA headquarters.

[inaudible]

VOICE ON RADIO: All right.

Stay low, and push it right as you [inaudible]

NARRATOR: While Anderson and his men

speed towards their objective, President Nixon

prepares to deal with a political problem--

the uproar that the news will surely provoke.

[chatter]

He decides to take the offensive,

so he can frame the issue before others do.

[explosion]

RICHARD NIXON: Tonight, American and South Vietnamese units will

attack the headquarters for the entire communist military

operation in South Vietnam.

This is not an invasion of Cambodia.

The areas in which these attacks will be launched

are completely occupied and controlled

by North Vietnamese forces.

We take this action not for the purpose of expanding the war

into Cambodia, but for the purpose

of ending the war in Vietnam and winning the just peace we

all desire.

[police siren]

NARRATOR: The day after Nixon's announcement,

student protests break out on dozens

of campuses across the country.

[yelling]

On May 4, 2000 students rally at Kent State.

As the demonstration erupts into violence,

members of the Ohio National Guard

suddenly open fire on the crowd of students.

[gunshots]

In 13 seconds, 67 live rounds are fired.

Four students are killed.

Eight more are wounded.

One, permanently paralyzed.

Public reaction is horrified and widespread.

Four million students go on strike,

forcing 450 colleges, universities, and high schools

to shut down.

YOUNG BARRY ROMO [VOICEOVER]: Ever since I came back

from Vietnam, I've been trying to push this war out

of my mind.

But seeing this makes me realize I can't keep quiet anymore.

NARRATOR: Two years earlier, Barry Romo returned home

from Vietnam with the body of his nephew,

Robert, who was killed in action after the Tet Offensive.

YOUNG BARRY ROMO [VOICEOVER]: I can't lie to myself anymore,

because this war isn't ending.

So I grab a buddy of mine who served with me over there,

and we put on our fatigues--

--that we had worn in Vietnam--

and we still had them, and they still fit--

and we went to the anti-draft rally.

YOUNG BARRY ROMO [VOICEOVER]: --anti-draft rally.

And as I'm looking around at all those

faces of those kids, all the frustration and the anger

and the loss that I've been feeling boils up inside of me.

I don't care what the hell anyone thinks

or what anyone says.

This has got to end.

This has got to end now.

So I jump up, and I start telling all these kids

that if they're brave enough to burn their draft cards and risk

going to jail, well then I support them,

because I've had enough fighting, enough killing,

and enough of this war.

I felt liberated.

I felt like someone had taken--

BARRY ROMO: --10,000 tons off my shoulder.

I no longer was bearing the burden of Richard Nixon

and Lyndon Johnson's sins--

that I was taking a good stand, a manly stand,

YOUNG BARRY ROMO [VOICEOVER]: --and a human stand,

and a purposeful stand.

NARRATOR: With the country tearing itself apart,

President Nixon issues a directive,

curtailing the scope and length of the mission in Cambodia.

He pledges that US forces will advance no further than 19

miles into the country, and sets June 30 as the date

all American troops will return to South Vietnam.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

According to our intelligence, we're less than three miles

from the North Vietnamese headquarters,

meaning we'll be there before nightfall.

But just as we're closing in on our objective,

I get a call from division headquarters telling

me to halt in place.

Do not go any further.

Don't go any further?

It doesn't make any sense to me tactically.

JAMES ANDERSON: And I was pretty upset about it.

I called, and I said, who in the hell

is making this kind of dumb decision?

I'm within five kilometers of my objective,

and we can be there by nightfall.

I said, what's going on?

And well, finally, the division commander got on the phone

said, Anderson, shut up and listen.

Your orders are halt in place.

Don't go any further.

I found out later that President Nixon reported

to the American people that our objectives in Cambodia

were limited.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]:

I'm absolutely speechless.

For the first time in a long time,

it seemed like we were finally using some common sense

in this war.

Now, I'm not sure what the hell we're doing.

[explosions]

The only thing more frustrating than knowing

the enemy's withdrawn beyond our reach

again is knowing that our time in Cambodia

is up, so there's absolutely no chance we'll accomplish

anything else here.

[gunshots]

NARRATOR: At the end of June, 1970, after eight weeks

of operations, the 30,000 US ground troops

prepare to leave Cambodia.

Although the 19 mile restriction prevented US forces

from locating the NVA headquarters,

they did confiscate or destroy 20,000 enemy weapons,

over 7,000 tons of rice, and nearly 2,000 tons

of ammunition--

the largest enemy supply cache destroyed to date.

But for soldiers such as James Andersen,

the moment is bittersweet.

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]: What really gets

to me is how much time it must have taken the enemy

to accumulate all these weapons and ammo.

JAMES ANDERSON: And the fact that they

were making this effort to bring all of this stuff down--

I mean, they were preparing for a major invasion

into South Vietnam.

And it was just clear as could be--

YOUNG JAMES ANDERSON [VOICEOVER]: --right here.

There's so much rice and foodstuff,

we can't haul it all away or even burn it.

I guarantee you, the NVA will rebuild their supplies,

and the second we're out of Vietnam,

they'll launch their major invasion.

We may have bought a little time,

but I'm afraid that's all we've done.

[helicopter propeller]

[cheering and applause]

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: Every day,

I see another wife welcome her husband back from Vietnam.

I'm so happy for them.

But at the same time, nobody's doing a thing to help bring Ben

home, and I'm through waiting.

NARRATOR: In the summer of 1970, Anne Purcell

becomes a founding member of the National League of Families,

an organization with only one mission--

to obtain the release of all prisoners,

a full accounting of the missing,

and the return of all recoverable remains of those

killed in Vietnam.

YOUNG ANNE PURCELL [VOICEOVER]: I set up bamboo cages

so people can see what our men are held in,

and organized petitions and letter campaigns.

By doing all these things, it helps to--

ANNE PURCELL: --get the word out about our POWs, especially

the people that were not directly involved in the war.

It made people realize that there is a human being that's

out there that we need to think about and pray about that's

been fighting for our freedom.

NARRATOR: But as 1970 slips into 1971,

peace talks continue to stall, while America's withdrawal

from Vietnam accelerates.

RICHARD NIXON: Over the past 10 years,

presidents of the United States have

come before the American people in times of crisis

to talk about war-- the threat of war.

Today, I am able to talk to you in a more hopeful and positive

vein about how we are moving this nation and the world

toward a lasting peace.

We have kept our commitments as we have taken out our troops.

South Vietnam now has an excellent opportunity

not only to survive, but to build a strong, free society.

We are at a critical moment in history.

What America does or fails to do will determine

whether peace and freedom can be won in the coming generation.

That is why the way in which we end this conflict

is so crucial to our efforts to build a lasting peace in coming

decades.

The right way out of Vietnam is crucial to our changing role

in the world.