Assignment in Vietnam BBC 1969 

I served in the Marine Corps (E-5) during the Vietnam Era and lost a good High School friend September 16, 1970. His name was L/CPL William J. Franklin (0351) from Southgate, Michigan. He was with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines. He succumbed to his wounds from a box mine in the Quang Nam Province, Quassan Valley.. I miss him dearly!! Please be kind to all us veterans and remember them all for their sacrifices!!

This is my amazing Dad’s documentary film made when I was only eight years old. Dad had a natural gift for telling stories through the lens and direction of his work. Miss him deeply.

I was a Snake gunner (HueyCobra) in ‘Nam from Jan ‘67 through Feb ‘68. 1st Bn, 7th Cavalry, 1st Air Cav. Lost track of how many buddies I lost and how many VC I killed. Lost track of myself after I returned home. It’s been a long fight but I’ve learned to cope and forgive myself and forgive others. Returned to Vietnam in 2005 and met former NVA and VC. We shook hands and hugged each other. I cried. They cried. It was a powerful healing experience for me. Wishing the people of Vietnam peace and happiness from the United States. 🇺🇸

I served in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. I was sent over in July 1969, just after the moon launch. I was badly wounded by a mortar round on December 14, 1969, one month before my 21st birthday. I got back to the states at the end of January, 1970. Wasn't well enough to get released from army hospital until September, 1970, when I finally became a 'PFC' again. Whenever you hear that 'war is hell', believe it.

Excellent video.....it captured the essence of Viet Nam....My tour in Vietnam was as a combat assault pilot with the Kingsmen/101st division june 69-june 70. It has affected so many of us....Thanks for this documentary.

Brilliant doco. Watching a lot of Vietnam ver interviews recently. This has to balance the picture a bit..to show the perspective of average, real Vietnamese. Thank you for the upload.

I've read autobiographies of Vietnam vets. People don't realize how arduous it was to be a grunt. 90lbs on your back in searing, boiling heat. Day after day of slogging. Sleeping on the ground in mud and bugs. Sometimes dying of thirst and others soaking wet. 30 days in the bush, then back to base for a few days where you cut down logs, string wire, dig and fill sandbags. That war was HARD labor on top of the fighting.

Back to Saigon for dinner in a nice restaurant. I could have used some of that. 3rd Force Recon, Dong Ha, Quang Tri 68-69.

It’s crazy how clear this footage is. Makes it seem like it happened so much more recently.

Excellent. The best documentary on Vietnamese people during the war. I love that beautiful country and it’s beautiful people. In fact, I’m married to one.

Should pass a law if u want to be in Congress then u are the first to go

Great reality as seen through the eyes of someone who has no agenda other than to tell the truth......

The real Vietnam. This is the best period documentary I’ve seen about the Vietnam war. Quality journalism right there. Great work.

Did any of the forward operating infantry ever get to use the swimming pools, ice cream parlours, massage?? Or was that mainly the back echelons and desk workers looking after themselves?

ty, for not playing fortunate son during the helicopter footage

I've always loved that part of the world. I always will. This was powerful. What can I say

The truth about the Vietnam War that was never fully told. United States had No intention of winning the Vietnam War from the very beginning. Fear it might become like the Korean War with mass continuing Communist Chinese troops from China pouring against American military force in Vietnam. And the threat of a thermal nuclear War with the Soviet Union. The Vietnam War started during the Civil Rights movement and racial tension between whites and blacks all across America. Several members in the US government were segregationist and they had their eyes dumping their Blacks problem on Vietnam with the chaos that was happening in Vietnam at that time between Communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam. At that time, the South Vietnamese had 250,000 troops and North Vietnamese had 60,000 troops and the DMZ line had already been establish at the 17th parallel. Many Vietnamese peoples from both North and South did Not support going to War and killing each other over the idea of Communist. Even though several North and South Vietnamese leaders believe Vietnam should Not be divided and try to distrupt one another. But they couldn't rally enough support among the Vietnamese peoples in Vietnam to support going to War. Until Nov. 2, 1963 When JF Kennedy and LB Johnson order his CIA to stage a military coup assasination on a catholic South Vietnamese President, Ngô Đình Diệm and his young brother Ngô Đình Nhu. This give America the power to do what ever they want to Vietnam and to the Vietnamese peoples. And they appointed an ex-Vietminh soldiers for Ho Chi Minh, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu as their puppet South Vietnamese President. The South Vietnamese President who cause the lives of 500,000 South Vietnamese troops killed or capture by the North Vietnamese army and their communist allies The Pathet Lao army, and the Communist Khmer Rouge army of Cambodia when he order them to be station and patrol in Kampuchea. And who told Nguyễn Văn Thiệu to do so? The United States, fear more Americans troops will be killed in Kampuchea. 20 days after the military coup assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm and his young brother Ngô Đình Nhu. US President JF Kennedy was assasinated in Dallas, TX on Nov 22, 1963 and LB Johnson was sworn in as the 36th US President. On Aug 10, 1964, US President LB Johnson declare US military action to Vietnam over an alleged attack on a US destroyer, Maddox that was on patrol past the 17th parallel near Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam. While supporting the South Vietnam. 500,000 US ground troops was sent to fight in Vietnam. 40% of those US troops that were sent to fight in Vietnam were adult blacks male along with high school drop out white male, non-college white male, trouble teen white male, and white convict male were all sent to fight in Vietnam. And when these US troops arrive in Vietnam and they did their "Search and Destroyed mission." The Communist North Vietnam gain mass support for their cause and their army grew from 60,000 troops to over 1,000,000 troops. In 1975, the Democrats control congress cuts off funds to all US promise military aids to South Vietnam causing the Fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. Thus began a mass flow of Vietnamese refugee fleeing out of Vietnam. 10 of thousands of Vietnamese refugee died at sea from hunger, thirst, illness, Thai pirates, and Chinese warships. Today over 100's of thousands young South Vietnamese childrens are born of birth defect from the US toxic biological chemical, Agent Orange which the US military spray all over rivers and forest of South Vietnam. 3,000,000 innocent Vietnamese civilians of women, childrens, and old peoples had to die in their country during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is the worse United States War Crime in history. From Truman, JF Kennedy and LB Johnson were all were WWI and WWII veteran who sent the next young American men to become killers. Why I post this is because for years I'm tired Americans use Vietnam War as a Propaganda War story. Telling peoples that they there to help South Vietnam fight against communist North Vietnam. When America is the root cause for starting the Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam

Read Dispatches by Michael Herr. It was written by a war correspondent who became addicted to that horror show kept going back over and over. It was, along with "Heart of Darkness" the Novel by Joesph Conrad the basis of Apocalypse Now.

As a young Brit, the Vietnam war is something I only had a vague knowledge of until recently but now thanks to YT I appreciate that it was the most brutal and difficult war in recent human history and those US servicemen who fought in the field and also some of them who sadly suffered when they got home have my utmost respect and admiration. Just young men in their early 20s who should have been enjoying the best days of their lives were shipped half way across the globe to fight in a another peoples war..and they gave they're all despite not enjoying the full support of their country. Several times whilst watching the accounts of these men I've welled up..God bless them.

"C" company 1/7 Chu Lai, Phu Bai, 1965-66 Combat Engineer/ Tunnel rat.

Interesting documentary The best thing is listening to the men and women who fought it always fascinating

wow this is so crazy. I served in the Army two deployments to Iraq and see so many similarities in this video to my experience. Military Industrial complex is out of control. My heart goes out to all the innocent people caught up in these illegal wars.

My uncle left Ireland and fought in this war , his stories gave me nightmares

Great doc, so human about ordinary Vietnamese lives during the war. The best I have ever seen.. Since the last six years I went a lot of times in this country and I like it, the people more than landscapes (which are beautiful anyway). I have been very moved to watch this one.

I was in I Corp. Based in Vandergrift combat base. We didn’t have luxuries up north in 1969

I was in the central highlands 4th inf div. In 1969. RIP ARNETT he was right on the money, about the truth!

With the current conditions in the United States the reporter’s quote makes sense. “You can’t win political wars with guns.”

This Asian Lt. is interesting. He is obviously of Asian descent, is from Hawaii, and talks with a southern accent.

What was it all for? Nothing, absolutely nothing. So much pain, so much sorrow, and there was no point to it. Kind of like Iraq.

I have only watched 15 min of this.....from a former combat slick pilot northern I corp ....This is how it was....Thanks for showing how life was for

What a complete waste of young lives..

This is better than most U.S. documentaries. This shows unfiltered opinions.

Start at 4:06 if you want to hear some real bullshit. On my very first patrol we fired 105s into a village we couldn't even see. When I asked the bosses how we knew who was being shelled, he looked at me and said, "does it matter". Firing into positions without regard for civilians was done many times. There were also many times when we took casualties because we would not fire into occupied areas. It all depended on who had the radio in their hands. The VC and NVA also killed people who had little to do with the war but to say that our firing into targets that were not confirmed was rare, is just not true.

The army teroris come from Amerika not fight with army vietnam.but the civilians people...

High School and College mate, Rex Young, awarded MOH, buried in Odessa, Texas. J.Mike Gladden died in the jungle near Pleiku with the 173rd, November ‘67, and 14 other classmates 1966 - 1969 died serving their country. Seems such a high price to pay considering the poorly defined nature and conduct of this war.

What isn't understood about Ho Chi Minh was that he wasn't so much a communist as a nationalist. He penned a nieve letter to D.D. Eisenhower saying how he admired George Washington and desired national sovereignty and independence from France. The Vietnamese hated the French colonial occupation. So we lost the war when we supported the French.

Simper war afather of my tour 1968-1972 our brother the song my one kill 55 years father a war my walk my boots

Great, honest, and objective documentary from the BBC. Free of spin and propaganda, and presenting the conflict from the point of view and experience of both sides especially the Vietnamese people. As always with the BBC, they shoot straight and to the point.

The shame of sending working class children to die for the power and greed of politicians & their elitists masters

I remember the news on TV about the Vietnam war. I was young and didn’t take much notice then. This is a riveting documentary.

Many if not most arvn's were search & avoid rather than search & destroy. But who could blame them, we could look forward to the end of our 365 days tour, the only out for them was death or trying to survive until hostilities ended.

My dad was a there..1969 Marine Nicholas novellino..

great film .Very hard to find colour stories like this and all aspects of the war well most of it anyway .Arnett was a well respected journo

From Hanoi, Vietnam: Many thanks Richard Taylor for an amazing document like this. It funny but true at 8:00: "GI doesn't nkow much about Vietnam and not his fault, usually the only Vietnamese he sees are the ones he's killed....... Even when he does get out when say he gets to Saigon for little fun for some human companionship he sees the worst side of the country ...."

The Bravest 19 year Old Men, on Planet Earth..........Step off a Huey into a Firefight.......1969..

The problem with that war . The people you were building a school with in daylight were shooting you at night...

God bless America 🇺🇸it used to be amazing until slow Joe the most embarrassing person ( no leader ) to become president took over , trump2024

president Johnson started the American war in Vietnam and then when things got bad he split.

I was there from May 1969 to July 1969.I served with thev1st Cav. Division til I was wounded in July.Luckily it was a leg wound which was good enough to get me out of Nam.

In my humble opinion the Vietnam war was lost to the American led allies because the American political leadership didn’t have a clue about the culture,beliefs,and lifestyles of the various stratus of the people of Vietnam and Asia in general, they were naive to the topography and climate, and most of all they underestimated the motivation, determination, and willingness to fight and die for their way of life, and it was the military men and women of both sides who enacted that terrible price on the whole of that sorry mess, and when the fighting men got home they were vilified and denigrated by their own countrymen, but worst of all betrayed by the politicians. 😔😡😀👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Broadcast on BBC Two on Tuesday 3rd June 1969.

The Americans weren't fighting a communist domino but nationalists while holding up the ghost of the French colonial government 😑

14:40 This guy sounds more like a pimp than a officer.

R.I.P All American , Korean, Australian, and all Allied troops in Vietnam including the Vietnamese. RIP. Long live ROK and USA

Anyone ever heard of “Combined Action Program” ?

20 yr war 55 to the fall of Saigon 1975.

Amazing documentary. Even more amazing is the underestimation of the enemy on the American part. They say they've learned from their mistakes... yet they made these very same mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq. No surprise they lost all three wars, then.

The absolute worse war strategy in the history of mankind! Dropping men off by helicopter into a dense jungle looking for the enemy on his home turf! A disaster in the making. My sincere empathy to all of those soldiers that only did what they were told to do...

War...what it is good for.... Absolutely nothing

Thank you for the upload Richard, this is a brilliant documentary. I only wish I knew who the actress was at 54:15.

If your lower middle class in the sixtys,and male,when you graduate high school your going to Viet Nam

Outstanding film .. All three reporters so well informed, and as history as showed, correct in their conclusions. Sad thing is .. with the ' imbedded reporters ' the military have dumped on us, we will probably never have that truthful type of reporting again.

30:50 what a beautiful person. Such a shame her husband was killed and in that culture then a widow was not so valued.

Lâu lắm rồi.....rất lâu rồi mới được nhìn lại những hình ảnh xưa chỉ tồn tại trong ký ức . Tôi không hiểu hết tiếng Anh thuyết minh, nhưng những hình ảnh này đã ăn sâu vào tiềm thức của tôi, những hình ảnh mô tả rất thật từ cuộc sống nông thôn cho đến thành thị của miền Nam xưa .

@54:23sec Holly shit, that's paul mauriat's Love is Blue playing in the background !!!!!

1:50 - that's probably "HOW IT SHOULD NOT TO BE" in the first place... Would You, MR VIP Reporter, wished such a conflict in Your own country, (whatever that is?) I do not think so... Yes - if theye wre left alone long enough time ago - there would not be any internal conflict! So called "civil wars" have been always raised, kindled - by foreign powers... Even in Europe...

Thank you to all veterans.

At 5:14 I got pissed when the narrator said "what he's (the soldier) asking is for is an interminable, unproductive, continual open ended commitment in Vietnam" What a gross misreading of what he said. The soldier wants Victory so that his friends death weren't in vain! He wasn't asking for perpetual war. The narrator is a clown

"How do you know who's friendly and who's an enemy on the ground" He should have said " Anyone who runs is a VC, anyone who don't run is a well disciplined VC"

Despite years of guerilla warfare, the final assault was conventional - with tanks and artillary. Ironically, something the US could have actually won.

The draftee wanted to win the war and go home. It's these people that never faced the danger, that had the negative attitudes.There is a difference between the soldier attached the Base Camp or a Firebase,to the Grunt in the jungle fighting the war night and day.These reporter never visited the Grunt in the jungle. I say this cause in a year's time i never saw one.This is the worst video i have ever seen. This is Charlie the black pajama enemy,who they were fighting.

That reporter is In love ❤️ with that Vietnamese woman.....and so am I !!!! Whew

Powerful old men sending poor young men off to war. Some things never change.

Amazing people interesting culture but when they sing it’s like A bad wheel bearing

Hello sir I am your new subscriber, there is no harm for trying but I would like to ask your help to look an photo of this person : RICHARD CHARLES VALDEZ his parents are Roberto or Robert Valdez and Lila Valdez from Jacinto city texas.. Richard Charles Valdez was an US army and was assigned in vietnam war..he is already dead,he has one son and now my Husband,my husband is looking for his picture,he never seen his dad as his mom and dad separated when his mom two months pregnant.. He really wished to see his dad's photo.my husband is not in free world he does against the law and he is now paying for it,this is his request to find a photo of his birth dad,please help me I'm begging you sir, I would appreciate whatever you can do for this matter,thank you so much.im Elsie from Philippines

Outstanding! Best I've seen yet. Thank you!

The Chinese colonized Vietnam for thousands of years, then the French imposed slavery on this country for about 100 years, and then the Americans with 30 years of brutal war. Americans have brought grief to Vietnam with the deaths of more than 3 million people, and Americans have always said that they brought civilization and freedom to other countries. they always say that vietnam has no human rights etc. but the human rights they bring to the people of other countries are death and chaos. The Vietnam War is over, the Vietnamese people don't hold grudges against America, but Vietnam will never forget what the Americans did. It's so painful for you guys.

All wars are political.

No objectively here. Subtle political comments throughout. Stock footage followed by op/ed. Pathetic journalism, typical BBC. Joke.

Who was the pretty young woman being interviewed? I remember her face as a child. Thanks

My uncle Moore was killed in that province in 69, nickname Butch , if any veterans remember him make a comment.

Những hình ảnh VN xưa thật quý giá. Tôi nhớ quá về ký ức tuổi thơ

Without getting very philosophical about it, it was all actually quite very simple. An Asian people wanted their independence from a colonial power and fought hard for it. The colonial powers divided it's society to create vested interests to support their agendas. However, the colonialists eventually lost interest and willpower and withdrew, leaving their artificially propped vestiges to collapse, taking a handful of their collaborators with them and leaving behind a wasteland of humanity and ecology. Thankfully, the land is different now and renewed with hope all over again. I've visited twice in 2017 and 2020. The youth no longer remember the American war. Wounds have healed, and society is upwardly mobile with aspirations. It is one of the safest countries in Southeast Asia with good human development index markers. They made it despite facing the worst of the Western colonial horrors. 👏 It's a remarkable journey of hope and resilience, and one that no amount of vietnam revisionist bile now so fashionable in America can wash away.

US ARMY helped south VIETNAM so much THANKS

Anybody that knows the artist at 50:36 playing music please leave info. Thanks

American leaders who did not want to be a first to lose a war.our youth were sent to fight for people who didn’t want us over there,just our money.god bless their honorable souls.rip.semper fi.

Yeah, that’s for Privileged rear guard paper chasers ,who have no concept of war in combat , it’s not for the grunts who are in the bush who suffer 🥹who don’t receive those benefits. We already know what the deal is💯😟

I wonder what happened to all these people who supported the South when the North Vietnamese won the war just six years later ? Were they forced to flee their homes as boat people ?

34:00 so basically there much politer and more tolerant than we are.

Incredible footage someone had a real good eye.

38:29 oh my hell 🙄 cry me a river British boy. That second reporter they followed was definitely the ‘these protests are fiery but mostly peaceful’ kind of journalist.

marine 1969 a tour the hiils to the brothers my walk a father 55 my war my team, our boots a father my tour

They lied back then too.

Very good BBC docu in the same manner like " the other side of suez" BBC docus are really worth to look at

i would have loved to visit this place in the 60s-70`s era. Olad Asia os so cool. cheap booze and cheap broads. still cheap booze but now western attitude. bitches.

Dear Richard, While I have mixed emotions about Peter Arnett I do appreciate him bringing attention to everything our vets had to go through. Thank you for sharing.-Paul

Hay có ai làm phụ đề Việt sub hoặc thuyết minh cảm ơn nhiều.

I was born for Vietnam. I raised myself in the swamps of Alabama. I had trained boo coo hunting dogs to help me catch food so I opted to join a scout dog Reg. I sawed off one of their 12 gauge pumps and me and my dogs walked point for many a spooked squad. Believe I could train a dog to find trip wires? They can smell the metal and I think they might hear air moving across it. Anyway the army was good to me, and the grunts treated scout dogs special. All over--I would do it tomorrow. Time is short now, wonder what God is going to say about all the killing. Nothing but a thing. Peace.

Condoleances and sorry would be nice to say in the first place. I meen for all those everybodies.

Some very beautiful women