Brothers in War (2014) - full transcript

BILL REYNOLDS: They took us
into some harsh terrain,

in nasty, rotten places.

♪ ♪

And the more that we patrolled,

the more we made contact
with the enemy.

♪ ♪

LARRY LILLEY: We thought
we were pretty tough,

but when you get so many guys
killed or wounded,

it's no longer a game.

(explosions, gunfire)

JOHN SCLIMENTI:
Bullets were going by us,



we could see the water splashing
all over the place.

(gunfire)

STEVE HOPPER:
You can smell the blood,

you can smell the explosions.

(gunfire, explosions)

REYNOLDS: I figured that was it.

This is my last day in Vietnam;
this is my last day on Earth.

(gunfire)

WILLIE MCTEAR: We were trying
to keep each other safe

and come back home alive.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: When we were almost
halfway through the tour,

it dawned on all of us that
it didn't look like any of us

were gonna be able
to make it the year.



(jet passing)

(blast)

(explosion)

♪ ♪

(men yelling)

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: May 1966.

Charlie Company, 4th Regiment,
47th Infantry,

of the 9th Infantry Division

is formed at
Fort Riley, Kansas.

(whistle blows)

♪ ♪

99% of the men are draftees,

pulled from nearly every state
in the nation

as part of the largest
yearly draft call

of the entire Vietnam War.

(chanting)

HOPPER: I was from Illinois,

and I hadn't traveled far
from Illinois

in my 19 years
I had been on Earth.

And now here we were, brand-new
recruits from all walks of life.

MAN: Come on. Get down there.

MCTEAR: Being from the South, I
was accustomed to two Americas,

a white America
and a black America.

And this, being my first
integrated situation,

I was more nervous about that
than I was about the training.

♪ ♪

(gunfire)

LILLEY: We all had a job to do,
so we worked well together.

It was a blending
that made us all better.

It didn't divide us,
it made us better.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: We met some crazy guys.

We had one of our guys,
Terry McBride,

he had ridden with
the Hells Angels.

He was kind of a bad dude,
you know.

TERRY MCBRIDE:
I'm not going to say

I had a problem with authority,

I think they had
a problem with me,

because I didn't want
to fit in their mold,

and didn't mind vocalizing it.

(laughs)

LILLEY: Sclimenti was the
biggest jokester in the group.

SCLIMENTI:
So, when I was in Vietnam,

this is what happened.

LILLEY: You might be asleep,

he'd fill your hand
full of whipped cream

and tickle and your nose
until you went...

You know, every, ahh,
everybody bust out laughing.

RICHARD RUBIO: We were
goofing off all the time,

always getting in trouble,
and we had a lot of fun.

♪ ♪

MCBRIDE: I never knew
that a bunch of guys

could get as tight as we did
in a short period of time.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Unlike the majority
of Vietnam-era soldiers,

who would be sent as
individual replacements

to existing military units,
Charlie Company is unique--

one of the last American
combat infantry units

to be drafted, trained,
and sent to war together.

LILLEY: We were told

that we were going to go
to Vietnam as a group,

right from the start.

Pretty soon,
through basic training,

you realize,
oh, that won't be bad,

I'll be with my buddies.

♪ ♪

But still, Vietnam hung over
our heads like a dark cloud.

♪ ♪

(gunfire)

LYNDON JOHNSON: I have come here
to report to you

that this is a time of testing
for our nation.

RON NESSEN: The North Vietnamese
and Viet Cong

are obviously
trying to stay away

from any major head-on fights
with American combat units,

but the Communists are
continuing their offensive

in the form of terror
and guerrilla strikes.

JOHNSON: I wish I could
report to you

that the conflict
is almost over.

This I cannot do.

WALTER CRONKITE:
All 10 men aboard were killed

when a U.S. Marine helicopter
crashed at sea

along the central coast.

Two other copters were down by
gunfire with three men wounded.

JOHNSON: We face more cost,
more loss and more agony.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: In December of '66, we
had finished all of our training

and declared to be ready
to go to Vietnam,

but all of us got to
go home for Christmas

and home leave, so to speak,
before we left.

♪ ♪

REYNOLDS: I remember coming home
and just seeing my mom and dad,

my brother and sister, and
my girlfriend was there, and...

you know, my mom was upset.

You know, she was worried
about Vietnam.

And I was just upset
to be leaving home.

I wasn't really
in fear of my life.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: So I flew back
to Illinois,

and first thing I did
was went out, and...

I bought an engagement ring,

because I wanted the girl
that I was dating,

I guess, to give me
a real purpose for coming home.

NARRATOR: On January 10, 1967,

the 160 men of Charlie Company
depart San Francisco Harbor

on board a World War II-era
transport.

♪ ♪

In three weeks' time,
they will land in South Vietnam

and begin their
year-long combat tour.

JACK BENEDICK:
We figured within a year,

the war would be over with
once we got there.

That sounds a little, maybe,
unrealistic to some people.

But the training that
we had at Fort Riley

instilled in our unit
this will to win,

that we were going to
take care of this war

and get it over with.

REPORTER: Nicknamed
the Old Reliables

for their distinguished
performance in World War II,

the crack 9th Division

will add an important plus
to U.S. operations

and raise total troop strength
in Vietnam

to another all-time high.

♪ ♪

[gulls squawking]

♪ ♪

GARY MAIBACH: When we got
closer to Vung Tau,

you could see
the coastline of Vietnam.

♪ ♪

Shoreline with
a beautiful beach,

I mean, it looked
more like somewhere

you'd want to take a vacation
than you'd want to fight a war.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: We were out on the deck,
just talking and looking,

and you'd see a stream of
tracers off in the distance

coming down from a helicopter.

♪ ♪

And all of the sudden
you realize,

wow, there's some stuff
going on here.

REYNOLDS: You know,
it was kind of scary.

We didn't know what to expect.

♪ ♪

They immediately loaded us
on deuce-and-a-halfs,

and all of a sudden
we find ourselves

busting down this dirt road,
dust flying everywhere.

♪ ♪

MAIBACH: The sights and
the sounds and the smells

of a totally different
land and culture.

It had a surreal aspect to it.

♪ ♪

HERB LIND: And they trucked us
to Camp Bear Cat,

which was the 9th Infantry
Division base camp at that time.

MAIBACH: And there we were,
no tents, no cots, no nothing.

Welcome to Vietnam, guys.

♪ ♪

REYNOLDS: They had us digging
trenches, filling sandbags.

We were instantly
working our tails off

to build our base camp.

♪ ♪

HOSKINS: Hello, Mom and Dad.

The Republic of Vietnam is not

one of the most sought-after
vacation spots in the world.

The curfew here at night is
from seven o'clock at night

until seven o'clock
in the morning,

and during that time

no Vietnamese are allowed
to leave their villages

or travel on the roads.

And any Vietnamese you find
traveling at night

is considered Viet Cong, and
you're authorized to kill them.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: At Bear Cat,

Charlie Company runs
its first patrols

outside the base's perimeter.

In this relatively safe area,

they become acclimated to the
rigorous Vietnamese countryside

and its oppressively
hot and humid climate.

♪ ♪

BILL RYAN:
At this time last year,

there were 190,000 U.S. troops
in South Vietnam.

Now there are 415,000.

That build-up has changed
the nature of the war

that U.S. forces
are able to fight.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In April of 1967,

Charlie Company moves
to the Mekong Delta

to become part of
the Mobile Riverine Force.

The combined Army/Navy element
is the first American unit

to be permanently stationed
in the delta.

♪ ♪

Charlie and
her sister companies

will live on board
Navy barracks ships

and will be transported into
battle by both helicopters,

and by upgraded
World War II-era landing craft,

called Armored Troop Carriers,
or ATCs.

♪ ♪

Their mission is to patrol

the delta's 4,000 miles
of waterways,

comb through
its 15,500 square miles

of dense jungles
and rice paddies,

and search out and destroy
the 82,000 enemy soldiers

who pervade the region.

♪ ♪

REPORTER: This is where
the American war

in the unpacified delta begins.

Half of South Vietnam's
population

lives in the delta.

Until now, only
Vietnamese forces have tried

and largely failed
to rout the Viet Cong

from its strongest hold.

In the last analysis,

the war against the Viet Cong
will be won or lost there.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: April 1967.

Charlie Company begins
operations in the Mekong Delta.

♪ ♪

It is the largest stronghold
of the Viet Cong.

YOUNG: The VC was
the military arm

of the National
Liberation Front,

which was
the political organization

that worked for
the North Vietnamese.

The kind of guys who would spend
their nights planting mines

and booby traps, in the daytime
they're rice farmers.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: The enemy was
an expert in camouflage.

♪ ♪

You could be out
on a mission and...

things go south real quick.

(men yelling)

We had a couple of guys fall
into some punji traps.

You know, hidden underground,
and they stepped on it,

and they went down
into the hole,

and these punji sticks
would penetrate their leg.

(yelling)

SCLIMENTI: You could not get
the feeling how scary that was,

because you didn't even know
where to step, where to kneel.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: You're always angry
and you're always scared,

because you think that
could have been me

just as well as him, and--

♪ ♪

and that's the bad thing
about mines and booby traps.

You suffer and you can't do
any harm back against the enemy.

♪ ♪

And that builds up
inside soldiers

to a level at which
something's going to happen.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: On the morning
of May 15th,

Charlie Company launches
its first large-scale operation

in the delta.

They are headed to an area
known to American forces

as the Cam Son Secret Zone.

U.S. intelligence has reported

that approximately 200
Viet Cong soldiers

are in the area
resting and recovering

after a battle with
another American unit.

♪ ♪

Charlie Company's orders
are to pin the VC down

and finish them off.

♪ ♪

HERB LIND: In a war like this,

you don't fight to gain terrain
and control it.

♪ ♪

You are just trying
to eliminate the enemy.

♪ ♪

MCTEAR: We trained
as infantrymen

to seek the enemy...

and destroy him.

Period.

♪ ♪

NESSEN: Companies
are broken down

into platoons of 20 or 30 men.

Separated by
considerable distance,

the platoons are sent
into the bush

to search for the Communists.

The Viet Cong's refused to fight
bigger American units

unless they are
taken by surprise.

So, the idea is to entice
the Communists

to jump an outnumbered platoon
then rush in reinforcements,

artillery barrages,
and air strikes

when the enemy shows himself.

In the simplest terms,
the platoons are bait.

♪ ♪

JOHN BRADFIELD:
Then we continued to advance,

and it was really quiet,
real quiet.

(gunfire)

JAMES NALL: All of a sudden

everything started
opening up on us.

(gunfire)

SCLIMENTI:
Bullets were going by us,

we could see the water splashing
all over the place.

HOPPER: You can smell the blood,
you can smell the explosions.

(gunfire)

REYNOLDS:
It's amazing, it's chaotic!

You just think, God,
this is not like the movies.

(gunfire)

YOUNG: We had just crossed
a rather large rice paddy dike,

so we got on the defensive
side of that dike

and took stock
of what was going on,

and that's about the time
that we found out

we had one entire squad
still out there

in that rice paddy in the open,

and that it appeared that
all of them were down and hit.

(gunfire)

SOLDIER ON RADIO: To your right,
and we'll come in

behind you there.

SCLIMENTI:
We could hear the radio

starting to squawk
all over the place.

You could hear the guys
screaming and yelling,

and you could see one or two
guys flounder or flop around.

(gunfire)

One of the sergeants says,
"Hey, we need some volunteers

to go out there
and get these guys."

This group that was trained

and knew their brothers
were out there

just took it upon themself.

And people would just jump up
and we off and ran.

(gunfire)

♪ ♪

(gunfire)

YOUNG: I was running
and running and running,

and finally off to my right,
there was a GI lying there.

I said,
"This is Sergeant Young,"

I said, "I'm here
to take you back."

And he said, "Okay," he said,

"But," he said,
"I can't move my legs."

And so I lay down
flat in the rice,

and I said, "Can you crawl up
on my back?

Can you pull yourself up
onto my back?"

And he was able to do that.

♪ ♪

And I got up
on my hands and knees

and started crawling back
towards the platoon.

♪ ♪

And I finally got back

to where the men who were still
back at the rice paddy dike

could see us.

John Sclimenti saw me,

and he came running out
to help me

get him the last
few meters back.

(gunfire)

NARRATOR: With the wounded
out of the way,

Charlie Company's commander
can call in helicopter gunships

without fear of
hitting his own men.

♪ ♪

(radio chatter)

♪ ♪

(gunfire and shouting)

SOLDIER ON RADIO: Roger,
that's the target area there.

♪ ♪

(gunfire)

(radio chatter)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

SCLIMENTI:
When you're in battle,

your training takes over;

your emotions are on autopilot.

What's tough for you
is when the battle stops.

When the battle stops, all of a
sudden you start thinking about

what could've happened to me.

♪ ♪

MAN: Oh, I got you.
Say again.

YOUNG: And we knew for sure by
then that Don Peterson was dead.

♪ ♪

And two of the men
in our platoon

who were good friends
of Don Peterson's

were able to go out there
in the rice and find him,

find his body,

and carry him back
to the platoon positions.

♪ ♪

NALL: Emotionally,
it really hurt me,

'cause I had never in my life
seen a guy die

until Peterson died.

♪ ♪

MAIBACH: He was going home,
but not the way I wanted him to.

♪ ♪

REYNOLDS: They had a poncho
covering him.

The chopper lifted off,

and that poncho flew
right out the door.

Just looking at him,
seeing him dead there

just, was just, God, you know,
it was like, this is real.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In the final tally,

American forces are credited
with over 100 enemy killed.

By the military's
statistical standards,

May 15th is considered
a clear U.S. victory.

♪ ♪

But like most battles
in Vietnam,

May 15th is also considered
too small for an official name.

Charlie Company's baptism
of fire will receive no press

and will be recorded
simply as a date.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: May 15th.

Such a important day to us.

♪ ♪

But I doubt if anyone back home
heard much about that.

♪ ♪

(radio tuning)

NESSEN: Since I've been home
from Vietnam,

dozens of people have asked me,
"What's really going on there?"

♪ ♪

If these questioners
are representative,

it indicates that many
Americans are confused

by conflicting reports
about the situation in Vietnam.

♪ ♪

Success in Washington is
measured in cold statistics--

the number of Viet Cong killed,

the number of pacification
cadres graduated.

♪ ♪

In Vietnam, success
is persuading one old man

to point out
where the Communists

have hidden a booby trap.

It is talking one old woman

into luring her son
away from the Viet Cong.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: I think the great
majority of the people

of the delta were in
the really sad situation

of being caught in the middle.

If they cooperated
too much with us,

it would cost them when
the VC showed up that night.

And if they cooperated
too much with the VC,

then if we found out about it,

we were going to
make it hard on them.

So no matter what they did,
they were going to lose.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: On June 19, 1967,

five months into their
year-long combat tour,

Charlie Company launches
a massive operation

with sister companies
Alpha and Bravo.

This time, intelligence
has reported

a sizeable Viet Cong force

is near a small village
called Can Giouc.

♪ ♪

(creak)

MAN: Head straight forward.
Let's go.

SCLIMENTI: We were
sweeping an area.

All of a sudden the radios
just went crazy.

You could hear them all over.

(radio chatter)

♪ ♪

LIND: What I'm attempting to do
is to draw out

what the battle of 19 June
looked like from my perspective.

So we were picked up
up here,

put on the boats,

brought down here,

and reinserted right here.

We believed that the enemy
was to the south

and there would be
another American unit

coming up from the south.

And we were going to catch them
out in the open.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: We were headed off
in the direction

of a scattered group of hooches,

and from just across the canal

a .50-caliber machine gun
opened up.

(gunfire and shouting)

♪ ♪

LIND: I had not left
the vicinity of the boats.

Lieutenant Benedick,
my second platoon leader,

screamed on the radio,
"We're hit, we're hit!"

(gunfire)

BENEDICK: We had 15 or 16 guys
hit when the fire first started.

They were definitely
waiting for us.

(gunfire)

REYNOLDS: And so there we were,

trying to figure out where
the hell is the enemy.

(gunfire)

(yelling)

LIND: What we discovered was
that the VC were not south of us

but were north of us.

There was
a machine gun bunker here,

and a machine gun bunker here,
and another one here.

Our best estimation
would be that it had to be

at least a battalion-sized unit
or larger,

and that would have been
in the Viet Cong,

approximately 400 to 500 men.

And our strength at that time
would have been right at 120.

(gunfire)

YOUNG: We're up against a
seriously oversized enemy unit.

(gunfire)

We were outnumbered
on the ground.

(gunfire)

LIND: Once we identified

where the main machine gun fire
was coming from,

we pretty much
could pin it down,

but we didn't have
anything large enough

to destroy the bunkers
that the VC had built up.

We determined that we had
to call in heavier artillery.

NARRATOR: Four and a half miles
to the southeast,

the Riverine Force's
mobile artillery barges

key in the enemy's coordinates

and begin blasting
the VC bunkers.

SOLDIER: Fire!

LIND: And it looked
like direct hits.

♪ ♪

But not stopping
the machine guns from operating.

♪ ♪

(radio chatter)

NARRATOR: With artillery
ineffective,

Charlie Company calls
for air support.

Within minutes, American
fighters are streaking overhead

attacking the VC bunkers
less than 100 yards away.

♪ ♪

SCLIMENTI: The jets
flew by so close,

you could see the guy's face
in the plane.

You could see the moisture come
off the wings of the airplane.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: But after two hours
of intense battle,

the Viet Cong machine guns
have not been silenced,

and the number of critically
wounded is growing.

(gunfire)

Captain Herb Lind radios a
nearby Navy squadron commander

who suggests a risky plan.

LIND: One of
the squadron commanders

was a lieutenant commander
named Dusty Rhodes.

He had what they called
a monitor gunboat.

(radio chatter)

Dusty Rhodes knew that
we were in trouble.

He says, "I know that canal."

He says, "It's high tide right
now, I think I can make it up."

♪ ♪

YOUNG: If he goes up the canal,
he's gonna have to back it down,

'cause there isn't nearly enough
room for it to turn around.

And if the tide gets down
too far while he's up there,

he could be grounded.

♪ ♪

LIND: There was a risk,
a very definite risk,

but what options do we have
in a situation like that?

We tried artillery,
we tried the air.

I would have welcomed anything
that day to help us out.

And Dusty Rhodes was
willing to take the risk.

One of the things he needed was
somebody to direct his fires.

And when he came in,
I said I would do it.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: Captain Lind,
carrying his own radio,

stood up and walked
alongside that monitor,

selecting targets
for it to engage.

♪ ♪

I remember looking up there
and seeing him,

and I thought, "If I've ever
seen a brave man in my life,

there he is right there."

♪ ♪

LIND: He backed out before
the tide came back in,

and that really alleviated the
situation for Charlie Company.

♪ ♪

So, Dusty Rhodes
is a hero to me.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: With the machine guns
finally silenced,

Charlie Company gains the
upper hand for the first time

in nearly five hours.

But with the remaining
Viet Cong still fighting

from their position on
the north side of the canal,

the battle is not yet over.

First and second platoons
are ordered

to pull back to the ATCs

and prepare to cross the canal

to launch a final
ground assault against the VC.

♪ ♪

REYNOLDS: As we boarded that
boat, I figured that was it.

This is my last day in Vietnam;
this is my last day on Earth.

♪ ♪

(yelling)

SCLIMENTI: We all got online
and we started rushing the fire.

(gunfire)

Everybody's shooting,
automatics are going.

(gunfire)

YOUNG: We were all advancing
as fast as we could,

and firing weapons as fast
as we could.

And I think at that moment,

we all just went
a little bit crazy.

(gunfire)

I'm not sure how many we got.

(gunfire)

And then, almost that quickly...

(gunfire)

it was just over.

♪ ♪

LIND: We didn't really know
at that time how many of them

we had killed or how bad
we had crippled them.

♪ ♪

And by that time
it was starting to get dark,

and so we pulled back,

and between myself
and the battalion commander

we decided that we better
go into defensive posture

for the night.

♪ ♪

MAIBACH: We had no idea if they
were going to assault us again,

how many were there.

♪ ♪

We had no idea what
was going to happen.

♪ ♪

LIND: The next day
we were primed and ready.

We thought we probably were

going to have more
battle to face.

And we eased up and started
to try to move forward

and received no resistance,
no shots fired at us whatsoever.

So eventually we got up
and spread out.

♪ ♪

Then we discovered that
during the hours of darkness

the enemy retreated.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: June 19th.

Charlie Company's largest
battle in Vietnam

would become known as
the Battle of Can Giouc.

A decisive U.S. victory,

the combined American forces
nearly wiped out

two entire Viet Cong companies,

killing over
250 enemy soldiers.

Charlie Company
suffered 11 killed.

♪ ♪

Among the dead is second
platoon medic Bill Geier,

who was shot while rushing
to save wounded soldiers.

He died in the arms
of Bill Reynolds.

REYNOLDS: There wasn't anything
he wouldn't do for his buddies.

You know, somebody's
wounded somewhere,

he's gonna go help them.

And he was so brave, and for me
to see him laying there,

you know, gasping for air
and dying right there,

it was just unbearable.

I wrote a letter
to his mom and dad

and told them what
a wonderful guy he was.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Including nearly 40 wounded,

Charlie Company suffered almost
30% casualties on June 19th,

making it their highest
single day of losses

for the entire war.

♪ ♪

But the toll is even greater

for their sister company,
Alpha.

LIND: The reports were
that A Company

took about 80% casualties.

♪ ♪

REYNOLDS: Several days later,
one of the guys got in the mail

the front page of the L.A. Times

where it reported that
an entire company was wiped out

by the Viet Cong.

Not once did they mention
we had killed 250 VC.

Not once did it say
at the end of the battle,

we were there,
and they were gone or dead.

And, you know, I think that
was kind of like an eye-opener

that America is not with us.

FRANK MCGEE: Right or wrong,
for better or for worse,

never have so many Americans
had so many doubts,

and never have
we been less united.

This attitude is not lost
on the men who fight in Vietnam.

But for them, as for all men
who fight in all wars,

there is only one
meaningful reality--

life or death.

MCTEAR: It was all about us
doing for each other

what we couldn't do alone
for ourselves.

We were trying to keep
each other safe

and come back home alive.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

RUBIO: Hello, Sandy,
it's me again.

I guess it's about time I got
around to sending another tape.

It's been kind of bad
around here,

the atmosphere and everything,

'cause we've been getting hit
kind of hard lately.

Watching all these guys,
these friends of mine,

get killed and wounded,

they're all so close to me
and everything,

they're just like brothers,
and it really hurts a lot.

But I've been trying
not to think about it

so I won't go out of my head.

♪ ♪

SCLIMENTI: People don't
understand what happens

to someone that is in
that kind of conflict,

day in and day out.

People's minds have to shut out

a lot of bad things.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: By September of '67,
nine months of combat

is taking a visible toll
on Charlie Company.

Of the 160 men who left
San Francisco in January,

21 have been killed
and more than 75 wounded.

Replacement soldiers
now outnumber

original Charlie troopers.

♪ ♪

EDWIN NEWMAN: The war in Vietnam
has become the central issue

here in the United States.

This week, hundreds of people
demonstrated against it,

tens of thousands
marched to support it.

It's a political issue,
a moral issue,

but most of all,
it has become a personal issue.

Each person must come to grips
with it himself,

for it affects each one of us.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: We're all accustomed to
choosing between right and wrong

and good and evil, that's
an easy thing for people to do.

War is a terrible thing.

And it's terrible not only
because people get killed,

it's terrible because you have
to make some kind of decision,

and there aren't
any good options.

You can do something
that's cruel and ugly,

or something that's crueler yet
and uglier still.

There's no good option to take.

♪ ♪

And I'd really rather
not have anybody

who hasn't been through
something like that

pass judgment on me.

♪ ♪

Don't be too sure about the
decision you would have made.

♪ ♪

And don't be smug
about your morality

until you've had it tested.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: November 1967.

Charlie Company has just seven
weeks remaining in Vietnam.

At home, the nation
they left behind

is growing increasingly tired

of a war in which they see
little evidence of progress.

♪ ♪

JOHNSON:
Our American people like,

when we get in a contest
of any kind,

they want it decided and decided
quickly, and get in or get out.

Now, that, that's not
the kind of war

we are fighting in Vietnam.

♪ ♪

We don't march out

and have a big battle each day
in a guerrilla war.

It's a new kind of war for us,
so it doesn't move that fast.

♪ ♪

We are making progress.

We are pleased with the results
that we're getting.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: I didn't care
what the nation thought

or what some protester
might have thought

about what we were doing.

I cared more about the purpose
that I had been given

at that point in my life,

and that was
to serve my country.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In January of 1968,

the original members
of Charlie Company

reach the end of their
year-long combat tour.

♪ ♪

(plane approaching)

MCBRIDE: Seeing that
freedom plane come by

and knowing that
we were getting on it,

and that we were
gonna be leaving,

that's like, it was probably
one of the better feelings

that I've had in my life.

♪ ♪

I could remember
the pilot saying,

"Well, guys, we'll be up
to about 200 miles an hour

here in about 10 seconds,"
he says,

"so you got 10 seconds
to die in this country,

and I think we're all
gonna make it."

Boy, he just powered that
and hit the thrusters

and shove you back in the seat
in that airplane,

and we were on our way home.

LILLEY: When we touched down,

I'd say 50% of us got
to the bottom of the stairs

and kissed the ground.

♪ ♪

REYNOLDS: We didn't even stop
and think that this is it.

♪ ♪

We've been together
for 18 months, I guess.

♪ ♪

You're so young, and all you
can think about is get home

and just pick up the life
that you had before.

HOPPER: And you walked out
and you got in a taxi

and all of a sudden...

♪ ♪

you were all separated again.

♪ ♪

YOUNG: When I left Vietnam,

my parents had known
within a couple of days

when I was due home,

but I hadn't been able to be
any more exact than that.

And once I landed,
I didn't call them either,

I just continued on home
to Minnesota.

When I got to Minneapolis,
I got off the aircraft

and I took a taxi
to my parents' house.

So, the first thing
my parents knew

was that a taxi pulled
into the driveway

and then suddenly I was home.

♪ ♪

NALL: I got to Mom and Daddy's
house, they just celebrated.

They had the whole family,
everybody come over.

It was like the prodigal son,
you know, come home, you know.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: I came home,
and I remember flying,

landed at the airport.

♪ ♪

I walked into the terminal,

and I heard a girl scream.

♪ ♪

And it was Jen.

My fiancée.

♪ ♪

(no audio)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

REYNOLDS: After I returned back
to the world, as we called it,

years roll by and, you know,

you're busy moving forward
in your life--

getting married, having kids,
responsibilities,

home mortgage and so forth.

And so, you know, you lose
contact with those guys.

♪ ♪

HOPPER: Because of the protests

and because of the way
the country felt

about the Vietnam War,

we kind of hid all of those
inside of us

for many, many, many years.

♪ ♪

MAIBACH: I didn't hear
from the guys,

but maybe once or twice a year.

And then it got
to the point where,

"Doc, what do you think of
a reunion of some sort?"

♪ ♪

HOPPER: We finally get together
23 years later

and start reminiscing
and sharing stories

for the first time.

It was pretty amazing.

Pretty amazing.

MAN: Alright, John Young.

YOUNG: Oh, hello.

MAN: How you doing?

YOUNG: Meet my daughter Maggie.

We had our first reunion
in 1989,

and since that time we've had,
oh, I think a dozen or more.

And we'll continue
to have reunions.

♪ ♪

"Brothers" is exactly
the right term.

Those guys are everything,
just everything to me.

It's as plain as that.

♪ ♪

Captioned by
National Captioning Institute