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JEAN-MARIE CROCKER:
Sometimes I would hear a car
crunch up in the snow,

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and I'd think maybe it
would be somebody coming

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to give us bad news.

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Which was not
good for me to think.

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It was an underlying anxiety

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that I really think was
there all the time.

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NARRATOR:
All his young life,
Denton Crocker, Jr.--

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known as "Mogie" to his family--

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had dreamed of serving
his country,

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of putting his own life
on the line

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in defense of what he called
"individual freedom."

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He'd wanted to serve
in Vietnam so much

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he'd pressured his parents
into granting their permission

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for him to join the Army before
he was 18.

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He was eager for combat and
pleased when he was assigned

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to the 1st Brigade of the
celebrated 101st Airborne,

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the "Screaming Eagles"
who had led the way on D-Day.

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But he was quickly disappointed
to find himself attached

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to battalion headquarters,
repairing weapons, making lists,

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keeping records.

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It was "boring," he wrote home.

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MOGIE CROCKER (dramatized):
I think perhaps you will
understand my disappointment

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when you see that there is
little sense in being over here

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unless one faces
the main objective,

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the destruction of the VC.

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Certainly one feels no sense
of accomplishment

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when one's friends
are facing all the dangers.

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JEAN-MARIE CROCKER:
I had a map on the back
of the living room door.

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And I put pins in it
every time Denton Jr. moved.

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And he moved a lot.

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And I knew those names
at one time

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as well as any area
of our own world.

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LYNDON JOHNSON:
Well, how'd you have
a good weekend?

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ROBERT McNAMARA:
(laughs)

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Yeah, I did, Mr. President.

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I hope you did too.

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JOHNSON:
What's your thinking these days?

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I haven't talked to you.

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What's happening to our pause?

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What are our generals saying?

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McNAMARA:
See, I think you'll find
some foreign leaders

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will criticize you
if you resume bombing.

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As a matter of fact,
no other intelligence source

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that I've seen indicates that
Hanoi is even considering

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moving toward negotiation

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in order to lead us
to extend the pause.

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Intelligence information...

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NARRATOR:
As 1966 began, the president
of the United States

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was just learning
the name of the man

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who was the most powerful member
of the Politburo in Hanoi--

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Le Duan.

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McNAMARA:
...First Secretary
of the Communist Party,

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a man named Le Duan--
L-E capital D-U-A-N--

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who today is putting
considerable pressure

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on Ho Chi Minh and others
to ensure continuing a war

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that he thinks they either are
winning or can win.

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("Masters of War"
by The Staple Singers playing)

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♪ They're masters of war

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♪ You build all the big guns

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♪ You build
the big planes. ♪

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NARRATOR:
As they continued
to escalate the war,

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Johnson and McNamara were
frustrated

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that American commanders in
Vietnam, who had come of age

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during World War II and Korea,

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were having a hard time
making sense

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of what was happening
on the ground.

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In the months and years to come,
as the American presence grew,

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Hanoi would escalate too,

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sending more and more
soldiers south,

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strengthening its own
air defenses,

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and recruiting more fighters

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from the alienated
South Vietnamese countryside.

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The Johnson administration
was desperately trying

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to prop up the government in
Saigon and, at the same time,

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help that government to somehow
win the loyalty

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of its own people.

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Johnson had tried to forge
an international coalition

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to defend South Vietnam.

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But only five other countries
would ever send combat troops--

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Australia and New Zealand,
Thailand, the Philippines,

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and South Korea.

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America's most important allies,
Britain, France and Canada,

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refused to take part and were
calling instead for peace talks.

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And more and more Americans,

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including some of the country's
most respected

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foreign policy experts,

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were beginning to question the
way the war was being fought,

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whether it could ever be won,

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and if the United States
should be in Vietnam at all.

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00:05:11,900 --> 00:05:13,300
(explosion)

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As 1966 began, 2,344 Americans
had died in Vietnam.

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Nearly 200,000
were stationed there,

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and more were on their way.

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Those soldiers would quickly
discover

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that the war they were being
asked to fight

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was not their father's war.

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SAM WILSON:
We tend to fight the next war

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in the same way
we fought the last one.

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We are prisoners
of our own experience.

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And many of the things
that we learned that worked

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in World War II

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were not applicable
to the war in Vietnam.

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We simply thought we'd go
in with a sledgehammer

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and knock things down,
clean them up,

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and it would be all over.

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It was a kind
of an oversimplification

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of the problem

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combined with our
overconfidence that caused us,

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I think, to be arrogant.

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And it's very, very difficult
to dispel ignorance

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if you retain arrogance.

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STAPLES SINGERS:
♪ I'll stand over your body and
make sure that you're dead. ♪

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(gavel pounding)

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NARRATOR:
In early February of 1966,

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President Johnson
got more bad news.

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His old friend,
J. William Fulbright,

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the powerful chairman

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of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee,

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planned to hold hearings
on the Vietnam War,

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and the television networks
intended to cover the hearings

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from gavel to gavel.

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Fulbright, who had once
supported the war,

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now opposed it.

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LBJ was alarmed.

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His own advisers had been giving
him conflicting advice

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about Vietnam for years.

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But a public debate about
how he was running the war

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in front of millions of
Americans filled him with dread.

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As the hearings got underway,

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the president tried
to deflect attention

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by suddenly announcing he was
going to a military conference

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in Honolulu, to meet for the
first time the two generals

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who now headed
the Saigon government.

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ED HERLIHY:
It is a meeting without
precedent,

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and is designed to strengthen
United States determination

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00:07:44,900 --> 00:07:48,366
to pursue to the end the drive
against communist domination

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in South Vietnam.

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NARRATOR:
General Nguyen Van Thieu
was the chief of state,

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but real power lay
with Thieu's bitter rival,

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00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,200
the former head of the
South Vietnamese Air Force,

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Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky.

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Ky was "an unguided missile,"
according to one U.S. diplomat,

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known for his
flamboyant uniforms,

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00:08:15,166 --> 00:08:19,200
his gaudy private life,
and his public pronouncements.

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He once told a reporter that
what Vietnam really needed

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was "five Hitlers."

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PHAN QUANG TUE:
How could we allow and accept
that to happen?

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He was a charlatan.

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The man not only
has no training,

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has no education,
but doesn't seem to inter...

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be interested in being educated,
and proud of his ignorance.

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TRAN NGOC CHAU
(speaking English):

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(laughing)

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NARRATOR:
President Johnson spent most
of his time in Honolulu

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urging Ky to focus
on pacification--

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earning the support of the
South Vietnamese people

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by undertaking economic
and social reforms

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Americans had been calling for
for more than a decade.

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Johnson wasn't interested
in "high-sounding words"

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about progress, he said.

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He wanted genuine achievements--

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what they called in Texas,
"coonskins on the wall."

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BUI DIEM:
Well, nobody understood
what does it mean "coonskin."

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And people the Vietnamese
at the delegation they ask me,

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"You understand what it is?"

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And myself I said,
"Well, I don't understand."

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00:10:00,666 --> 00:10:03,066
I have to ask some Americans
to explain to me.

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00:10:03,166 --> 00:10:06,333
And some American friends,
they explain to me later on

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and only by then
the Vietnamese understood.

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I happen to hold
the point of view

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that it isn't going to be
too long

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before the American people,
as a people,

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will repudiate our war
in Southeast Asia.

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MAXWELL TAYLOR:
That, of course, is good news

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00:10:20,700 --> 00:10:21,900
to Hanoi, Senator.

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MORSE:
Oh, I know that

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00:10:23,766 --> 00:10:26,400
that's the smear artist that you
militarists give to those of us

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that have honest differences
of opinion with you.

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But I don't intend to get down
in the gutter with you

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00:10:30,966 --> 00:10:33,200
and engage in that
kind of debate, General.

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NARRATOR:
Johnson's trip to Honolulu
had not distracted

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00:10:36,833 --> 00:10:38,133
the American public.

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00:10:38,233 --> 00:10:41,333
They were riveted
to the hearings.

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And I also think
that great countries,

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especially this country,

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is quite strong enough
to engage in a compromise

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without losing its standing
in the world,

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without losing its prestige
as a great nation.

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On the contrary,
I think it would be

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one of the greatest victories
for us and our prestige

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00:11:00,333 --> 00:11:04,166
if we could-could be ingenious
enough and magnanimous enough

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00:11:04,266 --> 00:11:06,133
to bring about some kind
of a settlement

193
00:11:06,233 --> 00:11:08,000
of this particular struggle.

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00:11:08,100 --> 00:11:12,533
NARRATOR:
Fulbright invited the respected
diplomat George Kennan

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00:11:12,633 --> 00:11:14,233
to testify.

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00:11:14,333 --> 00:11:17,300
For two decades,
his doctrine of containment--

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00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,300
stopping Soviet expansion--

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00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,466
had been the basis
of American foreign policy,

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00:11:22,566 --> 00:11:25,633
and had in some ways been
the justification

200
00:11:25,733 --> 00:11:31,000
for leading the United States
into its proxy war in Vietnam.

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00:11:31,100 --> 00:11:32,400
KENNAN:
The first point
I would like to make

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00:11:32,500 --> 00:11:36,733
is that if we were not already
involved as we are today

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00:11:36,833 --> 00:11:38,533
in Vietnam,

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00:11:38,633 --> 00:11:40,100
I would know of no reason

205
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,800
why we should wish
to become so involved,

206
00:11:42,900 --> 00:11:44,500
and I could think
of several reasons

207
00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,033
why we should wish not to.

208
00:11:46,133 --> 00:11:50,266
You have referred
to containment here.

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00:11:50,366 --> 00:11:55,633
How... how can we contain
in Vietnam?

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00:11:55,733 --> 00:11:59,400
We would do better if we really
would show ourselves

211
00:11:59,500 --> 00:12:02,966
a little more relaxed and
less terrified of what happens

212
00:12:03,066 --> 00:12:05,033
in the...

213
00:12:05,133 --> 00:12:08,933
certainly in the smaller
countries of Asia and Africa,

214
00:12:09,033 --> 00:12:13,066
and not jump around like an
elephant frightened by a mouse

215
00:12:13,166 --> 00:12:15,366
every time these things occur.

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00:12:15,466 --> 00:12:19,133
NARRATOR:
Johnson was relieved when,
at the last moment,

217
00:12:19,233 --> 00:12:22,200
instead of airing Kennan's
testimony,

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00:12:22,300 --> 00:12:25,700
<i>CBS showed reruns
ofThe Real McCoys,</i>

219
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:29,800
<i>The Andy Griffith Show
andI Love Lucy.</i>

220
00:12:29,900 --> 00:12:33,966
But NBC kept the cameras
running.

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00:12:34,066 --> 00:12:36,866
This is not only not
our business,

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00:12:36,966 --> 00:12:38,866
but I don't think we can
do it successfully.

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00:12:38,966 --> 00:12:41,833
And I take it
by this you mean that

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00:12:41,933 --> 00:12:44,933
this is simply not a
practicable objective,

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00:12:45,033 --> 00:12:47,500
as I understand it,
in this country.

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00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:49,866
We can't achieve it even
with the best of will.

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00:12:49,966 --> 00:12:52,600
This is correct,
and I have a fear

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00:12:52,700 --> 00:12:58,233
that our thinking about this
whole problem is still affected

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00:12:58,333 --> 00:13:02,966
by some sort of illusions about
invincibility on our part.

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00:13:12,666 --> 00:13:14,900
NARRATOR:
Just before the hearings began,

231
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,066
the president had decided
to resume the bombing of targets

232
00:13:18,166 --> 00:13:20,033
in North Vietnam.

233
00:13:20,133 --> 00:13:25,933
The 37-day pause that had
begun on Christmas Eve 1965

234
00:13:26,033 --> 00:13:29,100
had yielded no hint
of Hanoi's willingness

235
00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,333
to come
to the negotiating table.

236
00:13:33,500 --> 00:13:37,400
In South Vietnam, Viet Cong
guerrillas were now believed

237
00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:41,500
to control nearly three-quarters
of the country.

238
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:44,400
But General
William Westmoreland,

239
00:13:44,500 --> 00:13:48,300
the American commander,
thought his most urgent task

240
00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:52,100
was to destroy the North
Vietnamese regular army units

241
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,000
Hanoi was sending South.

242
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,866
Westmoreland's target
for the next two years

243
00:13:58,966 --> 00:14:03,133
would be reaching what he
called the "crossover point"--

244
00:14:03,233 --> 00:14:06,100
the point at which U.S.
and ARVN forces

245
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,100
were killing more enemy troops
than could be replaced.

246
00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:14,766
It would be a war of attrition.

247
00:14:14,866 --> 00:14:19,766
But that would require
still more American soldiers.

248
00:14:21,866 --> 00:14:25,133
They came from every corner
of the country.

249
00:14:28,333 --> 00:14:31,833
MATT HARRISON:
I was born at West Point when my
dad was on the faculty there.

250
00:14:31,933 --> 00:14:34,433
From my earliest recollection,

251
00:14:34,533 --> 00:14:36,800
West Point was what
I wanted to do,

252
00:14:36,900 --> 00:14:39,666
not even particularly
because I had an inkling

253
00:14:39,766 --> 00:14:41,933
or a strong desire
for a military career.

254
00:14:42,033 --> 00:14:43,133
It's just...

255
00:14:43,233 --> 00:14:45,066
West Point was kind of the
height of my ambition.

256
00:14:45,166 --> 00:14:47,266
("On, Brave Old Army Team"
playing)

257
00:14:47,366 --> 00:14:50,433
NARRATOR:
The son of a colonel who
had served in World War II,

258
00:14:50,533 --> 00:14:55,300
Matt Harrison had grown up on
Army bases around the world.

259
00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,400
For him and his four siblings,

260
00:14:57,500 --> 00:15:01,866
the military was always
at the center of their lives.

261
00:15:01,966 --> 00:15:06,100
ANNE HARRISON BOWMAN:
You addressed parents
"sir" and "ma'am,"

262
00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:09,000
and you said "yes"
and not "yeah."

263
00:15:09,100 --> 00:15:12,366
And you answered the phone,
"Colonel Harrison's quarters."

264
00:15:12,466 --> 00:15:15,266
We got up every Saturday
morning and we dusted the house.

265
00:15:15,366 --> 00:15:18,300
My dad would put on the
West Point marching band

266
00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:20,466
and my sister and I would dust
around the living room.

267
00:15:21,933 --> 00:15:23,566
NARRATOR:
It seemed to Matt's parents

268
00:15:23,666 --> 00:15:25,866
that he could do no wrong.

269
00:15:25,966 --> 00:15:29,233
He was the embodiment of the
values they had hoped to instill

270
00:15:29,333 --> 00:15:34,366
in all their children:
duty, honor, and country.

271
00:15:35,900 --> 00:15:38,300
HARRISON:
The strongest impression
I have from my class

272
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:42,733
and my classmates was they were
guys who just were idealists.

273
00:15:42,833 --> 00:15:45,766
And I think guys drawn
from little towns

274
00:15:45,866 --> 00:15:49,200
all across the United States
had that in common.

275
00:15:49,300 --> 00:15:52,200
It was a time before
the questions

276
00:15:52,300 --> 00:15:54,366
about American exceptionalism.

277
00:15:54,466 --> 00:15:56,400
We didn't question.

278
00:15:56,500 --> 00:15:59,633
We believed in what
this country stood for,

279
00:15:59,733 --> 00:16:03,966
and we believed that people
who had the ability

280
00:16:04,066 --> 00:16:07,200
to lead soldiers should do that.

281
00:16:08,666 --> 00:16:11,400
("Mustang Sally"
by Wilson Pickett playing)

282
00:16:16,366 --> 00:16:18,866
PICKETT:
♪ Mustang Sally

283
00:16:18,966 --> 00:16:20,433
♪ Huh!

284
00:16:20,533 --> 00:16:22,566
ROGER HARRIS:
I wanted to go
with the gladiators.

285
00:16:22,666 --> 00:16:24,533
I wanted to go
with the tough guys.

286
00:16:27,166 --> 00:16:31,166
I was born in Boston, in
the Roxbury section of Boston.

287
00:16:31,266 --> 00:16:34,333
There were those who would
recruit you for gangs

288
00:16:34,433 --> 00:16:37,700
and try to entice you
to do things

289
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:41,366
that-that weren't in the
best interest of society.

290
00:16:41,466 --> 00:16:42,500
Let's put it like that.

291
00:16:43,900 --> 00:16:46,100
NARRATOR:
Roger Harris dreamed
of going to college

292
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,866
on a football scholarship,
but was not big enough

293
00:16:48,966 --> 00:16:51,400
to play for his team
in high school.

294
00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:53,666
HARRIS:
And so I enlisted
in the Marine Corps.

295
00:16:53,766 --> 00:16:57,733
And I felt that...
that it was a win-win

296
00:16:57,833 --> 00:17:02,633
because, one, if I died,
then my mother would be able

297
00:17:02,733 --> 00:17:05,900
to receive the $10,000
insurance policy.

298
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:07,700
I thought that was
a lot of money,

299
00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:09,366
that my mother will be rich
if I die.

300
00:17:09,466 --> 00:17:10,400
You know, she'll be rich.

301
00:17:12,100 --> 00:17:14,866
If I live, then I'll be a hero,
you know,

302
00:17:14,966 --> 00:17:17,233
and I can come back
and get a job.

303
00:17:17,333 --> 00:17:19,700
Naive, dumb, you know?

304
00:17:21,333 --> 00:17:23,800
NARRATOR:
John Musgrave was from
the Fairmount neighborhood

305
00:17:23,900 --> 00:17:26,266
of Independence, Missouri.

306
00:17:26,366 --> 00:17:29,733
MUSGRAVE:
I was 17 and my
best friend and I

307
00:17:29,833 --> 00:17:31,966
went down and enlisted
in the Marine Corps.

308
00:17:32,066 --> 00:17:35,000
I had always dreamed
of being a Marine.

309
00:17:35,100 --> 00:17:36,733
And...

310
00:17:39,633 --> 00:17:43,466
Well, I knew I wasn't going
to be a man right away

311
00:17:43,566 --> 00:17:46,066
but I was going to be a Marine,
and that was enough.

312
00:17:46,166 --> 00:17:50,366
I'd be doing something mature.

313
00:17:50,466 --> 00:17:53,033
And I'd be doing something
that was important.

314
00:17:53,133 --> 00:17:57,933
And there was a war on
and I wanted a piece of it.

315
00:17:59,833 --> 00:18:02,000
BILL EHRHART:
I grew up in Perkasie,
Pennsylvania.

316
00:18:02,100 --> 00:18:04,233
And every Memorial Day

317
00:18:04,333 --> 00:18:07,433
all that generation
of World War II would dress up

318
00:18:07,533 --> 00:18:09,533
in their American Legion
uniforms and parade around.

319
00:18:11,066 --> 00:18:14,933
And I'd put red, white, and blue
crepe paper on my bicycle.

320
00:18:15,033 --> 00:18:17,333
And the kids could ride
behind the parade.

321
00:18:19,066 --> 00:18:22,566
NARRATOR:
Bill Ehrhart would sign up
in part because his father,

322
00:18:22,666 --> 00:18:25,500
a pastor, had not served.

323
00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:28,633
Ehrhart was a gifted student

324
00:18:28,733 --> 00:18:30,666
and in his senior year
in high school

325
00:18:30,766 --> 00:18:33,766
was accepted by four colleges.

326
00:18:33,866 --> 00:18:35,666
Had he attended any one of them,

327
00:18:35,766 --> 00:18:39,033
he would have been
deferred from the draft.

328
00:18:39,133 --> 00:18:40,666
It all came down to this notion

329
00:18:40,766 --> 00:18:43,700
of I was going to serve
my country and be a hero

330
00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,266
and have that gorgeous
Marine Corps uniform.

331
00:18:47,366 --> 00:18:50,333
And the girls would just be
draped around my neck

332
00:18:50,433 --> 00:18:53,066
and nobody would beat me up
again.

333
00:18:53,166 --> 00:18:54,466
But at the same time

334
00:18:54,566 --> 00:18:58,000
I would really be serving
my country.

335
00:18:58,100 --> 00:19:00,833
It was my chance to be...
(sighs)

336
00:19:00,933 --> 00:19:03,500
one doesn't want to trivialize
it, but it was my chance to be

337
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:05,433
the star of my own
John Wayne movie.

338
00:19:05,533 --> 00:19:10,733
It was my chance to do what that
World War II generation had done

339
00:19:10,833 --> 00:19:13,066
and seemed to be so proud of.

340
00:19:13,166 --> 00:19:16,133
Now I had my turn.

341
00:19:17,533 --> 00:19:18,766
NARRATOR:
Wherever they came from,

342
00:19:18,866 --> 00:19:21,833
whatever their reasons for
joining the military,

343
00:19:21,933 --> 00:19:24,333
training transformed them.

344
00:19:24,433 --> 00:19:28,800
(United States Marine Band
playing "Semper Fidelis" march)

345
00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:35,566
For about the first five weeks
at Parris Island,

346
00:19:35,666 --> 00:19:39,166
I was convinced that I was going
to die there.

347
00:19:40,633 --> 00:19:42,733
The drill instructors said
they were going to kill me.

348
00:19:42,833 --> 00:19:44,400
And they certainly
sounded serious.

349
00:19:47,033 --> 00:19:49,733
MUSGRAVE:
I grew up in segregated
neighborhoods all my life.

350
00:19:49,833 --> 00:19:53,600
So, I'd never met a black person
till I arrived at boot camp.

351
00:19:53,700 --> 00:19:57,400
Never stood next to a black
person or a Hispanic

352
00:19:57,500 --> 00:19:59,166
or anyone who was Jewish.

353
00:19:59,266 --> 00:20:02,400
I just... they didn't mix
where I grew up.

354
00:20:02,500 --> 00:20:04,966
So that was just eye opening.

355
00:20:05,066 --> 00:20:08,533
But when I got to talking to
everybody, we were all the same.

356
00:20:08,633 --> 00:20:11,233
We were all working class
and poor.

357
00:20:11,333 --> 00:20:14,566
And we all wanted to be Marines
real bad.

358
00:20:15,733 --> 00:20:18,266
EHRHART:
By the time I graduated,

359
00:20:18,366 --> 00:20:21,666
I felt like I was
king of the world.

360
00:20:21,766 --> 00:20:23,700
I was God.

361
00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,066
I could do anything.

362
00:20:26,166 --> 00:20:29,400
On that day I became a Marine.

363
00:20:29,500 --> 00:20:33,300
You know, the Marine Corps
trains you to be a fighter.

364
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,466
They train you to fight,
they train you to kill.

365
00:20:35,566 --> 00:20:38,700
They used to say that if you're
a Marine, you can't die

366
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,400
until you kill three Vietnamese.

367
00:20:42,733 --> 00:20:44,633
And I said,
"Well, I'm from Roxbury.

368
00:20:44,733 --> 00:20:49,633
If the expectation is three,
I'll do ten."

369
00:20:51,433 --> 00:20:53,066
You know, craziness.

370
00:20:53,166 --> 00:20:55,133
(gunshot)

371
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,000
LESLIE GELB:
The tendency for a great power
is to use

372
00:21:05,100 --> 00:21:07,000
what it's greatest at--

373
00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:10,300
namely its firepower,
destructive power.

374
00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,633
Dropping a lot of bombs
and shooting a lot of artillery

375
00:21:13,733 --> 00:21:15,500
at a distance.

376
00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:16,866
You save lives.

377
00:21:16,966 --> 00:21:19,566
You kill a lot of them,
you don't lose a lot of us.

378
00:21:21,166 --> 00:21:23,933
NARRATOR:
The central coastal province
of Binh Dinh

379
00:21:24,033 --> 00:21:26,933
was home to more than
half a million people.

380
00:21:27,033 --> 00:21:30,633
For decades, it had been
a guerrilla stronghold,

381
00:21:30,733 --> 00:21:33,600
and in early 1966,

382
00:21:33,700 --> 00:21:38,833
the Viet Cong had been augmented
by North Vietnamese regulars,

383
00:21:38,933 --> 00:21:41,533
some 8,000 men in all.

384
00:21:45,033 --> 00:21:47,900
General Westmoreland sent
20,000 American,

385
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,866
South Vietnamese
and South Korean troops

386
00:21:50,966 --> 00:21:54,266
storming across the province
in pursuit of the enemy

387
00:21:54,366 --> 00:21:56,933
and their sources of supply.

388
00:21:57,033 --> 00:22:01,600
They first dropped leaflets
and broadcast from loudspeakers

389
00:22:01,700 --> 00:22:03,733
to warn villagers
of the terrible fate

390
00:22:03,833 --> 00:22:07,533
that awaited anyone who fired
on their helicopters,

391
00:22:07,633 --> 00:22:09,866
urged them to leave their homes,

392
00:22:09,966 --> 00:22:13,200
promised safe passage
to any Viet Cong

393
00:22:13,300 --> 00:22:14,866
who wished to surrender.

394
00:22:14,966 --> 00:22:18,533
Then they called in airstrikes
and artillery

395
00:22:18,633 --> 00:22:22,400
and blew the hamlets to bits.

396
00:22:22,500 --> 00:22:26,900
It was the first large-scale
search-and-destroy campaign

397
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,833
of the war.

398
00:22:28,933 --> 00:22:30,333
(shouting, gunfire)

399
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,100
The offensive lasted 42 days.

400
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:42,800
The Army reported
2,389 enemy soldiers killed.

401
00:22:42,900 --> 00:22:45,833
Westmoreland was pleased.

402
00:22:45,933 --> 00:22:48,533
But commanders on the scene
were concerned

403
00:22:48,633 --> 00:22:52,300
that despite all the American
firepower brought against them,

404
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:56,233
most of the North Vietnamese
regulars had still managed

405
00:22:56,333 --> 00:22:59,966
to escape back
into the Central Highlands.

406
00:23:00,066 --> 00:23:04,666
The operation would drive
more than 100,000 civilians

407
00:23:04,766 --> 00:23:06,433
from their homes.

408
00:23:07,733 --> 00:23:10,800
Similar search-and-destroy
and bombing campaigns--

409
00:23:10,900 --> 00:23:16,066
17 large-scale U.S. offensives
in 1966 alone--

410
00:23:16,166 --> 00:23:17,600
would produce a total

411
00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:20,666
of more than three million
homeless people

412
00:23:20,766 --> 00:23:22,333
all across the country,

413
00:23:22,433 --> 00:23:27,666
roughly one-fifth
of South Vietnam's population.

414
00:23:31,933 --> 00:23:35,266
Since there was no front
in Vietnam,

415
00:23:35,366 --> 00:23:38,866
as there had been in the first
and second World Wars,

416
00:23:38,966 --> 00:23:43,300
since no ground was ever
permanently won or lost,

417
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:47,033
the American military command
in Vietnam-- MACV--

418
00:23:47,133 --> 00:23:51,566
fell back more and more
on a single grisly measure

419
00:23:51,666 --> 00:23:53,433
of supposed success:

420
00:23:53,533 --> 00:23:55,766
counting corpses.

421
00:23:55,866 --> 00:23:58,533
Body count.

422
00:24:03,700 --> 00:24:05,033
JAMES WILLBANKS:
The problem with the war,

423
00:24:05,133 --> 00:24:07,766
as it often is, are the metrics.

424
00:24:07,866 --> 00:24:12,733
It is a situation where if you
can't count what's important,

425
00:24:12,833 --> 00:24:15,333
you make what you can count
important.

426
00:24:16,666 --> 00:24:18,466
So, in this particular case
what you could count

427
00:24:18,566 --> 00:24:21,033
was dead enemy bodies.

428
00:24:22,966 --> 00:24:25,700
JOE GALLOWAY:
You don't get details
with a body count.

429
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:27,633
You get numbers.

430
00:24:27,733 --> 00:24:32,500
And the numbers are lies,
most of 'em.

431
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:37,133
If body count is
your success mark,

432
00:24:37,233 --> 00:24:43,300
then you're pushing otherwise
honorable men, warriors,

433
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:44,733
to become liars.

434
00:24:46,566 --> 00:24:48,400
ROBERT GARD:
If body count

435
00:24:48,500 --> 00:24:49,733
is the measure of success,

436
00:24:49,833 --> 00:24:53,400
then there's the tendency
to count every body

437
00:24:53,500 --> 00:24:55,633
as an enemy soldier.

438
00:24:55,733 --> 00:25:00,200
There's a tendency to want
to pile up dead bodies

439
00:25:00,300 --> 00:25:06,366
and perhaps to use
less discriminate firepower

440
00:25:06,466 --> 00:25:07,933
than you otherwise might

441
00:25:08,033 --> 00:25:11,500
in order to achieve the result

442
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,266
that you're charged
with trying to obtain.

443
00:25:28,866 --> 00:25:31,300
(man shouting)

444
00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:41,233
MERRILL McPEAK:
Just think about the problem
from the North's point of view.

445
00:25:41,333 --> 00:25:44,600
They had to supply the South.

446
00:25:44,700 --> 00:25:47,933
I'm talking about bringing in
people, equipment, supplies,

447
00:25:48,033 --> 00:25:49,933
and so forth.

448
00:25:50,033 --> 00:25:55,000
They started from nothing and
pushed a road through that...

449
00:25:55,100 --> 00:25:58,033
through an area
the size of Massachusetts.

450
00:25:58,133 --> 00:26:02,066
So this is not a trivial amount
of real estate

451
00:26:02,166 --> 00:26:05,333
that they took over,
built a road on,

452
00:26:05,433 --> 00:26:07,033
and then maintained it.

453
00:26:09,766 --> 00:26:13,433
NARRATOR:
For years, Hanoi had smuggled
most of its arms and supplies

454
00:26:13,533 --> 00:26:16,866
to the South aboard an
improvised fleet of junks,

455
00:26:16,966 --> 00:26:19,333
trawlers and freighters.

456
00:26:19,433 --> 00:26:21,966
But when the U.S. Navy
effectively blockaded

457
00:26:22,066 --> 00:26:23,833
the Southern coastline,

458
00:26:23,933 --> 00:26:26,266
the North Vietnamese would be
forced to move

459
00:26:26,366 --> 00:26:29,133
almost all of their
supplies overland,

460
00:26:29,233 --> 00:26:31,333
through Laos and Cambodia,

461
00:26:31,433 --> 00:26:33,766
neutral countries
Hanoi considered

462
00:26:33,866 --> 00:26:36,233
part of the greater battlefield.

463
00:26:36,333 --> 00:26:39,933
Americans called it
the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

464
00:26:40,033 --> 00:26:44,033
The North Vietnamese called it
Route 559,

465
00:26:44,133 --> 00:26:48,100
after the men and women
of the 559th Army Corps,

466
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,600
who were turning it from
a braided web of footpaths

467
00:26:51,700 --> 00:26:55,866
into 12,000 tangled miles
of jungle roadways

468
00:26:55,966 --> 00:26:59,666
down which men and materiel
streamed south.

469
00:27:00,900 --> 00:27:02,200
When they had fought the French,

470
00:27:02,300 --> 00:27:06,366
the Viet Minh had depended
on tens of thousands of porters,

471
00:27:06,466 --> 00:27:09,433
then on legions of bicycles.

472
00:27:09,533 --> 00:27:12,700
Now, to offset the growing
American presence,

473
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,533
the North Vietnamese
used more mechanized transport--

474
00:27:16,633 --> 00:27:19,733
relays of six-wheeled
Russian-built trucks

475
00:27:19,833 --> 00:27:23,466
traveling under cover
of darkness.

476
00:27:23,566 --> 00:27:26,533
MACV reasoned that
if the Ho Chi Minh Trail

477
00:27:26,633 --> 00:27:29,133
could somehow be
sufficiently damaged,

478
00:27:29,233 --> 00:27:33,533
the enemy would be unable
to sustain itself.

479
00:27:36,100 --> 00:27:39,666
Three million tons of explosives
would eventually be dropped

480
00:27:39,766 --> 00:27:42,366
on the Laos portion
of the trail alone--

481
00:27:42,466 --> 00:27:46,600
a million more tons than fell
on Germany and Japan

482
00:27:46,700 --> 00:27:49,500
during all of World War II.

483
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,600
Some key choke-points were hit
so many times

484
00:27:53,700 --> 00:27:57,100
the workers gave them
names-- "the Gate of Death,"

485
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:02,900
"Fried Flesh Hill"
and "the Gorge of Lost Souls."

486
00:28:05,033 --> 00:28:07,566
To expose enemy traffic,

487
00:28:07,666 --> 00:28:10,533
other aircraft dropped
chemical defoliants,

488
00:28:10,633 --> 00:28:12,566
including Agent Orange,

489
00:28:12,666 --> 00:28:15,600
that destroyed thousands
of acres of jungle

490
00:28:15,700 --> 00:28:19,466
and turned the earth into what
one American pilot called

491
00:28:19,566 --> 00:28:22,166
"bony, lunar dust."

492
00:28:24,066 --> 00:28:26,400
McPEAK:
We'd punch a hole in the road
and say,

493
00:28:26,500 --> 00:28:28,033
"Ha ha, they'll never get around
that one."

494
00:28:28,133 --> 00:28:30,733
And the next day you'd come up,
and the hole wouldn't be there;

495
00:28:30,833 --> 00:28:33,566
and there'd be dust on the trees
back, you know, 50 meters

496
00:28:33,666 --> 00:28:36,533
in both directions, saying,
heavy traffic all night.

497
00:28:37,866 --> 00:28:40,533
DONG SI NGUYEN:

498
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:58,666
NARRATOR:
As many as 230,000 teenagers,
many of them volunteers,

499
00:28:58,766 --> 00:29:02,800
worked to keep the roads open
and the traffic moving.

500
00:29:02,900 --> 00:29:05,833
More than half of them
were women.

501
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,400
Le Minh Khue, who had left
her home in the North

502
00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:14,433
with a novel by Ernest Hemingway
in her backpack,

503
00:29:14,533 --> 00:29:18,100
observed her 17th birthday
on the trail.

504
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,500
LE MINH KHUE:

505
00:29:34,333 --> 00:29:39,433
NARRATOR:
Thousands died on the trail
from starvation and accidents,

506
00:29:39,533 --> 00:29:43,133
fevers and snakebite
and sheer exhaustion,

507
00:29:43,233 --> 00:29:46,066
as well as from
the relentless bombing.

508
00:29:51,866 --> 00:29:54,133
LE MINH KHUE:

509
00:30:08,033 --> 00:30:10,100
TRAN CONG THANG:

510
00:30:53,066 --> 00:30:55,366
(Doug Wamble's "A Hard Rain's
A-Gonna Fall" playing)

511
00:30:58,033 --> 00:31:00,366
<i>HOWARD K. SMITH (on television):
But in this kind of war
you never know.</i>

512
00:31:00,466 --> 00:31:02,233
<i>You have to be constantly alert</i>

513
00:31:02,333 --> 00:31:04,766
<i>because you can't tell friends
from enemies.</i>

514
00:31:04,866 --> 00:31:08,333
<i>Relax for a moment and your
reward may be a grenade</i>

515
00:31:08,433 --> 00:31:09,866
<i>or a hail of bullets.</i>

516
00:31:09,966 --> 00:31:12,133
CAROL CROCKER:
I couldn't watch the news.

517
00:31:12,233 --> 00:31:15,400
My parents would be sitting
in front of the television

518
00:31:15,500 --> 00:31:17,900
and I would hide in the kitchen.

519
00:31:20,033 --> 00:31:23,600
Of course you don't tell
anybody, but it was too much.

520
00:31:23,700 --> 00:31:25,633
I really didn't want to know.

521
00:31:25,733 --> 00:31:28,666
("Smokestack Lightnin'"
by Howlin' Wolf playing)

522
00:31:35,633 --> 00:31:39,633
HOWLIN' WOLF:
♪ Oh-oh, smokestack lightnin'.

523
00:31:39,733 --> 00:31:43,100
NARRATOR:
Mogie Crocker had spent most
of his boyhood

524
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:44,866
reading about war.

525
00:31:44,966 --> 00:31:48,300
But nothing had prepared him
for what he would experience

526
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,366
in Quang Duc Province
on the Cambodian border.

527
00:31:53,433 --> 00:31:55,066
He had deliberately fouled up
his work

528
00:31:55,166 --> 00:31:57,566
at battalion headquarters
so badly

529
00:31:57,666 --> 00:31:59,233
that he had finally been
reassigned

530
00:31:59,333 --> 00:32:02,766
to what he wanted most--
a combat unit.

531
00:32:02,866 --> 00:32:06,866
HOWLIN' WOLF:
♪ Whoa-oh, tell me, baby

532
00:32:06,966 --> 00:32:10,966
♪ What's the matter with you?

533
00:32:11,066 --> 00:32:14,233
♪ Why don't you hear me cryin' ?

534
00:32:14,333 --> 00:32:16,033
♪ Oooh

535
00:32:16,133 --> 00:32:19,166
JEAN-MARIE CROCKER:
Not hearing in those days
was so difficult.

536
00:32:19,266 --> 00:32:23,666
There'd be at least eight to ten
days usually between letters.

537
00:32:23,766 --> 00:32:27,699
So knowing he was in action,
you just didn't know what,

538
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:29,600
you know, might be going on.

539
00:32:31,433 --> 00:32:33,466
NARRATOR:
Mogie's battalion commander,

540
00:32:33,566 --> 00:32:35,766
Lieutenant Colonel
Henry Emerson,

541
00:32:35,866 --> 00:32:37,366
known as "The Gunfighter,"

542
00:32:37,466 --> 00:32:41,199
was courageous,
implacable, relentless.

543
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:44,500
A few months before
Mogie got there,

544
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:48,000
he had offered a case of whiskey
to the first of his men

545
00:32:48,100 --> 00:32:52,166
to bring him the hacked-off head
of an enemy soldier.

546
00:32:52,266 --> 00:32:55,133
They did.

547
00:32:57,966 --> 00:33:02,066
For nine days in early May
of 1966,

548
00:33:02,166 --> 00:33:06,500
Mogie and his outfit battled
nothing but the terrain.

549
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,600
They struggled through
a labyrinth of elephant grass

550
00:33:09,699 --> 00:33:11,033
and thorn bushes,

551
00:33:11,133 --> 00:33:13,933
bamboo taller than three men

552
00:33:14,033 --> 00:33:16,766
and triple-canopied jungle
so thick

553
00:33:16,866 --> 00:33:20,900
it sometimes took an hour
to move 100 feet.

554
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:22,166
(thunder rumbles)

555
00:33:22,266 --> 00:33:23,700
The monsoon had begun.

556
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:27,266
Sunlight rarely reached
the forest floor.

557
00:33:27,366 --> 00:33:29,400
Finger-long black leeches

558
00:33:29,500 --> 00:33:33,133
caused wounds that quickly
became infected.

559
00:33:33,233 --> 00:33:36,533
When Colonel Emerson learned
that four companies

560
00:33:36,633 --> 00:33:39,233
of North Vietnamese
were preparing an ambush,

561
00:33:39,333 --> 00:33:42,433
he decided to ambush
the ambushers.

562
00:33:43,633 --> 00:33:47,200
On May 11, he ordered
his men to attack,

563
00:33:47,300 --> 00:33:50,800
backed by massive air
and artillery strikes.

564
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,200
Before the fighting ended,

565
00:33:55,300 --> 00:34:01,333
some 2,000 shells had slammed
into the enemy positions.

566
00:34:01,433 --> 00:34:05,233
Blood was everywhere,
pooled on the ground,

567
00:34:05,333 --> 00:34:08,800
smeared on leaves and grass
and bamboo.

568
00:34:08,900 --> 00:34:11,333
There were scores of corpses,

569
00:34:11,433 --> 00:34:15,900
torn to pieces or blown into
the earth, hidden in thickets,

570
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,133
half-buried
in scooped-out graves.

571
00:34:19,233 --> 00:34:21,566
The earth-shaking concussions

572
00:34:21,666 --> 00:34:25,566
had blown the eyeballs of
some of them from their heads.

573
00:34:27,033 --> 00:34:28,366
In the midst of the fighting,

574
00:34:28,466 --> 00:34:31,133
Mogie's squad was moving along
a narrow path

575
00:34:31,233 --> 00:34:34,400
when two enemy machine guns
opened up on them.

576
00:34:34,500 --> 00:34:37,266
(gunfire)

577
00:34:40,766 --> 00:34:43,966
His closest friend
was fatally wounded.

578
00:34:44,066 --> 00:34:48,733
Mogie crouched in front of him,
radioed for suppressive fire,

579
00:34:48,833 --> 00:34:52,733
and then, as both machine guns
continued shooting,

580
00:34:52,833 --> 00:34:57,233
he carried his dying friend
off the battlefield.

581
00:34:58,333 --> 00:34:59,533
For his courage,

582
00:34:59,633 --> 00:35:03,866
he would be awarded the
Army Commendation Medal.

583
00:35:06,066 --> 00:35:09,366
In his letters home,
Mogie told his family

584
00:35:09,466 --> 00:35:13,366
nothing of what he'd seen
or done.

585
00:35:13,466 --> 00:35:17,233
(David Cieri playing
"Sound of Silence")

586
00:35:20,700 --> 00:35:24,066
JEAN-MARIE CROCKER:
One day when I was at the
post office mailing something,

587
00:35:24,166 --> 00:35:28,066
I asked the clerk,
"How do they let you know

588
00:35:28,166 --> 00:35:30,033
if your son is wounded?"

589
00:35:30,133 --> 00:35:33,166
It was very hard for me
to form those words.

590
00:35:33,266 --> 00:35:35,866
But I just felt
I've got to know.

591
00:35:35,966 --> 00:35:40,266
I just felt so suspended
in space, in anxiety.

592
00:35:42,166 --> 00:35:45,600
And the man said,
"Now, don't ask that.

593
00:35:45,700 --> 00:35:48,133
Don't think about that."

594
00:35:48,233 --> 00:35:50,900
I said, "Well, I have to know."

595
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,600
And he said, "Don't worry,
they'll tell you."

596
00:35:57,833 --> 00:36:02,100
(Pete Seeger playing
"The Willing Conscript")

597
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:04,366
SEEGER:
♪ Oh sergeant, I'm a draftee

598
00:36:04,466 --> 00:36:07,066
♪ And I've just arrived
in camp ♪

599
00:36:07,166 --> 00:36:11,700
♪ I've come to wear the uniform
and join the martial tramp ♪

600
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:16,533
♪ And I want to do my duty,
but one thing I do implore ♪

601
00:36:16,633 --> 00:36:18,300
♪ You must give me lessons,
sergeant ♪

602
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,566
♪ For I've never
killed before. ♪

603
00:36:23,466 --> 00:36:28,166
PHILIP CAPUTO:
I didn't like the war protesters
whatever.

604
00:36:28,266 --> 00:36:31,400
I kind of felt that they were
privileged, spoiled kids

605
00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:38,266
who may have been protesting
because they didn't want to go.

606
00:36:38,366 --> 00:36:40,800
So they leave it to some guy

607
00:36:40,900 --> 00:36:43,200
that maybe got through two years
of high school

608
00:36:43,300 --> 00:36:44,566
to go do it for 'em.

609
00:36:45,766 --> 00:36:48,233
BILL ZIMMERMAN:
The war by 1966

610
00:36:48,333 --> 00:36:50,800
began to impact the middle class

611
00:36:50,900 --> 00:36:54,066
because the draft calls
had to be enlarged.

612
00:36:54,166 --> 00:36:57,166
They couldn't get enough
people to volunteer

613
00:36:57,266 --> 00:36:59,500
or draft people out
of the working class.

614
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:01,466
They started drafting people
out of college.

615
00:37:01,566 --> 00:37:05,733
And that's when the
antiwar movement shifted

616
00:37:05,833 --> 00:37:09,433
from a moral movement
to a self-interest movement

617
00:37:09,533 --> 00:37:12,633
driven by people who
didn't want to go to war

618
00:37:12,733 --> 00:37:17,066
and their loved ones who didn't
want them to go to war.

619
00:37:17,166 --> 00:37:19,566
SEEGER:
♪ And I know that
it won't matter ♪

620
00:37:19,666 --> 00:37:23,066
♪ That I've never
killed before. ♪

621
00:37:23,166 --> 00:37:24,466
(school bell rings)

622
00:37:24,566 --> 00:37:26,833
NARRATOR:
Bill Zimmerman
was a graduate student

623
00:37:26,933 --> 00:37:31,300
at the University of
Chicago in May of 1966.

624
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,033
The son of Eastern European
refugees,

625
00:37:34,133 --> 00:37:36,700
he'd worked for civil rights
in Mississippi

626
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,100
and had been opposed to American
involvement in Vietnam

627
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,933
since 1963.

628
00:37:43,033 --> 00:37:45,500
The draft was a consuming issue

629
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:48,133
for young men of
Zimmerman's generation.

630
00:37:48,233 --> 00:37:52,533
Since 1942, every male citizen
of the United States

631
00:37:52,633 --> 00:37:56,333
had been required
to register at age 18.

632
00:37:56,433 --> 00:37:59,900
But of the nearly 27 million
American men

633
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,733
who came of age during
the Vietnam War,

634
00:38:02,833 --> 00:38:05,833
more than half avoided
military service

635
00:38:05,933 --> 00:38:08,400
through exemptions
and deferments.

636
00:38:08,500 --> 00:38:12,166
Nearly 500,000 Americans applied

637
00:38:12,266 --> 00:38:14,500
for conscientious objector
status

638
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:16,766
on religious or moral grounds,

639
00:38:16,866 --> 00:38:19,866
six times as many
as in World War II.

640
00:38:19,966 --> 00:38:26,133
In all, 170,000 were allowed
to perform alternative service

641
00:38:26,233 --> 00:38:30,600
in hospitals,
homeless shelters, and schools.

642
00:38:30,700 --> 00:38:34,766
Some were trained as medics
and sent to Vietnam.

643
00:38:34,866 --> 00:38:37,366
At least two were killed;

644
00:38:37,466 --> 00:38:41,233
both received the Congressional
Medal of Honor.

645
00:38:41,333 --> 00:38:45,700
A million young men served in
the Reserves or National Guard

646
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:49,400
with the expectation they would
never be sent into combat.

647
00:38:49,500 --> 00:38:54,033
Reservists and Guardsmen
were almost always white,

648
00:38:54,133 --> 00:38:56,833
generally better educated,
better connected,

649
00:38:56,933 --> 00:38:59,566
and better paid than draftees.

650
00:38:59,666 --> 00:39:03,266
Interrupting their lives,
President Johnson felt,

651
00:39:03,366 --> 00:39:06,200
would have increased opposition
to the war.

652
00:39:06,300 --> 00:39:11,833
"If you've got the dough," GIs
said, "you don't have to go."

653
00:39:11,933 --> 00:39:13,400
("Backlash Blues"
by Nina Simone playing)

654
00:39:13,500 --> 00:39:15,700
The result was an
Army heavily skewed

655
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:18,566
toward minorities
and the underprivileged.

656
00:39:18,666 --> 00:39:21,700
SIMONE:
♪ Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash

657
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,400
♪ Just who do you think I am?

658
00:39:24,500 --> 00:39:27,433
♪ You raise my taxes,
freeze my wages ♪

659
00:39:27,533 --> 00:39:30,600
♪ And send my son to Vietnam.

660
00:39:30,700 --> 00:39:34,466
NARRATOR:
For a time, African Americans,

661
00:39:34,566 --> 00:39:38,166
though they represented
only 12% of the population,

662
00:39:38,266 --> 00:39:42,000
suffered a disproportionate
number of casualties.

663
00:39:42,100 --> 00:39:46,066
Resentment began to grow.

664
00:39:46,166 --> 00:39:48,133
STOKELY CARMICHAEL:
We've got to build
so much strength

665
00:39:48,233 --> 00:39:49,733
in building our community,

666
00:39:49,833 --> 00:39:51,866
that if they come to get
one person,

667
00:39:51,966 --> 00:39:53,366
they going to have to mess
with us all.

668
00:39:53,466 --> 00:39:54,600
That's what we got to do!

669
00:39:54,700 --> 00:39:56,066
That's what we go to do.

670
00:39:56,166 --> 00:39:57,566
(applause)

671
00:39:57,666 --> 00:40:02,133
We've got to build so much
strength inside our community,

672
00:40:02,233 --> 00:40:05,566
so that when LBJ says,
"Come here, boy, to my war,"

673
00:40:05,666 --> 00:40:07,666
we say, "Hell no,
we ain't going."

674
00:40:07,766 --> 00:40:08,966
(applause)

675
00:40:09,066 --> 00:40:11,333
SIMONE:
♪ But the world is big.

676
00:40:11,433 --> 00:40:12,633
MUHAMMAD ALI:
I'm not going to help nobody

677
00:40:12,733 --> 00:40:14,966
get something
my Negroes don't have.

678
00:40:15,066 --> 00:40:16,333
If I'm going to die,
I'll die now,

679
00:40:16,433 --> 00:40:19,166
right here fighting you,
if I'm going to die.

680
00:40:19,266 --> 00:40:23,100
You my enemy, my enemy is the
white people, not Viet Congs,

681
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:24,666
or Chinese, or Japanese.

682
00:40:24,766 --> 00:40:27,166
You my opposer
when I want freedom.

683
00:40:27,266 --> 00:40:29,133
You my opposer when
I want justice.

684
00:40:29,233 --> 00:40:30,666
You my opposer
when I want equality.

685
00:40:30,766 --> 00:40:32,533
And you want me to go
somewhere and fight,

686
00:40:32,633 --> 00:40:34,966
but you won't even stand up
for me here at home.

687
00:40:35,066 --> 00:40:40,166
NARRATOR:
At first, 10,000 draftees were
called up each month,

688
00:40:40,266 --> 00:40:45,566
but in 1966, the growing demand
for fresh troops in Vietnam

689
00:40:45,666 --> 00:40:49,266
raised that number to 30,000.

690
00:40:49,366 --> 00:40:52,566
Now, thousands
of college students

691
00:40:52,666 --> 00:40:56,000
could no longer expect
a deferment.

692
00:40:56,100 --> 00:40:59,400
ZIMMERMAN:
And if your rank fell below
a certain threshold,

693
00:40:59,500 --> 00:41:02,633
you were yanked out of college.

694
00:41:02,733 --> 00:41:05,366
And the worst that could happen
to you is you would be killed

695
00:41:05,466 --> 00:41:07,166
in Vietnam.

696
00:41:07,266 --> 00:41:10,700
So we protested at
the University of Chicago

697
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:15,400
that the university was
complicit with this war

698
00:41:15,500 --> 00:41:19,766
by agreeing to supply those
rankings to the draft board.

699
00:41:19,866 --> 00:41:22,466
We thought for the first time,
you know,

700
00:41:22,566 --> 00:41:24,366
we're really having an impact.

701
00:41:28,166 --> 00:41:33,766
NARRATOR:
But a majority of Americans, old
and young, supported the war.

702
00:41:33,866 --> 00:41:36,066
The Young Americans for Freedom,

703
00:41:36,166 --> 00:41:39,600
created by the conservative
writer William F. Buckley,

704
00:41:39,700 --> 00:41:44,366
held counter-demonstrations
on campuses across the country.

705
00:41:44,466 --> 00:41:47,866
CROWD:
♪ His truth is marching on.

706
00:41:53,300 --> 00:41:55,433
LE QUAN CONG:

707
00:42:42,900 --> 00:42:46,700
DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT:
I was brought up to believe
that the communists were people

708
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:51,800
who destroy the family,
destroy religion,

709
00:42:51,900 --> 00:42:55,366
and people who had no allegiance
to our country

710
00:42:55,466 --> 00:42:58,533
but to international communism.

711
00:42:58,633 --> 00:43:02,666
My mother would describe them
as (speaking Vietnamese),

712
00:43:02,766 --> 00:43:05,000
which means that
these are people

713
00:43:05,100 --> 00:43:07,766
with the head of a water buffalo
and the face of a horse,

714
00:43:07,866 --> 00:43:11,800
meaning that they were
subhumans, and they were brutal.

715
00:43:13,133 --> 00:43:16,400
But on the other hand I
thought they also include people

716
00:43:16,500 --> 00:43:20,166
like my sister Thang
and a lot of my cousins.

717
00:43:20,266 --> 00:43:24,533
I couldn't quite reconcile
the two images.

718
00:43:24,633 --> 00:43:28,900
But of the two, I think the
other image was much stronger

719
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:30,900
because I was so scared
of them.

720
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,500
I thought these people must be
really, really horrible people.

721
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:37,066
That was the frame of mind I had

722
00:43:37,166 --> 00:43:41,400
when I started doing research
into the communist movement.

723
00:43:41,500 --> 00:43:45,000
NARRATOR:
Duong Van Mai was the daughter
of an official

724
00:43:45,100 --> 00:43:48,266
in the South Vietnamese
government and was now married

725
00:43:48,366 --> 00:43:50,933
to an American, David Elliott.

726
00:43:51,033 --> 00:43:54,166
Back in 1964, she had gone
to work

727
00:43:54,266 --> 00:43:56,866
for the RAND Corporation
in Saigon.

728
00:43:56,966 --> 00:43:59,200
The think tank had been
commissioned

729
00:43:59,300 --> 00:44:03,100
by Robert McNamara to do
a study of enemy prisoners

730
00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:06,166
to find out
"Who are the Viet Cong?

731
00:44:06,266 --> 00:44:08,566
And what makes them tick?"

732
00:44:10,300 --> 00:44:12,600
DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT:
I remember my first interview.

733
00:44:12,700 --> 00:44:14,366
I was by myself.

734
00:44:14,466 --> 00:44:19,333
I was very young and I was going
to this pretty grim prison

735
00:44:19,433 --> 00:44:24,066
to interview this high-ranking
cadre who had been captured.

736
00:44:24,166 --> 00:44:28,200
I went in thinking I'm going
to meet this beast, you know,

737
00:44:28,300 --> 00:44:30,666
this guy with the head
of a water buffalo

738
00:44:30,766 --> 00:44:32,300
and the face of a horse.

739
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,000
He walked in and he was
very surprised to see me.

740
00:44:35,100 --> 00:44:36,266
(chuckles)

741
00:44:36,366 --> 00:44:39,000
Just as surprised
as I was to see him.

742
00:44:39,100 --> 00:44:43,400
Here was a man who had devoted
all his life to fight

743
00:44:43,500 --> 00:44:46,400
for what he called a just cause

744
00:44:46,500 --> 00:44:49,133
to free his country
of foreign domination,

745
00:44:49,233 --> 00:44:53,800
to reunify the country
under just government.

746
00:44:53,900 --> 00:44:55,900
So he really totally
believed in it

747
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:59,233
to the point that he sacrificed
his whole life to this cause.

748
00:44:59,333 --> 00:45:02,066
So I left, I was very...
I was very impressed with him.

749
00:45:03,733 --> 00:45:05,500
NARRATOR:
When the RAND report
was presented

750
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,533
to McNamara's top
deputies at the Pentagon,

751
00:45:08,633 --> 00:45:11,633
describing the Viet Cong
as a dedicated enemy

752
00:45:11,733 --> 00:45:15,200
that "could only be defeated
at enormous cost,"

753
00:45:15,300 --> 00:45:19,633
one senior official said,
"If what you say is true,

754
00:45:19,733 --> 00:45:22,233
"we're fighting
on the wrong side,

755
00:45:22,333 --> 00:45:25,300
the side that's going to lose
this war."

756
00:45:28,733 --> 00:45:32,433
(Donovan's "Sunshine Superman"
playing)

757
00:45:39,500 --> 00:45:46,600
DONOVAN:
♪ Sunshine came softly
through my a-window today ♪

758
00:45:46,700 --> 00:45:53,766
♪ Could've tripped out easy
a-but I've a-changed my ways. ♪

759
00:45:53,866 --> 00:45:59,200
STUART HERRINGTON:
The overall myth of an
American army running roughshod

760
00:45:59,300 --> 00:46:04,533
by policy, by strategy, by
tactics to terrorize and murder

761
00:46:04,633 --> 00:46:09,300
and victimize the innocent
population of South Vietnam,

762
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,000
that image is the...

763
00:46:11,100 --> 00:46:14,366
it-it doesn't do justice
to the young men and women

764
00:46:14,466 --> 00:46:15,666
who served over there.

765
00:46:15,766 --> 00:46:18,600
It's certainly not
an accurate depiction

766
00:46:18,700 --> 00:46:21,200
of what our army was about.

767
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,200
NARRATOR:
From the first, the Johnson
administration understood

768
00:46:26,300 --> 00:46:28,133
that the war could not be won

769
00:46:28,233 --> 00:46:32,066
without convincing poor farmers
living in the countryside

770
00:46:32,166 --> 00:46:35,933
that the government in Saigon,
not the Viet Cong,

771
00:46:36,033 --> 00:46:40,566
had their best interests
at heart.

772
00:46:40,666 --> 00:46:42,833
In addition to the military,

773
00:46:42,933 --> 00:46:45,966
many American aid organizations
were at work

774
00:46:46,066 --> 00:46:47,766
in Vietnamese villages.

775
00:46:47,866 --> 00:46:50,666
They dug wells
and built windmills,

776
00:46:50,766 --> 00:46:54,733
started schools,
introduced improved rice,

777
00:46:54,833 --> 00:46:56,533
provided medical care,

778
00:46:56,633 --> 00:47:00,400
and electrified
much of the countryside.

779
00:47:02,966 --> 00:47:05,800
Under pressure
from Robert McNamara,

780
00:47:05,900 --> 00:47:09,633
MACV struggled to find ways
to measure the progress

781
00:47:09,733 --> 00:47:14,100
of pacification in South
Vietnam's 44 provinces,

782
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:19,066
220 districts
and 13,000 hamlets,

783
00:47:19,166 --> 00:47:24,333
and finally came up with
the Hamlet Evaluation System.

784
00:47:24,433 --> 00:47:28,566
Soon some 220 U.S.
district advisers

785
00:47:28,666 --> 00:47:32,433
were required to produce
some 90,000 pages

786
00:47:32,533 --> 00:47:37,300
of data every month-- a mountain
of information so daunting

787
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:41,066
no one could make sense of it.

788
00:47:43,766 --> 00:47:46,600
PHILIP BRADY:
Everything can be quantified.

789
00:47:46,700 --> 00:47:50,566
So you can literally say,
"How pacified is this village?"

790
00:47:50,666 --> 00:47:53,700
"It's 37.5% pacified."

791
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,000
Well, what does that mean?

792
00:47:56,100 --> 00:47:57,433
An American would tell you,

793
00:47:57,533 --> 00:48:00,866
"You know, we haven't had
an incident in this village

794
00:48:00,966 --> 00:48:03,500
or this province," whatever.

795
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:09,433
"The incident rate's going down,
and therefore we're winning."

796
00:48:09,533 --> 00:48:12,133
But we would point out
that certain troubled areas

797
00:48:12,233 --> 00:48:14,833
in the provinces that we were
working in,

798
00:48:14,933 --> 00:48:18,133
we would say simply
that it's not pacified

799
00:48:18,233 --> 00:48:22,033
unless you want to consider it
pacified by the other side.

800
00:48:23,733 --> 00:48:26,066
HERRINGTON:
To the extent that pacification
was succeeding,

801
00:48:26,166 --> 00:48:29,233
schools were being built,
wells were being cleaned.

802
00:48:29,333 --> 00:48:30,633
And then one fine night

803
00:48:30,733 --> 00:48:33,500
here comes 400 North Vietnamese
soldiers into the village,

804
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:36,433
executes the village chief,
kidnaps 12 of the young people

805
00:48:36,533 --> 00:48:40,000
for, you know, service in the
revolutionary armed forces,

806
00:48:40,100 --> 00:48:42,200
and the people look
at the government and say,

807
00:48:42,300 --> 00:48:47,566
"You promised us you'd protect
us, but you didn't stay."

808
00:48:52,933 --> 00:48:54,700
MIKE HEANEY:
I was over there early.

809
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:59,133
I was with a really good unit,
who believed in Army traditions,

810
00:48:59,233 --> 00:49:00,833
they believed in honor,

811
00:49:00,933 --> 00:49:04,933
they believed even in treating
your enemy humanely

812
00:49:05,033 --> 00:49:07,100
once he was a POW.

813
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:11,633
NARRATOR:
Lieutenant Mike Heaney from
Basking Ridge, New Jersey,

814
00:49:11,733 --> 00:49:14,800
was a platoon leader
in the 1st Cavalry Division.

815
00:49:14,900 --> 00:49:18,166
He'd arrived late in 1965

816
00:49:18,266 --> 00:49:21,266
and was assigned to a densely
populated section

817
00:49:21,366 --> 00:49:22,600
of central Vietnam,

818
00:49:22,700 --> 00:49:24,800
where he found himself
surrounded

819
00:49:24,900 --> 00:49:27,166
by North Vietnamese infiltrators

820
00:49:27,266 --> 00:49:30,800
and villagers whose loyalties
were unclear.

821
00:49:31,900 --> 00:49:34,100
HEANEY:
We never really figured out

822
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:36,666
how to determine
who the enemy was.

823
00:49:36,766 --> 00:49:41,633
Being normal, decent
American boys,

824
00:49:41,733 --> 00:49:44,600
you don't just put your rifle up
and take a shot at a guy

825
00:49:44,700 --> 00:49:45,866
and try to kill him

826
00:49:45,966 --> 00:49:49,733
unless you're pretty sure
this is an enemy.

827
00:49:49,833 --> 00:49:52,400
And if he wasn't armed,

828
00:49:52,500 --> 00:49:56,500
or wasn't menacing you in any
way, we wouldn't shoot him.

829
00:49:58,166 --> 00:49:59,866
We'd go through a village

830
00:49:59,966 --> 00:50:02,400
in which there would be no
people we could identify

831
00:50:02,500 --> 00:50:06,000
as enemy soldiers, and we'd find
a big cache of rice.

832
00:50:06,100 --> 00:50:09,366
So the standing instructions
were blow that up, burn it,

833
00:50:09,466 --> 00:50:11,233
destroy it, poison it, whatever.

834
00:50:11,333 --> 00:50:14,966
We really didn't want to do that
because it...

835
00:50:15,066 --> 00:50:17,300
You didn't have to be a
rocket scientist to look around

836
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:18,933
and see these people are
depending on this.

837
00:50:19,033 --> 00:50:19,966
This is their food.

838
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:25,500
We were told sometimes
to burn thatched dwellings.

839
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:26,933
And guys would
unenthusiastically

840
00:50:27,033 --> 00:50:29,166
try to light a roof.

841
00:50:29,266 --> 00:50:31,000
And as soon as the flame
burned out,

842
00:50:31,100 --> 00:50:33,500
they weren't going to try again.

843
00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:36,900
Our hearts really weren't
in trying to destroy

844
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,200
civilian food, civilian homes.

845
00:50:39,300 --> 00:50:42,433
It gave us an uneasy feeling
about,

846
00:50:42,533 --> 00:50:44,266
"What is this war is about?"

847
00:50:47,066 --> 00:50:48,633
(gunfire)

848
00:50:48,733 --> 00:50:50,733
NARRATOR:
Most of the fighting in Vietnam

849
00:50:50,833 --> 00:50:53,400
was the kind Mike Heaney
was about to see--

850
00:50:53,500 --> 00:50:59,266
small-scale, close-up, and
initiated by the elusive enemy.

851
00:51:00,733 --> 00:51:03,466
The military called it
"contact."

852
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:10,633
"War is hell," grunts liked to
say, "but contact is a mother."

853
00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:19,966
HEANEY:
The job of an infantry platoon
usually is to try to scare up

854
00:51:20,066 --> 00:51:23,133
enemy infantry and take it down.

855
00:51:23,233 --> 00:51:27,700
Really, the tactic was
we were acting as bait.

856
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:29,833
And at some level we knew that.

857
00:51:29,933 --> 00:51:32,700
You know, go walk
in the woods and draw fire.

858
00:51:34,466 --> 00:51:36,133
NARRATOR:
Six months into his tour,

859
00:51:36,233 --> 00:51:38,933
Heaney undertook what
he and his men thought

860
00:51:39,033 --> 00:51:40,700
would be an easy assignment:

861
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:45,000
climb a slope not far
from their base at An Khe

862
00:51:45,100 --> 00:51:48,733
and drive a small enemy mortar
unit off a ridge line.

863
00:51:48,833 --> 00:51:53,533
HEANEY:
As soon as we started out, we
started to get some bad vibes.

864
00:51:53,633 --> 00:51:58,933
We found some boot prints
in the mud

865
00:51:59,033 --> 00:52:01,633
at the edge of this
landing zone,

866
00:52:01,733 --> 00:52:04,733
and a nice trail, a well-used
trail going up the ridge.

867
00:52:04,833 --> 00:52:08,966
I remember talking to one of
my squad leaders about this.

868
00:52:09,066 --> 00:52:13,233
And we were both sitting there,
"Well, shit, this sucks."

869
00:52:14,433 --> 00:52:17,333
And all of a sudden
the very point man,

870
00:52:17,433 --> 00:52:19,766
the first guy in the column,
Sergeant Mays,

871
00:52:19,866 --> 00:52:23,333
without saying anything just put
his M16 up to his shoulder

872
00:52:23,433 --> 00:52:24,866
and fired off a round.

873
00:52:24,966 --> 00:52:28,133
And he turned around
and he said, "VC on the trail.

874
00:52:28,233 --> 00:52:29,966
VC on the trail."

875
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,900
Before I had a chance
to digest this, he went down,

876
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:36,900
shot right through the chest.

877
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:37,933
(bullet hitting)
Boom!

878
00:52:39,366 --> 00:52:41,166
And all of a sudden

879
00:52:41,266 --> 00:52:45,133
what was a very well-laid
ambush erupted.

880
00:52:46,433 --> 00:52:50,566
And it was so loud
and so unexpected

881
00:52:50,666 --> 00:52:55,000
I was stunned for...
for a little bit, you know.

882
00:52:55,100 --> 00:52:56,766
"What the fuck is going on?"

883
00:52:56,866 --> 00:53:00,700
NARRATOR:
Heaney's radio operator,
Private Terry Carpenter,

884
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:03,233
got the company commander
on the line.

885
00:53:03,333 --> 00:53:06,500
"We've run into something bad,"
Heaney said.

886
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:11,500
At that moment, a bullet hit
Carpenter in the head.

887
00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:13,100
HEANEY:
I knew Terry was down.

888
00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:15,100
I knew Sergeant Mays
was down.

889
00:53:15,200 --> 00:53:17,600
I had asked the first machine
gun crew to come up

890
00:53:17,700 --> 00:53:19,400
and start laying down
machine gun fire.

891
00:53:19,500 --> 00:53:21,933
They got blown away
pretty quickly.

892
00:53:22,033 --> 00:53:25,400
They never really had a chance
to lay down much fire.

893
00:53:25,500 --> 00:53:27,233
At that point there
wasn't anybody left

894
00:53:27,333 --> 00:53:29,200
in my forward unit.

895
00:53:29,300 --> 00:53:32,200
Every one of them had
been taken down except me.

896
00:53:32,300 --> 00:53:34,066
Every one.

897
00:53:34,166 --> 00:53:36,466
(voice breaking):
Every one had been killed

898
00:53:36,566 --> 00:53:38,666
or mortally wounded
at that point.

899
00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:44,366
NARRATOR:
Night fell.

900
00:53:44,466 --> 00:53:46,433
What was left
of Heaney's company braced

901
00:53:46,533 --> 00:53:50,233
for the assault they assumed
would come at dawn.

902
00:53:51,400 --> 00:53:53,400
I was lying there
on the perimeter.

903
00:53:53,500 --> 00:53:55,666
I was right next
to a dead enemy soldier.

904
00:53:55,766 --> 00:53:58,500
It was kind of my face
and his feet

905
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:00,200
and I kept looking back at him,

906
00:54:00,300 --> 00:54:02,833
because I couldn't see
any wounds on him.

907
00:54:02,933 --> 00:54:05,366
And, you know, the strange
things you think,

908
00:54:05,466 --> 00:54:07,133
"This guy's going to kill me.

909
00:54:07,233 --> 00:54:08,533
"He's faking it.

910
00:54:08,633 --> 00:54:09,833
"He's waiting until the assault,

911
00:54:09,933 --> 00:54:11,933
then he's going to jump up
and kill me."

912
00:54:12,033 --> 00:54:13,533
And I almost shot him again.

913
00:54:13,633 --> 00:54:15,300
Just to make sure he was dead.

914
00:54:16,833 --> 00:54:19,100
NARRATOR:
Then the enemy began to lob
mortar shells

915
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:21,466
among Heaney's men.

916
00:54:21,566 --> 00:54:23,666
HEANEY:
I felt like somebody
had taken a bat

917
00:54:23,766 --> 00:54:27,900
and hit me on my calf, my right
calf, as hard as he could.

918
00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:33,000
I was so stunned by the shock
of being hit,

919
00:54:33,100 --> 00:54:38,233
and I just drew in a deep breath
of air in terrible pain.

920
00:54:38,333 --> 00:54:40,633
I couldn't speak.

921
00:54:40,733 --> 00:54:43,566
Right after the ambush happened,

922
00:54:43,666 --> 00:54:45,533
and I knew I'd lost
a bunch of guys,

923
00:54:45,633 --> 00:54:49,833
I said a prayer to God saying,
basically,

924
00:54:49,933 --> 00:54:52,466
"If you need any more guys
from my platoon, take me.

925
00:54:52,566 --> 00:54:54,500
Don't take any more of my men."

926
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:57,933
As soon as I said it,
I freaked myself out and said,

927
00:54:58,033 --> 00:55:01,733
"Holy shit, can I take
that prayer back?"

928
00:55:01,833 --> 00:55:02,866
But it was too late.

929
00:55:02,966 --> 00:55:04,433
I'd-I'd said it.

930
00:55:04,533 --> 00:55:05,866
And as it turns out,

931
00:55:05,966 --> 00:55:09,566
not one more man in my platoon
died after that prayer.

932
00:55:11,133 --> 00:55:15,400
NARRATOR:
American artillery finally
zeroed in on the enemy.

933
00:55:15,500 --> 00:55:18,333
The survivors of Heaney's
company stumbled down the hill

934
00:55:18,433 --> 00:55:20,133
to safety.

935
00:55:20,233 --> 00:55:23,133
He was carried to a hospital.

936
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:33,866
HEANEY:
I was lying on my bed sobbing.

937
00:55:33,966 --> 00:55:36,300
And this nurse came over.

938
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:38,000
She bent over and said,
"Lieutenant...

939
00:55:38,100 --> 00:55:40,500
"You... the-the your men
are all over the place.

940
00:55:40,600 --> 00:55:42,666
You've gotta stop crying."

941
00:55:42,766 --> 00:55:45,533
And at that point
my platoon sergeant,

942
00:55:45,633 --> 00:55:49,000
huge black guy from Detroit
whom I loved dearly,

943
00:55:49,100 --> 00:55:52,600
Sergeant Sam Hunt, he came over
and he sat down next to me

944
00:55:52,700 --> 00:55:54,200
(voice breaking):
and he took my hand

945
00:55:54,300 --> 00:55:55,666
and he said to this nurse,

946
00:55:55,766 --> 00:55:57,400
"Ma'am, this here lieutenant

947
00:55:57,500 --> 00:55:59,500
don't have to stop doing
anything."

948
00:56:03,866 --> 00:56:08,500
LE CONG HUAN:

949
00:56:47,900 --> 00:56:51,233
(crowd shouting angrily)

950
00:56:51,333 --> 00:56:53,000
JOHN LAURENCE:
The students are angry now.

951
00:56:53,100 --> 00:56:54,633
And the word is passed

952
00:56:54,733 --> 00:56:58,100
to gather at Saigon's main
Buddhist pagoda after dark.

953
00:57:00,166 --> 00:57:01,533
JOHN QUINN:
After all these years,

954
00:57:01,633 --> 00:57:05,000
the Vietnamese have learned
to live with crises and war.

955
00:57:05,100 --> 00:57:08,366
But they haven't learned yet
to live as a nation.

956
00:57:09,800 --> 00:57:12,066
JOHNSON:
Now, Dean, what are
we going to do?

957
00:57:12,166 --> 00:57:16,033
Are we moving to the point where
it would be difficult for us

958
00:57:16,133 --> 00:57:17,933
to ask people to continue
to die out there,

959
00:57:18,033 --> 00:57:20,966
this kind of stuff going on
every two or three months?

960
00:57:21,066 --> 00:57:22,900
DEAN RUSK:
I think not yet, sir,
by any means.

961
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:26,233
I think that this is still
a minority problem.

962
00:57:26,333 --> 00:57:29,233
But political talk is not going
to be able to get anywhere

963
00:57:29,333 --> 00:57:31,200
if they don't maintain
the elements of order.

964
00:57:35,266 --> 00:57:38,100
NARRATOR:
On May 15, 1966,

965
00:57:38,200 --> 00:57:41,333
the government of South Vietnam,
the country for which

966
00:57:41,433 --> 00:57:43,933
so many Americans were
risking their lives,

967
00:57:44,033 --> 00:57:46,800
again seemed
on the brink of collapse.

968
00:57:49,233 --> 00:57:52,866
The ascendancy of Prime Minister
Ky had dealt a severe blow

969
00:57:52,966 --> 00:57:55,633
to activist Buddhists,
who had been demanding

970
00:57:55,733 --> 00:57:59,433
representative government and
a negotiated end to the war

971
00:57:59,533 --> 00:58:01,733
since 1963.

972
00:58:01,833 --> 00:58:05,833
When Ky suddenly fired
a rival general,

973
00:58:05,933 --> 00:58:07,666
a popular Buddhist commander,

974
00:58:07,766 --> 00:58:13,033
demonstrators poured into
the streets of Hue and Danang.

975
00:58:13,133 --> 00:58:15,400
They shut down the port

976
00:58:15,500 --> 00:58:17,700
through which U.S. supplies
had been flowing.

977
00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:23,766
Some South Vietnamese soldiers,
loyal to the dismissed general,

978
00:58:23,866 --> 00:58:26,400
abandoned the struggle
against the communists

979
00:58:26,500 --> 00:58:28,933
and headed for the city.

980
00:58:29,033 --> 00:58:32,400
Angry crowds burned
American jeeps.

981
00:58:32,500 --> 00:58:36,533
Signs reading "Peace!"
and "Americans Go Home!"

982
00:58:36,633 --> 00:58:38,333
appeared everywhere.

983
00:58:38,433 --> 00:58:41,600
President Johnson
was so concerned,

984
00:58:41,700 --> 00:58:45,266
he asked his advisors to ready
a fallback position

985
00:58:45,366 --> 00:58:47,366
if the Ky government fell.

986
00:58:47,466 --> 00:58:51,066
If necessary, he said,
the U.S. should be prepared

987
00:58:51,166 --> 00:58:53,633
to get out of Vietnam
and perhaps

988
00:58:53,733 --> 00:58:58,033
make a stand against communism
in Thailand instead.

989
00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:02,300
Ky ordered South Vietnamese
soldiers

990
00:59:02,400 --> 00:59:05,066
to surround and subdue Danang,

991
00:59:05,166 --> 00:59:08,933
where they exchanged fire
with their former comrades.

992
00:59:12,566 --> 00:59:17,866
As Ky's forces stormed
Buddhist pagodas in Danang,

993
00:59:17,966 --> 00:59:21,033
his warplanes strafed
dissident troops

994
00:59:21,133 --> 00:59:22,866
occupying the central market.

995
00:59:25,866 --> 00:59:27,600
The rebellion was crushed.

996
00:59:27,700 --> 00:59:30,600
Washington was relieved.

997
00:59:30,700 --> 00:59:34,466
Ky seemed to be back in control.

998
00:59:34,566 --> 00:59:38,866
But from his command post
on a hilltop outside the city,

999
00:59:38,966 --> 00:59:42,366
an American Marine lieutenant
had watched in disbelief

1000
00:59:42,466 --> 00:59:46,166
as two battles unfolded
simultaneously:

1001
00:59:46,266 --> 00:59:51,433
in the west, his fellow Marines
were fighting the Viet Cong;

1002
00:59:51,533 --> 00:59:55,233
in the east,
the South Vietnamese army

1003
00:59:55,333 --> 00:59:58,166
seemed to be at war with itself.

1004
01:00:03,100 --> 01:00:05,833
(Simon and Garfunkel's
"The Sound of Silence" playing)

1005
01:00:05,933 --> 01:00:08,933
♪ Hello darkness,
my old friend. ♪

1006
01:00:09,033 --> 01:00:11,966
MOGIE CROCKER (dramatized):
May 16, 1966.

1007
01:00:12,066 --> 01:00:14,566
Dear Mom and Dad--

1008
01:00:14,666 --> 01:00:16,600
Our operation here
on the Cambodian border

1009
01:00:16,700 --> 01:00:18,900
has been quite a success.

1010
01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:21,266
No doubt you will hear about it
on the news.

1011
01:00:22,633 --> 01:00:24,866
We keep getting more and more
operations thrown at us

1012
01:00:24,966 --> 01:00:27,000
so that nothing is very sure.

1013
01:00:27,100 --> 01:00:31,800
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL:
♪ ...that was planted
in my brain still remains. ♪

1014
01:00:31,900 --> 01:00:34,766
CROCKER:
Whether I will go out again soon
I don't know,

1015
01:00:34,866 --> 01:00:36,266
but don't plan on steady mail.

1016
01:00:39,533 --> 01:00:41,800
Tell Randy I'm looking forward
to seeing his new dog.

1017
01:00:45,100 --> 01:00:48,100
I may take a 15-day leave
to Tokyo

1018
01:00:48,200 --> 01:00:50,033
to keep from cracking up.

1019
01:00:50,133 --> 01:00:52,766
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL:
♪ 'Neath the halo
of a street lamp. ♪

1020
01:00:52,866 --> 01:00:54,733
JEAN-MARIE CROCKER:
It was a lovely spring day,

1021
01:00:54,833 --> 01:00:57,966
and I opened the letter
that said that.

1022
01:00:58,066 --> 01:01:00,933
And I was just really
devastated

1023
01:01:01,033 --> 01:01:05,200
because by that time
Vietnam was in total chaos.

1024
01:01:05,300 --> 01:01:07,733
There was
a continuing changeover

1025
01:01:07,833 --> 01:01:11,900
of people in authority at the
government in South Vietnam.

1026
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:15,533
And there were protests of
the Buddhist monks and others

1027
01:01:15,633 --> 01:01:16,833
that...

1028
01:01:16,933 --> 01:01:18,866
there were anti-American
demonstrations.

1029
01:01:18,966 --> 01:01:21,666
I just thought,
"Why? Why are we there?"

1030
01:01:23,400 --> 01:01:25,300
CAROL CROCKER:
I think that letter
when my brother

1031
01:01:25,400 --> 01:01:28,000
showed a kind of despair

1032
01:01:28,100 --> 01:01:31,366
is probably the first time
he'd expressed that openly

1033
01:01:31,466 --> 01:01:34,266
to the whole family.

1034
01:01:37,900 --> 01:01:42,366
It echoed back to the day
he'd said to me,

1035
01:01:42,466 --> 01:01:44,000
"I don't want to go back."

1036
01:01:45,500 --> 01:01:47,300
NARRATOR:
To an old high school friend,

1037
01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:51,366
Mogie was even more forthcoming.

1038
01:01:51,466 --> 01:01:54,066
MOGIE CROCKER (dramatized):
Dear Duff,

1039
01:01:54,166 --> 01:01:56,500
Since I last wrote,
which is several months,

1040
01:01:56,600 --> 01:01:58,700
a number of exciting but
terribly unpleasant events

1041
01:01:58,800 --> 01:02:02,600
have occurred, the worst of
which was being pinned down

1042
01:02:02,700 --> 01:02:04,133
by two Chinese
light machine guns

1043
01:02:04,233 --> 01:02:06,733
firing 900 rounds per minute

1044
01:02:06,833 --> 01:02:09,533
and having my best friend
killed more or less beside me.

1045
01:02:11,700 --> 01:02:13,266
Someday I may tell you
the whole story

1046
01:02:13,366 --> 01:02:16,200
if my nerves aren't
completely gone by then.

1047
01:02:16,300 --> 01:02:19,600
Actually the latter
is just wishful thinking,

1048
01:02:19,700 --> 01:02:23,966
in false hope
they will take me off the line.

1049
01:02:24,066 --> 01:02:27,966
I was fantastically religious
for a while,

1050
01:02:28,066 --> 01:02:31,233
sending up various and sundry
prayers mainly concerned

1051
01:02:31,333 --> 01:02:34,300
with trying to stay alive,

1052
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:38,933
but I am once again an atheist
until the shooting starts.

1053
01:02:44,633 --> 01:02:46,566
(gunfire)

1054
01:02:51,900 --> 01:02:55,966
(drums playing up-tempo
march cadence)

1055
01:02:56,066 --> 01:02:57,600
HARRISON:
I really believed

1056
01:02:57,700 --> 01:03:02,000
that we had to stop
the communist expansion.

1057
01:03:02,100 --> 01:03:07,166
I also believed that we were
on the side of the angels.

1058
01:03:07,266 --> 01:03:09,733
Just as France had provided
us with support

1059
01:03:09,833 --> 01:03:12,866
during our revolution, we were
providing the South Vietnamese

1060
01:03:12,966 --> 01:03:15,100
with support during
their revolution.

1061
01:03:15,200 --> 01:03:18,800
NARRATOR:
Matthew Harrison was among
the 300 graduates

1062
01:03:18,900 --> 01:03:23,466
of the class of 1966 who
volunteered to go to Vietnam.

1063
01:03:23,566 --> 01:03:24,466
MAN:
Rangers!

1064
01:03:24,566 --> 01:03:25,600
MEN:
Rangers!

1065
01:03:25,700 --> 01:03:27,366
MAN: All the way!
MEN: All the way!

1066
01:03:27,466 --> 01:03:30,966
NARRATOR:
But first, he went to Florida
to become a Ranger

1067
01:03:31,066 --> 01:03:33,766
and endured nine weeks of
the most demanding training

1068
01:03:33,866 --> 01:03:35,766
the Army had to offer.

1069
01:03:35,866 --> 01:03:38,366
MAN:
Airborne daddy gonna
take a little trip!

1070
01:03:38,466 --> 01:03:41,033
MEN:
Airborne daddy gonna
take a little trip!

1071
01:03:41,133 --> 01:03:44,733
NARRATOR:
The man in charge
was Major Charles A. Beckwith--

1072
01:03:44,833 --> 01:03:46,200
Chargin' Charlie--

1073
01:03:46,300 --> 01:03:49,466
hero of the siege of Plei Me
the year before.

1074
01:03:49,566 --> 01:03:54,000
"If a man is bloody stupid," he
told each group of newcomers,

1075
01:03:54,100 --> 01:03:57,400
"his mother will receive
a telegram and it will say,

1076
01:03:57,500 --> 01:04:00,266
"'Your son is dead
because he's stupid.'

1077
01:04:00,366 --> 01:04:05,666
"Let's hope your telegram only
reads, 'Your son is dead.'

1078
01:04:05,766 --> 01:04:08,800
"With the training we're going
to give you here,

1079
01:04:08,900 --> 01:04:12,800
"maybe your mother won't receive
any telegram at all.

1080
01:04:12,900 --> 01:04:14,800
So pay attention."

1081
01:04:16,100 --> 01:04:17,333
To make it through,

1082
01:04:17,433 --> 01:04:19,533
Harrison and his fellow trainees
had to survive

1083
01:04:19,633 --> 01:04:24,000
days without sleep;
were deprived of food and water,

1084
01:04:24,100 --> 01:04:28,066
forced to march up mountains
until their feet bled

1085
01:04:28,166 --> 01:04:31,700
and patrol through swamps
that harbored copperheads

1086
01:04:31,800 --> 01:04:33,033
and cottonmouths;

1087
01:04:33,133 --> 01:04:36,166
had to learn how to detect
booby traps

1088
01:04:36,266 --> 01:04:41,400
and outmaneuver veterans
masquerading as Viet Cong.

1089
01:04:41,500 --> 01:04:45,800
"Expect the unexpected,"
Beckwith told his trainees

1090
01:04:45,900 --> 01:04:47,533
again and again.

1091
01:04:47,633 --> 01:04:50,933
"Life is unfair."

1092
01:04:52,300 --> 01:04:54,300
Once he'd become a Ranger,
Harrison was eager

1093
01:04:54,400 --> 01:04:58,200
to get to Vietnam and put
into action

1094
01:04:58,300 --> 01:05:01,733
the survival and leadership
skills he'd been absorbing

1095
01:05:01,833 --> 01:05:04,100
for five years.

1096
01:05:04,200 --> 01:05:07,133
HARRISON:
I remember discussing
with my classmates

1097
01:05:07,233 --> 01:05:09,633
how horrible it would be
to serve in the Army

1098
01:05:09,733 --> 01:05:14,100
if everybody just a year ahead
of us had served in combat

1099
01:05:14,200 --> 01:05:16,466
and we didn't have the
opportunity to do that.

1100
01:05:16,566 --> 01:05:19,733
I was afraid we were going
to win the war too quickly

1101
01:05:19,833 --> 01:05:22,533
and I wouldn't have a chance
to experience it.

1102
01:05:30,733 --> 01:05:34,133
("L'Assassinat De Carala"
by Miles Davis playing)

1103
01:05:46,033 --> 01:05:51,866
NARRATOR:
June 3, 1966, was Mogie
Crocker's 19th birthday.

1104
01:05:51,966 --> 01:05:55,533
His company was involved
in yet another campaign,

1105
01:05:55,633 --> 01:05:59,300
aimed at finding and killing
North Vietnamese troops

1106
01:05:59,400 --> 01:06:03,933
filtering into the
Central Highlands from Laos.

1107
01:06:04,033 --> 01:06:07,933
As night fell, Mogie and
his squad were ordered

1108
01:06:08,033 --> 01:06:10,200
to move up toward
the crest of a hill

1109
01:06:10,300 --> 01:06:13,633
overlooking a besieged
ARVN outpost

1110
01:06:13,733 --> 01:06:15,800
so that artillery could be
brought up

1111
01:06:15,900 --> 01:06:19,266
and positioned to shell
the enemy in the morning.

1112
01:06:22,233 --> 01:06:26,066
They moved slowly,
warily up the slope.

1113
01:06:26,166 --> 01:06:28,233
Mogie was the point man.

1114
01:06:31,233 --> 01:06:33,933
Out of the darkness,
a machine gun opened up.

1115
01:06:34,033 --> 01:06:36,566
(gunfire)

1116
01:06:36,666 --> 01:06:41,333
Denton Crocker, Jr. never made
it to the top of the hill.

1117
01:06:49,399 --> 01:06:51,100
("One Too Many Mornings"
by Bob Dylan playing)

1118
01:06:51,200 --> 01:06:53,399
DYLAN:
♪ Down the street
the dogs are barkin' ♪

1119
01:06:53,500 --> 01:06:57,166
♪ And the day is
a-gettin' dark. ♪

1120
01:06:57,266 --> 01:07:00,766
JEAN-MARIE CROCKER:
It was just a lovely day
to be out in our garden.

1121
01:07:02,666 --> 01:07:06,500
Candy, our little girl,
went to a birthday party.

1122
01:07:06,600 --> 01:07:09,833
And the other children were
just around the house, I guess.

1123
01:07:09,933 --> 01:07:14,899
But shortly after lunchtime,
I stepped out on the porch.

1124
01:07:19,166 --> 01:07:22,433
I saw two men in uniform
coming to the house.

1125
01:07:25,100 --> 01:07:28,700
And I knew something terrible
had happened.

1126
01:07:30,066 --> 01:07:31,666
And I ran down the steps.

1127
01:07:31,766 --> 01:07:34,333
And I just grabbed hold
of one of them and said,

1128
01:07:34,433 --> 01:07:36,300
"Don't tell me.
Don't say it.

1129
01:07:36,399 --> 01:07:38,966
Not my beautiful boy."

1130
01:07:39,066 --> 01:07:41,466
And he just said, "Yes."

1131
01:07:41,566 --> 01:07:43,433
DYLAN:
♪ From the crossroads
of my doorstep ♪

1132
01:07:43,533 --> 01:07:45,566
♪ My eyes start to fade.

1133
01:07:45,666 --> 01:07:48,066
CAROL CROCKER:
I was sitting on the couch
in the living room.

1134
01:07:48,166 --> 01:07:52,066
I suddenly heard my mother
screaming for my father.

1135
01:07:52,166 --> 01:07:56,100
Like in a movie, here came
the priest up the stairs

1136
01:07:56,200 --> 01:07:58,600
with a soldier,
and she's going, "Oh no."

1137
01:07:58,700 --> 01:08:02,399
And she's calling my dad.

1138
01:08:02,500 --> 01:08:05,266
My reaction was to leap up
off the couch,

1139
01:08:05,366 --> 01:08:06,833
race out the back door

1140
01:08:06,933 --> 01:08:08,866
and I grabbed my little
brother's hand

1141
01:08:08,966 --> 01:08:10,333
and I just started walking.

1142
01:08:10,433 --> 01:08:12,833
I said, "You have to come
with me."

1143
01:08:12,933 --> 01:08:14,600
I said, "I have something
to show you."

1144
01:08:14,700 --> 01:08:16,700
I have no idea
where I was going.

1145
01:08:16,800 --> 01:08:21,533
I just said to myself, "No.

1146
01:08:21,633 --> 01:08:23,000
This isn't going to happen."

1147
01:08:23,100 --> 01:08:26,766
And something made me
turn around

1148
01:08:26,866 --> 01:08:30,866
and I walked up to the back
of the house from the alley.

1149
01:08:30,966 --> 01:08:33,833
And my dad was standing there.

1150
01:08:33,933 --> 01:08:37,466
And I fell into his arms
and I said,

1151
01:08:37,566 --> 01:08:39,400
"Don't let it be true, Dad.

1152
01:08:41,766 --> 01:08:43,833
Is it true?"

1153
01:08:43,933 --> 01:08:45,500
And he said, "Yes."

1154
01:08:48,533 --> 01:08:51,733
I somehow knew that
things had changed forever.

1155
01:08:53,433 --> 01:08:56,466
That my mom as my mom
and my dad as my dad,

1156
01:08:56,566 --> 01:08:59,600
it was never going to be
quite the same again.

1157
01:08:59,700 --> 01:09:01,600
I just, I remember sitting
on the couch

1158
01:09:01,700 --> 01:09:03,700
and I put my arms around them
and I said,

1159
01:09:03,800 --> 01:09:07,000
"We'll love each other
and we'll be all right."

1160
01:09:07,100 --> 01:09:10,400
But I don't know
how far it carried.

1161
01:09:10,500 --> 01:09:11,766
You know?

1162
01:09:11,866 --> 01:09:14,366
We all tried.

1163
01:09:14,466 --> 01:09:17,133
DYLAN:
♪ We're both just
one too many mornings ♪

1164
01:09:17,233 --> 01:09:20,233
♪ And a thousand miles behind.

1165
01:09:20,333 --> 01:09:22,800
JEAN-MARIE CROCKER:
Carol said to me one day

1166
01:09:22,900 --> 01:09:25,266
very shortly after Denton
was killed,

1167
01:09:25,366 --> 01:09:30,066
probably that very day,
"How can you believe in God?"

1168
01:09:30,166 --> 01:09:33,300
And I said,
"Because we had Mogie."

1169
01:09:36,566 --> 01:09:41,166
And I think that his life
was a real gift.

1170
01:09:41,266 --> 01:09:44,366
It was a privilege to have him.

1171
01:09:44,466 --> 01:09:45,633
A friend wrote to me,

1172
01:09:45,733 --> 01:09:49,400
"Our children are really
only on loan to us,"

1173
01:09:49,500 --> 01:09:51,400
which I guess is true.

1174
01:09:53,900 --> 01:09:57,666
NARRATOR:
Ten days later, an Army
captain escorted Mogie's body

1175
01:09:57,766 --> 01:10:00,033
to Dick Stone's funeral home.

1176
01:10:00,133 --> 01:10:03,033
The family priest
had suggested

1177
01:10:03,133 --> 01:10:05,533
that Mogie be buried
in Saratoga Springs

1178
01:10:05,633 --> 01:10:09,566
so that his parents could easily
visit his grave.

1179
01:10:09,666 --> 01:10:14,400
But they chose Arlington
National Cemetery instead.

1180
01:10:15,766 --> 01:10:20,000
"A corner of my heart knew,"
his mother remembered,

1181
01:10:20,100 --> 01:10:21,733
"that if he were buried near us,

1182
01:10:21,833 --> 01:10:26,533
I would want to claw the ground
to retrieve the warmth of him."

1183
01:10:32,666 --> 01:10:34,000
(applause)

1184
01:10:34,100 --> 01:10:35,633
LYNDON JOHNSON:
I hear my friends say,

1185
01:10:35,733 --> 01:10:38,066
"I am troubled,"
and "I am confused,"

1186
01:10:38,166 --> 01:10:39,566
and "I am frustrated,"

1187
01:10:39,666 --> 01:10:42,233
and all of us can understand
those people.

1188
01:10:42,333 --> 01:10:45,300
Sometimes I almost develop
a stomach ulcer myself,

1189
01:10:45,400 --> 01:10:47,466
just listening to them.

1190
01:10:47,566 --> 01:10:50,233
And we all wish
the war would end.

1191
01:10:50,333 --> 01:10:52,466
We all wish the troops
would come home.

1192
01:10:52,566 --> 01:10:55,766
There is no human being
in all this world

1193
01:10:55,866 --> 01:10:59,533
who wishes these things
to happen,

1194
01:10:59,633 --> 01:11:01,600
for peace to come to the world,

1195
01:11:01,700 --> 01:11:04,300
more than your president
of the United States.

1196
01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:07,800
("The Beginning of the End"
by Nine Inch Nails playing)

1197
01:11:14,766 --> 01:11:16,666
NARRATOR:
The military claimed
to have killed

1198
01:11:16,766 --> 01:11:23,400
some 57,000 enemy soldiers in
the first six months of 1966.

1199
01:11:23,500 --> 01:11:26,433
But privately the administration
worried

1200
01:11:26,533 --> 01:11:29,433
that General Westmoreland's
"crossover point"--

1201
01:11:29,533 --> 01:11:32,766
the moment when more enemy
soldiers had been killed

1202
01:11:32,866 --> 01:11:36,800
than could be replaced--
seemed no nearer.

1203
01:11:36,900 --> 01:11:40,600
From the first, the Joint Chiefs
had urged the president

1204
01:11:40,700 --> 01:11:41,966
to be more aggressive--

1205
01:11:42,066 --> 01:11:47,700
to permit troops to pursue
the enemy into Laos and Cambodia

1206
01:11:47,800 --> 01:11:52,600
and to expand the target list
for bombing in North Vietnam.

1207
01:11:52,700 --> 01:11:56,800
Johnson still would not allow
borders to be crossed

1208
01:11:56,900 --> 01:12:00,266
by regular ground troops
for fear of bringing China

1209
01:12:00,366 --> 01:12:03,866
or even the Soviet Union
into the war.

1210
01:12:03,966 --> 01:12:06,633
And he was wary
of heavier bombing,

1211
01:12:06,733 --> 01:12:09,666
fearful of hitting
more civilians.

1212
01:12:09,766 --> 01:12:12,500
But despite his concern,

1213
01:12:12,600 --> 01:12:16,266
the president now agreed to
intensify the bombing campaign

1214
01:12:16,366 --> 01:12:18,933
called Operation
Rolling Thunder.

1215
01:12:19,033 --> 01:12:22,100
He approved attacks
on oil facilities

1216
01:12:22,200 --> 01:12:24,433
all over North Vietnam,

1217
01:12:24,533 --> 01:12:27,433
including some sites adjacent
to the cities

1218
01:12:27,533 --> 01:12:31,100
of Haiphong and Hanoi.

1219
01:12:31,200 --> 01:12:33,133
His commanders assured him

1220
01:12:33,233 --> 01:12:35,900
that this would be
a mortal blow to the enemy,

1221
01:12:36,000 --> 01:12:38,733
sure to force
the North Vietnamese

1222
01:12:38,833 --> 01:12:40,400
to the bargaining table.

1223
01:12:47,900 --> 01:12:51,633
Tens of thousands
of sorties were flown.

1224
01:12:54,700 --> 01:12:57,933
Many bombs hit
their intended targets.

1225
01:12:58,033 --> 01:13:00,100
But many missed

1226
01:13:00,200 --> 01:13:03,900
and fell on residential
neighborhoods instead,

1227
01:13:04,000 --> 01:13:06,900
just as the president
had feared.

1228
01:13:11,400 --> 01:13:14,566
JOHNSON:
Things are going reasonably well
in the South, aren't they?

1229
01:13:14,666 --> 01:13:16,833
McNAMARA:
Yes, I think so.

1230
01:13:16,933 --> 01:13:19,366
Because we think we're taking
a heavy toll of them,

1231
01:13:19,466 --> 01:13:22,133
but it just scares me to see
what we're doing there

1232
01:13:22,233 --> 01:13:25,333
with God knows how many
airplanes and helicopters

1233
01:13:25,433 --> 01:13:30,200
and firepower and going after
a bunch of half-starved beggars.

1234
01:13:30,300 --> 01:13:32,466
This is what's going
on in the South.

1235
01:13:32,566 --> 01:13:35,066
And the great danger is that,

1236
01:13:35,166 --> 01:13:39,766
that they can keep that up
almost indefinitely.

1237
01:13:39,866 --> 01:13:41,733
The only thing that'll prevent
it, Mr. President,

1238
01:13:41,833 --> 01:13:43,566
is their morale breaking.

1239
01:13:43,666 --> 01:13:46,066
There's no question but what
the troops in the South,

1240
01:13:46,166 --> 01:13:47,700
the VC and North Vietnamese,

1241
01:13:47,800 --> 01:13:50,600
they know that we're bombing
in the North.

1242
01:13:50,700 --> 01:13:52,200
And we just have a free rein.

1243
01:13:52,300 --> 01:13:53,800
And when they see they're
getting killed

1244
01:13:53,900 --> 01:13:55,533
in such high rates in the South,

1245
01:13:55,633 --> 01:13:58,966
and they see that the supplies
are less likely to come down

1246
01:13:59,066 --> 01:14:00,666
from the North, I think it will
just hurt their morale

1247
01:14:00,766 --> 01:14:01,833
a little bit more.

1248
01:14:01,933 --> 01:14:03,200
And to me that's
the only way to win

1249
01:14:03,300 --> 01:14:05,166
because we're not killing
enough of them

1250
01:14:05,266 --> 01:14:08,400
to make it impossible for
the North to continue to fight.

1251
01:14:08,500 --> 01:14:11,266
But we are killing enough
to destroy the morale

1252
01:14:11,366 --> 01:14:12,766
of those people down there

1253
01:14:12,866 --> 01:14:14,933
if they think this is going
to have to go on forever.

1254
01:14:16,766 --> 01:14:17,833
JOHNSON:
All right.

1255
01:14:17,933 --> 01:14:19,766
Go ahead, Bob.

1256
01:14:24,600 --> 01:14:26,166
BAO NINH:

1257
01:14:44,900 --> 01:14:47,766
HO HUU LAN:

1258
01:15:05,266 --> 01:15:08,866
McPEAK:
People talk about collateral
damage, but it means something.

1259
01:15:10,500 --> 01:15:13,066
You don't want to do
collateral damage.

1260
01:15:13,166 --> 01:15:16,266
You want to do the damage
you want to do.

1261
01:15:16,366 --> 01:15:18,233
That's the winning way
to do this.

1262
01:15:26,233 --> 01:15:29,400
(distant, echoing shouting)

1263
01:15:31,966 --> 01:15:34,233
EVERETT ALVAREZ:
Even though I was in a cell
by myself

1264
01:15:34,333 --> 01:15:37,100
and others were in by
themselves, we weren't alone.

1265
01:15:37,200 --> 01:15:39,666
We were together
in this old French prison

1266
01:15:39,766 --> 01:15:42,566
halfway around the world
from the United States.

1267
01:15:42,666 --> 01:15:47,166
Gradually I began to realize
this could go on a long time.

1268
01:15:47,266 --> 01:15:50,600
A long time to me
was like maybe a year or two.

1269
01:15:50,700 --> 01:15:54,966
I never dreamed it would be
eight-and-a-half years.

1270
01:15:55,066 --> 01:15:59,666
NARRATOR:
By the summer of 1966,
Lieutenant Everett Alvarez,

1271
01:15:59,766 --> 01:16:02,700
the first American pilot
to have been shot down

1272
01:16:02,800 --> 01:16:07,133
over North Vietnam, had been
a captive for nearly two years

1273
01:16:07,233 --> 01:16:10,100
and had been joined
in and around Hanoi

1274
01:16:10,200 --> 01:16:13,300
by more than 100
other downed airmen.

1275
01:16:13,400 --> 01:16:17,266
Even though the North Vietnamese
considered them all

1276
01:16:17,366 --> 01:16:20,633
"aggressors," "criminals,"
and "air pirates"

1277
01:16:20,733 --> 01:16:24,133
rather than prisoners of war
deserving of humane treatment,

1278
01:16:24,233 --> 01:16:27,933
Alvarez and the others had
been treated relatively well

1279
01:16:28,033 --> 01:16:29,266
at first.

1280
01:16:29,366 --> 01:16:32,366
But that hadn't lasted long.

1281
01:16:32,466 --> 01:16:36,266
The men were soon forbidden to
communicate with one another,

1282
01:16:36,366 --> 01:16:38,733
forced to bow to their jailers,

1283
01:16:38,833 --> 01:16:42,166
and told that their country
had forgotten them.

1284
01:16:42,266 --> 01:16:45,733
They were subjected
to isolation, beatings,

1285
01:16:45,833 --> 01:16:48,366
and hour upon hour of torture,

1286
01:16:48,466 --> 01:16:52,066
all aimed at forcing them
to admit their guilt

1287
01:16:52,166 --> 01:16:56,566
and record statements
denouncing the war.

1288
01:16:56,666 --> 01:16:58,100
(door slams)

1289
01:16:58,200 --> 01:17:00,933
ALVAREZ:
When that cell door would open,
when they would say,

1290
01:17:01,033 --> 01:17:06,466
"You, your turn," you know,
the bottom just fell out of you,

1291
01:17:06,566 --> 01:17:09,633
and you knew
that you may not come back.

1292
01:17:09,733 --> 01:17:14,900
The manacles, the ropes,
the beatings, they broke bones.

1293
01:17:15,000 --> 01:17:16,833
They... they did everything.

1294
01:17:18,400 --> 01:17:20,066
My arms turned black

1295
01:17:20,166 --> 01:17:23,333
from the cuffs that cut off
all circulation.

1296
01:17:23,433 --> 01:17:25,200
And they didn't let me die.

1297
01:17:25,300 --> 01:17:27,400
They just kept the pain.

1298
01:17:27,500 --> 01:17:30,566
That's when I realized
that I was not a superhuman.

1299
01:17:34,266 --> 01:17:39,600
The first time I broke and gave
them something, I felt so low.

1300
01:17:39,700 --> 01:17:43,000
I felt so little.

1301
01:17:45,166 --> 01:17:47,800
NARRATOR:
Some of the men who were forced
to record statements

1302
01:17:47,900 --> 01:17:52,333
did their best to make their
true feelings known back home.

1303
01:17:52,433 --> 01:17:56,366
Commander Jeremiah Denton
blinked his eyes to spell out

1304
01:17:56,466 --> 01:17:58,866
"torture" in Morse code.

1305
01:18:06,400 --> 01:18:09,933
On July 6, just one week
after American bombs

1306
01:18:10,033 --> 01:18:12,866
had first fallen on Hanoi
and Haiphong,

1307
01:18:12,966 --> 01:18:17,333
jailers rounded up Alvarez
and 51 other prisoners,

1308
01:18:17,433 --> 01:18:19,900
and, while cameras rolled,

1309
01:18:20,000 --> 01:18:22,500
marched them through
downtown Hanoi,

1310
01:18:22,600 --> 01:18:25,933
past the angry citizens
of the city.

1311
01:18:26,033 --> 01:18:28,400
ALVAREZ:
I could hear the crowd
being whipped up.

1312
01:18:28,500 --> 01:18:32,433
And as I passed this one fellow
with the megaphone,

1313
01:18:32,533 --> 01:18:34,600
he looked at me
and he yelled to the crowd.

1314
01:18:34,700 --> 01:18:37,766
"Alvarez, Alvarez, son of
a bitch, son of a bitch!"

1315
01:18:37,866 --> 01:18:41,400
People started pressing in,
throwing things--

1316
01:18:41,500 --> 01:18:43,500
bottles, shoes.

1317
01:18:43,600 --> 01:18:45,766
But the guards by this time
were having a hard time

1318
01:18:45,866 --> 01:18:48,266
keeping the people away.

1319
01:18:48,366 --> 01:18:51,200
NARRATOR:
The North Vietnamese had
hoped to rally

1320
01:18:51,300 --> 01:18:55,700
international support for trying
the prisoners as war criminals.

1321
01:18:55,800 --> 01:18:57,700
It backfired.

1322
01:18:57,800 --> 01:19:02,033
People everywhere, even many of
those who opposed the war,

1323
01:19:02,133 --> 01:19:06,166
sympathized with the stumbling,
helpless men.

1324
01:19:07,533 --> 01:19:10,500
Plans for public trials
were canceled.

1325
01:19:12,766 --> 01:19:17,300
The bombing continued, and more
American planes were shot down.

1326
01:19:20,133 --> 01:19:24,666
The North Vietnamese took pride
in capturing American airmen.

1327
01:19:24,766 --> 01:19:28,700
Even children were
expected to do their part.

1328
01:19:28,800 --> 01:19:30,366
(call and response with teacher
and children)

1329
01:19:30,466 --> 01:19:32,366
TEACHER:
Hands up!
Hand up!

1330
01:19:32,466 --> 01:19:35,000
TEACHER:

1331
01:19:35,100 --> 01:19:36,166
Hands up!

1332
01:19:36,266 --> 01:19:37,066
Hands up!

1333
01:19:37,166 --> 01:19:38,000
TEACHER:

1334
01:19:38,100 --> 01:19:39,066
Hands up!

1335
01:19:40,400 --> 01:19:42,633
McPEAK:
The bombing around
Hanoi and Haiphong

1336
01:19:42,733 --> 01:19:45,133
that resulted in so many
of our people being POWs

1337
01:19:45,233 --> 01:19:46,366
for a long period of time

1338
01:19:46,466 --> 01:19:48,300
was fought out
of the White House basement,

1339
01:19:48,400 --> 01:19:51,300
with the president himself
picking targets,

1340
01:19:51,400 --> 01:19:53,200
and deciding that we're going
to attack now,

1341
01:19:53,300 --> 01:19:55,333
and then we're going to pause
for awhile.

1342
01:19:56,533 --> 01:20:01,133
Airpower was being misused,
big time.

1343
01:20:04,566 --> 01:20:07,100
NARRATOR:
Operation Rolling Thunder
did destroy

1344
01:20:07,200 --> 01:20:11,633
most of North Vietnam's
oil storage facilities.

1345
01:20:11,733 --> 01:20:14,633
But the North Vietnamese
shifted

1346
01:20:14,733 --> 01:20:17,466
most of their oil
to underground tanks,

1347
01:20:17,566 --> 01:20:23,400
and more arrived every day
from China and the Soviet Union.

1348
01:20:26,566 --> 01:20:29,633
The bombing was stepped up
anyway.

1349
01:20:31,633 --> 01:20:32,700
Throughout the North,

1350
01:20:32,800 --> 01:20:35,533
enough crude air shelters
were fashioned

1351
01:20:35,633 --> 01:20:39,666
from concrete pipe buried
five feet beneath the ground

1352
01:20:39,766 --> 01:20:42,733
to accommodate some
18 million people--

1353
01:20:42,833 --> 01:20:46,100
virtually the entire population.

1354
01:20:46,200 --> 01:20:50,066
(workers singing in Vietnamese)

1355
01:20:50,166 --> 01:20:54,100
Over a million people were said
to be working around the clock

1356
01:20:54,200 --> 01:20:56,866
to undo what American bombs
had done.

1357
01:20:56,966 --> 01:20:59,600
When key bridges were destroyed,

1358
01:20:59,700 --> 01:21:02,100
they fashioned pontoon bridges
overnight

1359
01:21:02,200 --> 01:21:03,966
to keep traffic moving.

1360
01:21:04,066 --> 01:21:08,833
Crews waited along the roads
with heaps of gravel and stone

1361
01:21:08,933 --> 01:21:12,933
and stacks of wood
to fill bomb craters.

1362
01:21:13,033 --> 01:21:19,100
They worked under the slogan
"The enemy destroys, we repair.

1363
01:21:19,200 --> 01:21:23,833
The enemy destroys,
we repair again."

1364
01:21:23,933 --> 01:21:28,700
(workers continue singing)

1365
01:21:30,200 --> 01:21:32,566
WILLBANKS:
Rolling Thunder was
the dumbest campaign

1366
01:21:32,666 --> 01:21:35,000
ever devised by a human being.

1367
01:21:35,100 --> 01:21:37,266
The normal human thing to do

1368
01:21:37,366 --> 01:21:39,900
is to think that your enemy
thinks like you.

1369
01:21:40,000 --> 01:21:42,900
There's the old story,
apocryphal,

1370
01:21:43,000 --> 01:21:44,766
that when McNamara
wants to know

1371
01:21:44,866 --> 01:21:47,866
what Ho Chi Minh is thinking,
he interviews himself.

1372
01:21:47,966 --> 01:21:50,733
What the problem then becomes is

1373
01:21:50,833 --> 01:21:54,466
that you keep trying to send
messages that are rational

1374
01:21:54,566 --> 01:21:56,900
based upon your judgment
of rationality,

1375
01:21:57,000 --> 01:22:00,266
but have nothing to do with
the definition of rationality

1376
01:22:00,366 --> 01:22:01,800
on the other side.

1377
01:22:03,100 --> 01:22:05,133
So what's irrational to us

1378
01:22:05,233 --> 01:22:07,033
is totally rational
to the other side

1379
01:22:07,133 --> 01:22:11,833
if you've decided that you are
going to reunify the Vietnams

1380
01:22:11,933 --> 01:22:16,300
no matter what it takes,
no matter how many casualties.

1381
01:22:19,966 --> 01:22:22,833
NARRATOR:
Hanoi did all it could
to publicize the damage

1382
01:22:22,933 --> 01:22:26,200
American bombs were doing
to civilians.

1383
01:22:26,300 --> 01:22:31,466
Most Americans dismissed the
reports as communist propaganda.

1384
01:22:33,600 --> 01:22:36,833
<i>But when Harrison Salisbury
of theNew York Times</i>

1385
01:22:36,933 --> 01:22:42,600
traveled to North Vietnam and
reported on Christmas Day, 1966,

1386
01:22:42,700 --> 01:22:43,966
what he had seen,

1387
01:22:44,066 --> 01:22:48,266
public doubts about
the morality of the war grew.

1388
01:22:49,700 --> 01:22:52,266
GELB:
A lot of the military
we talked to

1389
01:22:52,366 --> 01:22:56,666
shared our concerns about
how the war was being fought,

1390
01:22:56,766 --> 01:22:59,100
and whether or not
it could be won.

1391
01:22:59,200 --> 01:23:02,200
But when it came
to an official position,

1392
01:23:02,300 --> 01:23:05,166
it was what we know well,

1393
01:23:05,266 --> 01:23:08,200
namely, "We can win this war
and we're doing it right.

1394
01:23:08,300 --> 01:23:12,866
We just need more--
more troops, more bombing."

1395
01:23:19,066 --> 01:23:23,600
WILSON:
I recall on one instance after
I had returned from Vietnam,

1396
01:23:23,700 --> 01:23:27,366
I went by to see McNamara.

1397
01:23:29,333 --> 01:23:33,766
He was saying, "Well, how is our
strategic bombing program

1398
01:23:33,866 --> 01:23:36,333
affecting the course
of the war?"

1399
01:23:37,533 --> 01:23:42,133
I said, "It is not gaining us
anything.

1400
01:23:42,233 --> 01:23:45,933
Indeed, it is
counterproductive."

1401
01:23:47,500 --> 01:23:48,800
He said, "What do you mean?"

1402
01:23:51,466 --> 01:23:57,700
"Mr. Secretary, the sledgehammer
approach is not working.

1403
01:23:57,800 --> 01:24:00,800
"These people know
that at some point

1404
01:24:00,900 --> 01:24:03,466
"we're going to get tired
of killing them.

1405
01:24:03,566 --> 01:24:05,933
And they think they can
outlast us."

1406
01:24:06,033 --> 01:24:10,633
And he said, "Why don't people
tell me these things?"

1407
01:24:13,233 --> 01:24:16,666
I said, "Mr. Secretary,
you don't ask."

1408
01:24:16,766 --> 01:24:20,066
("I Am a Rock" by
Simon and Garfunkel playing)

1409
01:24:20,166 --> 01:24:22,300
CRAIG McNAMARA:
I think every father and son

1410
01:24:22,400 --> 01:24:28,166
struggles in the course
of their lives together.

1411
01:24:28,266 --> 01:24:32,266
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL:
♪ In a deep and dark December

1412
01:24:32,366 --> 01:24:37,700
CRAIG McNAMARA:
And I don't think my dad and I
were exempt from that.

1413
01:24:37,800 --> 01:24:40,400
The interesting thing for me is

1414
01:24:40,500 --> 01:24:44,066
the space to talk about Vietnam
was never created.

1415
01:24:44,166 --> 01:24:48,133
And that was clearly a decision
on my father's part.

1416
01:24:48,233 --> 01:24:50,033
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL:
♪ I am a rock.

1417
01:24:50,133 --> 01:24:53,600
NARRATOR:
Craig McNamara, the son
of the Secretary of Defense,

1418
01:24:53,700 --> 01:24:55,833
was a student at
St. Paul's School

1419
01:24:55,933 --> 01:24:57,566
in Concord, New Hampshire,

1420
01:24:57,666 --> 01:25:01,866
where a teach-in about
the war was to be held.

1421
01:25:01,966 --> 01:25:05,366
I remember calling my father
from a phone booth and saying,

1422
01:25:05,466 --> 01:25:07,633
"Dad, we're going to have
this experience

1423
01:25:07,733 --> 01:25:09,466
"and if there's any
support materials

1424
01:25:09,566 --> 01:25:14,833
that you think I should present,
please let me know."

1425
01:25:16,333 --> 01:25:19,066
The support materials
didn't come.

1426
01:25:19,166 --> 01:25:23,233
I think my father really wanted
lovingly to protect me

1427
01:25:23,333 --> 01:25:26,500
from the Vietnam experience
to the best of his ability.

1428
01:25:26,600 --> 01:25:28,333
Well, we know
you can't do that.

1429
01:25:28,433 --> 01:25:32,500
Things bleed through and it just
doesn't happen that way.

1430
01:25:32,600 --> 01:25:35,133
Probably, he realized
at that time

1431
01:25:35,233 --> 01:25:40,066
that the support materials...
weren't there.

1432
01:25:45,833 --> 01:25:48,100
ROBERT McNAMARA:
Today I can tell you
that military progress

1433
01:25:48,200 --> 01:25:52,800
in the past 12 months has
exceeded our expectations.

1434
01:25:52,900 --> 01:25:54,800
The Viet Cong have
been unable to mount

1435
01:25:54,900 --> 01:25:57,033
the offensive
that they had planned

1436
01:25:57,133 --> 01:26:01,733
designed to cut the country
in half at its narrow waist.

1437
01:26:01,833 --> 01:26:03,800
The military pressure,

1438
01:26:03,900 --> 01:26:05,966
which forces have brought
against them,

1439
01:26:06,066 --> 01:26:07,500
have prevented them from
mounting that offensive

1440
01:26:07,600 --> 01:26:10,966
and have inflicted
very heavy casualties on them.

1441
01:26:11,066 --> 01:26:12,700
No matter how you measure it,

1442
01:26:12,800 --> 01:26:16,366
we're better off than we thought
we would be at this time.

1443
01:26:17,833 --> 01:26:19,433
("Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
by the Temptations playing)

1444
01:26:19,533 --> 01:26:22,233
♪ I know you want
to leave me... ♪

1445
01:26:22,333 --> 01:26:24,066
EHRHART:
Certainly when I arrived,
I'm thinking

1446
01:26:24,166 --> 01:26:26,166
I'm involved in
a winning enterprise.

1447
01:26:26,266 --> 01:26:28,033
I mean, America doesn't lose.

1448
01:26:28,133 --> 01:26:30,066
We never lose.

1449
01:26:30,166 --> 01:26:34,033
I had sort of not really known
much about the War of 1812,

1450
01:26:34,133 --> 01:26:37,566
which was...
pretty much of a draw,

1451
01:26:37,666 --> 01:26:40,866
or the Civil War in which
half of America lost,

1452
01:26:40,966 --> 01:26:44,100
and the Korean War
where we won the first half

1453
01:26:44,200 --> 01:26:45,300
and lost the second half.

1454
01:26:45,400 --> 01:26:48,100
But I'd been taught
America never loses.

1455
01:26:48,200 --> 01:26:52,233
NARRATOR:
The Marines had been the
first American combat troops

1456
01:26:52,333 --> 01:26:54,333
to fight in Vietnam.

1457
01:26:54,433 --> 01:26:56,866
And they were expected
to fight longer

1458
01:26:56,966 --> 01:27:01,366
than their Army counterparts--
13 months instead of 12.

1459
01:27:03,333 --> 01:27:05,166
Marine privates Bill Ehrhart,

1460
01:27:05,266 --> 01:27:09,866
John Musgrave, and Roger Harris
all arrived at Danang

1461
01:27:09,966 --> 01:27:12,466
in early 1967.

1462
01:27:12,566 --> 01:27:16,733
MUSGRAVE:
The first thing that assaulted
my nose was the foreign smells.

1463
01:27:16,833 --> 01:27:19,166
And watching people relieve
themselves

1464
01:27:19,266 --> 01:27:20,733
by the side of the road

1465
01:27:20,833 --> 01:27:23,633
and seeing animals
I'd never seen before--

1466
01:27:23,733 --> 01:27:25,633
the big water buffaloes.

1467
01:27:25,733 --> 01:27:28,133
You know, it was like
being on Mars,

1468
01:27:28,233 --> 01:27:31,933
because it was
totally foreign to me.

1469
01:27:32,033 --> 01:27:36,700
But I honestly, in my dumb
Missouri kid kind of way,

1470
01:27:36,800 --> 01:27:39,200
I thought, "Look at
all those foreigners."

1471
01:27:39,300 --> 01:27:41,733
And it didn't dawn on me
for a little while

1472
01:27:41,833 --> 01:27:45,033
that the only foreigner
in that area was me.

1473
01:27:46,900 --> 01:27:50,633
HARRIS:
The feeling was that we were
going over to rescue folks.

1474
01:27:50,733 --> 01:27:53,800
And that the communists were
taking over this country

1475
01:27:53,900 --> 01:27:55,900
and they needed help.

1476
01:27:56,000 --> 01:27:58,533
But then when we got there
we realized that...

1477
01:27:58,633 --> 01:28:00,766
that it wasn't exactly
like that, you know.

1478
01:28:00,866 --> 01:28:03,166
Many of the Vietnamese,
they would spit at our trucks

1479
01:28:03,266 --> 01:28:05,166
and they'd tell us
to go back to America.

1480
01:28:05,266 --> 01:28:06,800
And then, you know, we began
questioning ourselves,

1481
01:28:06,900 --> 01:28:08,133
you know, why are we here?

1482
01:28:09,566 --> 01:28:11,333
These people don't want us here.

1483
01:28:13,433 --> 01:28:17,366
NARRATOR:
Roger Harris was assigned
to G Company, 2nd Battalion,

1484
01:28:17,466 --> 01:28:21,466
9th Regiment of the 3rd Marine
Division at Phu Bai,

1485
01:28:21,566 --> 01:28:23,766
outside of Hue.

1486
01:28:23,866 --> 01:28:25,933
John Musgrave was
first stationed

1487
01:28:26,033 --> 01:28:30,233
with the 1st Marine Division
at the Danang Airbase.

1488
01:28:30,333 --> 01:28:32,900
And Bill Ehrhart joined
the 1st Regiment

1489
01:28:33,000 --> 01:28:36,300
of the 1st Marine Division
near the city of Hoi An.

1490
01:28:38,933 --> 01:28:40,900
Private Ehrhart was given
a desk job,

1491
01:28:41,000 --> 01:28:43,100
collating snippets
of information

1492
01:28:43,200 --> 01:28:45,366
for the daily intelligence
summary.

1493
01:28:47,600 --> 01:28:49,733
Three days after he got
to Hoi An,

1494
01:28:49,833 --> 01:28:55,000
a group of civilian detainees
was brought into the compound.

1495
01:28:55,100 --> 01:28:58,533
EHRHART:
These two amtracs come in
the back gate.

1496
01:28:58,633 --> 01:29:01,066
The Marines up top start
pushing them off.

1497
01:29:01,166 --> 01:29:02,700
Their hands are tied,
their feet are tied,

1498
01:29:02,800 --> 01:29:04,500
they have no way
to break their fall.

1499
01:29:04,600 --> 01:29:09,366
You literally can hear bones
snapping, shoulders dislocate.

1500
01:29:09,466 --> 01:29:12,466
And I grab Corporal Sal,

1501
01:29:12,566 --> 01:29:15,566
and he says in the absolute
flattest, hollowest voice

1502
01:29:15,666 --> 01:29:17,066
I've ever heard,

1503
01:29:17,166 --> 01:29:21,400
"Ehrhart, you better keep your
mouth shut and your eyes open

1504
01:29:21,500 --> 01:29:23,766
"till you understand
what's going on around here.

1505
01:29:23,866 --> 01:29:26,266
"Those trackers, they're
hitting mines out there

1506
01:29:26,366 --> 01:29:28,200
"on the sand flats every day.

1507
01:29:28,300 --> 01:29:30,333
"They're getting killed;
they're getting maimed.

1508
01:29:30,433 --> 01:29:33,900
"And these people know where
those mines are.

1509
01:29:34,000 --> 01:29:37,633
"You treat these people nice
in front of the trackers

1510
01:29:37,733 --> 01:29:38,933
"and those trackers

1511
01:29:39,033 --> 01:29:40,666
"will rearrange your head
and ass for you

1512
01:29:40,766 --> 01:29:42,266
and walk away laughing."

1513
01:29:43,866 --> 01:29:47,033
Well, at that point,
three days into Vietnam,

1514
01:29:47,133 --> 01:29:48,933
I'm thinking, "Whoa.

1515
01:29:49,033 --> 01:29:52,333
What the hell
is going on here?"

1516
01:29:55,633 --> 01:29:58,100
I think it is destroying
the good name

1517
01:29:58,200 --> 01:30:00,766
and the leadership
of the United States.

1518
01:30:00,866 --> 01:30:05,800
Furthermore, I believe that the
war is militarily unwinnable.

1519
01:30:05,900 --> 01:30:10,333
I believe that thousands
of American young men

1520
01:30:10,433 --> 01:30:14,600
are being asked to die to save
Lyndon Johnson's face.

1521
01:30:14,700 --> 01:30:18,166
He must know by now
that this war is unwinnable,

1522
01:30:18,266 --> 01:30:20,633
but he does not know
how to give up.

1523
01:30:20,733 --> 01:30:24,433
Therefore, I believe that young
men are not only justified

1524
01:30:24,533 --> 01:30:27,566
but to be thanked
if they point this out

1525
01:30:27,666 --> 01:30:31,533
by refusing to take part in such
an outrageous war any longer.

1526
01:30:31,633 --> 01:30:35,433
("Footprints"
by Wayne Shorter playing)

1527
01:30:35,533 --> 01:30:38,800
NARRATOR:
Dr. Benjamin Spock was
the best-loved pediatrician

1528
01:30:38,900 --> 01:30:40,233
of his time;

1529
01:30:40,333 --> 01:30:44,266
millions of American parents
had consulted his bestseller,

1530
01:30:44,366 --> 01:30:46,700
<i>Baby and Child Care.</i>

1531
01:30:46,800 --> 01:30:51,300
In early 1967, he wrote
the preface to an article

1532
01:30:51,400 --> 01:30:54,100
<i>in the leftist magazine
Ramparts</i>

1533
01:30:54,200 --> 01:30:59,766
on the impact of American napalm
on South Vietnamese children.

1534
01:30:59,866 --> 01:31:04,666
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
was among those who had read it.

1535
01:31:04,766 --> 01:31:07,900
He had been agonizing
about the war for months.

1536
01:31:08,000 --> 01:31:10,833
But he had been reluctant
to break openly

1537
01:31:10,933 --> 01:31:14,933
with Lyndon Johnson, who had
done so much for civil rights.

1538
01:31:15,033 --> 01:31:19,200
Now he could no longer
stay silent.

1539
01:31:19,300 --> 01:31:24,466
MARTIN LUTHER KING:
I come to this magnificent house
of worship tonight

1540
01:31:24,566 --> 01:31:29,566
because my conscience
leaves me no other choice.

1541
01:31:29,666 --> 01:31:35,666
A time comes when silence
is betrayal.

1542
01:31:35,766 --> 01:31:42,566
That time has come for us
in relation to Vietnam.

1543
01:31:42,666 --> 01:31:44,533
("Talking World War III Blues"
by Bob Dylan playing)

1544
01:31:44,633 --> 01:31:47,833
NARRATOR:
Eleven days later,
King joined Dr. Spock

1545
01:31:47,933 --> 01:31:50,633
and perhaps half a million
other protestors

1546
01:31:50,733 --> 01:31:54,033
at a massive demonstration
in Central Park

1547
01:31:54,133 --> 01:31:56,233
organized by a new coalition,

1548
01:31:56,333 --> 01:32:01,000
the National Mobilization
to End the War in Vietnam.

1549
01:32:01,100 --> 01:32:03,233
♪ Some time ago a crazy dream
came to me ♪

1550
01:32:03,333 --> 01:32:06,300
♪ I dreamt I was walkin' into
World War III. ♪

1551
01:32:06,400 --> 01:32:09,466
ZIMMERMAN:
That was the biggest crowd
any of us had ever been in

1552
01:32:09,566 --> 01:32:11,000
in our lives.

1553
01:32:11,100 --> 01:32:15,233
And when the front of the march
got down to the United Nations,

1554
01:32:15,333 --> 01:32:18,266
the back of the march had not
yet left Central Park.

1555
01:32:18,366 --> 01:32:21,600
That's how many people we were.

1556
01:32:26,266 --> 01:32:30,500
Not all of the people
on that march were students.

1557
01:32:30,600 --> 01:32:35,433
And as a result, we all felt
we have a chance now.

1558
01:32:35,533 --> 01:32:40,133
You know, there's a path that
we could see to ending the war.

1559
01:32:43,666 --> 01:32:46,266
MARTIN LUTHER KING:
Stop the bombing.

1560
01:32:46,366 --> 01:32:50,133
Let us save our national honor.

1561
01:32:50,233 --> 01:32:54,500
Stop the bombing,
and stop the war.

1562
01:32:54,600 --> 01:32:59,466
Let us save American lives
and Vietnamese lives.

1563
01:32:59,566 --> 01:33:03,166
Let us take a single
instantaneous step

1564
01:33:03,266 --> 01:33:04,633
to the peace table.

1565
01:33:04,733 --> 01:33:06,233
Stop the bombing.

1566
01:33:07,766 --> 01:33:09,866
NARRATOR:
The antiwar movement was growing

1567
01:33:09,966 --> 01:33:13,100
in numbers and militancy.

1568
01:33:13,200 --> 01:33:17,066
"We are no longer interested
in merely protesting the war,"

1569
01:33:17,166 --> 01:33:20,633
one organizer said,
"we are out to stop it."

1570
01:33:23,500 --> 01:33:27,433
Meanwhile, some in the Johnson
administration became convinced

1571
01:33:27,533 --> 01:33:30,766
the antiwar movement was
a communist conspiracy

1572
01:33:30,866 --> 01:33:32,733
directed by Moscow.

1573
01:33:32,833 --> 01:33:37,566
The FBI and the CIA,
which was barred by statute

1574
01:33:37,666 --> 01:33:40,066
from operating within
the United States,

1575
01:33:40,166 --> 01:33:44,466
began infiltrating the movement,
wiretapping its leaders,

1576
01:33:44,566 --> 01:33:49,633
even inciting violence in order
to undercut their appeal.

1577
01:33:53,633 --> 01:33:56,666
ZIMMERMAN:
At that time,
people who supported the war

1578
01:33:56,766 --> 01:34:00,166
were fond of saying
"My country right or wrong";

1579
01:34:00,266 --> 01:34:03,233
"America,
love it or leave it."

1580
01:34:03,333 --> 01:34:06,766
Or "Better dead than Red."

1581
01:34:06,866 --> 01:34:11,033
Those sentiments seemed
insane to us.

1582
01:34:11,133 --> 01:34:13,300
We don't want to live
in a country

1583
01:34:13,400 --> 01:34:15,666
that we're going to support
whether it's right or wrong.

1584
01:34:15,766 --> 01:34:17,133
We want to live in a country

1585
01:34:17,233 --> 01:34:20,466
that acts rightly
and doesn't act wrongly.

1586
01:34:20,566 --> 01:34:24,900
And if our country isn't doing
that, it needs to be corrected.

1587
01:34:25,000 --> 01:34:28,200
So we had a very different idea
of patriotism.

1588
01:34:28,300 --> 01:34:34,900
So we began an era in which
two groups of Americans,

1589
01:34:35,000 --> 01:34:37,966
both thinking that
they were acting patriotically,

1590
01:34:38,066 --> 01:34:40,266
went to war with each other.

1591
01:34:40,366 --> 01:34:44,100
Over 200,000 communist
sympathizers

1592
01:34:44,200 --> 01:34:47,200
in that park this morning
tried to burn this flag,

1593
01:34:47,300 --> 01:34:48,933
but they didn't succeed.

1594
01:34:49,033 --> 01:34:50,600
RICHARD NIXON:
I would put it this way--

1595
01:34:50,700 --> 01:34:53,066
there's a monstrous myth abroad,

1596
01:34:53,166 --> 01:34:56,633
a myth which Hanoi creates
and which it believes,

1597
01:34:56,733 --> 01:34:59,866
and that is that the United
States is so divided

1598
01:34:59,966 --> 01:35:04,600
that if they just hang on that
they will win in Washington,

1599
01:35:04,700 --> 01:35:06,866
and in the United States the
victory that our fighting men

1600
01:35:06,966 --> 01:35:08,666
are denying them in field.

1601
01:35:08,766 --> 01:35:11,600
WESTMORELAND:
As I have said before,

1602
01:35:11,700 --> 01:35:15,533
in evaluating the enemy strategy
it is evident to me

1603
01:35:15,633 --> 01:35:19,266
that he believes our
Achilles' heel is our resolve.

1604
01:35:20,666 --> 01:35:22,900
NARRATOR:
Two weeks after
the Manhattan protest,

1605
01:35:23,000 --> 01:35:27,166
General Westmoreland addressed
a joint session of Congress,

1606
01:35:27,266 --> 01:35:30,566
the first general ever to be
called home from a battlefield

1607
01:35:30,666 --> 01:35:33,166
by his president to do so.

1608
01:35:33,266 --> 01:35:38,933
Backed at home by resolve,
confidence, patience,

1609
01:35:39,033 --> 01:35:42,100
determination,
and continued support,

1610
01:35:42,200 --> 01:35:46,266
we will prevail in Vietnam
over the communist aggressor.

1611
01:35:46,366 --> 01:35:47,833
(applause)

1612
01:35:47,933 --> 01:35:50,100
NARRATOR:
Behind the scenes,

1613
01:35:50,200 --> 01:35:53,600
neither Westmoreland
nor the administration he served

1614
01:35:53,700 --> 01:35:56,833
was confident the United States
would prevail.

1615
01:35:58,366 --> 01:36:00,633
Westmoreland reported
to the president

1616
01:36:00,733 --> 01:36:03,266
that according
to the latest statistics,

1617
01:36:03,366 --> 01:36:07,266
the crossover point had finally
been reached that spring,

1618
01:36:07,366 --> 01:36:11,766
except in the military sector
just south of the DMZ.

1619
01:36:11,866 --> 01:36:15,966
But, he warned, the United
States was doing little better

1620
01:36:16,066 --> 01:36:17,500
than holding its own.

1621
01:36:17,600 --> 01:36:21,333
If he were given
200,000 additional troops

1622
01:36:21,433 --> 01:36:24,700
and allowed to go into Laos
and Cambodia,

1623
01:36:24,800 --> 01:36:26,866
he could cut off
the Ho Chi Minh Trail

1624
01:36:26,966 --> 01:36:29,666
and end the war in two years.

1625
01:36:29,766 --> 01:36:33,133
But "When we add divisions,"
Johnson asked,

1626
01:36:33,233 --> 01:36:35,800
"can't the enemy add divisions?

1627
01:36:35,900 --> 01:36:38,100
Where does it all end?"

1628
01:36:38,200 --> 01:36:41,433
Westmoreland had no answer.

1629
01:36:41,533 --> 01:36:44,566
Instead, he and the Joint Chiefs
asked the president

1630
01:36:44,666 --> 01:36:48,500
to permit them to bomb sites
just below the Chinese border,

1631
01:36:48,600 --> 01:36:51,333
and to mine the harbors
of North Vietnam

1632
01:36:51,433 --> 01:36:57,266
to keep Hanoi's Soviet ally
from resupplying her by sea.

1633
01:36:57,366 --> 01:37:02,733
Meanwhile, Robert McNamara,
the chief architect

1634
01:37:02,833 --> 01:37:05,900
of American strategy
in Vietnam,

1635
01:37:06,000 --> 01:37:08,133
had grown less and less
confident

1636
01:37:08,233 --> 01:37:10,366
in its ultimate success

1637
01:37:10,466 --> 01:37:14,433
and in the repeated calls
for more men and more bombing

1638
01:37:14,533 --> 01:37:17,566
made by the military
he oversaw.

1639
01:37:17,666 --> 01:37:22,700
GELB:
Robert McNamara was the giant
of Washington, D.C.

1640
01:37:22,800 --> 01:37:28,000
He was the embodiment of
intellect and self-confidence.

1641
01:37:28,100 --> 01:37:31,666
If there was a problem,
there had to be an answer.

1642
01:37:31,766 --> 01:37:34,800
And that was his fatal flaw.

1643
01:37:34,900 --> 01:37:37,566
The startling thing is

1644
01:37:37,666 --> 01:37:43,766
that this man who never seemed
to doubt anything he said,

1645
01:37:43,866 --> 01:37:47,433
actually began to doubt
profoundly what he was doing

1646
01:37:47,533 --> 01:37:49,066
in Vietnam.

1647
01:37:49,166 --> 01:37:50,766
But we didn't know about it.

1648
01:37:50,866 --> 01:37:54,266
NARRATOR:
In a private memorandum
to the president,

1649
01:37:54,366 --> 01:37:56,933
McNamara told Johnson that

1650
01:37:57,033 --> 01:37:59,800
"the picture of the world's
greatest superpower

1651
01:37:59,900 --> 01:38:04,800
"killing or seriously injuring
1,000 non-combatants a week,

1652
01:38:04,900 --> 01:38:09,366
"while trying to pound a tiny,
backward nation into submission

1653
01:38:09,466 --> 01:38:12,466
"on an issue whose merits are
hotly disputed

1654
01:38:12,566 --> 01:38:14,566
is not a pretty one."

1655
01:38:14,666 --> 01:38:19,366
He urged the president to limit
troop levels, not raise them,

1656
01:38:19,466 --> 01:38:23,566
and to declare an unconditional
end to all bombing

1657
01:38:23,666 --> 01:38:26,133
north of the 20th parallel.

1658
01:38:26,233 --> 01:38:30,200
"The war in Vietnam is acquiring
a momentum of its own

1659
01:38:30,300 --> 01:38:33,300
that must be stopped,"
McNamara wrote.

1660
01:38:33,400 --> 01:38:36,800
"Dramatic increases
in U.S. troop deployments

1661
01:38:36,900 --> 01:38:39,766
"and attacks on the North
are not necessary

1662
01:38:39,866 --> 01:38:41,533
"and are not the answer.

1663
01:38:41,633 --> 01:38:45,400
"The enemy can absorb them
or counter them,

1664
01:38:45,500 --> 01:38:47,100
"bogging us down further

1665
01:38:47,200 --> 01:38:52,433
and risking even more serious
escalation of the war."

1666
01:38:52,533 --> 01:38:57,233
In the end, Johnson tried
to find a middle ground.

1667
01:38:57,333 --> 01:38:59,833
He expanded the list
of bombing targets,

1668
01:38:59,933 --> 01:39:02,766
but he refused to mine
the harbors

1669
01:39:02,866 --> 01:39:05,100
and he agreed to send
Westmoreland

1670
01:39:05,200 --> 01:39:07,966
only 47,000 more troops,

1671
01:39:08,066 --> 01:39:11,266
which would bring the total
of U.S. forces in the country

1672
01:39:11,366 --> 01:39:13,633
to more than half a million men.

1673
01:39:15,966 --> 01:39:21,166
On June 17, 1967,
Robert McNamara placed a call

1674
01:39:21,266 --> 01:39:25,433
to his military assistant,
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gard.

1675
01:39:25,533 --> 01:39:28,600
GARD:
My phone rang
and the little light showed

1676
01:39:28,700 --> 01:39:31,300
it was the secretary
on the line.

1677
01:39:31,400 --> 01:39:34,566
And I picked it up and said,
"Yes, Mr. Secretary?"

1678
01:39:34,666 --> 01:39:36,533
And Mr. McNamara said,

1679
01:39:36,633 --> 01:39:39,266
"Bob, I want a thorough study
done of the background

1680
01:39:39,366 --> 01:39:41,866
of our involvement in Vietnam,"
and hung up the phone.

1681
01:39:41,966 --> 01:39:45,333
NARRATOR:
Leslie Gelb,
a 30-year-old member

1682
01:39:45,433 --> 01:39:48,633
of the International Security
Affairs staff,

1683
01:39:48,733 --> 01:39:51,766
was named to oversee
the top-secret analysis

1684
01:39:51,866 --> 01:39:56,100
of how key decisions had been
made, going all the way back

1685
01:39:56,200 --> 01:39:58,333
to the Truman administration.

1686
01:40:00,433 --> 01:40:05,366
GELB:
McNamara gave us full access
to his closet,

1687
01:40:05,466 --> 01:40:08,033
in his office,
which was like a room.

1688
01:40:08,133 --> 01:40:10,566
But all his private papers
were there.

1689
01:40:10,666 --> 01:40:13,100
And I was picking out the memos,

1690
01:40:13,200 --> 01:40:15,866
a lot of which
I helped to write.

1691
01:40:15,966 --> 01:40:19,100
But there were others in there
that I had never seen.

1692
01:40:19,200 --> 01:40:26,300
In these memos you began to see
Robert McNamara communicating

1693
01:40:26,400 --> 01:40:31,466
with the president, alone,
his doubts.

1694
01:40:31,566 --> 01:40:33,866
It stunned me.

1695
01:40:41,500 --> 01:40:44,433
HARRISON:
I had thought that we were
mostly fighting a guerrilla war.

1696
01:40:47,100 --> 01:40:53,366
I didn't know that we were going
to be fighting guys like us,

1697
01:40:53,466 --> 01:40:55,300
that I had a doppelganger
out there

1698
01:40:55,400 --> 01:41:00,666
who was leading a rifle platoon,
who knew what he was doing,

1699
01:41:00,766 --> 01:41:06,200
who was as fully prepared to
kill me as I was to kill him.

1700
01:41:06,300 --> 01:41:08,366
(band playing a march)

1701
01:41:08,466 --> 01:41:11,533
NARRATOR:
That June, First Lieutenant
Matthew Harrison

1702
01:41:11,633 --> 01:41:16,333
finally got his orders
to join the 173rd Airborne,

1703
01:41:16,433 --> 01:41:20,633
an elite unit ready to rush
anywhere they were needed.

1704
01:41:20,733 --> 01:41:26,233
They called themselves General
Westmoreland's Fire Brigade.

1705
01:41:30,666 --> 01:41:34,133
Harrison's arrival at Bien Hoa
was a reunion of sorts.

1706
01:41:34,233 --> 01:41:39,000
He and seven others from
the West Point class of 1966

1707
01:41:39,100 --> 01:41:42,133
all found themselves serving
in the 2nd Battalion,

1708
01:41:42,233 --> 01:41:45,533
including two especially
close friends:

1709
01:41:45,633 --> 01:41:49,633
Donald Judd and Richard Hood.

1710
01:41:49,733 --> 01:41:52,900
HARRISON:
As young lieutenants,
as 22-year-olds,

1711
01:41:53,000 --> 01:41:58,100
we really were idealists
and we really were Boy Scouts.

1712
01:41:58,200 --> 01:42:02,433
I really felt as though
I was uniquely qualified

1713
01:42:02,533 --> 01:42:04,166
to lead American soldiers

1714
01:42:04,266 --> 01:42:06,566
and that there was nothing
more important

1715
01:42:06,666 --> 01:42:09,066
than what I was going
to be doing.

1716
01:42:09,166 --> 01:42:12,700
But when I joined the 173rd,

1717
01:42:12,800 --> 01:42:16,466
I think the first day I was
there some guy showed me

1718
01:42:16,566 --> 01:42:20,400
what looked like a bunch of
apricots on a leather thong.

1719
01:42:20,500 --> 01:42:24,066
Turns out they were ears,
dried, desiccated.

1720
01:42:25,866 --> 01:42:29,566
I understood theoretically
what it meant to be in a war.

1721
01:42:29,666 --> 01:42:32,600
But, of course, no one can
really understand it

1722
01:42:32,700 --> 01:42:34,100
until they've done it.

1723
01:42:35,866 --> 01:42:38,933
("Wild Child"
by the Ventures playing)

1724
01:42:39,033 --> 01:42:41,766
NARRATOR:
Harrison was a platoon leader
in Charlie Company.

1725
01:42:41,866 --> 01:42:47,566
His West Point classmates
served with Alpha Company.

1726
01:42:47,666 --> 01:42:49,933
Within a few days,

1727
01:42:50,033 --> 01:42:52,933
they were helicoptered into the
heart of the Central Highlands

1728
01:42:53,033 --> 01:42:56,533
near Dak To,
where North Vietnamese regulars

1729
01:42:56,633 --> 01:43:01,666
were said to be threatening
a Special Forces camp.

1730
01:43:01,766 --> 01:43:04,566
They were all airlifted
into landing zones

1731
01:43:04,666 --> 01:43:07,933
hacked out of the steep,
jungle-blanketed slope

1732
01:43:08,033 --> 01:43:11,800
of a mountain the Americans
called Hill 1338

1733
01:43:11,900 --> 01:43:17,233
for its height in meters, with
orders to hunt down the enemy.

1734
01:43:17,333 --> 01:43:19,700
They walked for two days,

1735
01:43:19,800 --> 01:43:22,666
following a well-worn
enemy trail,

1736
01:43:22,766 --> 01:43:27,400
constantly on the lookout
for booby traps or ambushes.

1737
01:43:31,866 --> 01:43:33,766
On the evening of June 21,

1738
01:43:33,866 --> 01:43:37,133
Harrison's Charlie Company
settled in for the night

1739
01:43:37,233 --> 01:43:40,633
while his friends in Alpha
Company set up camp

1740
01:43:40,733 --> 01:43:43,066
a little less than
two miles to the south,

1741
01:43:43,166 --> 01:43:46,933
along the same
slippery jungle path.

1742
01:43:47,033 --> 01:43:51,800
No one knew that an entire
North Vietnamese battalion--

1743
01:43:51,900 --> 01:43:54,300
perhaps 500 men--

1744
01:43:54,400 --> 01:43:57,133
was encamped on the other side
of a ridgeline,

1745
01:43:57,233 --> 01:44:01,000
just a few hundred yards away.

1746
01:44:03,000 --> 01:44:05,000
At 6:58 the next morning,

1747
01:44:05,100 --> 01:44:08,833
a patrol from Alpha Company
stumbled into a squad

1748
01:44:08,933 --> 01:44:10,600
of North Vietnamese.

1749
01:44:10,700 --> 01:44:13,600
The Americans withdrew

1750
01:44:13,700 --> 01:44:17,000
and struggled to establish
a perimeter.

1751
01:44:17,100 --> 01:44:19,633
Within minutes,
they were under attack

1752
01:44:19,733 --> 01:44:24,266
from relentless AK-47
automatic fire.

1753
01:44:24,366 --> 01:44:27,633
The enemy mounted
attack after attack,

1754
01:44:27,733 --> 01:44:30,633
drawing closer each time.

1755
01:44:30,733 --> 01:44:34,566
Alpha Company radioed for air
and artillery support,

1756
01:44:34,666 --> 01:44:38,666
but the triple-canopy jungle
blocked the spotter's view.

1757
01:45:30,166 --> 01:45:33,533
NARRATOR:
At around noon, Harrison's
unit was ordered to rescue

1758
01:45:33,633 --> 01:45:36,566
the trapped men
of Alpha Company.

1759
01:45:36,666 --> 01:45:40,333
HARRISON:
It was mountainous terrain.

1760
01:45:40,433 --> 01:45:42,166
We were carrying two bodies

1761
01:45:42,266 --> 01:45:44,733
along with a bunch
of engineer equipment.

1762
01:45:44,833 --> 01:45:50,066
And we could not push down
the couple of hundred meters

1763
01:45:50,166 --> 01:45:53,133
to where the most of the
fighting had taken place.

1764
01:45:53,233 --> 01:45:54,966
(explosion)

1765
01:45:55,066 --> 01:45:57,333
NARRATOR:
The going was steep
and slippery.

1766
01:45:57,433 --> 01:45:59,500
North Vietnamese troops,

1767
01:45:59,600 --> 01:46:02,400
now entrenched along both sides
of the trail,

1768
01:46:02,500 --> 01:46:07,133
prevented Matt Harrison and his
men from reaching Alpha Company.

1769
01:46:07,233 --> 01:46:10,800
At dusk, the shooting died down,

1770
01:46:10,900 --> 01:46:13,333
and they dug in
at the top of a ridge

1771
01:46:13,433 --> 01:46:16,400
and did their best to sleep.

1772
01:46:18,200 --> 01:46:21,966
HARRISON:
So we lay there on the night
of June 22

1773
01:46:22,066 --> 01:46:26,566
and we could hear the screams
of the wounded down the hill

1774
01:46:26,666 --> 01:46:31,266
as the North Vietnamese
went around and shot them.

1775
01:46:31,366 --> 01:46:34,533
NARRATOR:
By dawn, the enemy had
melted away.

1776
01:46:38,233 --> 01:46:41,500
Harrison and his platoon
crept down the hillside

1777
01:46:41,600 --> 01:46:45,233
and reached what was left
of Alpha Company.

1778
01:46:46,633 --> 01:46:52,466
Out of 137 men,
76 lay dead along the path.

1779
01:46:52,566 --> 01:46:57,566
Forty-three had been shot
in the head at close range.

1780
01:46:57,666 --> 01:47:02,300
Ears had been cut from some;
eyes gouged out;

1781
01:47:02,400 --> 01:47:04,333
ring fingers missing.

1782
01:47:04,433 --> 01:47:08,133
Twenty-three more men
were wounded.

1783
01:47:08,233 --> 01:47:14,100
Harrison found his classmates,
Donald Judd and Richard Hood,

1784
01:47:14,200 --> 01:47:16,300
among the dead.

1785
01:47:17,933 --> 01:47:22,066
HARRISON:
This was my introduction to war.

1786
01:47:22,166 --> 01:47:26,000
This was my welcome to Vietnam.

1787
01:47:28,233 --> 01:47:31,700
We spent the rest of the day
putting those bodies

1788
01:47:31,800 --> 01:47:35,200
into body bags
and getting them out of there.

1789
01:47:35,300 --> 01:47:38,066
Getting-getting killed
is forever.

1790
01:47:38,166 --> 01:47:43,933
And, um, that was something
that I had known theoretically

1791
01:47:44,033 --> 01:47:46,233
but I now understood
particularly

1792
01:47:46,333 --> 01:47:48,900
when I put my two classmates
in body bags,

1793
01:47:49,000 --> 01:47:51,633
guys that I had gone
to school with for four years

1794
01:47:51,733 --> 01:47:54,733
and were good friends
and who just the week before

1795
01:47:54,833 --> 01:47:57,766
we had been drinking beer
and ribbing each other

1796
01:47:57,866 --> 01:48:01,000
and these guys were now gone.

1797
01:48:02,033 --> 01:48:03,033
NARRATOR:
Charlie Company found

1798
01:48:03,133 --> 01:48:06,733
just nine or ten
North Vietnamese bodies.

1799
01:48:06,833 --> 01:48:09,533
Harrison and his men were
ordered to search

1800
01:48:09,633 --> 01:48:13,466
the nearby hillsides
for more enemy dead,

1801
01:48:13,566 --> 01:48:17,600
who commanders assumed had been
killed by U.S. artillery.

1802
01:48:17,700 --> 01:48:21,300
MACV needed its body count.

1803
01:48:23,900 --> 01:48:26,966
HARRISON:
We never located them
and I believe today

1804
01:48:27,066 --> 01:48:30,066
that we didn't locate them
because they weren't there.

1805
01:48:30,166 --> 01:48:34,666
I think we just
took a terrible loss on June 22.

1806
01:48:34,766 --> 01:48:41,866
To admit that a rifle company
in the 173rd had been wiped out

1807
01:48:41,966 --> 01:48:44,133
by the North Vietnamese
was not something

1808
01:48:44,233 --> 01:48:45,633
our leaders were prepared to do.

1809
01:48:45,733 --> 01:48:51,400
So we had to sell ourselves
and we had to sell the public

1810
01:48:51,500 --> 01:48:54,900
on the idea that we had
inflicted casualties

1811
01:48:55,000 --> 01:48:56,766
on the North Vietnamese
as severe

1812
01:48:56,866 --> 01:48:59,133
as they had inflicted on us.

1813
01:48:59,233 --> 01:49:03,766
NARRATOR:
An officer told a reporter
that the shattered rifle company

1814
01:49:03,866 --> 01:49:08,100
had killed 475 enemy soldiers.

1815
01:49:08,200 --> 01:49:12,266
When another officer suggested
to General Westmoreland

1816
01:49:12,366 --> 01:49:15,300
that the figure seemed too high
to be believable,

1817
01:49:15,400 --> 01:49:17,766
he replied, "Too late.

1818
01:49:17,866 --> 01:49:20,266
It's already gone out."

1819
01:49:20,366 --> 01:49:23,233
HARRISON:
Within a few days
after the battle,

1820
01:49:23,333 --> 01:49:25,566
Westmoreland came up to speak

1821
01:49:25,666 --> 01:49:29,400
to what we thought of ourselves
as his brigade.

1822
01:49:29,500 --> 01:49:35,533
And he hopped up on a hood of
a jeep in very crisp fatigues

1823
01:49:35,633 --> 01:49:38,533
looking every inch
the battle commander

1824
01:49:38,633 --> 01:49:42,966
and gave us a pep talk and told
us how proud he was

1825
01:49:43,066 --> 01:49:45,600
and what a magnificent job
we had done.

1826
01:49:45,700 --> 01:49:50,666
But by then I had more
than just a suspicion

1827
01:49:50,766 --> 01:49:56,933
that this was a fairy tale,
that Westmoreland was wrong

1828
01:49:57,033 --> 01:49:59,966
and I didn't know whether
he knew he was wrong

1829
01:50:00,066 --> 01:50:03,800
or whether he believed
what he was being told

1830
01:50:03,900 --> 01:50:06,133
and wanted to believe.

1831
01:50:06,233 --> 01:50:10,633
But this was the first time
that I had to come to grips

1832
01:50:10,733 --> 01:50:12,500
with the fact
that the leadership

1833
01:50:12,600 --> 01:50:16,300
was either out of touch
or was lying.

1834
01:50:16,400 --> 01:50:18,533
("One Too Many Mornings"
by Bob Dylan playing)

1835
01:50:18,633 --> 01:50:20,600
DYLAN:
♪ Down the street
the dogs are barkin' ♪

1836
01:50:20,700 --> 01:50:23,133
♪ And the day
is a-gettin' dark. ♪

1837
01:50:23,233 --> 01:50:27,033
CAROL CROCKER:
I remember a very difficult
conversation I had

1838
01:50:27,133 --> 01:50:30,466
with a girl who had really been
a best friend of mine.

1839
01:50:30,566 --> 01:50:33,966
And the talk turned to Vietnam.

1840
01:50:34,066 --> 01:50:36,966
And I remember her looking
at me and saying,

1841
01:50:37,066 --> 01:50:44,400
"My father says that you can't
listen to people

1842
01:50:44,500 --> 01:50:47,133
"who've lost someone in the war

1843
01:50:47,233 --> 01:50:48,866
"because they're going
to support it

1844
01:50:48,966 --> 01:50:51,000
to justify that person's death."

1845
01:50:52,833 --> 01:50:55,866
I felt like she'd hit me
in the stomach.

1846
01:50:55,966 --> 01:51:00,166
But I knew at that moment there
were some factions developing

1847
01:51:00,266 --> 01:51:04,066
and this wasn't going to be
an easy path to walk;

1848
01:51:04,166 --> 01:51:05,833
that people were going
to have opinions

1849
01:51:05,933 --> 01:51:08,233
about my brother's death

1850
01:51:08,333 --> 01:51:12,066
that in some ways had nothing
to do with his death for me.

1851
01:51:14,166 --> 01:51:16,533
("The Sound of Silence"
by Simon and Garfunkel playing)

1852
01:51:16,633 --> 01:51:20,800
♪ Hello darkness,
my old friend ♪

1853
01:51:20,900 --> 01:51:25,400
♪ I've come to talk
with you again ♪

1854
01:51:25,500 --> 01:51:30,133
♪ Because a vision
softly creeping ♪

1855
01:51:30,233 --> 01:51:34,633
♪ Left its seeds
while I was sleeping ♪

1856
01:51:34,733 --> 01:51:41,233
♪ And the vision that
was planted in my brain ♪

1857
01:51:41,333 --> 01:51:44,833
♪ Still remains

1858
01:51:44,933 --> 01:51:50,666
♪ Within the sound of silence

1859
01:51:50,766 --> 01:51:55,066
♪ In restless dreams
I walked alone ♪

1860
01:51:55,166 --> 01:51:59,633
♪ Narrow streets
of cobblestone ♪

1861
01:51:59,733 --> 01:52:04,200
♪ 'Neath the halo
of a street lamp ♪

1862
01:52:04,300 --> 01:52:08,833
♪ I turned my collar
to the cold and damp ♪

1863
01:52:08,933 --> 01:52:15,533
♪ When my eyes were stabbed
by the flash of a neon light ♪

1864
01:52:15,633 --> 01:52:19,000
♪ That split the night

1865
01:52:19,100 --> 01:52:25,233
♪ And touched
the sound of silence ♪

1866
01:52:25,333 --> 01:52:29,200
♪ And in the naked light I saw

1867
01:52:29,300 --> 01:52:33,933
♪ Ten thousand people,
maybe more ♪

1868
01:52:34,033 --> 01:52:38,600
♪ People talking
without speaking ♪

1869
01:52:38,700 --> 01:52:43,000
♪ People hearing
without listening ♪

1870
01:52:43,100 --> 01:52:50,466
♪ People writing songs
that voices never share ♪

1871
01:52:50,566 --> 01:52:54,133
♪ And no one dared

1872
01:52:54,233 --> 01:52:59,833
♪ Disturb the sound of silence

1873
01:52:59,933 --> 01:53:04,333
♪ And the people
bowed and prayed ♪

1874
01:53:04,433 --> 01:53:08,733
♪ To the neon god they made

1875
01:53:08,833 --> 01:53:13,066
♪ And the sign flashed out
its warning ♪

1876
01:53:13,166 --> 01:53:17,533
♪ In the words
that it was forming ♪

1877
01:53:17,633 --> 01:53:19,166
♪ And the signs said

1878
01:53:19,266 --> 01:53:24,900
♪ The words of the prophets are
written on the subway walls ♪

1879
01:53:25,000 --> 01:53:28,433
♪ And tenement halls

1880
01:53:28,533 --> 01:53:37,000
♪ And whisper'd in the sounds
of silence. ♪

1881
01:53:48,333 --> 01:54:05,466
(helicopter blades beating)