. . Greg Kobasa Greg Kobasa volunteered for the Navy in 1968 and served in Vietnam as a Navy corpsman attached to the 3rd Marine Amphibious Force that patrolled in I Corps. Greg served as corpsman in a combined action platoon, which included both US Marines and South Vietnamese soldiers.
. . Stephen Kisio Originally from Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, Steve Kisio enlisted in the Air Force and worked as an air traffic controller through the Korean Conflict, Cold War, and Vietnam era. He served in Okinawa and Da Nang. In Da Nang he worked with a Vietnamese controller and had to
. . Ed Kelly Ed Kelly was drafted into the Navy after completing his medical internship at Mercy Hospital in 1968. He shipped to Vietnam and served as a field medical officer with the 3rd Marine Division, a job that required him to go out on patrols and order medivac
. . Don Johnson Don Johnson, a second generation veteran, joined the Coast Guard on August 4, 1964, the same day President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the USS Maddox had been fired on in the Gulf of Tonkin. Don was sent to Vietnam in 1967 and was stationed off
. . George Haught George Haught of Monaca, Pennsylvania served with the US Marines during the Vietnam War. He was one of the few marines to endure the entire Battle of Huế City in 1968--one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the Vietnam War. George shares his story with
. . Larry Googins Larry Googins is a native of Portland, Maine, raised by his widowed mother and grandmother. As a kid, his family avidly followed the Korean War through radio reports. A decade later, news about Vietnam came by way of black and white television. “When I went to
. . During Rudy Golling’s long military career, he served first in the Army during WW II and then in the Air Force during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He retired from active duty in 1974, after thirty years of service. Air Force work is often technical and highly skilled; Rudy’s
. . People tend to think of the Vietnam War as a ground and air war—jungle skirmishes, napalm, villages aflame, rice patty strafing. But the navy’s surface fleet played a significant role in the war effort as well. Some sailors served in the demure but omnipresent “brown water navy,” patrolling the
. . Michael Flournoy “I did a lot of crazy, dumb, and stupid things while in Vietnam; but none of those things were wrong,” says Pittsburgh’s Michael Flournoy of his duty in Vietnam. War is chaos. It goes against nature. “You are trained to do things that are not what
. . Rick Erisman Rick Erisman of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania joined the navy, serving as a radioman from 1969 to 1973. As to why he enlisted in the service after graduating college in North Carolina he admits, “I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I did want to
. . Virginia Eberharter Long before World War II caught the attention of the United States, Virginia M. Eberharter of Connellsville, PA wanted to be a nurse; she wanted to be of service to people in need. It was such a determined decision for a young high school freshman, but
. . Ted Debiak Ted Debiak was drafted into the US Army after graduating from Penn State. He served as a combat medic from 1966 to 1968. When Ted arrived in Vietnam at Cam Ranh Bay he was attached to the 4th Infantry Division. “It was hot,” he recalls. “So
. . Jack Damaska Jack Damaska is originally from Missouri, but he grew up in Beaver Falls, PA. As a professional baseball player, Jack credits the Cardinals with getting him into military service. He was asked if he wanted to go in the reserves. He went with the combat engineers
. . George D'Angelo George D’Angelo volunteered for the Air Force after graduating from Duquesne University in 1965. He trained as a fighter pilot and was assigned to the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing at Cam Ranh Air Base in Vietnam, where he flew the F-4 Phantom II fighter-bomber on bombing
. . Lee Corfield When Lee Corfield graduated from high school in 1967, the Vietnam War was heating up and the military needed young men. So Lee wondered when the draft would catch up to him. It was a matter of time before we was ordered into the Army or
. . George Coppola missing image George Copploa volunteered for the Coast Guard in June 1967, never dreaming he’d be sent to Vietnam. After boot camp, he boarded the US Coast Guard Cutter Campbell (WHEC-32) and was part of the Deck Force responsible for maintenance and other duties including manning
. . Lewis Cooke Lewis Cooke of Tionesta, Pennsylvania grew up in Rhode Island. As a young man he was a merchant mariner, but in the mid 60s he was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. “That year in Vietnam was the worst of my life,” he says
. . Jack Clouds Jack Clouds of Beaver Falls, PA dropped out of high school. Instead he got a real world education when he signed up for the Army, eventually serving with the legendary 82nd Airborne Division. Jack spent three years in the Army during the early 1960s, just before
. . Joseph Cirelli Reading was very important to Joe Cirelli while growing up in the 1950s. While America launched into the Cold War, and he took a special interest in military history. He had an uncle who served in the Korean War, and he was impressed with the
. . Manuel Carvahlo Manuel Carvahlo joined the Marines out of high school in 1962 when his parents moved back to Portugal. He was eventually assigned to the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which contained the very first US troops authorized for offensive operations in Vietnam. They landed at Da Nang