← BACK TO VBC BLOG Why Didn't Marines Wear Helmet Bands in Vietnam? The Army called it "Band, Helmet, Camouflage, US" and issued it to soldiers in Vietnam. The USMC didn't. Why? Left: 17-year-old USMC Private Richard Coggins waits on the beach during the Marine landing at Da Nang, 1965. Right: Army Sergeant
← BACK TO VBC BLOG In last week's VBC Bulletin, we linked to a War History Online story on drop tank canoes: detachable light-metal external fuel tanks that US fighter jets dropped by the thousands over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. These tank halves made nifty canoes that locals still use fifty
by James Donzella, The War HorseJune 15, 2022 James Donzella worked, for a while, as a colonel’s driver in Pleiku, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of the author. Somewhere between my 14th and 15th birthdays, my dad taught me to drive a stick shift. He thought it was important that I knew how. My first car was
The saga of the Vietnam crypt of the Tomb of the Unknown is perhaps the darkest chapter of the US Department of Defense’s long-running effort to account for POW/MIAs. Though discovered in South Vietnam at the crash site, along with personal effects and survival gear, the remains of US Air Force pilot
Authors Annette Grunseth and Ruth Crocker share a common bond to Vietnam. Annette’s brother, Peter Langlois, served under Ruth's husband, David Crocker, in the 25th Infantry Division in 1968-1969. David never came home. Peter did, but the war had changed him. Annette and Ruth tell their stories in Combat and Campus: Writing Through War and
by Todd DePastino Vietnam Veterans are special. They're the only veterans who have holiday dedicated to them. March 29 is designated as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. And the reason Vietnam Veterans have been singled out for celebration is because of the special trauma they suffered, not in the war, but
