Vietnam in HD | |
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Genre | Documentary War |
Written by | Ben Kaplan, Liz Reph, Bruce Kennedy, Sammy Jackson, Stephen Stept |
Directed by | Sammy Jackson |
Starring | Adrian Grenier Edward Burns Kevin Connolly Blair Underwood Tempestt Bledsoe Jerry Ferrara Zachary Levi James Marsden Jennifer Love Hewitt Glenn Howerton Armie Hammer Dylan McDermott Dean Cain |
Narrated by | Michael C. Hall |
Theme music composer | Ken Hatley |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Producers | Lou Reda Scott L. Reda Liz Reph |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | History Channel |
Release | November 8 – November 11, 2011 |
Vietnam in HD (known as Vietnam Lost Films outside the US) is a 6-part American documentary television miniseries that originally aired from November 8 to November 11, 2011 on the History Channel. From the same producers as WWII in HD , the program focuses on the firsthand experiences of thirteen Americans during the Vietnam War. The thirteen Americans retell their stories in Vietnam paired with found footage from the battlefield.
The episodes premiered on three consecutive days, with two episodes per day. The series is narrated by Michael C. Hall.
The tagline for the series is "It's not the war we know, it's the war they fought".
Wife of Army Colonel Benjamin Purcell, a POW. Anne is a founding member of the National League of Families, an organization that publicized the issue of MIAs and POWs in Vietnam. She is portrayed by Jennifer Love Hewitt
A recently graduated lieutenant in the 196th Infantry Brigade, serving in Vietnam from Summer 1967 - Spring 1968. Romo was awarded a Bronze Star for his efforts saving wounded men from his platoon. Following the death of his nephew, Romo became involved in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and participated in demonstrations, including throwing away his medals earned in Vietnam. He is portrayed by Adrian Grenier.
A combat reporter for United Press International during the Vietnam War. Embedded with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. Galloway received a Bronze Star in 1998 for repeatedly disregarding his own safety to rescue wounded soldiers under fire. Galloway was the only civilian decorated by the U.S. Army with a Bronze Star with Valor during the Vietnam War. He is portrayed by Edward Burns. [1]
A US Army officer, serving as an advisor to the ARVN from 1964. He is portrayed by Dean Cain.
An F-100 Super Sabre pilot stationed in South Vietnam in 1965. Connolly took part in the first massive bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder. He returned to Vietnam in 1969 for his second tour of duty, this time flying an F-4 Phantom bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He is portrayed by Kevin Connolly.
As a platoon sergeant in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, Brown led search and destroy missions until being injured by a booby trap. Brown later returned to his unit and fought in the Battle of Đắk Tô in November 1967, including the bloody fight on the slopes of Hill 875. He was awarded two Bronze Stars for his actions during the Battle of Đắk Tô and Hill 875. He tells of how, before being sent to Vietnam, he was a drill sergeant in charge of training draftees before they were deployed to Vietnam. His account of the battle includes a story of how he received orders to send a man to the rear to be trained on the flamethrower. He tells of how the young private that he selected to carry the flamethrower was killed when a piece of grenade shrapnel hit the pressure tank on the flamethrower, causing it to explode.
He is portrayed by Blair Underwood.
A Navy Corpsman assigned to the 26th Marine Regiment, who was deployed to aid the Marines at the Battle of Khe Sanh. He was eventually wounded himself by a grenade during fighting at Hill 861A. He is portrayed by Jerry Ferrara.
A trauma nurse stationed on Pleiku Air Base during the Tet Offensive. She is portrayed by Tempestt Bledsoe.
After being drafted, Wiknik is sent to Vietnam in Spring 1969, serving as a sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division. Only days after his arrival, his company becomes involved in the Battle of Hamburger Hill. He is portrayed by James Marsden.
Marlantes was a Marine lieutenant, awarded the Navy Cross for his actions in battle in 1969. He is portrayed by Zachary Levi.
He is portrayed by Glenn Howerton.
Monticello, New York U.S. Army, 1st Division Service: Spring 1969 – Summer 1969
Like thousands of other young American men, Don DeVore struggled intensely with what he would do if he were drafted to serve in Vietnam. He had no desire to become a war hero, and no dreams of winning glory or greatness on a battlefield. In the late summer of 1968, DeVore’s number was called and within weeks he was shipped off to basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Arriving in Vietnam in March 1969, DeVore was assigned to an artillery unit at a fire support base known as Firebase Jim. His job was to provide accurate fire support for the search and destroy patrols that were taking place on a near daily basis in the surrounding jungles. After four months, DeVore was granted compassionate leave to attend the birth of his first child. Upon returning home, he found himself in the middle of the largest peace and love festival of the decade – Woodstock. It was a stark contrast to the harsh combat he returned to just days later. In September 1969, the Viet Cong infiltrated Firebase Jim and DeVore was severely wounded by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade), sustaining an injury to his left arm that kept him hospitalized for nearly two years. The psychological and physical effects of his combat experience were devastating. For years, DeVore never spoke about the war. When questioned about the scars on his arm, he would tell people they were the result of a motorcycle accident. Finally, in the late 1990s, he sought treatment at a VA hospital, and after several years of counseling he was finally able to come to terms with wartime experience.
He is portrayed by Armie Hammer.
He is portrayed by Dylan McDermott.
# | Title | Original airdate | |
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1 | "The Beginning" | November 8, 2011 | |
The war begins with the Battle of Ia Drang | |||
2 | "Search & Destroy" | November 8, 2011 | |
Success measured in body count, and Battle of Dak To | |||
3 | "The Tet Offensive" | November 9, 2011 | |
Surprise attack on Tet holiday. | |||
4 | "An Endless War" | November 9, 2011 | |
Political pressure changes the course of war by the Nixon Administration, and the Battle of Hamburger Hill. | |||
5 | "A Changing War" | November 10, 2011 | |
The US teaches South Vietnam to fight by themselves, while the Cambodian Incursion is staged. | |||
6 | "Peace With Honor" | November 10, 2011 | |
After Operation Lam Son 719 and the Easter Offensive, the US withdraws from Vietnam and the communists launch the final assault. |
Charles Joseph Watters was a chaplain (major) in the United States Army and Roman Catholic priest. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery exhibited while rescuing wounded men in the Vietnam War's Battle of Dak To.
The battle of Dak To in Vietnam was a series of major engagements of the Vietnam War that took place between 3 and 23 November 1967, in Kon Tum Province, in the Central Highlands of the Republic of Vietnam. The action at Đắk Tô was one of a series of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) offensive initiatives that began during the second half of the year. PAVN attacks at Lộc Ninh, Sông Bé and at Con Thien and Khe Sanh,, were other actions which, combined with Đắk Tô, became known as "the border battles". The post hoc purported objective of the PAVN forces was to distract American and South Vietnamese forces away from cities towards the borders in preparation for the Tet Offensive.
Joe Ronnie Hooper was an American who served in both the United States Navy and United States Army where he finished his career there as a captain. He earned the Medal of Honor while serving as an army sergeant on February 21, 1968, during the Vietnam War. He was one of the most decorated U.S. soldiers of the war and was wounded in action eight times.
Joseph Lee Galloway was an American newspaper correspondent and columnist. During the Vietnam War, he often worked alongside the American troops he covered and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal in 1998 for having carried a badly wounded man to safety while he was under very heavy enemy fire in 1965. From 2013 until his death, he worked as a special consultant for the Vietnam War 50th anniversary Commemoration project run out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and has also served as consultant to Ken Burns' production of a documentary history of the Vietnam War broadcast in the fall of 2017 by PBS. He was also the former Military Affairs consultant for the Knight-Ridder chain of newspapers and was a columnist with McClatchy Newspapers.
The Battle of FSB Mary Ann occurred when Viet Cong (VC) sappers attacked a U.S. firebase located in Quảng Tín Province, South Vietnam early on the morning of 28 March 1971.
The lead-up to the Battle of Kontum began in mid-1971, when North Vietnam decided that its victory in Operation Lam Son 719 indicated that the time had come for large-scale conventional offensives that could end the war quickly. The resulting offensive, planned for the spring of 1972, would be known as the Easter Offensive in the South and the Nguyen Hue Offensive in the North, Nguyen Hue being a hero of Vietnamese resistance against the Chinese in 1789. The Easter Offensive would make use of fourteen divisions and would be the largest in the war.
John Andrew Barnes III was a soldier of the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Dak To.
The Đắk Sơn Massacre was a massacre committed by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, in the village of Đắk Sơn, Phước Long Province, South Vietnam.
Delbert Owen Jennings was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.
Edward Allen DeVore Jr. was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.
Commencing with World War I, Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent have participated as members of the United States Armed Forces in every conflict in which the United States has been involved. Accordingly, thousands of Puerto Ricans served in the Armed Forces of the United States during the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War. Hundreds of them died, either killed in action (KIA) or while prisoners of war (POW). The Vietnam War started as a Cold War, and escalated into a military conflict that spread to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe.
Đắk Tô Base Camp is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northwest of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Ben Het Camp is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base in western Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The camp was notable for being the site of a tank battle between the U.S. Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), one of the few such encounters during the Vietnam War.
Firebase 6 is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base southwest of Đắk Tô in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
William "Bill" Albracht was an Army captain in the Vietnam War. He is a recipient of three Silver Stars, and is the author of Abandoned in Hell: The Fight for Vietnam's Firebase Kate.
Operation Bolling was a search and destroy and security operation conducted during the Vietnam War by the U.S. 503rd Infantry Regiment in Phú Yên Province, South Vietnam from 19 September 1967 to 31 January 1969.
The Battle of the Slopes was the site of an engagement between elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate), nicknamed "Westmoreland's Fire Brigade" and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) units, as part of Operation Greeley.
Operation MacArthur was a United States Army military operation in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam from 12 October 1967 to 31 January 1969. The early phases of the operation encompassed the Battle of Dak To from 3 to 23 November 1967.