The Most Nerve-wracking Job of the Entire War - Clearing the Tunnels

For me this was a fresh look 😢 very well done

Your narrative is too far disconnected from realty.

A friend of the family was a tunnel rat in Vietnam. I don't remember him that well myself but I heard that he was never quite right when he came back.

My dad was a combat Medic with 25th Infantry 67-68, stationed around the Iron Triangle and Cu Chi (a heavy tunneled area). There were men who specialized in going into the tunnels for intel and to destroy them, the Tunnel Rats, and then on occasion when a unit came across a tunnel a volunteer would explore it a bit. My dad did a few tunnel rat volunteer duties out there in Cu Chi, he said he stopped volunteering to do it after the guy he learned from got blown up in one.
As far as the traps, my old man said they likely hurt as many or more of their own people as they did ours. Friends as a kid whose dads were Vietnam Vets (mechanics, etc..) didn't like the Vietnamese, the funny thing is talking to actual combat vets like my dad and others, they never had any hate for them- they had a respect for the Vietnamese fighting with them and against them.

The American O.S.S. trained the Vietnamese to fight a gorilla fight against the Japanese The underground tunnels were started against the Japanese in the 40s in WW2 and expanded during the 50s against the French with the Viet min and further in the 60s against the American military with the V.C. viet cong or Vietnamese communist. So we trained them and then had to fight them Go figure.

It was another napoleon

I have a friend who was a Marine in Vietnam. He got a silver star for search and destroy missions and split launch behind enemy lines. He wrote a couple of books and I’ve been working to help him promote the books, but also when he got back from Vietnam. They instantly arrested him and took him Away from the parade that celebrated him getting his silver star. He was one of my dad’s war buddies and we have video footage of the campaigns that my dad was on but we want to help this man get his silver star back it was not right for them to draft up, erroneous charges and take that away from him , it’s also even more frustrating that nobody cared to do anything so I had to push the issue and we’ve been slowly getting Q and he needs help promoting his book.

This is the longest video ive ever seent

This video needs to be in every US history class. Absolutely the best overview of the Vietnam war I've encountered & presented in 1/2 hour. This is a masterpiece. Thank you sir.

From a military family going back to the pre WWII Burma era, Grandpa/Flying Tigers, to Uncles (Viernam/AirForce), Cousin (Army Nurse) Myself (DS1/DS AirForce) to Cousin's Kids now (Navy) I want to thank you for this vid. I've just learned more in 30ish minutes of honest facts about the REAL hell that was Vietnam that I have not been told anywhere else in 55 years. The Vietnam Vets I know do not like talking about their time there which says a lot on it's own. Just thanks again!

Awesome ❤

My grandfathers brother was a bulldozer driver in vietnam, i later found out he did 3 rat missions, all through my young years i never understood his silance and anger, and over the top love of whiskey, but after joining the army myself, i now understood his long far off look, never fwlt the need to bring it up again

My grandpa was a Seabee in Vietnam, did 3 tours. During one of them, he said he was on a mountainside that had ROK Marines/Army at the bottom, USMC, US Army, and USAF towards the top, with artillery above the USAF base, that rained down fire on the opposing mountainside. He said the South Koreans would form up in big groups (roughly battalion sized), and march off into the jungle...about a week later, considerably less of them would return, and nearly all of them were carrying necklaces of ears. I suspect the US troops picked this up from the Koreans. Grandpa said the Koreans were feared by the Vietnamese, because their brutality in battle was well known; he wasn't supposed to be out after curfew, but he made friends w a Korean guy that would take him out late at night and they'd go party with the locals, get drunk at bars, start fights, etc. Lol. He said he tried to tell the Korean Marine that he wasn't supposed to be out at night, and he just responded, in broken English,"It OK! You with me! Can not touch us." He did mention a bar fight they'd gotten in, while out with 2 other Koreans, and they whooped a bar full of Vietnamese. xD Grandpa said they started doing their "karate stuff", and he picked up a wicker bar stool and used it defensively as he made his way to the door. At one point, a Vietnamese guy grabbed the stool and tried to take; grandpa said he was scared for a split second, but then he realized how small the guy was (he was 19, played football, in good shape, about 5'10", 175 lbs), laughed, wrestled it out of his grip, and then shoved him to the ground and walked passed him.

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My Dad was at Nha Trang 1967-1968
Never ever talked with us about it Even later never talked about it.

He did talk to some of my College friends who were older and had served.

I learned more about my Dad after the war. Got a 3/4 to full page in Stars and Stripes

Mom was a surgical nurse at Tripler Army Hospital on O'ahu .

War sucks. I read about tunnels , very scary stuff.

To those who served Thank you for your service

My dad was 2 years old when my grandfather (an Air Force mechanic) found my grandmother in a grocery store before the fall of Saigon and told her they needed to leave. As an American I struggle with the reasoning for the war and the blood shed because of it, but as a descendant of it, I’m so grateful for all who gave their lives to fight. And even more grateful for the citizens who opened their arms to my dad and his brothers.

Vietnam was more than dirty warfare, it was filthy warfare, worst of all being the bastards who sent our men for no good reason and then allowing civilians to shun them. Mongrels.

The M-16 was fixed by 1970. By then no one wanted one. I liked the BAR. But to each is own.

My Uncle John fought in Korea with the 7th Infantry Division and then in Vietnam 67-69. 5th of the 7th, 1st Cavalry Division. He was a 1st Sgt and carried a 12 ga trench gun from WWII. I got the best compliment of my life from him when I was 22 years old.

We were just having a conversation about rental properties and commercial construction when he paused, looked at me and said, "You would have been a great soldier in Nam, and I would have been proud to have you in my Troop." The moment was over in an instant but I'll cherish that memory from a man I loved and respected for ever. RIP Uncle John.

I had never heard the history of the Viet Nam war. colonizers stay colonizing

The video was truly fantastic. The Vietnam War was indeed a nightmare for everyone involved. As an American, it's appalling how the returning servicemen were treated—as if they were nothing more than dirt on a boot. It was utterly disgusting and despicable. The soldiers who cleared the tunnels are real heroes; their courage, fearlessness, and bravery were/are absolutely incredible, same goes for the Vietnamese fighters

Thank you Mr. Lamana for another epic video.

Edit: I've been to the Vietnam War Memorial. It's truly massive, so many died. A hauntingly somber site

This is the most detailed and disturbing description of a most horrific war I have yet to encounter!
The U.S. military learned countless hard lessons from this conflict, as well as the American public having it dumped into their laps on television the same way Matthew Brady did during the U.S. Civil War with his photography.
I applaud your unbiased coverage of such a sordid conflict........

This is educational. I never knew of just how terrible it was, and this is currently my favorite to have listened to. Makes me sad to know what other people went through. We owe so much to the people who fought.

So there's one guy who did 100 of these missions why didn't they just make a corps of 5 or 10 people trained specifically to go into the tunnels

I can’t imagine command now who don’t know if they’re male or female

I had three friends who went to Vietnam, 1 was aboard a cruiser, 1 was a door gunner aboard a chopper, and 1 was a pilot on a PBR. They all came back alittle screwy. Fortunately, all three of them, after a time and a half of struggles stateside, were able to find a niche within the communtiy where they became well respected and loved by friends and family. While they all still carry a few mental scars of their past experiences, they now have come to a peaceful existence and are enjoying their senior years... Except for literally anything regarding the VA. You wanna see decades of repression rear its ugly head, have them go deal with anything releating to medical care and being told, "your injury was not service related." And "in all honesty, off the books, they are just trying to wait you out so they don't need to pay for your operations and care."

Agent Orange killed my uncle at a young age. Cancer completely ate him from the inside out 😠

Wherever the french are there's always a big "balls up".

Tunnel fighting is such a fascinating form of warfare to me.

If I could go back in time, I'd give our troops this video or something like it.

ok i was told this one story about nam and i hope it isn’t true

americans were captured and as a way to get others to talk they tied one guy on the ground like 4 stakes holding his arms and legs … they cut him across his stomach and put a bowl over it and inside the bowl was a rat they had been starving …. i was 10 when i heard that in 78. i was supposed to be asleep but i heard my uncle telling my grandfather. i didn’t sleep a wink

My Lai man and Tiger Force... Jesus

I've never understood how people will fight to remain inslaved.

This is my worst nightmare. 😵

I work for a Vietnam veteran for several years as a plumber's apprentice. He was a very nice, kind of quiet guy and he very rarely talked about the war. When he did talk about the war, it was nothing serious. For example, one time we found some condoms in a clogged toilet toilet and he said the only use I ever had for those were putting them over the barrel of my rifle in the war. We had no children and when he passed away his wife asked me to help clean things out. We actually found one of those necklaces you talk about, as well as a few other strange and grotesque mementos. Anyone who knew him would have never expected to find something like that in his belongings. He was one of the nicest, most caring, and quiet people you would have ever met. The way he had those items tucked away, we almost didn't even find them. It makes me wonder what he went through or was a part of. Most of all, it makes me wonder what he went through mentally and emotionally throughout his life after the war. Whatever it was, he did a really good job of hiding it and keeping it very. To him, he told me the war was just a war and a job he had to do and that it was over and there was no need to dwell on it

You should do a video about the men who dug tunnels in World War I

Got dam ….. 😮

don't understand how you equate one group mutilating corpses to hang as necklaces to another defending their country from invaders as being "their own versions of debauchery" you tell me which is worse? 🤦‍♂️

Another propaganda video for people who love war stories. There is one thing Vietnam vets are good for..... telling war stories. Does anyone ever stop to think how insane and wrong it was for ANY American to be in Vietnam in the first place....let alone clearing tunnels? And all in the name of preserving freedom and security of the USA?
This is just one more example of the utter ignorance and foolishness of the US Government AND the men who blindly obeyed it.
The mentality and passive acceptance behind all of this is why the US continued to experience the disasters of other future "Vietnams"
I'm a proud Vietnam/Draft resistor. Prove me wrong.

This is what my father did in Vietnam. He doesn't like to talk about it much...and he was a big, burley man...

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Just went to vietnam a week ago and went inside cu chi tunnels and i am 6 feet tall and even crouching fully it was hard to maneuver I had to crawl and even then I needed to make myself smaller, the fact that viets used those tunnels hundreds of meters to move around is astonishing

I miss these old videos instead of 25% marketing plugs.

Vietnam Undefeated ❤❤ whites ran away , rpd women killed infants average white behaviour but could shake the vietnamese

Hey guys, nothing like being a week and a half late.
I've realized that trying to keep up with the BTS team is tough! I'll need to get a Wartime Stories team together at some point. Until then, I'll shoot for a video every two weeks.

Also, what do you think of 30-35 min video times? Some of these stories are going to need it.