The day after Veteran's Day, the Military Channel will be showing the documentary, "Tiger Mountain". I think it is on most basic cable/dish packages. I will be in DC for Veteran's Day, and we are going to have a screening of it on Thursday, after our dinner. Friday we will take a wreath to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.
MILITARY CHANNEL’S COMMEMORATIVE VETERANS DAY PROGRAMMING INCLUDES:
FALLEN: BUT NOT FORGOTTEN – Saturday, November 12 at Noon ET
In October 1969, then-Lieutenant Mike Sprayberry received the nation’s highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his heroic efforts during a harrowing nighttime rescue in April 1968 in Vietnam’s A Shau Valley. But over the four subsequent decades, Sprayberry has remained determined to find the six lost men from this mission and bring them home, returning twice to Vietnam in search of evidence to initiate a formal recovery effort by the U.S. Army. FALLEN: BUT NOT FORGOTTEN profiles the most recent trip to Vietnam by Mike Sprayberry, this being trip #4. Family members of the six men killed in action and their comrades’ together share the loss and immense frustration but also the undying hope that one day these fallen soldiers may finally come home. This documentary is produced by award-winning CBS News cameraman Norman Lloyd and his foundation, the Commitment and Sacrifice Foundation. http://www.candsfoundation.org
Tiger Mountain
Moderators: DuncaninFrance, Niner Delta
Re: Tiger Mountain
Bob, I take it that was your company that lost the casualties that were not recovered? I think I remember you once saying something about an operation you were on that someone won the medal of honor. You were a Plt. Sgt.......right? You must have been there when these men were lost. It was not usual for infantry casualties to be not recovered. It couldn't have happened often with infantry. I don't know of any from the outfit I was with that were killed and not recovered.
I don't get the military channel. But I'm sure it is a memory that you and those that remain from your old company will never forget until the day when you can no longer remember anything at all. War is like that.
Veterans Day is coming up on the 11th and a guy I know wanted to know if I was going to do anything special....and after thinking about it.... I think I might go fishing if the weather is nice. I stay away from parades and ceremonies and other such things as a matter of principle , as I have for the last forty or so years. That's just my reaction....not something I suggest to others.
I don't get the military channel. But I'm sure it is a memory that you and those that remain from your old company will never forget until the day when you can no longer remember anything at all. War is like that.
Veterans Day is coming up on the 11th and a guy I know wanted to know if I was going to do anything special....and after thinking about it.... I think I might go fishing if the weather is nice. I stay away from parades and ceremonies and other such things as a matter of principle , as I have for the last forty or so years. That's just my reaction....not something I suggest to others.
Re: Tiger Mountain
We had a good Veteran's Day trip to Washington,DC. I got to see a lot of friends from Vietnam, including a couple that I hadn't seen for 43yrs. One of them was our company commander who had been caught in the ambush and severely wounded in the A Shau Valley. I hadn't seen him since we loaded him on the medevac helicopter in April 1968. We had about 140-150from our group there.
We got to see the documentary, "Fallen:But Not Forgotten," but a longer version than the one aired on The Military Channel. It has been edited to fit the time slot, and a lot of information that was important to the film was cut out. Most of the scenes of the initial assault into the valley, with actual footage of the helicopters being shot down, were cut. They were important, because they showed the ferocity of the fighting we had encountered. The NVA let the first flight (which I was on) of choppers through, then opened up on them when they tried to land to deliver the troops, trying to block the landing zones with the wreckage. We had to roll one shot down chopper over the edge of the LZ so the next could get in. Some of the guys were jumping out at 20ft or more to get out of the line of fire. The next flights had to fly through 51cal machine guns and flack from the anti-aircraft guns. They also cut the explanation of one of the reasons that they went back to search again in 2009. The area had recently been clear cut for the timber and then burned, so it was easier to find the scattered remnants of the helicopter. They still have not found the remains of the men left behind. The first comments we heard from some of the guys who hadn't been there was 'why weren't you able to find the bodies and the wreckage then since it was so clear?' Well, it was dense jungle back then in spite of the B-52 air strikes. The edited version just doesn't tell the whole story.
We got to see the documentary, "Fallen:But Not Forgotten," but a longer version than the one aired on The Military Channel. It has been edited to fit the time slot, and a lot of information that was important to the film was cut out. Most of the scenes of the initial assault into the valley, with actual footage of the helicopters being shot down, were cut. They were important, because they showed the ferocity of the fighting we had encountered. The NVA let the first flight (which I was on) of choppers through, then opened up on them when they tried to land to deliver the troops, trying to block the landing zones with the wreckage. We had to roll one shot down chopper over the edge of the LZ so the next could get in. Some of the guys were jumping out at 20ft or more to get out of the line of fire. The next flights had to fly through 51cal machine guns and flack from the anti-aircraft guns. They also cut the explanation of one of the reasons that they went back to search again in 2009. The area had recently been clear cut for the timber and then burned, so it was easier to find the scattered remnants of the helicopter. They still have not found the remains of the men left behind. The first comments we heard from some of the guys who hadn't been there was 'why weren't you able to find the bodies and the wreckage then since it was so clear?' Well, it was dense jungle back then in spite of the B-52 air strikes. The edited version just doesn't tell the whole story.
Re: Tiger Mountain
I found this page....think Bob had mentioned it before, or one like it.
http://candsfoundation.org/fallen_but_not_forgotten
http://candsfoundation.org/fallen_but_not_forgotten
Re: Tiger Mountain
That's a new link, Niner, but the same info. I don't know which version of the DVD it is. As far as I can tell, there are three. One is 70mins, one is just under an hour, and the one that the Military Channel showed was about 45mins.
Most people don't know that Australia had people in Vietnam. There were two Australian vets at the ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
Most people don't know that Australia had people in Vietnam. There were two Australian vets at the ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial Wall.