Скачать или смотреть Robert Fleming, U.S. Army, Vietnam 1965 - 1968

Robert Fleming, a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1968, recently shared his story with the Veterans Breakfast Club Veterans History Project. Fleming enlisted in the Army at the age of 17, after finishing high school and struggling to find work. He completed basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and advanced individual training as an infantryman at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, before attending jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Fleming volunteered for jump school because he wanted to become a sky jumper, and he was subsequently assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the first airborne unit in the Army. He served in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, before being sent to Vietnam in May 1967. Initially, he was scheduled to join the 101st Airborne Division, but due to a unit losing 76 individuals, Fleming was reassigned to the 173rd as a replacement.

Fleming was stationed in Dokto before moving to Tuy Hoa, where he helped protect the rice crop harvest alongside the 101st Airborne. Despite rumors that their next destination would be Dokto again, which wasn’t a happy prospect for anyone, his company was flown back. The situation began to get worse day by day as the battalion began to take casualties. On November 18th, 1967, his unit encountered a large North Vietnamese Army base camp while on a search and destroy mission. Fleming and his team moved through the camp and heard communications from fellow units on the radio, but when they were asked to put their company commander on the phone, a senior commander told them to put their six on, indicating that the battalion leadership was all dead.

Fleming spent much of his time in Vietnam feeling grateful to be alive, as the unit he was with lost a lot of people. After his tour ended, he returned to the United States and was honorably discharged. Despite the challenges he faced in Vietnam, Fleming looks back on his military service with pride and has remained an active member of veterans groups in his area.

Interviewed by Larry Woods.

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