WEBVTT - Sneaking into the Corps: Richard Pittman, The One-Eyed Marine 0:00:17.101 --> 0:00:17.581 Pushkin. 0:00:24.820 --> 0:00:28.301 A recruiter was scanning a crowd of young men. They 0:00:28.301 --> 0:00:31.221 were at boot camp for the Marine Corps Reserve. You know, 0:00:31.821 --> 0:00:33.981 just a bunch of guys with buzz cuts at the 0:00:34.021 --> 0:00:38.181 start of their training. It was nineteen sixty five and 0:00:38.260 --> 0:00:41.381 the war in Vietnam was starting to heat up. Nobody 0:00:41.461 --> 0:00:43.700 knew how long it would last, but they knew they 0:00:43.741 --> 0:00:47.540 needed troops on the ground. So the recruiter looked out 0:00:47.540 --> 0:00:50.661 at these guys and he asked if anyone wanted to. 0:00:50.581 --> 0:00:51.141 Go to war. 0:00:52.101 --> 0:00:54.261 I think it was the second or third week we 0:00:54.301 --> 0:00:55.941 were there. They called us. Set us, all setting in 0:00:55.941 --> 0:00:58.100 a room, sitting down on it, and they said, everyone who 0:00:58.141 --> 0:01:00.541 would want to be a regular marine, raise your hand. 0:01:01.501 --> 0:01:05.581 Richard Pittman had been waiting for this exact moment. He 0:01:05.621 --> 0:01:08.301 had been told, all you have to do is put 0:01:08.301 --> 0:01:11.301 your pinky in the air, and they'll take you out 0:01:11.301 --> 0:01:13.221 of the reserves and end too battle. 0:01:13.861 --> 0:01:16.780 You know, so I stuck my little pinky in air. 0:01:17.780 --> 0:01:20.581 Pittman was twenty tall and strong. 0:01:20.941 --> 0:01:23.181 His friends called him Rick, and he was one of 0:01:23.181 --> 0:01:26.060 those guys who played a million sports in high school. 0:01:26.700 --> 0:01:30.901 Thick head of hair, rosy cheeks. Rick was determined to 0:01:30.941 --> 0:01:32.021 serve on the front lines. 0:01:33.021 --> 0:01:36.901 Because of my scores, I've qualified for seven different fields, 0:01:37.621 --> 0:01:41.140 engineering or communications and some other things. But I said 0:01:41.140 --> 0:01:43.741 I wanted to be in the infantry. I remember one 0:01:43.780 --> 0:01:47.741 of my child instructors said, you're a strange individual. You 0:01:47.781 --> 0:01:49.661 know where you're going. I said, yes, I do know 0:01:49.661 --> 0:01:52.061 where I'm going, and infantry is what I want to do. 0:01:52.901 --> 0:01:53.861 And so that's what I did. 0:01:55.101 --> 0:01:58.621 Rick Pittman was heading to Vietnam, but he shouldn't have 0:01:58.701 --> 0:02:00.701 even been allowed to raise his hand. 0:02:01.781 --> 0:02:09.180 He shouldn't have gone to war at all. I'm Jr. 0:02:09.261 --> 0:02:13.901 Martinez and this is the Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. 0:02:13.941 --> 0:02:14.981 The Medal of Honor. 0:02:14.821 --> 0:02:18.300 Is the highest military decoration in the United States. It's 0:02:18.341 --> 0:02:21.781 awarded for gallantree and bravery and combat at the risk 0:02:21.861 --> 0:02:25.541 of life, above and beyond the call of duty. Each 0:02:25.621 --> 0:02:28.101 candidate must be approved all the way up the chain 0:02:28.101 --> 0:02:30.781 of command, from the supervisory officer. 0:02:30.421 --> 0:02:32.061 In the field to the White House. 0:02:33.021 --> 0:02:36.341 This show is about those heroes, what they did, what 0:02:36.421 --> 0:02:38.941 it meant, and what their stories tell us about the 0:02:39.021 --> 0:02:44.141 nature of courage and sacrifice. Rick Pittman didn't just go 0:02:44.181 --> 0:02:48.781 to Vietnam. He did something so brave it sounds more 0:02:48.941 --> 0:02:52.381 like a movie like Rambo, but this. 0:02:52.381 --> 0:02:53.861 Is real life. 0:02:53.981 --> 0:02:57.181 But like I said earlier, he shouldn't have even been there. 0:02:58.061 --> 0:03:03.221 According to military rules. He should have been disqualified because 0:03:03.301 --> 0:03:07.661 Rick Pittman was blind in one eye. But this isn't 0:03:07.661 --> 0:03:10.541 a story about his eye. It's about a man who 0:03:10.581 --> 0:03:13.541 felt it was his duty, not just as a Marine, 0:03:14.221 --> 0:03:19.501 but as a person to act and nothing, I mean 0:03:19.701 --> 0:03:33.941 nothing was going to hold him back. When Rick Pittman 0:03:33.981 --> 0:03:36.901 got to Vietnam in the summer of nineteen sixty six, 0:03:37.221 --> 0:03:39.661 the war was picking up. He was part of the 0:03:39.701 --> 0:03:43.021 fifth Marines that trained in California, and when they shipped out, 0:03:43.341 --> 0:03:44.981 reporters were there to watch them go. 0:03:46.061 --> 0:03:49.781 Sixty six was a year of new beginnings. This March 0:03:49.821 --> 0:03:52.861 in the Sun had its beginning ten thousand miles away 0:03:53.261 --> 0:03:57.061 at Camp Pendleton, California, where the fifth Marine Division came 0:03:57.141 --> 0:03:59.501 back into being for the first time since. 0:03:59.261 --> 0:04:00.021 World War Two. 0:04:01.021 --> 0:04:03.861 After a few weeks of intensive training, it would soon 0:04:03.941 --> 0:04:06.821 be on its way to Vietnam to support our total 0:04:06.861 --> 0:04:07.701 military effort. 0:04:08.781 --> 0:04:12.661 Everyone was still so optimistic about this wore Rick loved 0:04:12.661 --> 0:04:16.181 the training. He was just happy to be in the service. 0:04:17.021 --> 0:04:19.981 Here he is talking about it years later, I. 0:04:19.940 --> 0:04:23.301 Mean through survival school and jungle training in the Philippines 0:04:23.341 --> 0:04:25.260 and in Okinawa and all that, it was fun. 0:04:26.421 --> 0:04:29.061 Oh and by the way, that creaky noise you hear, 0:04:29.621 --> 0:04:34.941 that's his leather jacket covered in military patches even decades later. 0:04:35.341 --> 0:04:41.581 This man is a badass. So training was fun, as 0:04:41.581 --> 0:04:44.621 he says. But when the Marines of Company I came 0:04:44.661 --> 0:04:47.941 ashore in Vietnam, Rick felt things shift. 0:04:48.461 --> 0:04:51.541 Just something hit you. This wasn't fun anymore. I mean, 0:04:51.581 --> 0:04:53.541 you were about to go up against an enemy, but 0:04:54.541 --> 0:04:58.021 you couldn't quite comprehend the seriousness of it. But when 0:04:58.021 --> 0:05:02.421 you hit that beach and it ramp drops, it's all business. 0:05:02.741 --> 0:05:06.061 That was the moment that I knew all the fun 0:05:06.061 --> 0:05:08.221 and games, so to speak, was over. 0:05:09.221 --> 0:05:12.981 The man had landed close to the DMZ, the demilitarized 0:05:13.061 --> 0:05:17.981 zone that separated North Vietnam from South Vietnam. The North 0:05:18.061 --> 0:05:22.981 Vietnamese Army or NVA were pushing south, trying to grab 0:05:23.061 --> 0:05:26.141 more territory. The Marines were going to be part of 0:05:26.141 --> 0:05:29.061 something called Operation Hastings. 0:05:29.621 --> 0:05:33.781 Back in May, it became evident that the North Vietnamese 0:05:33.821 --> 0:05:37.181 were building up in this area to the south, to 0:05:37.221 --> 0:05:37.941 the DMZ. 0:05:38.821 --> 0:05:42.301 That's a Major General Lowell, English, who was leading the fight. 0:05:42.901 --> 0:05:45.221 We had reason to believe that there was a division 0:05:45.301 --> 0:05:48.781 command post in this area, and our purpose was to 0:05:48.821 --> 0:05:50.741 find it and to destroy it. 0:05:52.061 --> 0:05:55.541 But the mission to locate the NVA command post wasn't easy. 0:05:56.381 --> 0:05:59.661 On July twenty second, just a few days after they landed, 0:06:00.021 --> 0:06:02.541 Company I faced the enemy in the creek bed. 0:06:03.261 --> 0:06:04.421 Eight marines died. 0:06:05.461 --> 0:06:09.141 We weren't prepared for the consequences of war. It shocked 0:06:09.181 --> 0:06:13.421 me the firsties that we took, and it was like 0:06:13.621 --> 0:06:17.301 the hammer dropping, you know, and people were dying. That 0:06:17.501 --> 0:06:19.221 changes your life from that time forward. 0:06:20.221 --> 0:06:23.021 But Rick still wanted to be there. He felt he 0:06:23.061 --> 0:06:28.181 had no choice morally. That's because of two things. The 0:06:28.221 --> 0:06:32.181 first was John F. Kennedy's inaugural address in nineteen sixty one. 0:06:32.861 --> 0:06:34.021 I'm sure you've heard of it. 0:06:34.661 --> 0:06:39.741 The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to 0:06:39.821 --> 0:06:44.181 this endeavor, we'll light our country and all who serve it, 0:06:45.301 --> 0:06:49.541 and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. 0:06:50.701 --> 0:06:56.501 And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country 0:06:56.541 --> 0:06:59.661 can do for you, Ask what you can do for 0:06:59.741 --> 0:07:01.021 your country. 0:07:01.861 --> 0:07:03.581 And I heard him say that, ask not what your 0:07:03.621 --> 0:07:05.341 country can do for you, But what you can do 0:07:05.381 --> 0:07:08.581 for your country. That was motivating to me because it 0:07:08.661 --> 0:07:11.741 made sense. That's why I try to join the service, 0:07:11.781 --> 0:07:15.141 because I was doing something for my country. 0:07:16.381 --> 0:07:19.381 Rick had grown up in a housing project in Stockton, California. 0:07:19.941 --> 0:07:22.901 He was the oldest of four kids. His dad left 0:07:22.901 --> 0:07:25.701 the family when Rick was little, and his mom worked 0:07:25.781 --> 0:07:30.461 multiple jobs, barely scraping by. There wasn't any money for 0:07:30.581 --> 0:07:33.821 Rick to go to college. Regardless, he wanted to serve, 0:07:34.421 --> 0:07:37.741 so when he graduated high school in nineteen sixty three, 0:07:37.981 --> 0:07:42.501 he decided, I'll become a Green Beret and he went 0:07:42.581 --> 0:07:44.421 straight to the Army recruiting center. 0:07:45.261 --> 0:07:47.741 Army was the first physical I had taken, and they said, 0:07:47.821 --> 0:07:48.421 you're out of here. 0:07:48.461 --> 0:07:50.821 You can't to see how you're right. I was kind 0:07:50.821 --> 0:07:51.341 of shocked. 0:07:52.101 --> 0:07:52.901 This kills me. 0:07:53.501 --> 0:07:57.861 I mean, Rick was totally blindsided, no pun intended by 0:07:57.901 --> 0:07:59.861 the news that he couldn't see out of his right eye. 0:08:00.581 --> 0:08:03.781 Why because it never stopped him from doing anything. 0:08:04.541 --> 0:08:06.461 I don't know if I ever knew that I was blind, 0:08:06.461 --> 0:08:10.741 because I did everything I wanted to do. I played baseball, basketball, football, everything, 0:08:11.421 --> 0:08:13.821 and my mother never said, you know, don't do this 0:08:14.061 --> 0:08:16.061 because you're blinding on so I was shocked. 0:08:17.501 --> 0:08:20.501 Okay, so the green Berets were out. So he went 0:08:20.541 --> 0:08:24.381 to the Navy, same deal, then the Air Force, then 0:08:24.421 --> 0:08:29.101 the Marines. Nobody would take him. So now I'm going 0:08:29.181 --> 0:08:31.781 to tell you the second reason Rick was so desperate 0:08:31.781 --> 0:08:35.381 to join the military. He had a brother, Robert, who 0:08:35.420 --> 0:08:39.141 was two years younger than him. They were tight and 0:08:39.581 --> 0:08:43.821 they were super competitive, you know, typical brothers. And in 0:08:43.901 --> 0:08:47.940 nineteen sixty five, when Robert graduated, he joined the Marines. 0:08:48.741 --> 0:08:50.860 I said, well, that's it. Because the way I was raised, 0:08:50.940 --> 0:08:53.741 it was my responsibility. I was the older brother. I 0:08:53.780 --> 0:08:56.261 should have been in the service in sixty three, two 0:08:56.341 --> 0:08:58.540 years before him, or a year before him. 0:08:58.540 --> 0:09:02.221 Anyway, Rick wasn't about to let his little brother beat 0:09:02.261 --> 0:09:04.581 him to the punch. So we went back to the 0:09:04.621 --> 0:09:08.220 Marines again and again, and. 0:09:08.261 --> 0:09:10.901 I went to the Marine Corps recruiter so many times. 0:09:10.981 --> 0:09:12.620 The guy just you know, I think he tried to 0:09:12.621 --> 0:09:14.981 get rid of me. He just told me in nineteen 0:09:14.981 --> 0:09:18.021 sixty five, he said, let's try the reserve. Sometimes the 0:09:18.101 --> 0:09:22.100 reserves will lower the qualifications during the time of the 0:09:22.101 --> 0:09:25.621 war and you can get in maybe serving a reserve capacity. 0:09:26.180 --> 0:09:30.381 So I said, okay, the recruiter I had also told me. 0:09:30.381 --> 0:09:32.220 He says, well, you know, when you get the boot camp, 0:09:32.420 --> 0:09:35.381 they ask all the reserves who wants to be a 0:09:35.621 --> 0:09:39.741 regular marine, And he says, if you're really set on 0:09:39.901 --> 0:09:42.381 being a regular, you raise your little pinky and you're 0:09:42.420 --> 0:09:43.021 down the road. 0:09:43.940 --> 0:09:47.141 Now Rick had a plan, and then he upped his 0:09:47.221 --> 0:09:49.180 odds just a little bit more. 0:09:49.901 --> 0:09:52.300 He told this story once to a live audience. 0:09:52.981 --> 0:09:55.740 The final test in those days, before you went into 0:09:55.780 --> 0:09:59.021 the enlistment room was to take an eye test. So 0:09:59.221 --> 0:10:01.981 the examiner told me to cover my right eye and 0:10:02.101 --> 0:10:04.580 read the chart, and they gave you a little paper 0:10:04.621 --> 0:10:07.221 towel you had to cover your eye with. So I 0:10:07.341 --> 0:10:10.341 covered my right eye read the chart, and he said, okay, 0:10:10.420 --> 0:10:12.501 very good, I'll cover the other eye and. 0:10:12.381 --> 0:10:13.221 Read the chart. 0:10:13.460 --> 0:10:16.701 And so I changed hands with the napkin and covered 0:10:16.700 --> 0:10:19.901 my right eye with my left hand. 0:10:19.221 --> 0:10:25.501 And clever Rick made it into the reserves. And then 0:10:25.540 --> 0:10:28.221 he raised his little pinky and got into the core. 0:10:29.141 --> 0:10:30.901 Oh and one of the first things he did when 0:10:30.901 --> 0:10:33.901 he got to Vietnam he figured out where Robert was. 0:10:34.741 --> 0:10:37.541 Turns out he was stationed close by, so Rick went 0:10:37.660 --> 0:10:39.420 and paid him a brotherly visit. 0:10:40.060 --> 0:10:41.501 When I went back to my Company. 0:10:42.021 --> 0:10:44.381 I asked my first ardant about I had heard about 0:10:44.381 --> 0:10:46.580 an old law that two brothers couldn't be in the 0:10:46.621 --> 0:10:50.060 same combat area at the same time, and he checked 0:10:50.060 --> 0:10:51.941 it out and he got me the information. He wanted 0:10:51.940 --> 0:10:53.261 to know why, and I said, go to my brother's 0:10:53.341 --> 0:10:57.141 back at July and the first Arten basically said not anymore. 0:10:58.420 --> 0:11:02.221 Rick got his brother sent back to the States. He 0:11:02.300 --> 0:11:05.581 wanted to serve and he wanted to do it first. 0:11:07.221 --> 0:11:11.060 JFK had asked what Rick could do for his country. Wow, 0:11:11.180 --> 0:11:15.660 he was finally doing something. And on July twenty fourth, 0:11:15.940 --> 0:11:20.141 Rick was a part of Operation Hastings, going into the wilderness, 0:11:20.621 --> 0:11:24.341 finding the enemy and learning what it really meant to 0:11:24.420 --> 0:11:46.381 take action. On July twenty fourth, nineteen sixty six, Rick 0:11:46.420 --> 0:11:48.941 Pittman and the rest of Company I woke up in 0:11:48.981 --> 0:11:52.381 the Jungles of Vietnam with a new set of orders. 0:11:52.741 --> 0:11:54.341 We were told were moving up to set up a 0:11:54.420 --> 0:11:57.420 radio relay point for the whole operation because the area 0:11:57.460 --> 0:12:00.741 that wream was mountainous area with several valleys in between, 0:12:00.780 --> 0:12:04.621 and they need a unit to become a radio relay point. 0:12:05.621 --> 0:12:08.501 In other words, they would be setting up communications deep 0:12:08.540 --> 0:12:11.861 and territory that the NVA had been whole for weeks. 0:12:12.901 --> 0:12:16.221 It was summer and it was hot as they set 0:12:16.261 --> 0:12:19.301 out that morning. Their first challenge was climbing a steep 0:12:19.381 --> 0:12:22.621 hill that led into the wilderness. It was tough going, 0:12:23.141 --> 0:12:27.261 guys scrambling up single file, sometimes on their hands and knees. 0:12:27.981 --> 0:12:30.940 We were supposed to move up this hill to establish 0:12:30.981 --> 0:12:35.660 the radio relay point, and we were just moving up 0:12:35.700 --> 0:12:39.261 a trail. I was the last one in the column. 0:12:39.341 --> 0:12:41.581 I was what they called tailoring Charlie from my squad, 0:12:41.741 --> 0:12:44.141 and I was the last one in the company. 0:12:45.700 --> 0:12:47.341 Rick's job was to guard the rear. 0:12:48.021 --> 0:12:51.861 Yet a sense that NVA soldiers were all around watching 0:12:51.940 --> 0:12:55.220 them make their way into the jungle. Then his squad 0:12:55.300 --> 0:12:57.101 came face to face with three of them. 0:12:57.901 --> 0:13:01.220 We killed one and wounded one and captured one, and 0:13:01.341 --> 0:13:04.061 we reported that, and we just were told to keep 0:13:04.221 --> 0:13:06.741 moving to the front, so we took them with us. 0:13:07.420 --> 0:13:09.060 At the top of the hill was a clearing. 0:13:09.660 --> 0:13:11.980 Below it, on the far side was a jungle trail 0:13:12.261 --> 0:13:16.821 weaving through tall bushes. One by one, the line of 0:13:16.901 --> 0:13:23.821 marines jumped down to follow that path deeper into enemy territory. Suddenly, 0:13:23.861 --> 0:13:27.341 the sound of gunfire echoed through the trees. The front 0:13:27.341 --> 0:13:30.621 of the line had hit an ambush. Dozens of enemy 0:13:30.660 --> 0:13:32.741 soldiers had been hiding and waiting. 0:13:33.420 --> 0:13:35.660 The Marines raced forward to help their brothers. 0:13:36.460 --> 0:13:39.901 Everybody took off to the front, and so I, you know, 0:13:40.261 --> 0:13:43.060 only smoked and took off after him. They were kind 0:13:43.101 --> 0:13:45.741 of jumping off the trail that we were on to 0:13:45.780 --> 0:13:46.581 a lower level. 0:13:47.540 --> 0:13:49.981 Rick got to the jump off point ready to follow. 0:13:50.501 --> 0:13:51.981 Then someone caught his eye. 0:13:52.501 --> 0:13:54.621 There was a guy sitting there with the machine gun 0:13:54.940 --> 0:13:58.420 and some ammunition, and I could hear, you know, marines 0:13:58.460 --> 0:14:01.181 calling for more firepower and help. 0:14:02.381 --> 0:14:05.420 That marine with the machine gun wasn't moving, even though 0:14:05.460 --> 0:14:07.180 the guys down the trail needed help. 0:14:07.940 --> 0:14:08.981 Rick couldn't believe it. 0:14:09.580 --> 0:14:10.861 I guess. I asked him if he was going to 0:14:10.981 --> 0:14:12.861 use it or whatever. He didn't give me an answer, 0:14:13.300 --> 0:14:15.780 So I just took the machine gun from him and 0:14:15.820 --> 0:14:18.861 some ammunition, and then me and a corman started off 0:14:18.940 --> 0:14:21.021 after the rest of their company. 0:14:21.101 --> 0:14:24.461 The two men raced toward the gunfire. A corman is 0:14:24.460 --> 0:14:26.821 a medic, so the guy has called him Doc. 0:14:27.541 --> 0:14:31.901 I told Doc not to move unless I moved first. 0:14:32.580 --> 0:14:35.061 I'm going to go. I'm going to fire, then you 0:14:35.181 --> 0:14:39.981 come up. I don't know exactly what happened. The next 0:14:39.981 --> 0:14:43.101 thing I knew, Doc is over me. He jumped over me, 0:14:43.141 --> 0:14:45.901 and he's going down the trail and he he gets 0:14:45.941 --> 0:14:52.061 hit and he was killed. I took those positions under 0:14:52.061 --> 0:14:55.101 fire that killed him and was able to destroy them, 0:14:55.501 --> 0:14:58.501 and then continued farther on towards the front of the company. 0:14:59.141 --> 0:15:01.901 And when I got up to where the I guess 0:15:01.941 --> 0:15:05.501 the main elements werever just casualties everywhere, wounded and killed, 0:15:06.741 --> 0:15:10.301 and I was firing wherever the fire was coming from. 0:15:11.781 --> 0:15:16.421 I just continued to go forward and marines everywhere. They're 0:15:16.421 --> 0:15:18.740 in a prone position, but some of them firing with 0:15:18.781 --> 0:15:21.621 one arm, some of them laying on their sides even 0:15:21.661 --> 0:15:26.261 though they're wounded, and some seriously they're still continuing to fire. 0:15:27.341 --> 0:15:29.461 Rick couldn't stop to help any of them. 0:15:30.141 --> 0:15:32.461 He had to keep pushing to the front where the 0:15:32.580 --> 0:15:34.341 NVA soldiers were concentrated. 0:15:35.181 --> 0:15:39.701 Actually, remember somebody screaming, we need more firepower, and it 0:15:39.741 --> 0:15:42.181 turns out I had the last functioning machine gun. 0:15:42.901 --> 0:15:46.541 He kept shooting and moving forward. Gunfire was coming at 0:15:46.621 --> 0:15:47.741 him from three sides. 0:15:48.460 --> 0:15:50.421 When I got to the where I thought was the 0:15:50.460 --> 0:15:53.781 front of the unit, my gun ran on ammunition. I 0:15:53.941 --> 0:15:56.740 just opened the gun, refed a new belt in it, 0:15:57.261 --> 0:16:01.141 closed it. In my mind at that time, it was 0:16:01.181 --> 0:16:05.061 like the war had just stopped. I don't recall any 0:16:05.101 --> 0:16:08.301 conscious thing. I don't recall any noises, I don't recall 0:16:08.341 --> 0:16:11.301 anything at that time. When I was changing the belt 0:16:11.341 --> 0:16:14.261 in the gun and then I loaded it, I looked 0:16:14.301 --> 0:16:16.701 up and there were North Vietnamese coming right at me. 0:16:16.821 --> 0:16:19.581 I mean, I don't even know how many, thirty to 0:16:19.661 --> 0:16:22.901 forty whatever, I know there was a lot. And it 0:16:22.941 --> 0:16:27.141 was like the best way I can explain this, it 0:16:27.181 --> 0:16:30.821 was like we surprised each other. Turns out the lull 0:16:30.941 --> 0:16:33.381 and the fighting was is that. I guess they had 0:16:33.501 --> 0:16:36.781 thought they had either killed or wounded everyone, and they 0:16:36.781 --> 0:16:38.741 were just waiting to see if there was any more 0:16:38.861 --> 0:16:42.941 fire coming, if anybody was moving, or you know, I 0:16:42.941 --> 0:16:46.021 don't know what, but they sent maybe a platoon up 0:16:46.181 --> 0:16:48.101 to find out what the hell's going on, you know, 0:16:48.221 --> 0:16:52.501 and then it just boom, I'm there and they're there, 0:16:53.301 --> 0:16:55.781 and so you know, it just started shooting. 0:16:56.421 --> 0:16:58.980 It was like the sounds of war instantly went from 0:16:59.061 --> 0:17:03.141 mute to deafening. Shouts and bullets ripped the air. As 0:17:03.221 --> 0:17:05.021 Rick tried to hold off the enemy. 0:17:06.061 --> 0:17:08.941 My machine gun took a couple of rounds and quit fire, 0:17:08.981 --> 0:17:11.821 and I thought that was it. I checked it, and 0:17:11.861 --> 0:17:13.661 I looked up and there was the Vietnamese and I 0:17:13.701 --> 0:17:17.061 didn't have a gun, and right almost at my feet 0:17:17.181 --> 0:17:20.181 was an AK forty seven. So I just assumed that 0:17:20.221 --> 0:17:22.941 it was ready to fire, and luckily for me, it was. 0:17:23.021 --> 0:17:26.021 And so I kept firing with the AK forty seven 0:17:26.101 --> 0:17:29.301 until it ran out of ammo. And then I had 0:17:29.301 --> 0:17:31.941 a forty five from somewhere, and I kept shooting the 0:17:31.981 --> 0:17:35.421 forty five and then I was out of ammo. 0:17:36.461 --> 0:17:39.261 Just in case you weren't following along, he shot a 0:17:39.301 --> 0:17:43.261 thirty pound machine gun, then an AK forty seven, then 0:17:43.301 --> 0:17:46.661 a pistol, all while standing in the jungle at the 0:17:46.701 --> 0:17:52.101 front of the line alone, until Rick ran out of ammunition. 0:17:53.301 --> 0:17:55.221 It was an old, damn, what I'm going to do 0:17:55.301 --> 0:17:56.461 now kind of thoughts, you know. 0:17:57.181 --> 0:18:00.101 But he wasn't about to stop, not Rick. 0:18:00.821 --> 0:18:06.340 I had a grenade, and after the explosion, they just left. 0:18:06.701 --> 0:18:09.701 I don't know whether they pulled back I killed them 0:18:09.701 --> 0:18:13.221 all or I don't know, you know, they just slept. 0:18:14.421 --> 0:18:17.781 The jungle got a little quieter, and in that silence, 0:18:18.221 --> 0:18:19.381 Rick looked around him. 0:18:20.221 --> 0:18:22.021 Seemed like there were casualties everywhere. 0:18:23.981 --> 0:18:27.421 It was a miracle he was still alive. During the firefight, 0:18:27.781 --> 0:18:31.340 his helmet was shot off. The survivors started the grim 0:18:31.381 --> 0:18:34.541 work of dragging the wounded up the trail they needed 0:18:34.541 --> 0:18:36.580 to get them to the top of the hill. It 0:18:36.661 --> 0:18:38.781 was the only place with enough of a clearing for 0:18:38.821 --> 0:18:42.941 a helicopter to land, their only chance to metavac out. 0:18:43.221 --> 0:18:45.301 I tried to help wound you guys and get some 0:18:45.341 --> 0:18:48.741 guys out. Our radio man was wounded severely, but he 0:18:49.301 --> 0:18:51.541 begged me not to move him, so I just pulled 0:18:51.621 --> 0:18:53.340 him off the side of the trail and covered him 0:18:53.421 --> 0:18:54.100 up with brush. 0:18:55.741 --> 0:18:58.661 When the helicopters came, they took fire from the NBA. 0:18:59.461 --> 0:19:02.381 The choppers couldn't land, so the men dug trenches and 0:19:02.541 --> 0:19:06.381 settled in for the night. It was pouring rain, and 0:19:06.421 --> 0:19:09.341 then suddenly a mortarshell hit the crest of the hill, 0:19:09.901 --> 0:19:15.461 dropping among them wounded. Some got injured, even more others died. 0:19:17.141 --> 0:19:20.461 Dawn came and the choppers tried again. They were able 0:19:20.501 --> 0:19:23.661 to lower cormen to help the wounded. They also dropped 0:19:23.741 --> 0:19:27.301 chainsaws so the survivors could clear space for them. To land, 0:19:28.101 --> 0:19:31.461 and amazingly there was a camera crew recording the rescue. 0:19:33.061 --> 0:19:34.701 Anyway, helicopters it again. 0:19:35.421 --> 0:19:37.421 This time we're on our white side. 0:19:38.781 --> 0:19:39.821 A lot of hell's up here. 0:19:41.301 --> 0:19:42.501 Drop off rout. 0:19:46.541 --> 0:19:49.501 The next day was probably the hardest day because we 0:19:49.621 --> 0:19:53.061 actually were treating our wounded and recovering our dead marines, 0:19:53.101 --> 0:19:56.861 and to see the body bags was. 0:19:58.981 --> 0:19:59.741 The hardest thing. 0:20:01.621 --> 0:20:05.340 And then the survivors settled in for another night they 0:20:05.381 --> 0:20:06.461 would hike back out. 0:20:06.501 --> 0:20:07.901 On July twenty sixth. 0:20:08.661 --> 0:20:14.501 When we walked out, there wasn't There wasn't many of us. 0:20:15.741 --> 0:20:18.261 Two hundred and thirty Marines had gone up that hill 0:20:18.381 --> 0:20:24.421 two days earlier, only seventy six return. Rick had acted 0:20:24.461 --> 0:20:29.781 with undeniable bravery, but he would never stop wondering if 0:20:29.781 --> 0:20:51.141 he had done enough. Rick finished out his tour in Vietnam. 0:20:51.941 --> 0:20:54.580 He wanted to stay in the Marines, make a career 0:20:54.621 --> 0:20:57.781 out of it, but there was his bad right eye 0:20:58.221 --> 0:20:59.701 getting in the way again. 0:21:00.701 --> 0:21:03.061 I got an eye infection from a parasite that I 0:21:03.061 --> 0:21:07.301 had brought home from Vietnam, and when the ophtalmologist saw 0:21:07.341 --> 0:21:10.261 my bright eye, he went what we called the Marine 0:21:10.301 --> 0:21:14.341 Corps high and right. Man. I want to know what 0:21:14.421 --> 0:21:16.141 I was doing how long I had been in the 0:21:16.141 --> 0:21:18.461 Marine Corps, where I had been, how long did I 0:21:18.501 --> 0:21:21.781 have left on my enlistment, and that I should have 0:21:21.861 --> 0:21:24.741 never been in the Marine Corps. Well, that was on 0:21:25.061 --> 0:21:26.501 deaf fears, because I knew that. 0:21:27.541 --> 0:21:30.981 I mean, obviously, Rick knew he was blind in one eye. 0:21:31.461 --> 0:21:34.501 It was even in his official paperwork. By then, he'd 0:21:34.541 --> 0:21:39.061 been promoted, done all the right things. But in the military, 0:21:39.381 --> 0:21:42.701 a rule is a rule, even for a guy who 0:21:42.821 --> 0:21:45.541 stood in the middle of a jungle trail and fought 0:21:45.581 --> 0:21:47.381 to the last bullet. 0:21:47.621 --> 0:21:49.501 They medically discharged me for. 0:21:51.341 --> 0:21:56.381 Being disqualified didn't meet the eye requirement, And so I 0:21:56.461 --> 0:22:00.661 was a tad perturbed by that, and I had some 0:22:00.781 --> 0:22:02.621 choice words with the review board. 0:22:03.901 --> 0:22:08.301 Nothing he said made any difference. By then, Rick was 0:22:08.341 --> 0:22:11.860 married to a young woman named Jerry Burke. He had 0:22:11.941 --> 0:22:13.941 met her years before, back when she was still in 0:22:13.981 --> 0:22:17.701 Pigtails hanging out with his sister. They moved his Stockton 0:22:17.901 --> 0:22:20.341 and Rick looked for a new job, but he wasn't 0:22:20.381 --> 0:22:25.621 having any luck. Then one day he noticed his car 0:22:25.741 --> 0:22:26.580 was being tailed. 0:22:27.301 --> 0:22:29.541 One afternoon, I was on my way back home and 0:22:29.141 --> 0:22:33.821 I noticed this Marine Corps sedan behind me, And when 0:22:33.861 --> 0:22:36.181 I would turn, it would turn. You know. As I 0:22:36.261 --> 0:22:39.181 was going back to my apartment, I thought, holy socks, 0:22:39.741 --> 0:22:42.061 and this is sixty eight. You know, a lot of 0:22:42.061 --> 0:22:45.101 guys going to Canada. I thought, oh my god, these 0:22:45.101 --> 0:22:46.261 people think I'm a deserter. 0:22:47.221 --> 0:22:47.461 You know. 0:22:48.341 --> 0:22:49.781 I went all the way home and I went in 0:22:49.781 --> 0:22:53.461 my apartment, and that probably wasn't this fast, but I remember, 0:22:53.501 --> 0:22:55.181 I think my hand was still on the doorknob and 0:22:55.221 --> 0:22:56.221 there was a knock on the door. 0:22:57.221 --> 0:23:00.621 It was three men in uniform. Rick was a polite guy, 0:23:01.061 --> 0:23:02.261 so he invited them in. 0:23:02.981 --> 0:23:06.381 I said, well, what is this about? And they said, 0:23:06.381 --> 0:23:08.181 we're going to tell you something that you can tell 0:23:08.301 --> 0:23:11.941 no one else except your wife obviously. And then they 0:23:11.941 --> 0:23:14.221