can you imagine a diaz here with thousands of women chanting votes for women and alva made it part of her custom to hand out pieces of china that had written on it votes for women. and we actually sell teacups and dinner plates with "votes for women" on them. it is one of our more popular items but she believed in this cause and attracted many, many thousands of people to his lawn overlooking the atlantic. the chinese teahouse was built as a folly by alva for fun for entertaining purposes. she actually hired two architects who went on a tour of china for a year. they came back with this design so we will see that in a minute. so alva vanderbilt, built the

chinese tea house really as a folly in 1914. she hired two architects and commissioned them to travel to china for more than a year and they came back with this design, which was later built. it was an expression of fun she used to host parties centered around the tea house and certainly it was a great focal point standing on the terrace looking out to the sea overlooking this tremendous silhouette the wonderful red color. i think a great, great addition to the entire property of the marble house.

>> we can always go back and read all of the reports bit doesn't really tell us what a war time experience is like for an individual, whether they served in combat or in -- in a supportive capacity. you can't begin to understand, we as a society can't begin to understand our history until we understand and listen to the people who lived through and helped shape that. 40 years after the first

full-skate engagement between u.s. troops and the people's army of vietnam, the vietnam archive at texas tech university and lubbock, texas, interviewed veterans from the battles of the valley. it was after these battles waged in november 1965 that north vietnamese forces began engaging in guerrilla warfare. the americans outnumbered view veiled but it was at a heavy cost. belichick was a machine gunner whose actions at a clearing called landing zone x-ray showed him earned him a silver star. he recalls a routine mission on a beautiful sunday afternoon that turned into a life and death struggle. >> i'm doing an interview with mr. bill beck. we are in washington, d.c. crystal city hilton, november 12, 2005. about 1:15 p.m. and we are here commemorating the reunion, 40th

anniversary reunion of the battle of the ia drang valley. tell me about those days in november before you all get in, tell me about this. the guys around you that -- you are buddies, before you all arrived. >> all right. well, we -- we all trained at ft. benning, georgia. advanced infantry division is what i was doing down there. we went overseas. we were -- best buddies back in the states. we were close knit. we were in the country about two months before the battle of la drang valley. we were close. and we were good friends. our sergeants were good friends, good buddies, our officers, we

respected. lieutenants and captains. we all knew each other. so we were pretty much a close-knit family. >> was that unusual, do you think, for a battalion to be that close? >> i-didn't know at the time but in hindsight when you look back on things, i think we were a lot closer than other veterans i talked to. >> tell me about tony. >> my company commander. he was -- he was a fair and honest man. he treated his men like they wanted to be treated. treated us fairly. we liked him very much. and we respected him. we knew he had a prior tour in vietnam. so us being green, we -- had a good tendency to list dwroen what he had to say. we knew he had been there before. and -- we looked up to him. >> what about the lou tenants in

the company? >> lieutenant apartments were all good guys. my platoon leader was lieutenant taft. he was a young lieutenant. he was a very good officer. treated us great. we respected him very much. he was killed right in front of me eight, ten yards in front of me. it was a real shame because he was a bright young lieutenant. probably out of west point. i didn't know then. >> well, i do want to get your impressions of two individuals who a lot of people know. hal moore and sergeant major plummer. tell me about hal moore. >> well, back then i only knew him as an officer, battalion commander. and as you went up in the scale,

lieutenants, major captains, majors, colonels, the more fear you had for him, more -- brass they had on him. the more you feared him. more you respected him. >> was eight pier and respect? >> well, yeah. you didn't want to do anything wrong because you had to go before him and you knew you were going to get reamed out, you know, if you did something wrong. so you wanted to keep that down on the sergeant level, you know, where he might give you a kick in the ass. when you went up anything higher, offense against you, you know, for minor things. might give you article xv or put you on kp duty for 15 days or something like that. you didn't want to go see those guys. they were very strict, very formal. and down on our level, we could clown with each other. and have a good time to get away with a lot of stuff. colonel moore, we had a lot of respect for him. and we did -- we didn't see him real often as -- he wasn't out

in the field with us that often on a small level. search and destroy missions we would go on every day. when he was there on the x-ray he was with us. the whole battle, entire battle. >> what did that mean to you to have him there in the middle of it and refuse evacuation and stay? >> well, had he not been there on site, i think it would have been a different story. because i was lost. i lost my lieutenant was killed in front of me. some of my sergeants were shot and wounded and killed. so russell adams the other guy on the machine gun and i, we ended up by ourselves and we needed the direction and we needed somebody to tell us what to do, where to go. we were without that for an hour or two. >> what about sergeant major? >> sergeant major really feared sergeant major because he had the most strikes his arm. and he was -- we were all young back then. of course, he being older than us, we knew that he was a world

war ii veteran, combat veteran. korea combat veteran. vietnam. so we really feared him. i mean, as -- he was the greatest guy in the world. there again, you didn't want to do anything wrong than face him. you were going to get really shud out big time. we had a lot of respect for all our officers and nsos. >> well, on sunday morning, november 14, you all -- air assault gun into x-ray. did you have any idea on your level what you were getting into or what your -- i know you knew what your assignments would be once you hit the ground. what did you know intelligencewise our level as a machine gunner? >> we knew absolutely nothing about -- what we were stepping into. we were just out on another mission, another search and destroy mission that day. we left one part of -- helicopters dropped off in

another part jungle. we did that every day. we were looking for the enemy. that day was no different than the rest. but as it turned out, we stepped into a hornet's nest. >> right. when you all get down with taft, tell me what happened when you went to your positions and how soon things started up for you. >> we landed in -- got off the helicopters ask -- my gang had -- lee-machine machine gun crew. russell adams was the gunner that day. obviously assistant gunner. then we had an ammo to carry extra ammunition. the gunner, assistant gunner did. 25 pounds. ammo, carrying extra 100 pounds with your backpacks and hand grenades and canteens. to relieve each other, trade off. it was his day to have the gun.

we landed, got off the helicopters and we actual will you where we were standing, facing away from the mountain, and had no idea that there was a dry creek bed there in the jungle. and -- we were standing there. looking around and beautiful sunday afternoon. and figured it was just another walk through the jungle to find nothing. you know. do this again and again. and lieutenant taft walked by us and got orders, obviously, from his radio man. and he walked right by us and said okay, boy, let's go. follow me. and we turned around and followed him into the creekbed. thick jungle there. landing almost fairly plat. we walked off that flat area and into the thick jungle. and i don't think it went ten steps and all hell broke loose into the firing of the machine gunsings and bombs, grenades.

real scary, real hectic. taft gets shot and killed. the guy right in front of me, jerry, gets machine gunned across his stomach. he's no more than two, three yards in front of me. the guy to the right and left of me, they got shot. one gets killed. other one got shot. wounded. and jerry rolls on his back and screaming and looking up and screaming for his mother at the top of his lungs. i see he's shot and blood and everything. he's on his stomach screaming. it freaks you out. this incident that's happened here. so -- russell adams broke off the left. i can see my ammo here behind me. russell broke off to the left and of course i am going stay close to russell. i ran after him. and we were actually running parallel to the creekbed now going straight at the mountain. then just kept escalating and

into the battle. >> right, right. >> that was just the start of right there. hi seen instant will you, i saw at least two guys killed and -- maybe lee guys wounded all in a matter of five seconds. so that scares the hell out of you. i'm running. my juices are flowing. so i spot adams. i catch up to him. and russell is firing a machine gun. so -- >> dropped off the side. >> we weren't there yet at that point. we were going parallel to the creekbed. and -- he just keeps going. and from the original setting where we landed, he moved to 50, 75 yards up towards the mountain. and he came to a resting place there and i guess he felt comfortable with or maybe we couldn't go any further actually. we were under fire the entire time. people are shooting at us and bullets hitting the ground and cracking over your head. and -- so he settled down there. firing the machine gun.

i'm beside him. i had my ammo. he's gone. i figured he got wounded or killed. which wasn't the case actually. i found out three days later what happened to him. but -- so -- it was us. we were reduced to a two-man team, machine gun team. now we are settled in. russ was doing the firing. >> yes. >> i'm spotting him. looking for anything that moves and -- enemy and stuff. and i'm staying over there straight ahead. russell is doing his thing, doing a good job. >> how loud is that? what's happening, noise of the battle? >> deafening. still deafening. the noise is just -- interrupted. all of our guys and -- all of their guys, throwing everything at us, rockets and rpgs. grenades, like i said. and -- helicopters above. i don't know if we had them right then. we had gun ships. now they are firing rockets down in on us. they are exploding amongst us. and stuff. that -- hits us.

real havoc. trees are falling down and breaking and leaves and dirt and smoke and fire. you name it. it is all come together and deafening. very deafening. >> did that surprise you? >> yeah. you are not trained for anything like that. i wasn't trained to see that the very first five seconds. nobody can train you for what you are going to see. so it scare it is hell out of you. you move. you can't stand still. you are going to die. do you everything you think you can do, jump, dodge, roll. you crawl. you do what you have to do. we ended up there where we -- 75 yards up. >> long way from the rest of the company. bob edwards' right. did you think -- wow, we are really far out? or was it more just -- >> no. >> -- getting there. >> no, just all happened like -- some things happened in slow motion. some things happened like real quickly, you don't know how you go from point a to b. and it is very exhausting.

soaking wet. not just right then but later in the battle from running around and doing things. i was totally exhausted. and it takes a real drain on you. and -- so -- i'm -- between ended up there. >> when i asked -- i want to you describe what happens after this, when you get down and some of the action. when i asked general moore on thursday morning toward the end of the interview, 2 1/2 hours, what do you think of when you think of da -- la drang valley? he said bill beck. i said why. he said because he kept the gap filled. he saved the whole situation right then when it was so critical and he kept me alive, our headquarters, the cp where

it gets stable and not be, you know, that gap was huge. and he -- credited so much to you and russell. and -- so -- >> he is a very kind man with his words. at the time we didn't know where the cp was. i didn't know where the rest of our men were. i didn't know where captain nadal was. i didn't know where the rest of my buddies were. last time i saw them they were heading into the jungle. like i said i didn't know the creekbed was there at that time. found that out later. but -- we ended up there because of russell. that's where he went. i stayed with russell. so that happened by fate or blame it on russell. russell adams. he got me up there. wherp when we were there we came to fight for survival. russell got shot. >> how soon after you guys got done?

>> things happening up there. russell was doing his thing. i left important more ammunition because -- we didn't have an ammo there. russell, running low on ammunition. i think i only had one box with me. it was like 300 rounds. he probably had 100 rounds on him. supposed to have two boxes which would be 400 rounds. while we never got 400 rounds. so we were -- you know, got low on ammo. i told russell, there is like a little lull. i said i'm going -- look for john, ammo bearer. and -- so i run back to the rear. where we originally started from. and i eventually found two boxes of ammo laying on the ground. i said, well, john got shot and killed. medevaced him out or something. i get the ammo. i'm on my way back up. by the creekbed. turned out to be lieutenant.

he was a -- lieutenant of ours. i didn't know him real at the time. all i saw was lieutenant part and part of his name. so -- he was severely wounded in his hand and leg. i patched up his hand and leg and took time to do that. he had pictures of his wife and children laying out around him and got him out of his thing. told me years later they thought he was going to die. he had -- had his.45 out in his hand. i asked him what's that with a about. i thought he was going to shoot the enemy. he said he was going to shoot himself when they came in. so i took his .45 from him. i patched his hand and leg up. >> how did you patch it? >> well, his -- first aid pack and mine. and -- i patched his leg up best i could. i patched his hand up and everything. must have been in terrible pain. i was wrapping, wrapped it real soft.

every time i tried tie a little bit he would wince in pain. house leg was equally bad. i patched him up. i had to take off. i had to leave. and -- my back was to the creekbed actually. and he was sitting against the tree on the ground. i did that. took the ammo and headed back up to russell adams. somebody threw a hand grenade in front of me. and it went off. i was going to jump on the ground and try to get away from it but it went off just as i bent down. it was a concussion grenade, thank god. if it was a fragment grenade i would have been wounded or killed. big flash. that scared the hell out of me. i looked to the right. came from the creekbed area. so i spot these two north vietnamese on the -- against this little mound there. they were down in the creekbed and coming up on the flat area, little mound, bamboo coming out

of it. anyhow, there are two of them on this side. american gi on the other side. the mound is only like -- i would say three, four feet high. and maybe six feet at diameter. they are on one side and gi on the other side. i don't know if they can see each other or if they saw each other prior to this, what the hell is going on. that's how close they came. i'm screaming and yelling. i stop and scream and yell. they are not far away. >> what were you saying? >> i was screaming. north vietnamese, viet cong, everything i could say, screaming and trying to point. nobody could hear me. noise was very loud. and he didn't look. i don't think the north vietnamese -- could have been another one throwing another grenade at me. i don't know where it came from. >> are you thinking it is these two guys? >> well, those are the two guys i saw. place is polluted with them. they are everywhere. up in trees. so i pulled my.45.

i took good aim. and, you know, emptied the thing. they both slumped down. i felt comfortable with that. at least they are taken care of. went back up to russell adams. that's when i come back to russell. >> still carrying your ammo box? >> these would, wra. ammo boxes and take them up. this all happened. russell initially back the first aid. i bet you was within like -- five to ten minutes. so, you know, took me like a minute to wrap him up and -- a minimum to do that. i'm running. 75, 75. whatever it was. and i am exhausted. dodging these bullets and grenades. extremely emotional. i'm laying on the ground. halfway up. you know. ground cracking. dirt is flying up. pulled the crack by the head and everything. you have to jump and dodge and trying to weave into not it easy. i'm trying to stay alive.

i'm laying down there. i am totally exhausted. i can't move anymore. eventually we got up. up off my ass to get russell. finally catch up to russell. come up and get more ammo. throws another ammo in the gun. and -- off to his left in our rear, less than ten yards as -- gi laying on his back. with his arm up in the air, canteen. like trying to -- i see that from like the vantage point. i see this arm. look up and see the gi. i tell russell, i said -- i'm going to go get first aid. firing at the enemy, russell is. we are being shot at the whole time. hitting the tree. >> machine gunners were the prime target. >> well -- i guess so. which find out later. radio operate wrors and machine guns and officers. anybody that was getting orders like -- follow me and stuff like -- picked them off right

away. and i guess we were on the list also. you know. but -- not that the rufl man was than on the list either. >> of course. >> we were all targets. >> i run over. this poor guy's laying will. radio slaying beside him. m-16 laying on the ground p.m. laying there and looking up at at the time sky. tall, thin kid. about my height and weight and everything. i didn't know the guy. and i didn't see the name tag or anything else. i looked and he has a hole in his chest. dead center. dead center. not being a medic i assumed this is through his heart. he was still alive. >> yeah. >> you could see he was like in shock. and -- i ripped his shirt open and rolled him over. on his side. i said, you are going to be okay. lying like a son of a bitch.

you are going to be okay. they taught us that in first aid school i guess. give him moral support. you are going to be okay. expecting to see half his back blown out. i roll him over and the same small hole in the back. that's how close, right through him. still killed him. he was still alive there when i was working on him. i patched him up with his first aid pack, took it off and tried to wrap i am up best i could. i knew it was going to be hopeless. but the poor kid laying there. sun baking. i called for a medic. a black medic came up. i knew the guy face. i don't know his name. he came quickly. and which i was really pleased. i thought, you know, good somebody heard me. i'm screaming the top of my lungs. i'm yelling medic half a dozen times. but he comes. then when i leave him, go back to russell, ten yards away, i go back to russell. i think -- again when i got

close to russell where i could see him, i see he was shot. and -- where. >> where? >> in the head. >> he's laying there. i get up to russell. russell. and -- geez, he's -- he is -- he got shot right through the helmet creased his head. head is wide open. all this blood and everything else. and he's laying there. and he's looking up in the sky and he's -- his mouth -- not saying anything, you know. and -- so i lie to him. i said you are going to be okay, russell, you know. i got to get the gun. gun laying on the side. when he got shot everything went to hell. we are under attack. still hit. so he's laying right there. i got the gun, take aim out there. where we are firing last before i left. and it is something i want to tell you here now, i don't know

want to lose my thought. anyhow i start firing right away. fired and fired and fired. screaming for medic. screaming. lo and behold here comes another medic, some blond haired kid. i didn't get his name. only partial. i told general moore i said this is like nall. part of his name. i did years trying to reer is too much find guy. i could never find him by that name. there again, i could picture this medic. blond haired kid. slight, you know, build. he came up and took care of russ. you know. like partially drug him back. i don't know if i helped load him up on the kit or what. he took him out. i'm on the gunner. we are still under attack. >> you are seeing enemy coming at you? >> yes. >> how far away? >> there is a story. i was going stay something about that. i forgot that one thought. what about when you took the

gun over and calling for the medic? >> there was something i was going to say with it. too much. >> did he say something to you? >> no. well, this second medic, we had like -- a minute to pray. russell -- russ sell laying there. he is a mess. and so he's there. we are looking at this, you know, us russell. he's dead, you know. he is going to die. it was horrible something to see. this guy, talk about god and stuff. started crying, you know. i mean, the fear. the fear. >> in the middle -- >> yeah. fear, the fear. jumped on you. and i -- scared as i have ever been in my life. you knew you were going the die. praying to god, you know, to each other, out loud. and -- crying. i remember crying. i'm not shamed to say.

tear. >> do you remember -- what you were saying? >> making false promises and stuff. you know. let me out of this, i will do this. you know. anyhow -- not proud of that. i was scared enough to see ken out. anyhow, we -- get are rid of him and stuff. now i'm fighting. i spot three, four of them. dead center. i was getting fired from the right which is out of the general. let 20 to 30 yards over, real bad. nasty there. i knew somebody was directly to the right about 20, 30 yards in the creekbed and my other buddies, another machine gun crew. that was it. and -- the rest of the guys are in the rear. which -- then in the jungle which i didn't see for i was up there, an hour or whatever it was. anyhow, i got everything straight. i'm trying to get my bearings.