we usually do whiskey in the offseason. you can look around, there's a lot involved, a lot of hot copper. we want people to be safe. but today, because it's a special thing we're doing with the brandy, we have it going on while we're open. >> so this was a commercial enterprise, but did washington himself like whiskey? >> well, whiskey was the most popular distilled spirit in the country in the years following the revolution. before the revolution, rum. but because of the revolution, rum became more expensive, because a lot of that was coming from, you know, from britain or from british colonies. and americans were growing lots and lots of grain. and so it really became a popular thing. this was a commercial venture, though. and there are a lot of people distilling, but washington's distillery, as we found out from

our research, was one of the largest in the country. now, that doesn't mean that it was washington's favorite spirit. you know, whiskey was cheap. it was very popular among the masses. but washington really was sort of in that tradition, madeira, port, you know, wines were his favorite. his favorite spirit. rum punches, things like that. although we know from the records he did drink whiskey, but i don't think it would have been his first choice. >> we're going to get some big proof. because we're at 6% alcohol in all these guys. and i don't think that we've actually gotten 6% on any of our fermentations yet. >> okay. >> so -- >> you know, we try to hit 8%, but we've never really got there yet. >> coming out nice now. >> yep.

>> you can watch "american artifacts" and other american history tv programs any time by visiting our website, c-span.org/history. every weekend american history tchl v brings you oral histories. first person accounts of the efrpts and people that have shaped our history. recently we've been featuring oral histories from the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock. now kelly craiger describes the history and importance of the project. >> we know the very controversial, divisive conflict occurring at a time where there are many difficulties in the united states on the home front and we also know that unfortunately, many vietnam veterans were not welcomed home the way our society has welcomed home returning veterans from

previous wars and as we sue now in the 21st century. regardless of the views of the war, and they differ widely, one theme that is constant among our service personnel is their pride in the service to the country. >> 40 years after the first full scale engagement, the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock interviewed veterans from the battles. it was after these battles waged in november 1965 that north vietnamese forces began engaging in gorilla warfare ri gorilluer. enrique pujals was a second lieutenant in the fall of 1965. his platoon got into the fight at landing zone x-ray where his

men were first hit with friendly fire. up next, experts there his oral history interview. immediately following this 30 minute program, we'll hear from tracey black enders, the daughter of a news paper reporter who was embedded with the 7th cal vvarcalvary. now enreky enrique pujals. >> i became a platoon leader maybe two, three days at the most before we set out on operation. and we set out on that operation on or about the 8th or 9th of november. >> and in your operation, did you make enemy contact? >> no, not us. >> not your unit. so on the 149, you'th, you're conducting operations. is it the general vicinity of

x-ray? >> i don't know exactly where we were. we were in the general vicinity. i had a map. i don't remember very well. just going out there and just -- actually, just going fast because i was the platoon and i was doing what i learned from the book. we had to go not too fast, really look for them will, be careful for an ambush i had out. i had the real works in my platoon up front. i had the pacer. i had another man with a compasses who a steer man. and i also double checked with my compass. but they claim i was too slow

and we were drifting slightly to the left. so when we stopped on the first day when we stopped for the break, the company commander said i was out of the point. we were going to say there the night and i was out in the rear. so he put me back in the rear. and the rear next day it was like a race. i didn't know the hell where we were going because we didn't know where the enemy was. if we knew where the enemy was and we were trying to get there as fast as possible, i had no problem, you know. but if we were looking for the enemy, he could have just as easily be ready to ambush us at any point there. because nobody was looking at the pace they were having.

>> so around the 14th, you hear what's going on at x-ray, but only through rtos who had been monitoring the radios? >> as i remember, it was on the 15th. this information didn't get disseminated at least in my platoon that i knew of. on the 15th, all of a sudden we were told to halt. and to move to a small hill. clear it. they had some sapling about 3 1/2 inches thick, to clear to make a landing zone to be picked up. where we were going, they didn't tell us. this is the information i had. that's what i got from my company commander and that's when the new information started dribbling in. they had been fighting sense yesterday, there was lots of casualty, we'll go reinforce it.

but actually what we did, we cleared it, what they did the first chinook came in, one came in and they just grabbed people without anywhere organization. just throw them back there and throw them back, facing toward, yeah, spread eagle like that, spread leg, and next one came in here. two or lee lithree lines until filled in the chinook and took us off. >> how many people did you you put on the chinook? >> i think 30 at least. about i think it was 40 you could put in a chinook, but i don't remember right now. that was long ago. but we filled it up completely and we got to the tea plantation and they had first mission after we got there, set up security with whatever people was there on that ship. some of them were in my platoon, some from other platoons. then we got our orders what we're going to do, stay there,

set up secure for the night because they had attacked that same place the night before. we were not going to go reinforce the other battalion. and next morning, that's when they told us come pick up the order and that's when the rumor was the rto started coming saying that's where we're going. oh, yeah, captain, lieutenant, we're going to reinforce the first battalion. but this came the next day. >> so now we're like the 16th. >> now the 16th. yeah. and we were going to go at dawn. they were going to pick us up first daylight. but they kept postponing it, postponing it. and finally poinformation kept trickling down. nothing from channels. through back channels. that there was a heavy firefight going on in the early morning and that's why we were being postponed. all of a sudden, i don't remember what time it was, but it was already fairly well into

the morning, they said, all right, saddle up, we're going. they picked us up, we went to the helicopters and we landed away from lc. we landed i think it must be they clear with the exexplosive. as we were walking into x-ray, we were zapped by two helicopters. we were attacked by two of our gun ships. >> two of our own. >> two of our own. and two men from the first platoon got wounded. they take care of the wounded, set up a perimeter and we moved in. and when we moved into x-ray, it was quiet. there was an air strike going on. all of a sudden, firefight broke out. lasted about very few minutes. but most of the fire was ours was going out. >> so the attack that happened

by our own gun ships, what do you think was going on? >> we were right on the left flank. >> did the attack by the gun ships, were you able to call it off? >> yeah, it was called off apparently. because the people who were getting hit were the first florida tonig platoon and they made several passes. >> the reason i'm asking, i've talked to over the last couple days, i've talked to several helicopter pilots and one. questions that i asked, i know that later in the war, tactical support by helicopters with cobra gun ships became very ordinary. that's how you you got tactical air support when you were on the

ground. but you did not have it then. and that's what i'm wondering. no one called that in. >> no, no. >> so they had to have seen something. and you think it was initiated on their own? will. >> must have been an air strike going on because must have been circling around waiting for the f-100s were the ones doing the air strike from the air force. >> but you're sure it was helicopter fire rather than the a1es? >> it was so confusing, diss n disconcerti disconcerting, because when they got away, sounded like a machine gun. so every time they made a pass, it sounded like they were striking us. but they barely made just one or two shooting passes at us. but they made several passes and

these passes when they cut away, they sounded like a machine gun. and then that's why i was looking around and finally i saw the helicopter. somebody says it's a helicopters are shooting at us. we deployed to both sides of the trail because we thought maybe it was enemy coming in. but it is the helicopters. finally we saw one of them coming on. >> and you said we had how many guys wounded? >> two guys wounded. >> so you're out there working your way toward x-ray. and this is the third day of x-ray. continue with that day for me. >> we moved in, there was this cameraman. he was just in fatigues. turned out to be two cameramen, two-man team from the army signal corps. they were filming us.

so i was walking in, he was filming us. and he started filming me for the close up and i was getting up close. and all of a sudden, that's when the firefight broke out. he wrote out and he was like this this way. he nearly smashed me in the face with the camera. he ran over some boxes and threw himself and landed on one knee and started panning. and then after a few more minutes, fire died out. and we just kept on going. because i heard all the fire, most of it was going from our side, which was over a few meters over to our left. so it's going out there. and just kept on going. it did, finally ended, we got to a place over there and company commander halted us and told us where we're going to go and that's your platoon area. my platoon area took over for

alpha company. that was inside the dry creek bed. and partly outside. so i had two squads inside, within partly inside the dry creek, but the other completely inside. and the third squad which was only about five men on the outside. >> his company was decimated. they were down to i think 43 wounded. so 43 killed or wounded. so he was about less than 50% of what he started with, which was already about 60%. >> yeah, we were at about 55%, 60%. my platoon, i had 25 men, when we left. i had to leave two at the deplan ta tags, which usually turn out to

be malaria. and when i went to check on them, they told me my friend, the mortar man, he had been wounded on the 14th. and there was this -- and i hope maybe somebody will find him. there was this surgeon and i thought he was with the 1st or 7th. he was are from puerto rico. and i've never been able to find out. i forgot his name. they gave me two different names. first santiago. and i couldn't find any santiago did doctors. other name is ortiz juarez. and never found anybody with those names either. and nobody knows about him. i tried asking him. the only -- first aboutbattalio

was italian decent. and he had is he had been will before the battle. but will captain was aboard the ship. >> so you're this reinforcing the alpha company of the first of the seventh. >> well, we started to reinforce them, but the battle was practically over. and what we ended up doing was replacing them. the order was changed, you will take over their positions instead of just augmenting them. and they pulled out. i met up with the sergeant and his friend, i forget his name.

james lamont. he said pick up as much ammunition as i could. several people got killed because they ran out of ammunition. so he tells me pick up as much ammo, forget about food, forget about water. you can get those from the dead. but ammunition, you need that. so that's what i did. >> so take me through the next couple days. you stayed at x-ray? >> stayed at x-ray. nothing happened. there was some firing. some men claimed, drew mckinney, he was one of my fire team leader, he claimed he shot some snipers and wiped out a sniper in another tree. but as far as i know, there's nothing. just kept the line. and that was it. >> you stayed there for how many more days? >> all night.

and then the next morning on the 17th, we were supposed to move out as soon as possible because the b-52s were going to blast the place. and it was postponed until we finally left. we left i forget what time, but it was barely well in to the morning, also. >> they extracted you by chopper? >> oh, no. we walked out. not to a short space or like when we came in. this was a long walk. we were to go to an lc, but before we got there, we were going to split. we were marching out with companies from two of the battalions of the fifth gap, from the first and fifth and second and fifth. and the order i had received from the captain, he passed away a few years ago, the order was

we were marching out and our company was going to be the rear most company in the battalion. and i was going to be the rear most platoon. nobody behind me. we were not going to have any artillery after we split out. second and fifth, i think it was, they would move out to columbus and we would keep on going to another lc. i don't remember if we had the name at that time. it turned out to be albany. but at the time, i don't remember that they gave the name. they had different letters for some of them. and i don't remember which one. but i remember it member distin albany, i only learned that later as far as i'm concerned. from that point organization we would have no artillery support. and he was scared for that. >> sure. >> because i had read several -- at least two other books and one

of the things that they had was french learned to take their artillery with them. halt, set up artillery and move. >> all in a very small place. >> yeah. >> so you're on the march to this place that we know now would turn out to be -- >> turn out to be albany, but we weren't told what was going to happen. some people say -- some of us have claimed in the book that we were going to be extracted. but from what i remember, when they is youed the order, was be prepared to continue the march. so we might have been extracted, we were going to maybe be extract extracted, maybe to continue the operation, maybe to continue the march. >> but it wasn't you were going somewhere, you were not on an operation to engage the enemy, because you had -- >> right. >> -- a whole lot of administrative types that you were escorting.

>> right. as far as the attitude was the battle was over. that was the attitude. it was not exactly said. the attitude was the battle was over. we beat the heck out of them, the other battalion did, we were just moving out because i tried to get information of why we were being extracted and all we got was from some of the people that the he will copters were down for maintenance because they had used so much three days of battle. and that was it. we were going out there. there's no battle, no search. larry remembers it differently. he wrote a small biography while he was in chenollege and he saye were going to be extracted and in-in t continue in the operations and they were moving in a tactical

formation. we were just moving a column and we were moving as fast as possible. >> was he -- >> larry was the executive office of alpha company. >> and so tell me what happens when the firing starts. what is your platoon's position? >> where we halted and at that time, just before that, one of my men told me that we had people behind us. and i was worried. i said, i was supposed to be the rear most, and it turned out to alpha company. so there was no problem there. that got me wondering if i'm supposed to be the last guy here, how can we got more people behind. then we stopped and the r it toe

information i got was the conference for al conference commanders has been called, they're going up forward, we're halted. they captured two deserts who say there are more around but a lot more that are waiting for us someplace. and they were eager to kill americans. and -- that was basically what -- oh, and there were snipers also in the trees. and after a while, the shooting started. like a rifle range, you know. and not everybody starts at the same time. you start hearing pow here, and then it starts going. and this is lasting quite a bit longer. trying to get information what's going on.

nobody knows. so i say to my men, my squad leaders, get the men deployed, be prepared for something here. and after a while of this going on, my rto calls me. co wants you. i ask him what's going on. he said forget that. get your men in line and maneuver right. qul class he can ic anti-ambush rea. so that's what i did. so i try to get my men on line by using arm and hand signals like this. get on line. nobody knew what the hell was going on. i'm moving forward. and i turn around, everybody sat there scratching themselves asking what's going on, what, what? so i said get on line, get on line. everybody get on line. and i'm moving up will to there to get them on line. and co calls and says hold your

platoon where you are. prepare to defend, no. hold your platoon where you are. that's it. fighting kept on going. some of my men started firing at the trees. i said stop firing because our fire is going to get over there. and some rounds are coming over this way. and i try to get the company command to tell them that they're shooting of us. couldn't get him, couldn't get anybody on the who were. and then i try to get my squad leaders on the prc 6s. so i said maybe it's off. so i turn it off, turn it on, no work. so i said get somebody to turn the radios on. wait a couple minutes. couldn't work anything. no information. i could receive no information, i could give no information to my men either. to my squad leaders.

so i he witell them not to shoo unless you have a real target. one of my machine gunners, he's firing from the hip, you know, like john wayne. spraying the trees. i said don't shoot that. did you shoot anything? no, just spraying them to make sure there's nobody out there. i said don't unless you see a suspicious movement. because they're in the line of fire, the other guys out wither. >> at this point you're not concerned about conserving ammo or anything. you're just concerned about not hitting any friendlies because you don't know where everybody is. >> right. because the firefight is over that way and he's firing all over the place. so i didn't know exactly where they were. could have been spread on the perimeter. i was concerned about hitting our people because we were also getting orders from that.

but it was sporadics. so then i call for my first squad leader, i think he was a puerto rican sergeant. i don't remember what his name was. i think his name was sese. because there was a sergeant sese in the list from charlie company. he's the only one i don't remember who he was. he might have been the one. so i call him up and i told him you're in charge. i'm going to go and find lieutenant jeanette who was a motor platoon lead, see if i can coordinate something. it any enemy really showed up, he had some rounds. i could get him directly instead of going on the phone and wasting all that time.

so i went up looking for him. and his people were all sitting down smoking, scratching, lying down, some taking a nap. and i asked him where's lieu tenant gentleman mjeanette, oh,. and that's when i was wounded.l there. and that's when i was wounded. >> ak or m-60? >> i don't know. one of them i thought it was an m-16 because this came from behind. >> but the round didn't stay in your leg? >> no. both went right lithrough. that was the segtd round. second round. while i was lying down, it came up somewhere just -- went in here. i saw the leg go up. and got broke in a whole bunch of many pieces there. and there's another one down here from my