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♪ president john f. kennedy and south vietnam's president ngo dinh diem were both murdered in december of '63. both assassinations profoundly affected the course of events in vietnam. >> there is nobody really ready to take over ngo dinh diem's job. so this began a period of what was later called as revolving door government. >> on 22 november, 1963, vice president lyndon baines johnson became the 36th president of the united states. >> johnson has bad feelings about vietnam. if he should not continue the struggle in vietnam, he would be seen as having betrayed the legacy of kennedy. >> what johnson wants most in 1964 is to be elected in his own right as president. and he views vietnam principally as a danger to that goal. he said vietnam is the biggest damn mess i've ever seen. >> in january 1964, the man who would command america's troops

in vietnam, general westmoreland arrived in saigon. >> he begins to realize he needs a larger commitment of force to stabilize the situation. >> do you think it's a mistake to explain vietnam and what we're faced with? >> i do think, mr. president, it would be wise for you to say as little as possible. >> the u.s. arrival of the beatles in early 1964 was met with youthful frenzy. but in washington, lbj had bigger things on his mind. >> lyndon johnson was running as the peace candidate. so it would really foul up his campaign strategy if he did something drastic in vietnam. >> we're going the stay in there, we're going to have to educate the people. we haven't done so yet. i'm not sure now is exactly the right time. >> no. and i think you start doing it, they're going to be hollering you a warmonger. >> that's right. >> it was a war that was being lost in very slow motion. just a gradual down hill slide. >> upland 34 alpha was in full

swing, a covert operation that sent asian mercenaries into north vietnam to carry out attacks on the communists. u.s. navy destroyers were also on top secret intelligence gathering missions along the north vietnamese coast. on 2 august, 1964, one of those destroyers was attacked. >> three north vietnamese navy torpedo boats went out after the u.s. destroyer maddox. they lost the fight. >> washington called the attacks unpro advocate and claimed the maddox under the command of captain john harrick was on a routine patrol in international waters. two days later on a moonless rain-swept night, the maddox, now accompanied by the uss sea turner joy picked up what seemed to be high speed vessels on its radar. both ships opened fire. >> i'm confident that there was no attack. that what they were seeing was ghosts on their radar, generated by the weather. >> when the smoke cleared, captain harrick cabled pearl

harbor. his message forwarded to washington said review of action makes many reported contacts and torpedos fired appear doubtful. but lbj running for president, and not wanting to appear weak or indecisive decided he had to respond. >> i knew that hostile actions have today required me to take action in reply. >> i think it was time to bomb the hell out of north vietnam. and all the restrictions that we were put on while i was there was off. and i says it's about time. >> because they weren't off? >> well. >> the air group walked to the ready room, and he said we're going. this is a go. >> 26-year-old lieutenant everett alvarez was stationed aboard the uss constellation in the gulf of tonkin. pilots from the constellation

and the nearby uss ticonderoga were given the assignment of carrying out lbj's orders. alvarez's mission, fly his sky hawk jet 350 miles to bomb the north vietnamese naval base. >> i think the thing that is most on my mind as i'm flying along, this is real. this is war. we might even make the evening news. >> alvarez would indeed make the evening news. after successfully hitting his target, he was heading back to the constellation when his plane was hit by enemy fire. >> transmitting -- hey, guys, i've been hit. i guess my wing must have come off. because my plane was starting to do this and i couldn't control it. >> alvarez build a out. after being picked up by a north vietnamese fishing boat, he was turned over to the enemy. he was the first pilot to be shot down over north vietnam. >> i would have to say we achieved our objective. i think we wiped out a number of their torpedo boats.

>> any effort to interrogatory you at all? >> well, there were two vietnamese officers. they both spoke english. and of course i can only give my name, rank, service number and did of birth. why? according to the geneva agreements. but that's -- that's for war. the united states has not declared war on us. we haven't declared war on you. >> after a week of grueling interrogations, alvarez was suddenly hustled into a jeep and driven eight hours to hanoi. >> the next thing i know, i am entering this old big prison compound, the old prison. i was the first occupant of it. we later gave it the name the hanoi hilton. >> this is lieutenant j.g. everett alvarez jr. i am alive and well. >> robert mcnamara and the joint chiefs of staff knew that it was at least very likely that a second incident in the gulf of tonkin did not occur. but they were very anxious to

support the president in getting this resolution through congress and avoiding a debate on vietnam. >> if passed, the gulf of tonkin resolution would allow lbj to use force in southeast asia without declaring war. but first, mcnamara would have to answer some tough questions in closed door congressional hearings. >> mcnamara brings with him the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general wheeler. and general wheeler and secretary mcnamara lie about the ambiguities surrounding the second attack. >> later that day, mcnamara briefed lbj on the hearings. >> well, i think the hearings are very satisfactory. it was just a near unanimous support. >> congress overwhelmingly passed the gulf of tonkin resolution on 7 august. it gave lbj the power to take, quote, all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against the forces of the united states and to prevent further aggression. it was basically a blank check, and it would be cashed in vietnam.

>> when america bombs north vietnam, it isn't understood that the north vietnamese communists are going to respond by increasing infiltration into south vietnam. >> but the vietcong were growing larger at the same time that they are stealing the countryside out from under the government in the slow seepage of guerrilla warfare. >> in november of '64, lbj was elected president of the united states. in hanoi, downed pilot everett alvarez had endured three long months of isolation and starvation at the hanoi hilton, but he still managed to hold on the belief he would soon be coming home. >> somehow i was really convinced that someone was going to come along any minute and open my cell and say come on, you're going home. i mean, the fact that i would be left there just didn't even enter my mind. enter my mind.

american lives must end and america if american lives must end and american treasure be spilled in countries that we barely know, that is the price that change has demanded of conviction and of our enduring covenant. >> when president johnson gave his 1965 inaugural address, there were just over 20,000 american troops in vietnam and 400 had died there. both those numbers were about to rise dramatically. in february, eight americans were killed at ple cu. president johnson responded with operation flaming dart and bombed a north vietnamese army base.

from his cell at the hanoi hilton, downed pilot everett alvarez knew the war was escalating. >> i would look out my little cell. one cell would come to me. one day there were three trays. a week later four trays. >> this is a decision point for the president. and that is the beginning of the rolling thunder bombing campaign against north vietnam. >> operation rolling thunder began on 2 march, 1965. the president and his advisers hoped bombing would force the north to back down. the white house maintained strict control over target selection. that and fear of a wider war with china or the soviets muted the effectiveness of rolling thunder. >> it will be followed very closely by the introduction of marines initially under the auspices of defending bases. but really, the thought from the very beginning was to conduct, quote, offensive killing operations. >> when are you going to issue

the order? >> we'll make it late today so it will miss some of the morning edition. i'll handle it the way it will minimize the announcement. >> on 8 march, 3500 marines came ashore. thousands more were on the way, including ernie wallace and ed brummond. they landed two months later on 7 may with the 2nd battalion, 4th marines. >> the night before we made landing at chu le, we were listening to hanoi and how they were going to annihilate us on the beach. they knew we were come. >> what did the guys if your squad say about this? >> don't worry about it. you're trained. we're going to take them out. ♪ >> we had an unopposed landing. we were met on the beach with all the locals. >> lots of kids. >> everybody felt it was going to be great. >> hotter than blazes. hotter than blazes. and i got a 65-pound pack. it was 110 degrees in the shade.

and let me tell you something, it was a miserable day. >> may '65 also brought the first pause in rolling thunder. lbj hoped to negotiate. ho chi minh simply ignored the effort and used the delay to repair the ho chi minh trail network. billy waugh and his team were plenty business. did the dramatic increase in troops change your missions at all? >> drastically. we moved from coast area up to the cambodian and laos border. special forces starting to build to stop the ho chi minh trail. >> we cannot be defeated by a force of arms. we will stand. >> in july, president johnson announced the troop levels in vietnam would rise to 125,000. >> johnson still wants to avoid a debate on vietnam. so what johnson does is he understates the number of troops

that general westmoreland requests. he understates the amount of money it's going the take. >> the marines patrol around the air bases in chuy lai and da nang. but they still need to be worried about booby traps. >> it was almost a cakewalk. >> did you have good maps? >> not good maps. good enough to call in air. >> vietnam has a whole lot of nice things like leeches and flies as big as houses. >> oh, yeah. and you get into a fresh water stream and decide it's time to wash up a little bit. and you've got all those leeches hanging on you. >> hanging on you in place you don't want to talk about. >> correct. >> by mid-august '65, there would be far more than leeches to worry about. intel pegged the location of roughly 2,000 vietcong. the marines were ordered to take them on. >> starlight was totally hush-hush. >> what's going through your head? >> what the hell are we into?

>> what the hell are we into? >> operation starlight takes a i'm leaving the track behind, but i'm not standing still... >> what the hell are we into? >> operation starlight takes a and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪

>>. >> oliver: in august of '65, los angeles exploded in august of '65, los angeles exploded. on the 18th, the day after the deadly watts riots ended, the marines begin their first major operation in vietnam. 06-15. >> intelligence had heard that the first vietcong regiment was preparing to hit chu lai. >> joining the marines just before operation starlite. as a medical corpsman, his live

was to safe lives. >> i don't think any of us slept that night. >> did you feel ready? >> i don't think you're sure until you go to that first wounded marine. >> it called for a marine corps amphibious landing about nine miles south of the chu lai airfield. another unit would come in from the north and the marines of 24 would conduct a airborne assault. echo company with ed martin and ed brummond landed at z white. >> we started up to the top of the ridge line. we got to the top and started taking mortar fire. we started taking casualties right away. >> no cover. no cover at all. >> how many casualties does 3rd platoon take? >> we had four initially. >> how badly were they hit? >> my first combat casualty was dead. looked like a piece of swiss cheese. and so i stuck my finger on his eyeball to see if there was reaction, and there wasn't. so i closed his eyes. >> south of echo company, ernie wallace and hotel company were under fire, despite the incoming, they had to move across open ground and assault

hill 43. >> from where we landed, an open rice paddy all the way out 400 to 500 meters. then there is a hedge row. then to the left was a village. and a large open trench in between. >> not a lot of cover. >> not a whole lot of cover to get into. as we were getting close to the l-43, i was the last man back, and i looked down the trench line, and the trench line was full of the bad guys coming behind the platoon. i opened up down the trench, ran out of ammo, and i ran across the rice paddy to catch up to the rest. >> if you hadn't done what you did, the lead element of hotel company would have been annihilated. >> they would have came in behind us, correct. later i think they had a body count of 25. >> shortly after noon, you come to this village.

now you take some real heavy casualties. >> they opened up on us. machine guns, small arms, 60 millimeter mortar. several guys got hit right away. >> despite the incoming fire, doc martin went to work on the wounded. >> every one of these guys were hit. all these young marines, 17, 18-year-olds. every one said go get jc. >> a lance corporal in the middle of it. tell me about what doc martin did. >> doc martin raced across there with very little cover. >> i said to hell with it. and dove up and ran out to this marine, bandaged his leg the best i could, stopped his bleeding the best i could. >> and drug the little lance corporal down. >> jc clark was his name. >> lance corporal jc clark died six days later in the hospital. operation starlite ended the same day. 44 other marines made the ultimate sacrifice. but the enemy was far more

bloodied. over 600 vietcong were also dead. >> i walked out. i was covered with blood. and i got sick. the battalion commander came and said you okay, marine? i said i'm not a marine. i'm a corpsman. he said today you're a marine. >> more on the road to war in

>>. [ gun shots ] >> oliver: after starlight many after starlite there would be many more battles. ia drang, khe sanh, hamburger hill. broadcast to the world, it was the first living room war, and before the end it would drive lbj from office, divide the nation, and scar yet another presidency. >> i want to end this war. >> in 1973, the last u.s. combat troops left vietnam. that february, everett alvarez was released. he chronicled his eight and a

half years of brutal captivity in the book "chained eagle." south vietnam fell to the north vietnamese in 1975, but ho chi minh wouldn't live to see the victory. he died in 1969. billy waugh retired in 1972. his total time in vietnam seven and a half years. he wrote about life as a warrior in his book "hunting the jackal." >> when i used to drink with my special forces boys, we would say man, how stupid could we have been? we could have ended that thing so easily. and you know it's true. >> ernie wallace received the navy cross for his heroism during operation starlite. he and ed brummette would return to second tours in vietnam. ed martin received the bronze star after starlite and left the navy in 1968. >> a lot of men died and wounded. and we didn't get the support that we needed to really do the job we could have done over

there. >> in the early days when it was only advisers, vietnam became america's longest military engagement and the only conflict where we won all the battles but still lost the war. years after it was over, robert mcnamara claimed that the december of '65, he told president johnson america couldn't win the war militarily. that didn't stop vietnam from dragging on for almost ten more years. some say vietnam has to be seen in the broader context of the cold war. but for those of us who fought in vietnam's cloud-shrouded mountains, stinking rice paddies and dense, dangerous jungles, this war was anything but cold. today it's easy to point to errors in washington. but for those of us who fought in vietnam, there is something more important than assessing blame, honoring the three million who served in southeast asia and the more than 58,000 of us who didn't come home. theirs is a war story that deserves to be told.

i'm oliver north. good night. >> lou: good evening, everybody. growing calls for the justice department to appoint a second special counsel to investigate clinton and obama corruption. attorney general jeff sessions will consider the request after two powerful house chairman agreed there is enough evidence of bias and abuse to warrant a special counsel. and the trump administration suing the state of california over the dangerous policy. the doj said california made is impossible for federal officials to deport