the noisy celebration and the attack on saigon.lent -- lareas of the city were a blazing infern on o. >> block after block in the capital city burned with the fires of viet cong treachery. >> people fled and many fell victim. soldiers reacted quickly and -- >> seventh district of the capital. first, fifth, and seventh districts of the capital, at the saigon radio, and at strategic intersections throughout the city, wherever the enemy appeared, south vietnamese troops went into action. [machine gun fire] [music] >>many of the terrorists attempted to hide. soldiers found them and brought them out. in a few areas of saigon, the enemy seized and held the upper floors of tall buildings. tanks were immediately deployed to these areas to help dislodge the viet cong. the enemy used his elite troops to attempt the capture the saigon radio station. unable to seize his objective, the enemy set fire to the building. the vietnamese airborne troops were quickly on the scene, along with firefighting squads, who put out the blaze. these bodies are

saigon, however, has changed.usands of men and weapons have taught the commonest general a grim lesson. this carefully planned attack by the north vietnamese has been described as their all or nothing go for broke effort. it ended in dismal failure. 10 communists dead, for each soldier lost, is proof of the price they paid for the desperate attempt. side-by-side with the combat soldiers, war teams called on the people to remain calm. >> vehicle civilians ran to soldiers for protection. soldiers rounded those people up to centers for protection. >> doctors and nurses tended to the wounded in the city. civilian ambulances evacuated the seriously wounded. among the real heroes of the day with a firefighting squad. the squad had to be on hand immediately to put out fires and keep them from spreading. >> wherever the fighting was the heaviest, psychological warfare and teams were on hand. they used loudspeakers to tell troops about the attacks, and how they can best escape to safer areas. the teams used their loudspeak

many of the victims and the seven day battle in saigon.en medical care and food. ♪ >>> here are some of the pri prisoners being interviewed by military correspondents. all the weapons captured here are from russia and -- ♪ >> thousands of families burned out of their home. the government immediately launched a program to set up refugee camps in areas of the city. when the fire subsided, the residents returned and shuffled through ruins. many of them were born in the houses and now nothing left but ashes and memories. >> the homeless turned around dazed, confused and helpless. troopers and marines flushing out the last of the commune yis and the city. relocating the homeless with they can receive food and medical attention. fathers and husbands are dead. here they are, helpless and their homes destroyed and possessions burned. the government has the responsibility of caring for these orphans and widows as best they can while trying to prevent the communist from launching another devastating attack. teams began a disease prevention campaign

the people of saigon have cleaned up the city and begun to rebuild.des have given way to the traffic typical of the big city. life is returning to normal. yet the citizens of saigon will never forget how the communists shattered the tet crew with such devastations and violence. >>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >>> the war in vietnam lasted for 17 years, starting in 1955. but in 1968, the north vietnamese and the vietcong launched the tet offensive against a u.s. military base. the south vietnamese, with u.s. troops, responded. the u.s. added more troops in vietnam and increased spending. over the next several hours, american history tv is going to talk about that transforming year of 1968. and then how 1968 changed u.s. poli

escalation in 1955 to the fall of saigon in 1975. he argues that the united states was in vietnam to prove the viability of capitalism and the american system of government. his closet about death his class is about one hour and 15 minutes. >> we talked about the lead up to the american intervention in vietnam on tuesday. we will look at the war today. before we jump into the actual war period, any questions concerning the stuff we covered on tuesday? no? i am that good, aren't i? [ laughter ]. i want you guys to be -- pay especially good attention. this is the only thing i am actually qualified to teach. [ laughter ]. i didn't know there was a war in korea until i heard it from you guys. the vietnam war, that is my thing. so i have tried to present relatively concise history of the war and hopefully it makes some sense to you. so on tuesday, we are talking about how starting in 1964, as a result of developments in hanoi, north vietnam under the new leader started to escalate the insurgency in southern vietnam. it escalates to a poin

and in saigon we've got the americans, obviously, right? who provide significant military and economic assistance, but then unbeknownst to many people there's also other countries that actually contribute assistance, including troops to the anti-communist struggle. and some of the flags you see here, which you probably can't recognize, but so we've got, we've got beyond the u.s. what's that, the white flag with the little circle? south korea south korea, very good. south korea. the one next to it, what's the one next to it? australia, and then, aha, the one above it, excellent, very good. the thais are one of the rare asian countries with the red, white and blue flag. so they'll actually be australian troops in vietnam. there will also be thai troops in vietnam. filipinos will in vietnam there will be some new zealanders in vietnam and there will be south koreans also fighting in vietnam. i talked to some veterans from the north vietnamese side and they told me that they were absolutely terrified of the south korean troops. they were really

in the american embassy in saigon, in the spanking new american embassy in saigon. okay? any problem here? >> it is supposed to be a ba bastian of safety and security. >> what have the vietcon snipers been able to do? >> reach it. >> they didn't get into the building, though there is debate back and forth, but you are schwacking these guys in the american embassy in saigon. any problem with that? >> you are winning is the normal problem. and now your embassy is under attack. >> how about that picture on the far right? how about that picture on the far right? >> sentiment. it's there to help liberate or help the people in the south. but the concept of the picture we don't really know about. so a person who is armed or whose arms are bound are being shot execution style on the street when at that point there's no threat in the background of it. >> the police chief of saigon. >> correct. >> if you are in peoria, we're going back to peoria, and you're seeing images on your television. what are you thinking? >> what the hell is going on there? >> we're absolutely losing. >> we

the american embassy in saigon. in the spanking new american embassy in saigon. any problem here? >> it's supposed to be a bastion of safety and security. >> what do we say an embassy is? >> u.s. sovereign. >> what have these viet cong snipers been able to do? >> breach it. >> they didn't get into the building, though there's debate back and forth, but you are swaking these guys in the middle of the american embassy in saigon. any problem with that? >> you told people you are winning and now you're winning and there's no problem. >> how about that picture in the far right? >> we say it's there to help liberate or help these people in the south, but the context of this picture, we don't necessarily know what's happening, so we just have a person who's armed or whose arms are bound being shot execution-style on the street when at that point he's really no threat. >> he's the chief of saigon. if you're in peoria, we're going to keep going back to peoria, and you're seeing these images on your television, what are you thinking? >> what the hell is going on. >> we're absolutely losing.

>> [indiscernible] >> in the american embassy in saigon and the spanking new american embassy in saigon. any problem here? >> supposed to be safety and security. >> what do we say an embassy is? so what have these vietnam snipers been able to do? >> [indiscernible] >> you are swacking these guys inside the embassy. what is the problem with that? >> people that you are winning on the normal program and now [indiscernible] >> how about that picture on the far right? how about that picture on the far right? >> we say it's to help liberate or help the people in the south, but this picture, we don't necessarily know what's happening. we have a person who is armed or whose arms are bound being shot execution style on the street, who at that point is not a threat. >> police chief of saigon. so if you are in peoria, we keep going back to peoria and you see these images on television, what are you thinking. >> what the hell is going on. >> we are losing. >> we are absolutely losing. what is the credibility gap? >> [indiscernible] >> what is the problem with the credibility gap? >> if your popula

escalation in 1955 to the fall of saigon in 1975. he argues that the united states was in vietnam to prove the viability of capitalism and the american system of government. his closet about death his class is about one hour and 15 minutes. >> we talked about the lead up

in support of its puppet regime in saigon. does there appear to be a lot of common ground to build negotiations around? so what do you think would be the president's biggest bargaining chip? the bombings. making a good-faith effort to reduce the bombing. the bombing had had heavy effects on the north. it hadn't been proven as nearly as effective as what many americans had hoped, but it was a negotiating tool. what else do we have? we're not occupying north vietnamese territory. the only other one is complete withdraw, and they know that's not going to happen. so what are your options? and there's also the lame-duck president and the question of vietnam. and it is hanging over the head of vice president hubert humphr humphrey. humphrey to the right here. he's trying to escape the orbit of the president. but at the same time is being pulled far to the other side by the peace faction. and what do you think his odds of being able to pull that off are? good, bad, not possible? i would say relatively not possible. i love this quote.

there were fewer in hanoi than sigh began. -- saigon. >> this is true. there is floating hotel that the australians have brought around. i stayed at the world rex hotel which many of our veterans would say is an r & r hotel. it hasn't changed a bit. it is like a leap backwards about 20 years historically. but i don't think there is any doubt that they will improve and their tourist facilities will improve. i have talked to many veteran who is felt it was a great and healing experience. i recommend they go back if they feel that is best for them. i talked to others who said i never want to see the place again. it dredges up old, terrible memories. it is up to the individual. i believe there are parts of the country. some that are really lovely places but again the accommodations are much -- >> nice to report to you in hanoi there is a new hotel that was there when you were there. the french came in and renovated it. 109 rooms. $100 per room. >> it would be a pretty old city. very a attractive. >> we're out of time. thank you for sharing your experiences.

and that the government should arrange to send these people back to saigon. there was a town close to niceville and anxiety about refugees reflected anxiety about economic issues. the stagnated economy and weakening social nets. we have enough of our own problems to take your of, said a local barber. one of his companies agreed, they don't even have enough money to take your of social security and they want to bring in more people. these economic concerns are also in key with national sentiment. many americans believe southeast asian refugees posed an economic burden on the u.s. a survey in june, 1975 found 62% of americans believe that immigrants take jobs away from americans, only 28% believed otherwise. then there were issues other than economic issues. for one, there was concern about security, about communist slipping in with the refugees. this sounds familiar, doesn't it? feared that vietnamese refugees would bring communist infiltrators. had he know we will not get the bad guys, he said. you cannot say for sure. nobody can. lord knows we have enough co

in hanoi than there were in saigon. sen. mccain: i think that's probably true. you have to understand it is really roughing it, although as you notice there is a hotel, floating hotel in saigon and the australians have brought around which i understand accommodations. i stayed at the old wrecks hotel which many of our veterans will recognize was that are in our hotel in saigon and i swear it hadn't changed a bit. the bar on the roof and all that had not changed a bit. it was like a leap backwards about 20 years historically. but all think there's any doubt that they would prove an interest facilities will improve, etc. and i've talked to many vietnam veterans who felt it was a great and healing experience for them to go back and i strongly recommend they do so if they feel that that's best for them. i've talked to some others who say i never want to see the place again, all it does is dredge up terrible memories. i think it's up to the individual and i do believe that parts of the country are really lovely places. but again, accommodations are too much. >> in ha

escalation in 1965 to the fall of saigon in 1975. he argues the united states was in vietnam to prove the viability of

everyone now calls it saigon. >> is it hard to go back? >> no. no, it was a long time ago. i have many vietnamese friends who were on the other side, on our side. there is no reason for me to hold a grudge. some of the individuals like the guards were very cool and inflicted pain on me and others but there is no sense for me hating vietnamese. all know that the vietnamese people are basically decent and gentle people. a victim throughout history partially due to geography, oppression, and wars that have gone for a couple of years. i hold no ill will toward them. overall, i hold no personal grudges. let us go where some of the statistics -- let us go over some of the statistics. you were? in the navy for how many years? ? >> just over 22. >> when did the plane go down? >> october, 1967. this is the first time we had bombed a target inside hanoi. very heavily defended the city of hanoi. i counted eight surface-to-air missiles in the air. >> how badly were you injured? >> broke both of my arms and a leg. when i was pulled out my shoulder was badly damaged by a rough -- by a ri

they became refugees after the fall of saigon.ne thing you will see in the communist strategy on the vietnam war is every presidential year, they were able to mobilize some sort of an offensive that would get the attention over here, and that's one thing that happened in tet '68. by the way, this is kind of interesting because we just showed a clip of a south vietnamese explanation, and in so many of these other documentaries we're seeing, you get straight propaganda footage out of hanoi about what their soldiers were doing, and we get direct interviews with the american marines and soldiers who are reminiscing in a personal way and they sat next to each other, and people can be led to one conclusion or another. winning momentarily, the 27th anniversary of saigon's fall, hanoi announced they lost 1.4 million soldiers dead. we lost 250,000, the south vietnamese lost 240,000. but clearly on the battlefield, our people did their job. in terms of articulating our message, it was very difficult, one, because it was an evolving message.

i was fed up with the optimism that seemed to flow without stopping from saigon. johnson had always had skepticism, but this is mcpherson who is 27 or 28 at the time. he would tear into the president. he was one of the few people that could get away with it. he'd just rip into the president. and as some describe him, he was the president's conscience. but the president, this is the question, what do we do now? yeah, we're kicking the crud out of, especially the vietcong. everywhere they are fighting much better than what is anticipated. the south vietnamese people are not rising up in revolt like the north vietnamese had hoped that they would. so this is a problem. so here becomes the debate. the military, as you saw this play out, in the behind the scenes, try to utilize tet to justify asking for another 206,000 troops. and from february to march of 1968, this is going to be a bureaucratic battle of epic proportions. where inside the pentagon and inside the white house, the debates are going to rage. what do we do? will 206,000 make a difference? if so, what kind

of january, 1968, saigon was alive with the festive spirit. people of vietnam, tech is a joseph--joyous in sacred time of year. troops seem to promise the people safe holiday free from the ever present anxiety of war. at the temple, people gathered to pay respects to the ancestors. on the eve of the new year, thousands of saigon families faced before the offer -- faced before the altar of their families. additional firecrackers of the celebration became the fireworks of war. the viet cong was taking advantage of the celebration and lost a savage attack on saigon, violating the truce. areas became a blazing inferno. block in ther capital city burned with the fires of viacom treachery. this viet cong treachery. taking place in january 1958. president johnson addressed the nation claiming he would not seek another term. said march 31j 1968. >> their attack during the tech holidays failed to achieve its printable objective. collapse the elected government of south vietnam or shatter its army anti-communists had hoped. it did not produce a general

a local radio station pulled residents about the 1500 beta refugees being airlifted from saigon and 80% of people surveyed did not want the military to bring refugees to their town. at one point, residents circulated a position demanding that refugees be sent to a different place and school children made jokes about shooting refugees. as far as i'm concerned, they can ship them back, one woman told the new york times. this support for sending refugees back to vietnam reflected broader national sentiment. in one national poll in june, 1975, 80% of americans believed the united states should arrange to send refugees back to saigon. in a town close to niceville, anxiety about refugees reflected anxiety about a weakening safety net. we have enough problems take care of, said a local farmer. one of his customers agreed they don't have enough money to take care of social security and they want to bring in more people. these economic concerns -- many believe that southeast asians -- in june 1975, from its -- 28% believed that refugees did not take jobs away from americans. a realtor in nearby

here is the attacks in saigon. to your right and all of the attacks of every major capital that was hit. johnson comes out and we knew this was coming. a lot of the people underneath him were like, no. even if we had their plans we would not have believed them. they amp a -- anticipated some kind of offensive but not on this scale. what will happen is this offensive is going to be a major tactical defeat for the north vietnamese and the viet cong made -- in particular. a strategic defeat. things happen. nothing stands out in this way any more than what happened when the police commissioner of saigon takes the vietcong suspected vietcong but he was very -- vietcong and executed him in front of the cameras. it leaves americans to question. this is important because i like to talk about the people closest to johnson and harry mcpherson described as his conscience described the execution as not only a demonstrated the impression we were building for years. we shared few human values. he goes on to add, raising his revo

a big cemetery outside of saigon where they put the word traitor. thousands of south vietnamese .oldiers who'd been killed that meets be healed. we did this in this country. it took a long time. we did it. there's a confederate memorial in arlington national cemetery put in there in 1912. i like to take them there and say this is how we make peace. we bring people together. we could do a whole show on that. host: we're talking with james as wend david maraniss look back on 1968. john from los angeles, vietnam war veteran, thank you for waiting. and.r: thank you, gentle i find the conversation a little scary. i would like to focus my remarks to the senator, who i do believe falls in the category of those who experienced things but forgets lessons this post to learn from them. vietnam was a terrible war. i don't know about the senator's recollection but most of the people in the field were drafted into the service. most of those people came back with that have not been healed and probably can never be healed . my personal experience was i went over to

as a boy, i went with my father to the air base in saigon, the night the p.o.w.'s returned from cap activity. john had left straight from han hanoi, and did not pass through the air base, but i witnessed how frail and ill and pale and battered his fellow p.o.w.'s were as they clamored out of the helicopters and into the glare of the tv lights. well, i was ready to revere any man who had been through that, and to find that this man was so friendly and cheerful and feisty and irreverent, that put me irrevocably into the mccain fan club. i noticed i was not alone. one telling measure of a man is his staff. john attracted people of exceptional talent and ability who became so devoted they would walk through fire for him. john attracted the administrator add -- admiration of foreign leaders, not just from great powers, but from remote and struggling countries. when we traveled in libya, john was received like lafayette. he had been there when it counted, when freedom there was in the offing. he was beloved in ukraine. he had spoken there when freedom there was in the o

white wine the high temperatures have had the teams out harvesting grapes earlier than ever before in saigon yarn was not specialist the production started about two weeks earlier this year with harvesting at the beginning of august already will be finishing today the young one will be in the shops by friday that's great the markets are waiting for it. like many here the vul family in mind specializes in a partially fomented young wind cold feet of ice or because of the sun the grapes are especially sweet this year failure to fruity wine with a high level of alcohol german wine makers expect the twenty eight hundred vintage to be exceptional they're among the few german businesses that might actually profit from climate change. diaz distance time but the average annual temperatures are getting higher we can see that but some forty years ago in one thousand nine hundred seventy six we also had a very hot and dry year. can also extreme highs so it doesn't mean that it's happening more and more often now that it's because so exclaim maybe next summer will be very cool and wet let's wait and see

embassy in saigon was affected. february 7, police fired on demonstrators at the black college in orangeburg, killing three and wounding 33. these are memories of people who studied black history. the republic of new africa was declared independent from the united states. 500 members in detroit with the intent to establish a black nation and the south. in the black self. one of their members, a generation on, is now the mayor of jackson, mississippi. responsible in large part of the civil rights museum in jackson, mississippi. i urge you all to see it. march 1, lbj announced in the most dramatic possible way, after a 35 minute speech, it has two sentences at the end of it we will not that he will not run for reelection. this is after two weeks of meeting with his group called the wise men. that is an interesting combination of people. some of whom wanted to soldier on in vietnam. that many of him what they truly think. from generals to people running wall street. the war cannot be won. it could be continued with ver

embassy is overrun in saigon. february 7th. orangeburg, three are killed and wounding 33. only people who study black history seem to remember the orangeburg massacre. in march, the republic of new africa rna declares its independence from you the states, with 500 members in detroit. with the intention to establish a black nation in the south. in the black belt. one of their members, a generation on is now the mayor of jackson, mississippi. and is responsible in large part for the opening of the new civil rights museum in jackson, mississippi. which i urge you all to see. march 31st, lbj announces in the most dramatic possible way, after 35-minute speech, has two sentences at the end of it. that he will not run for re-election. and only a small -- this is after two weeks of meeting with his group called the wise men, which is an interesting combination of people. some of whom wanted to soldier on in vietnam. but many give him when they truly think. from generals to you know people running wall street. which is that the war cannot be won. it can be continued with very small

guest: that photograph was taken in the chinese section of saigon . this was at the height of the tet offensive where the viet cong had come into saigon and had taken over the u.s. embassy. they tried to. they did not get in. but they got right to the edge. it was pretty rough. general luan on the left had just had some of his guys killed in very heavy streetfighting around that area. they arrested this d.c. suspect. there is an nbc film. there is a film of this thing happening. this photograph is one of the most powerful pictures ever taken, obviously. they brought that guy over and general luan pulled out his gun and shot him right then and there. of course, he was a reviled character after that. he lived right across the way in arlington at the end of the war. eddie was always torn by this photo. he said two lives were ruined that day. certainly, the vc who was killed and general luan who was subject to repulsion -- revulsion. guest: the cruelty of the war that is in that photograph is the cold dispensing of life. there's no feeling attached to it.

they drag their feet and saigon. lbj gets furious. he taps phone -- phones and he sends the fbi to tell people. we come to the first big difference between what is his story and done -- does and a biographer. nixon specifically directs him to keep them working on the vietnamese. that was pretty much as much i needed to know. that was a glimpse into his character. how far was he willing to? historian needs to answer question that is unanswered. there is a lot of things we don't know about the story . most important is we don't know what the effect was president -- the presidents government. in saigon there was opinions about whether they should join the talks. was the nixon message a tipping point? was it totally irrelevant? we don't know that but in the next 20 or 30 years we will get more declassified information from the national security council and we can make that judgment. we don't know anything about nixon's appeal to the taiwanese to open up a second front. nixon wrote a personal letter and it is in the taiwanese archives. how

they drag their feet in saigon and lbj hears about it, gets furious. he taps phones, he sends the fbi out to tail people, and you come bigort of the first difference between what a historian does and what a biographer does. what i found in the nexen library were notes -- and the nixon library were notes from bob haldeman of a conversation was nixon specifically direct haldeman to keep working on the vietnamese. believe it or not, that is pretty much what i needed to in's a glimpse into the character, how far he was willing to go. the historian has to answer a question which is still unanswered. if there are historians in the audience who want to write a great book, there's still a lot of things we don't know about the story. the most important is we don't the what the effect was on government in saigon. there were all sorts of conflicting domestic opinions about if they should join these talks. was the nixon message a tipping point? was it totally irrelevant to domestic political concerns? we don't know that and maybe in the next 20 or 30 years, we wil

challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve. >> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event. undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san franciscans to see is the dynamics of the filipino-american culture. i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to d

i remember back in 2000, 25 years after the fall of saigon, he went to vietnam and visited hoa lo prisonow what, the wrong guys won the war. and they robbed the best people, through thousands of people fleeing by boat, they sent hundreds of thousands of people to their re—education camps. so he knew that as a politician, he needed to push for the normalisation of diplomatic relations but at the same time, he needed to support the vulnerable and the courageous of vietnam's so every time he went back to vietnam, he would take time to meet up with civil society leaders. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we speak to the man making premier league history — neil etheridge is the first philippines international to play in the english top flight. also still to come on the programme: celebrating the queen of soul. thousands of fans are at a tribute concert for aretha franklin in detroit — ahead of friday's funeral. she received the nobel peace prize for her work with the poor and the dying in india's slums. the head of the catholic church said mother teresa was a

they drag their feet in saigon. lbj gets furious, taps phones, sends the fbi out to tail people, and now you come to the sort of first big difference between what a hisser does and biographer does. what i found in the library were notes from bob halderman, nixon specifics him to keep anna chinault working on the vietnamese. for a biographer, believe it or not, that was pretty much as much as i kneaded to know. that was a glimpse into nixon's character. how far was he willing to go? the historian has to answer a question which is still unanswered, and if there are young historians in the audience want to write a great book there's still a lot of things we don't know about that story. the most important is we don't know what the effect was on president tu's government. in saigon there were all sorts of conflicting domestic opinions about whether they should join these talks. was the nixon message a tipping point? was it totally irrelevant to domestic political concerns? we don't know that, and maybe in the next 20 or

guest: that photograph was taken in the chinese section of saigon. this was at the height of the here the viet, w cong had come into saigon, and they had taken over the u.s. embassy. they tried to. they got right to the edge. it was pretty rough. general on the left just had d in veryis guys kille heavy streetfighting around that area. they arrested this vc suspect. film of an nvc -- nbc this happening. this photograph is one of the most powerful pictures ever taken, obviously. they brought back i over, and -- general over, and luan shot him right there. he was a reviled character after that. he lived right across the way in arlington after the war. eddie was always torn by this photo. he said two lives were ruined that day, certainly the vc who was killed and the general who was subject to repulsion every day after that. war isthe cruelty of the what comes up in that photograph. there is a cold dispensing of life. is no feeling. this guy is on the opposite side. move on. there are three photographs taken by ap photographers. iwo jima photograph is t

time, many of them were petty criminals and they had sent them to take that location them out of saigon jails. we did not know that. we found out the hard way that some of them were supporting the north vietnamese. this campr jackson: was different from some of the others you had been in on the theious tour because affiliations of indigenous troops were different. bennie adkins: that's right. not only the mountain personnel, some of the south were ofse soldiers different ethnic groups. for instance, some training we were doing, sometimes we would or threeork with two people to do some teaching. katie lamar jackson: there you all are. you start to notice, maybe there is activity outside the edge of the camp? bennie adkins: we did not have any problem with that. we had two nurses. usy come in and said -- told that we were going to be attacked and there was a large and dismisslude sides of north vietnamese troops and they were going to attack this special forces camp. when the weather was so bad that we could not receive air support. and thatar jackson: weather came a little earlier than e