(guns firing) - [Narrator] Thousands of Wisconsinites put their lives on the line during the Vietnam War.

- And so we're shooting like crazy, I mean, that jungle was lit up.

- [Narrator] Fighting against fierce and devious enemy forces.

- The Viet Cong truly were terrorists.

- [Narrator] In a mysterious and unforgiving landscape.

(guns fire) Their sacrifice not appreciated during an unpopular war, which changed many of them forever.

- I've often asked myself, "Why, why?

"Why did I survive?"

(militaristic orchestral music) - Welcome to Mettle & Honor Vietnam.

I'm Mark Concannon in front of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial here on Milwaukee's Lakefront.

For the next 30 minutes, we will hear the stories of Wisconsin veterans who served in various capacities during the conflict in Southeast Asia.

Mettle & Honor is part of the War Memorial Center's Veterans Story Project, a video oral history of our state's vets who participated in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The War Memorial celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2017.

We'll have more on the WMC's storied history later in the program.

(dramatic orchestral music) Some members of Wisconsin's military were in Vietnam even before America became formally involved in combat.

Mike Grebe with the 81st Airborne reported for duty in November of 1964 as an advisor to a Vietnamese battalion.

Mike says that even then, he could tell this would be an uphill battle.

- The Vietnamese were losing the battle for the people.

The Viet Cong truly were terrorists.

They systematically killed off most of the civilian leaders, (moving tank echoes) village and provincial chiefs.

I saw the aftermath of several of those murders.

Easily they would disembowel the village leader, and just leave him out in the village square or market for civilians to see.

So we were losing the battle for the people.

And the Viet Cong controlled the countryside at night.

That's when they did all their moving.

We would send out some ambushes at night but we did not control the countryside at all.

We were involved in close combat, I was never wounded.

I was shot at but I was never wounded.

And we had three or four situations where many of our soldiers were killed or wounded.

I was frightened, less so the longer I was in the country.

I think you become a bit immune to that after a while.

Your senses get dulled.

But sure, it's a frightening experience.

(inspirational piano solo) - [Mark] Regular US ground forces entered the fighting early in 1965.

(guns firing faintly) George Banda was a US Army medic, who lost his best friend, Tommy Turand, during one horrific battle.

- That same day, that same morning that we lost Tommy, I was wounded, I got shot, grazed left side of my head, severed an artery but I was smart enough bein' a medic, you know, knew how to stop the bleeding.

I had run out of trauma dressings and bandages because there was so many wounded that morning.

But I was smart enough, I had my T-shirt, and I just ripped a piece of my T-shirt, and I put it into a little ball and I pushed it into the hole and stopped the bleeding and then I took another long strip and then just tied it in a band.

Real tight to keep the blood from squirtin' out.

'Cause I'd lost a lot of blood, didn't realize how much blood I lost.

But I was transferred to-- Interesting 'cause the hospitals were so full that day.

There was just so much going on.

Not only with us but with other fire bases around in other areas around Vietnam, they were taking a lot of wounded, American wounded.

So they sent me to a Army Marine hospital.

And that's where I recovered.

I spent a couple weeks in the recovery.

At a Marine in Danang.

A Marine Navy Hospital there and they treated me pretty well.

- [Mark] When you got hit, did you then keep treating other-- - Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah!

'Cause I felt okay, I mean I wasn't passing out.

Later on, as the hours went by, then I started getting weaker and weaker but I kept treating them.

These are the people I know, these are my buddies and I wasn't gonna let that stop me.

(inspirational piano solo) - [Mark] William Sims also performed heroically after he was wounded by a grenade, saving his lieutenant's life after his unit walked into an ambush.

- The guy throws a grenade, and the grenade bounced and I see it coming, and I turned my head to the side, 'cause I know I said if it bounced, or something like that, it's gonna bounce past me.

No, it bounced and it bounced close to my leg, this leg here, and it blows up.

When it blows up, I feel my leg lift up right?

And I said, "Oh no, I don't wanna even look at this."

But I looked and my leg is still there.

Then I see a little trickle of blood comin' out here.

If I hadn't had my boot on real tight, it could have done some serious damage.

- [Veteran] And then you went on and kept fighting after you're wounded, right?

- Oh yeah, you got to.

The VC had seen me, this is before anything happened, my weapon had jammed.

And the guys next to me weapon had jammed, and I said, "Hey, we gotta get outta here."

And I'm lookin' around, you know, I'm crouched down, I'm lookin' around, and I see him layin' on the ground, the lieutenant.

So I know that I ain't got no weapon, okay, and the nearest weapon is him, really.

Okay, so I go and grab him, pulls him about 15 or 20 yards to a foxhole.

(moving tank echoes) And one of the machine guns had got hit.

So when I was putting the lieutenant into a foxhole and loaded his weapon for him to protect himself, I saw this happenin', okay.

The guy had gotten raked on a side, it killed him instantly and he fell over the machine gun.

So I runs to the machine gun after I put the lieutenant in there, and I pushed his body off, and so now he then bled into the chamber, so I gotta clean that chamber out, okay, before it's gonna fire.

(moving tank echoes) So I'm wiping with my (chuckles) elbow and anything I got, pick up the machine gun and clear it, then I go to the left flank.

As I said, I hold that position until I was relieved.

(inspirational piano solo) - [Mark] One of the biggest problems for US Forces was fighting an enemy that often wore no official uniform.

Fernando Rodriguez discovered danger could be sudden and unexpected.

- We saw two people comin' in on our location, and we had to wave 'em in and they had their hands up so they were surrendering.

So of course, we had to talk 'em in, and walk 'em in and when we got down, we secured them and then we decided to to search 'em.

Little things give them away to you as the one that's doing the searching that they may or may not be friendly.

In this case, one of the guys had a Zippo lighter and it had the name of a Marine on there.

So we knew most likely the Marine didn't give it to him.

So we kinda treated him as not friendly.

And when I was searching the other one, my partner, of course, was watching me in the back here, and I had my rifle in my left hand, and I kinda bent over with my right hand to do searching and had the hand up here, and all of a sudden I just felt my rifle drop from my hand.

And they say that your life spins in front you, you know, goes by in seconds, and it seemed like everything was real slow motion until I hit the ground and it came back real fast.

The first thing I said was my rifle.

A Marine without his rifle is nothing.

So I was trying to get my rifle but I couldn't move my arm.

And then I heard some shots, and my partner shot one of the prisoners, and then the other one laid back down because he was goin' for my rifle.

That's what he told me afterwards.

It's like something that happens in 30 seconds that just stays with you forever.

And I always think that the bullet that went through me is the one that hit the lady that was sittin' there watchin' this goin' on and it hit her in the head.

When I fell, she fell on top of me.

And my arm that won't move with her on top of me which makes it even harder and I have her brains falling on me.

And all I could do with my right hand was to try to take 'em out and just try to get 'em away but I guess as I was doing that, I was putting (chuckles) more blood all over me.

And I was finally able to push her off to the side, and I tied my own tourniquet, we were taught this in bootcamp.

If it's just comin' out, don't worry about the tourniquet, just put pressure on it.

If it's squirting out, tourniquet.

So, I remember I took my web belt out, I still carry it and tied it around me.

Until the corps men got to me and was able to do what he could there and I medevaced out in the helicopter.

(inspirational piano solo) - Many Wisconsin television viewers know the name John Malan who became a very popular TV weatherman in Milwaukee.

But what many of John's viewers might not have realized, is that John was involved in serious combat in Vietnam as a member of an armored unit.

- I was sent to 11th Armored Cav Regiment and I got assigned to drive an armored personnel carrier with the headquarter's unit.

(moving tank echoes) There were a couple of bad battles but my worst was in November, I think it was 1969.

(moving tank echoes) It's a blur.

We were getting ready to go close to Cambodia.

And we went past the furthest northernmost base.

After you get past that base camp, it's tough, there's a lot of NVA, North Vietnamese Army, Viet Cong.

And you're right by the Cambodian border where the Ho Chi Minh Trail was.

And it's active.

It's active, active, active.

So we pull up and we're about maybe 10 miles from the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in the border of Cambodia.

We pull up and we're establish a base camp here, and we did, just like we normally do, we put out the claymores and you know, everything.

The first night, we didn't know it, but we set up kinda right over an underground Viet Cong base camp.

So they were like underground below us where we set up.

And all of a sudden, about two in the morning, they start comin' at us.

And they came out as a wave of of troops, you know?

And a couple of guys came out of the ground there, throwin' the satchels, which are the bombs, what they call the satchel charges, which is a homemade kind of a bomb.

And so we had people inside the perimeter, and a bunch of people outside the perimeter enemy, and so we're shooting like crazy.

I mean that jungle was lit up.

(bombs exploding faintly) We had many tanks blown up, people killed, many injured, including myself.

But my injury was you know, not that bad.

Just a piece of shrapnel through the knee.

(inspirational guitar music) - [Mark] 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the War Memorial Center.

In the early 1950s, several community groups saw the need for a fitting memorial to honor the soldiers killed in World War II.

The community pooled its resources in a truly remarkable fundraising campaign, which resulted in construction starting in 1955, and the War Memorial being dedicated on Veteran's Day, 1957.

- A group of people got together and thought, "Let's not have a statue, let's not do a flagpole, "let's do a living, breathing memorial."

It was painstaking, they had to find a place to do it, they had to raise a lot of money.

It took a couple few years but they raised the money.

They raised $2.7 million.

Now, $2.7 million came from 70,000 individuals and business in the Milwaukee area.

It was on marquis at theaters, it was on sides of buses.

So the community got behind us.

This is the community's War Memorial Center.

- [Mark] The War Memorial Center is currently working on plans for major renovations to continue its mission of serving veterans of all wars.

To learn more about the War Memorial's programs, services and future plans, visit WarMemorialCenter.org.

(inspirational guitar music) Many who served in Vietnam were not welcomed home as heroes.

In fact, there were several who encountered hostile receptions when they returned to the States.

Lupe Renteria recalls one such incident at a party in Chicago.

- I'm in this kitchen, you know, these northside flats, so I'm in the kitchen and these two young guys come in, young guys that are probably 18, you know, I'm 20.

Says, "Hey, where do you work?"

I said, "I don't."

They said, "Where do you go to school?"

I said, "I don't."

They said, "Oh."

I said, "Talk to me!"

So another guy comes in, and he's in a coat and tie so I'm saying a little older than 20, maybe 22 or something.

He's in a coat and tie and he said, "Hey, man, "where do you work?"

And, "Oh, where do you go to school?"

And I said, "I don't," I said, "I deal in the service, "and I wore the uniform."

And he said, "Oh, how do you like the Army?"

And I said, "I'm in the Marine Corps."

He goes, "Oh, Marine Corps!"

He starts doin' this.

To this day, I have no idea what look I gave this guy, but he just went, "I'm so sorry."

(chuckles) So he's like, "I'm sorry, man."

I said, "No, that's okay."

Said, "I just got back from Vietnam on Thursday."

So anyway, he introduces me and she's very pretty and very nice and, "Oh, nice to meet you!"

And then he says, "Lupe just got back from Vietnam."

And she's, "Oh, really?"

And I said, "Yeah."

She said, "You ever kill anybody?"

I said, "Yeah."

And she said, "You sadistic bastard."

And as big as I can make my finger, as loud as I could scream.

And Sly and the Family Stones playin' in the background, one of my buddies are in there, and I just screamed.

I said, "The first person I killed "is a bitch about your age!"

The place goes silent, my buddies come up, said, "Let's get outta here."

And then that was, I was home for 20-something days, and that was day three.

I spent the rest of the time denying it.

Denying being over there.

(inspirational piano music) - [Mark] The Vietnam War ended in 1975.

But for a lot of vets, the war continues today, as they deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

(guns firing faintly) - I've seen guys you know, actually flying through the air, once a rocket hit.

(sighs heavily) - [Mark] Were you ever hit?

- No.

I was one of the lucky ones.

No, I was never hit.

But just seein' your friends die.

And I've heard it said that folks don't make friends and that's after a while bein' there, you come to find out why.

And the grief that come from Post Traumatic Stress it just causes, you just get off by yourself.

I could tell you some stories about folks asking questions why is he always by hisself.

Why is he always sittin' in the dark?

The reason I prefer the dark was because it was safety.

In the dark, you can't be seen.

During the daylight hours, (moving tank echoes) you're exposed.

But the nights you have a chance.

And I've often asked myself, "Why, why?

"Why did I survive?

"Why couldn't I die over there "to come back to die a slow death "of memories, "not being able to "socialize like regular people?"

Don't ever let anyone say war is not hell.

(moving tank echoes) Because they'd be lying to you.

War is hell.

You can never regain (helicopter engine echoes) what you've lost.

(inspirational piano music) - John Koeppen also dealt with guilt after his Vietnam experience.

One incident in particular would forever change John's outlook on life.

- We were at Cu Chi which was the main base of the 25th and we pulled berm duty.

And what happens there, is kids would sneak in the wire and steal the claymore mines and they would sell them to the VC.

And they were doin' it to earn money.

That time we kinda knew it but we didn't really know it.

And so on guard duty, (bombs echo faintly) we would fire warning shots over their head.

That was the whole thing you'd find.

Tear gas, you'd try this and fire warning shots.

And I remember one time, there were these kids just wouldn't quit.

And so one time I raised my weapon and I fired a shot.

And I know I was damn close because the kid stopped.

All of them stopped.

And they all left that fence and at that moment I felt like "What kind of person have I become to shoot kids?"

And so I carried that, now it's in December, and I always feel that's one of the reasons I don't have children and I never got married and I don't have kids.

Because I felt there was a well of anger that could be tapped at any time.

And I just didn't wanna get into that.

(inspirational piano music) - While John Koeppen decided not to have children, Janice Dahlke is a parent.

She's a Gold Star Mother.

Her son Randy was killed in Vietnam.

Because he enlisted when he was only 17 years old.

Janice had to sign for him so that Randy could enter the military.

And she faced blame for Randy's death at his funeral.

- I was packing a present, a package for Randy for this birthday, and I looked out the window and saw the two servicemen coming up the driveway.

See, I was married twice.

And the first husband's third wife came up to the casket and said I killed him.

So, you know, if I had my faculties about me, I would slug her!

(laughs) I did not have support.

I loved him very, very much.

And I miss him.

I miss his laughter.

I think that's why I joined the Gold Star Mothers because you're able to talk to people, to women that are going through the same thing.

And I think that was more comfort to me to be able to talk to someone.

You get the crazy comments or you're grieving too much , get over it.

You get crazy statements like that, you know, what're you gonna say?

And it's people that should have understood you.

(laughs) I think that's what hurts more than anything.

(inspirational piano music) - Ruby Scheuing was a US Army nurse at Vietnam where she cared for countless wounded soldiers.

The Army had a major impact on Ruby's life.

She met Gary, a major in the Army Corps of Engineers, the man who would become her husband.

And it all happened pretty quickly.

- We got married during the Tet Offensive.

(laughs) - Really?

- Mm-hm.

- [Mark] Who married you, like a chaplain?

- Oh yeah, I was a convert to Catholicism, and I stay in touch with the chaplain that married us.

He came from the battlefields to our wedding in his fatigues, and said a few words, blessed us and then he left.

But the priest that married us was an Air Force chaplain.

We got married and then from the reception, we got on a plane with a Vietnamese general that was flying to Saigon and we flew right after the wedding, right to Saigon, we had to wait a couple of days because they were fighting in the streets in Tan Son Nhut.

And so we got out and yes, we were able to take a 41-day honeymoon.

I got my dress in Singapore, the girls, the bridesmaids got their dresses from the Sears catalog.

We had everything.

And they carried our reception on for a month after we left.

People didn't even know who were were anymore (laugh) and they were still having a drink on us.

(inspirational music) That's a happy ending that that worked out that well.

(inspirational orchestral music) - Thank you for watching Mettle & Honor Vietnam.

This program is part of the War Memorial Center's Veterans Story Project.

An oral video history of Wisconsin Veterans from all wars.

Our project is ongoing.

If you're a veteran or know someone who is, we would love to record your, his or her story.

For more information on how you can get involved in the project, visit WarMemorialCenter.org.

(grand orchestral music)