Ghosts of the Battlefield Articles

The Pig: The M60 Machine Gun and the Sound of the Vietnam War

There are weapons that become associated with a war because they were present, and there are others that become almost inseparable from the memory of it. The M60 machine gun belongs firmly in the second category.

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The Trouble Bubble: The OH-6 Cayuse, Vietnam’s Loach, and the Little Bird That Refuses to Retire

By the late 1960s the OH-6A was operating in Vietnam in the roles for which it had been designed, but combat rapidly pushed the aircraft into missions that made ordinary observation sound almost civilized.

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G.I. Jo and the Great Bunny Hunt: How Bravo Company Brought a Playmate to Vietnam

In January 1966, Playboy Playmate Jo Collins traveled to Vietnam to visit wounded soldiers and the men of Bravo Company, 2/503rd, 173rd Airborne. Her visit became an unforgettable moment of laughter, connection, and home in the middle of war.

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"The Scooter" The Tiny A-4 Skyhawk, The Little Attack Aircraft That Carried a Giant War

The A-4 earned nicknames including “Scooter,” “Tinker Toy” and “Heinemann’s Hot Rod,” affectionate names for an aircraft whose modest dimensions concealed an extraordinary ability to carry weapons into combat.

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The F-4 Phantom II: The Fighter That Went to War and Changed American Airpower

Few combat aircraft have become as recognizable as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. Its enormous engine intakes, bent outer wings, downward-angled stabilators, tandem cockpit, black exhaust trails.

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The M21 Sniper Rifle: The Weapon That Rebuilt the U.S. Army Sniper Program

Its development was driven by Vietnam. The Army entered that war having largely allowed the sniper skills developed during World War II and Korea to atrophy.

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The Rescue at Bu Dop: Captain William Walker and the Crew of UH-1C 66-00692

On the morning of August 8, the 173rd was supporting South Vietnamese troops operating near Bu Dop in Phuoc Long Province, close to the Cambodian frontier. The ARVN force was being advised by American SF personnel. Captain Walker was one of them.