no no no no no no no no no no no no vietnam is a nation both ancient and modern. bursting with life. rooted in history. and in communism. it's where american soldiers fought for vietnam to have democracy more than 50 years ago. and where my father served as an army combat pilot. now i have my own mission. oh, my god, trekking to vietnam. my dad would have loved us to see for myself. oh, imagine the places where dad earned his hard won wisdom. his name is there. join me for this adventure of a lifetime. i'm harris faulkner, and for those who watch fox news, they see me on a couple of shows. the faulkner focus on outnumbered. and when i get to work, i honestly cannot wait for that moment that i get to spend with americans who are watching fox news. all right, guys, let's rock and roll. i'm addicted to it. and while i do love a good glam session, the real reason i go to work is sitting with an audience that i know cares about the country. and i didn't make it here on my own. i've been blessed with a wonderful mom and dad who especially lead with their faith and patriotism. my dad, lieutenant colonel bobby harris, was a veteran of the vietnam war. he served two tours as a combat pilot. the absolute mindblowing part about my dad was that there was nothing in his past that would have forecast the rarefied air that he would breathe as a pilot and as a dreamer. his family grew up very poor in the sticks of texas. and again, this was a time when the nation was divided. but my dad trusted in his own potential. he believed he could find freedom and opportunity by joining the military. so he did the military and afforded me the place to be free. that's probably difficult to understand, but the structure of the military was my first chance at freedom from having to be alert about something as simple as a drinking soda. i even wrote a book about the lessons my father taught me. nine rules of engagement. but after he died christmas morning in 2020, i realized there was still so much i didn't know about a defining time in his life, his tours of duty in vietnam and a divine assignment was revealed to me. and in my christian faith, that means that i've been assigned by the lord to go complete a mission and i think that when you actually walk in the footsteps of someone who had to make split decisions in war time, you learn more about that person you love than you can ever imagine. i began mapping out my journey to vietnam, where i would walk my father's combat trail and explore his lessons of faith, bravery, and determination. my journey begins in new york, where i board a plane and fly more than 12.5 hours to dubai, then another plane for many more hours, and then on the ground, some driving to the heart of saigon. 89.3 million people live here. that's more than new york city. wow, what a road trip. okay, so 22.5 hours of flying, and i am here in ho chi minh city, vietnam or saigon as we all know it. my dad spent two combat pilot tours in the vietnam war, so i've come back to retrace his most important steps. i want to find out what he did as a warrior, and how another american soldiers and military members like him, what they did, how they made a difference in vietnam, and what it's like today. i am going to my number one guy that would give me the total picture. he taught at west point for several years. he's a former service member and a military historian. i'm going to see brian to talk. brian chose to meet me at a powerful place. this is actually where the war ended, and it's a great starting point. and you said we were starting here. why? because right through these gates, at 1030 in the morning, april 30th, 1975, two north vietnamese army tanks crashed through those gates and ended the war on this lawn in front of the presidential palace. and the climax of 30 years of fighting, the russian made tanks smashed down the gates and took up positions in the ground. there was no resistance. today we call this independence palace. but back during a time frame when the americans were here, this was the presidential palace. the president of south vietnam lived here. and so when this place falls, the war is over. the war in vietnam had been raging for 20 years, including more than a decade of american involvement, a american combat troops finally left the country in 1973. suddenly, the communist north could push toward a complete victory. so those are the actual tanks that came through the gates are several of them claimed credit, but we know which 390 was the first tank it. so there was like, what bravado about who crashed through the gate first. oh, absolutely. somebody wants to be the one to bring this regime to its knees. the north vietnamese were supported throughout this conflict by the other communist powers, specifically the soviet union and the chinese communist party. that's what we're seeing all over the world now, with china and russia sending the money and the equipment to help those that they want in the game to win. when saigon fell, a desperate crush of humanity, including foreign journalists, rushed to the american embassy just down the road from the palace, trying to make it on to the helicopters that were ferrying people out of the country. suddenly, we two had to get out and fight our way to the american compound where the helicopters were landing. brian and i ventured to the rooftop of a building used by our intelligence agencies. this building here, pittman apartments, was the old cia headquarters and the u.s. agency for international development. americans, the south vietnamese, everybody trying to escape this country. vietnam has fallen into the hands of the north vietnamese. and that's going on all over saigon. it was panic with communist soldiers closing in. a cia helicopter pilot made one final stop on the rickety roof of the pittman apartment building. there's that iconic shot with people being loaded onto aircraft from the rooftop of this building, the last american helicopter on the roof, repairs to lift off the last of the evacuees fleeing before the advancing communist army. let's head up to the rooftop. what are you expecting to see while we're up here? in my mind's eye, i'm seeing that cia agent. that air america officer reached down his hand and try to lift people to freedom. the helicopter was not built for that many people. but how could you say no? desperate people in their families are looking up at you. right. and there's there's a line of other people wanting to get on, but this is the last aircraft out. let me slow down for a moment in respect and gratitude, especially for our prisoners of war, some of whom did not get out right away or at all. their sacrifice was not in vain. the fact of the matter is, vietnam was going to be a hard place for an american victory. just consider the long, fraught history of this nation. various asian dynasties ruled the land that would become vietnam before it officially got its name in 1802. france took control of the region in the mid 1800s, and it remained a french colony until world war two, when japan invaded. but after japan's defeat, the french reoccupied the southern half of vietnam. in the north, which is situated close to china. communist leader ho chi minh seized control and declared independence, sparking the first indochina war. america sided with france, hoping to stop the spread of communism. it was the start of america's incremental but ever growing involvement, and so six different american administrations would be involved. well, and that's part of the issue, isn't because we have each president having his own view of how things should go. and that led to what my dad used to call mission creep, where we had an idea in the beginning and then it kept changing. yeah. absolutely. right. in 1954, the geneva conference created a provisional military demarcation line, splitting vietnam into the communist north and the pro-western and south. but ho chi minh wanted all of vietnam. and in 1959, he declared war to united under communist rule. and then kennedy comes in and would provide all kinds of equipment, training, support. and then gulf of tonkin happens in august of 1964, two u.s. destroyers stationed in the gulf of tonkin off the coast of vietnam. radio. they had been fired upon by north vietnamese forces. a response by the president will be limited and fitting. we're no longer being the advisors helping the vietnamese fight for themselves. we've now taken over and we're in the lead. brian. we have a lot to learn from vietnam. i'm so glad that i have you for this journey along with me and navigating where my father went. i'm so grateful. let's go do more. all right. fox nation is forever grateful to those who have put this great country first. we're continuing to offer all active military and veterans their first year of fox nation for free. celebrate our country with brand new shows and new seasons of exclusive content. you can only see on fox nation wars. how really did you think that you would survive honoring those who put their lives on the line and gave their all for our freedom? fox nation would like to thank active military veterans this memorial day. sign up and get your first year free. [cars honking] i'm a guy who lost a bet. and my dignity. get out of the way! as if watching my team lose wasn't punishment enough. what are you looking at huh... it's a one speed. hahaha. hahaha. and if you have cut rate car insurance, odds are you'll be paying for that yourself. so, get allstate and be better protected from mayhem... like me. hey, i'm walking here! why choose a sleep number smart bed? can i make my side softer? i like my side firmer. sleep number does that. now, save 50% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed. plus, free home delivery when you add any base. shop now at sleepnumber.com i wanted to see one of the places where my dad actually flew combat missions. this is the saigon river. we've come here because this was one of the missions that my dad flew. he almost didn't make it back. and so i wanted you to kind of navigate how dangerous it was at that point to be out on these waterways. this river we're on is a battlefield. now, today, you can see the city has grown up. back then. all along here would have been mangrove swamps, tall trees, easy places for an enemy to hide. so this was the base. he would fly down here and the viet cong knew that took off. and i was going to fly over the room. and i'll do the little trees just on the humble side of the river. nobody was in the plane with me at that point. they were firing tracer fire at shadows, things like they were coming straight from the finish, the fifth round or so. it was an illumination type around it, showing them which way to shoot so they can direct their fire onto your father's aircraft. and his plane flies low and slow. and so it is a target when you see them and they come in, it looks like they are coming towards your face and they just kind of spread it across the river. now, of course, when he landed back a long time, his plane was shot up. so i was very fortunate. yeah, that was the scariest thing to happen to me. under that second tour, he was commanding an aviation support company, a logistics company that repaired some of the most important aircraft. over a thousand of them in this field force down. so will be enough. so his headquarters, where he probably slept most nights, was down here, but he had three platoons. he had a platoon up at 2:00. he had a platoon at going on and then way up in the central highlands. he had a platoon up at play coo. so your dad would have flown nonstop moving around to check on his units throughout there i found that a website of his old unit and you found a website of my dad's dad's old unit. i saw the company command post and sure enough, his name is there. yeah, he was commanding the unit. i didn't know that he had made major while it was in vietnam. while i was in vietnam, a second tour that is a big deal. yeah. wow. amazing. you really, really are changing the fabric of what my family has always understood about my dad. this is really the first official mission tracing that we're doing, and it seems appropriate now with dad in heaven to let him know that he's always with me. and when i, after this journey to vietnam, present dad's flag to my family, which i've had since he was buried, i want my family to know that he came back and he saw vietnam, and that his steps were not in vain. and we've come back and dad represented in his burial flag. you were always with me. the american people will win through the absolute victory. remembering the heroes we can't afford to forget. when uncertain times. the recent landing of nazi submarines. sounds a newer load. brought out the best in us. we wanted to give, in fact, and go on with our lives. the secret history of world war two and the final journey of the greatest generation. new season streaming now on fox nation. fox nation would like to thank active military and veterans this memorial day. sign up and get your first year free. force factor total beets is the number one beets brand in america. that's why friends and family recommend total beets. now you can find total beets blood pressure chews at walmart so you can boost nitric oxide, support blood pressure and improve heart health. rush to walmart and find total beets. ♪ a love song that goes on forever ♪ ♪ for worse and for better ♪ ♪ we'll two-step together ♪ ♪ and i'll hold you closer ♪ ♪ each day i go through ♪ ♪ this dance of a lifetime ♪ ♪ with you ♪ what if there was a place where every kid got a chance to be great? the hersheys believe learning shouldn't have a price. everything we need is taken care of. our classrooms, they have no walls. we learn by doing through programs that give us an early start on college and our careers. here, we have the chance to be great. and you? you can be next. american troops in vietnam had far superior weapons and technology than the communist viet cong. but our side faced a determined enemy that used the terrain and guerrilla tactics to their advantage. northwest of saigon, in the coochie district, the thick jungle held many traps, but the real danger lurked below ground. the enemy dug hundreds of miles of underground tunnels. it's a clay with a lot of iron content, and so it's easy to dig. and then as it oxidizes, it gets really solid, almost like concrete. is the entrance. this is the entrance, right now. i can uncover it. okay? okay. yeah. oh my goodness. oh, no. i don't even think my body. sit down. this secret hatch actually full. look at that. easy going down at the time. it's very tiny, right. because made for the soldier at time. they got a slim and skinny body they can go through easily. the american soldiers tasked with searching and clearing the tunnels were known as tunnel rats. they would pull security, and then a small guy would go in with a flashlight and a pistol and go down in. this is three levels. there's a level that's three meters down. there's another one that's six meters down here, 18ft, and then there's 12m, 30 some feet down, 35ft down. and so we might bring explosives, but we'll only blow up the top level. you know what that sounds like hamas. they have these different levels. and then we saw the fence. they wanted to be able to stay down there for a long time. yeah. and that's more modern version of this. i'm going to go down, but you're going to tell me what to do here. i'll at first take it up, man. okay. so there's so little stream right here okay. all right. oh, boy. and you sit down. then i sit down, i put the lights down there. look down. all right, all right. i'm really claustrophobic. people, so i am claustrophobic. and i have hips. oh, man. this is like, the width of my hips. did women get in here? yeah. oh, m g i mean, oh, my goodness, i guess. how could they stay in here? yeah. this one's for you. all right. i'm going to try to climb back up the arms out first, and then you can turn sideways. okay, i see the step. i think i got this. here we go. okay. another step. okay, okay. thank you. it. it's really hot down there. think about being an american soldier. who's. it's his turn to go down in there and go hunting the viet cong in that hole. special breed of soldier. a special breed indeed. we got a lot of heroes. oh, warriors are amazing today. america really needs to thank them. even before i left saigon, it was important to me to speak with american veterans like my dad, who bravely fought more than 50 years ago. hello. so we want to give you a hug. right. and so i had the great privilege of meeting nick, bob and jerry. jerry. oh, to meet you. so nice to meet you. pleasure to meet you guys. this is the first time nick, bob and jerry have returned to vietnam since they fought in the war. cheers. cheers. i want our audience to know the journey that it took to serve in vietnam. nick, tell me about your. it was a long journey. i have to college. i volunteered because i felt that that was the only option i had available. i had no clue what vietnam was about. i was with the u.s. army field depot and the name which was the largest coming in the vietnam war, 50,000 american soldiers. we were all young. i was fortunate enough to have a pretty good assignment, as bob will tell you about, you know, bob, why do you laugh when he says that? you would have never known we were both in the same war based on the lifestyles we had when we were here. everybody's jobs important. but he was in the supply world, and he lived in tonight going to the beach. he played volleyball. he had a vietnamese woman that did his laundry and starched his fatigues and ironed. and he's laughing. you guys are still at war. what was your journey? i'm a field artillery officer in the 101st airborne division. up north. everything i did was out on hilltops west of here in the mountains. but we fired, on average, 615 five millimeter howitzers between 600 and 1000 rounds a day. i saw my fair share of action on fire bases, but nothing like infantry men saw. jerry, tell me about your journey to get to vietnam. at the time, i was just doing my job, and i felt that i was blessed that i made it. you work for what i went through. you knew that the war was not popular at home. yes. and how did that make you feel? you're out on the battlefield. look, i was an officer in the army. i had a job to do and didn't matter what the public thought. my employer said, this is what you have to do. i did it when i came home august 4th of 67, when i stepped off the, the aircraft, i was proud in my uniform, and everybody was turning away from me, and i said i couldn't understand it. i says, here's my buddies. i just left them in the jungle. they're getting killed every day. what's wrong with our country? and i flew home, took my uniform off right away and didn't put it on for 50 years. well, you were shamed or what? well, i would like he was the word dumbfounded. i was dumbfounded with our country is not backing us. we're fighting for our lives. and all of our experiences should we put out there? we don't want to be a forgotten war. and that's how i feel. we will never forget. i won't let them. let's be real about it. there are some people in this country who just don't understand the military. i don't think they understand that democracy is not free. but when i meet a vietnam veteran, now i know to say these words. welcome home. thank you for loving our nation so much that you would go so far away. and her name. when you smell the amazing scent of gain flings... time stops. (♪) and you realize you're in love... steve? with a laundry detergent. (♪) gain flings. seriously good scent. and my fox nation team and i have now traveled south and east inside vietnam to a beautiful coastal city called vung tau. my dad had a very close call and boomtown. he was flying back to base, and the enemy were firing over his plane, and he needed help. an angel came in to that mission. somebody that my dad kind of referred to is a new best friend from artillery. this artillery man supported my dad's escape. my dad told me, and i'll never forget it. he said a lot of the enemy died that day to save him and angel and god's intervention. my dad knew prayer was his mightiest weapon. you may not know this, but when it comes to religion in vietnam, most people are either buddhist or daoist. there's a very small fraction of people who practice christianity. yet where i'm about to take you next may shock you, and it's tied to my dad's faith. i just had to see for myself. christ at boomtown. first, i had to climb more than 700 steps up a mountain. all right, so we have a lot of stairs to climb, and it's i don't know what is it, guys? about 100 degrees out here. and it's beautiful, but we've got quite the trek ahead. so i'm going to go ahead and go up the stairs. kudos to the fox nation team for picking the hottest day in vietnam. it's like wow, 100 degrees. all right. so you know, i've been carrying my dad's military burial flag in my backpack. and i take it out in times where on the battlefield and in the skies, he specifically saw a lot of war. i bring it with me here to the christ at vung tau, because i think there is peace. and i know that there is now room for dad's belief and strong faith in jesus christ. after three days in and around saigon, we travel nearly 400 miles to the coastal city of danang. unexpectedly, i landed an interview with fellow military brat and u.s. ambassador to vietnam, mark knapper. this is a very historic site upon which we're sending march 8th of 1965 here at what was known as red beach. the first u.s. marines landed. within months, additional troops were landing up and down the coast. one thing was clear american soldiers were here to stay and fight. my father came about a year later. and so now, in one generation, to have gone from my dad as a combatant to now serving here as ambassador, as his son, it's hard to describe. i've run into military brats like you and me. do you think that we're also drawn to this? i think it's in our in our dna to remember the sacrifices of those who were shoulder to shoulder with your father, with my father as they entered harm's way. and on behalf of their country. one of the ways that we and vietnam were able to address our own immediate past was through the search for missing, missing americans. and over 35 years now, we in the vietnamese have been looking for fallen american servicemen. we've managed to recover and identify 735 americans, but there's still more than 1200 who remain unaccounted for. but the mission goes on. and so i'm talking with the ambassador, and all of a sudden cameron, his attaché spokesperson, leans in with his phone and there's breaking news. turns out just the other day we had a remains identification from back in march. the individual identified was a marine captain forester, and his family has been notified. well, how about that? this is literally breaking news. forester's aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base. so december 27th, 1972 he lost his life and today we know who he is. every time we were able to successfully do this, identify remains. reunite them with his family. we can't help but get emotional. especially given the the lives our fathers led and the countries they served in their service to our nation. no, it's a big deal, ambassador. thank you. thank you very much to my heart. oh, that's kind of you to say thank you. fox nation is forever grateful to those who have put this great country first. we're continuing to offer all active military and veterans their first year of fox nation for free. celebrate our country with brand new shows and new seasons of exclusive content you can only see on fox nation. the war is hell really did you think that you would survive honoring those who put their lives on the line and gave their all for our freedom? fox nation would like to thank active military and veterans. this memorial day. sign up and get your first year free. ♪ ♪ [sfx] water lapping. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [sfx] water splashing. ♪ ♪ [sfx] ambient / laughing. ♪ ♪ the wounds of war never completely healed. but there are those willing to try. matt keenan and american war veteran who was stationed in danang in 1971. through his charity work, he met to nam as a child. to nam was a courier who helped deliver information about u.s. troop movements to the enemy. you know, just seeing you two together. wow. it makes me very emotional. my father didn't talk about the war, so i had no idea what was possible. why is this possible? your friendship. we have come to learn to respect each other as people, as military persons who were once on opposite sides. but now as friends. we remembered the past because you cannot forget it. but we look forward to a better life in the future. [speaking in vietnamese] matt helping trying to do good things, and it goes the same for me. i'm trying to do good things to you. and on that foundation, we understand each other well. and for that, we have become close friends. you know, matt, i want to talk with you about the war and just what impression it left with you and why you wanted to come back. i had one lasting impression. it was the day i left. it's supposed to be a happy day. i'm going home and i'm at that airport. plane comes down the ramp in the back comes down, and about 200 vietnamese woman, the children just crawling out of the back of that plane because they had to escape from the horrors of the war north of the name. that memory this week me every day. and it inspires me to be a different type of soldier, a soldier of peace who was really i open it. i mean, i love the word possibility, but i realize now it doesn't. it's not big enough. for that moment, this was more than possibility. this was god's miracle that i got to witness lord high. but you know. after leaving danang, we drove hours farther north up vietnam's eastern coast and arrived at a vibrant city with a history that stretches back to the fourth century. the imperial city of wei sits on the banks of the perfume river. the imposing fortress once contained palaces home to the imperial family. today, we know it is the location of one of the world's most consequential battles. a lot of people know the term tet offensive. why is it called out and what was it? yeah, it's one of the most significant events of the entire vietnam war. tet is the vietnamese new year. at the end of january 1968, saigon was alive with a festive spirit. and in that time, typically during the war, it would be a cease fire. but in that year, there's not one. the viet cong assault the entire nation throughout the whole length and breadth of vietnam, the traditional firecrackers of the tet celebration became the fireworks of war. when the viet cong attack 5000 come into the citadel on the night of january 30th, the communists fill the tablets themselves in the citadel and in topeka. people throughout the city. they raise this flag, the flag of the communist vietnamese, and for the south vietnamese and americans, that becomes a symbol that must be taken down. we come in. this is about a mile by a mile square. there are these walls. it's a fortress. this is a tough nut to crack. and so it takes how long? it's almost an entire month. this battle here is a brutal urban fight. all warfare is difficult, but urban presents different pro it's. leadership got involved. it went all the way to the top. my dad used to say about leadership. you have to think like a general. you've got to be able to do everything that you're telling everybody else they have to do. yeah, you're setting the standard. that sounds like how we won this part of the tet offensive that that is 100% right. and the infantry, we say, follow me. and that's what the leaders were doing. we then say, hang your flag back, south vietnamese. correct. and then it doesn't hold because we, along with them cannot win that war. the americans had just been told that the end is in sight, and then all of a sudden, the end is not in sight. support for the war in america evaporates after the tet offensive, americans took to the streets in anger. oh. oh, well, it's fascinating. and if it took all of that to take this mile to a mile and a half square and a month, i guess that was a sign that that was going to be a long conflict. and now we don't seem to have an endgame to how this is going to succeed. all right. let's look up, because this flag still stands over the citadel. right. now, i know. i'm sean larkin. join me as police officers. remember, hit the road in memory of the departed. and honor those who gave their lives. holding the thin blue line officer down, honoring the fallen with sticks. larkin streaming now only on fox nation. if you're an active duty first responder, military or military veteran, sign up now and get your first year free. [ cellphone ringing ] phone call from the boss? sorry. outdoor time is me time. i hear that. that's why we protect all your vehicles here. but hey...nothing wrong with sticking it to the boss. ooooh, flo, you gonna take that? why would that concern me? because you're...the... aren't you the..? huh...we never actually discussed hierarchy. ok, why don't we just stick to letting dave know how much he can save when he bundles his home or auto with his boat or rv. wait, i thought jamie was the boss. [ laughter ] it's funny because i'm not boss material! [male narrator] blood clots can happen to anyone. up to 900,000 people in the united states are affected by blood clots each year and 100,000 die from them. blood clots don't discriminate. you or a loved one could be at risk right now. the good news is blood clots can be prevented. knowing the risks and symptoms are key. on average, one person in the united states dies of a blood clot every six minutes. don't let that be you or someone you know. learn more at stoptheclot.org/spreadtheword. well, this is it, brian. the end of our journey together in vietnam. and you know, you've brought me to the dmz. why here? we're on the ben river. this is the heme long bridge. we're in the very center of the dmz. during the war, when your dad was here and just a few kilometers south of here, this bridge symbolized a divided country. the north, right here in this line behind us and the south today is symbolize a unified country. the dmz no longer exists. it's one country. it may be communist, but it's one. and so this is where that war ends. and this is where the peace and bringing it together begins. so with that, i want to thank you for for bringing me along this journey. and i think i want to leave you here with some time to reflect. absolutely, brian. thank you. well, it is my journey, but i'm never alone. it's because you know that in my backpack. this trip, i have carried my dad's military burial flag. this vietnam today is not the same that he saw on his two tours as a combat pilot. it is one that hopes to be quite a close friend with america, and i think my dad would be happy about that. you know how i know? because dad's flag and i can just walk over this line with dad watching from heaven. you and i will watch together to see what the future holds. my experiences in vietnam made me feel closer to my dad than ever before. i knew there was one more thing i had to do. my dad's youngest brothers, uncle tim and uncle ronnie, joined me for this final step of my journey. texas. whether it was pouring rain didn't stop us. we were all together at his funeral and they try folded his flag right. what do you think dad would have thought about me returning to vietnam? he was extremely proud of you. i think he would be satisfied knowing that you finally were able to get maybe a fuller picture of his military service and how far he traveled for the freedom of this nation. yeah, i think you're right. my mother used to write letters all the time. she would cry, but she knew he was coming back. and i remember crying. you cried? of course. that was my big brother. i recall one time when he returned home and all the kids in the neighborhood, everybody were coming outside to see him. wow. and he was a hero. everyone looked up to my big brother, lieutenant colonel bobby. our hands. we were together when the military try folded this and they handed me this flag. i thought maybe we'd take this time to gather over that flag and just take a moment of peace. for. ♪ ♪. shannon: i am a shannon bream put in as millions o