200,000 americans were in the country. when the war ended in 1975, nearly 3 million americans had served in the conflict and more than 58,000 lost their lives. up next, the screaming eagles in ves nam, a u.s. army the big picture episode documenting the activities of the 101st airborne division from its arrival in the spring of 1965 through january of 1967. >> okay. move out. ♪ >> from out of the skies over vietnam come the screaming eagles, the heroic pair troopers of the 101st airborne division. their fabled exploits during world war ii can never be forgotten. in december 1944 outnumbered and surrounded by the germans at bastogne, the men of the 101st courageously fought on. when the germans ordered them to surrender or be annihilated, their acting commander gave the historic reply, nuts and they stood until the germans were defeated. it is in this same tradition that the men of the screaming eagles first brigade today serve on the jungle battlefront of vietnam. ♪ >> on a warm spring day in 1965, several army aviation companies arrive in vietnam aboard the "uss iwo jima." it is the first of the assault helicopters which soon will fill the air over this embattled land. even as the poi pilots move to the field, all of south vietnam is infested with vietcong. from the north they stream down the ho chi minh stral and like a disease spread throughout the southern republic. into this setting come the first of the screaming eagles, the aviation crews of company a forerunners to stop the communist enemy. for the republic, this is a time of desperation. here at the airfield, 40 miles southeast of saigon, the job begins for these airmen. along with helicopter crews from other aviation companies, the men of the 101st are to be processed for movement to their new homes in the forward areas of vietnam. their mission now is to create the helicopter bases from which u.s. army forces can be flown into combat against the vietcong. quickly now they make ready. in the next 90 days before the airborne infantry arrives, these men will do a man-sized job. on the 29th of july, 1965, the first brigade of the 101st airborne division arrives at cameron bay. the brigade with its supporting elements is commanded by colonel james timothy who is welcomed by vietnam by ambassador maxwell taylor. and by general william westmoreland. in the ceremonies which followed, colonel timothy gets his first look at the strife-torn shores of vietnam and for the first time the brigade unfurls the proud emblem of freedom over the land it is here to protect. to ambassador taylor, the occasion holds a special meaning as the one-time commander of the 101st talks to his son captain thomas taylor now a member of the screaming eagles. concluding the day's events, some of the airborne infantrymen stage a parachute jump for ambassador taylor and general westmoreland. it is to be one of the few jumps these paratroopers will make in vietnam. the screaming eagles descend toward the earth and the unknown hardships of jungle warfare they will face in the months ahead. within two weeks after their arrival at cameron bay, the screaming eagles are september northward on their first combat operation. as they sail 130 miles up the coast, it is mid-august and the brigade hasn't yet had time to establish its permanent home base in vietnam. while the vietnamese are celebrating the lantern festival, the men of the 327th and 502nd are moving inland into the central highlands. their mission is to clear and secure the area as a base camp for the u.s. first cavalry division air mobile which will be arriving from the united states in a matter of days. at the pass overlooking the area, the landings begin. after months of special training at ft. campbell, kentucky, this is it, the moment every man knew would come. a vietcong main force battalion has been reported in the area and the airborne infantrymen expect instant contact. but it doesn't come. the vietcong are evasive, biding their time. it is an anticlimax for the men. this is their first lesson in vietnam, no big battles when expected. instead, a nagging war of attrition with primitive booby traps and snipers. only when he thinks the situation is favorable will the enemy show himself in force. so the long, hard task of fare reting out the communist enemy begins and the screaming eagles are good at their job. by the end of september they will kill 600 vietcong. it will be a difficult thing and some of these airborne fighting men will die, but the job for this time will be done. as the vanadvance elements begi rifg, they commence taking over the area secured by the screaming eagles. finally the men of the 101st airborne are fwree to head sout and establish their own home base in vietnam. from the central highlands the pri gad moves 170 miles to a toa coastal town. this is to be their permanent camp. though weary from their campaign in the hill country they work through october until the base has been set up. general westmoreland visits the screaming eagles on thanksgiving day 1965. he's pleased with their performance. even as he returns to saigon, the brigade is conducting local search and clear operations. as the new year begins, the entire brigade is deployed 100 miles to the north. known as the rice bowl, this is the richest rice growing region in central vietnam. from this fertile area come crops to feed all the people of central vietnam. but the vietcong have been seizing the harvest and collecting unbearable taxes from the frightened farmers. now come the screaming eagles to protect the rice harvest and stop the vietcong. code name operation van buren. the orders read search out the enemy in the sector and destroy him. this assignment will be tedious. the vc desert their dwellings avoid confrontation with the americans yet the district is infested with an enemy who continues to molest the farmers. the search goes on. brigadier general willard pearson takes over k3457nd of the screaming eagles on the 29th of january 1966. he steps up the pressure on the vietcong. >> fire! >> across the broad reaches of the province, the vietcong are pursued. for the most part they evade capture and withdraw to disappear in hidden underground sanctuaries. in the wake of u.s. military operations, the enemy rice raids diminish but the vc themselves mangle with the local people and often are bypassed attacking our units from the rear at night. on 8 february the deputy commander of the u.s. military assistance command vietnam lieutenant general john heinke comes to personally evaluate the situation. what he sees convinces him that the enemy is well entrenched in the district, that it will require repeated efforts by the 101st to dislodge these communist guerillaguerillas. operation van buren becomes operation harrison. february becomes march, and daily the screaming eagles patrol the jungles and foothills surrounding the rice fields. enemy force headquarters are located and hit by the u.s. air force by b-52 bombing raids. the men of the brigade go in to check the results. daily they go out and daily they return. in 90 days the men of the brigade gain control of the region. now operating in small units, they kill 516 hard corps vietcong troops between february and april. the rice crops are saved. once early in march the men of the brigade receive a surprise visit from one of hollywood's movie heroes, robert mitchum. during this enjoyable interlude there's talk of the glamorous girls of the film world. mr. mitch um is given the opportunity to fire some of the weapons of the real life heroes in vietnam. in mid-april 1966 the second battalion of the 327th is left to guard the rice harvest and the rest of the brigade moves out on operation austin. two weeks in the area and then near the cambodian border. here with the ho chi minh trail enters south vietnam, the screaming eagles meet a regiment of the north vietnamese army. for a while the fighting is intense. the 502nd airborne infantry takes a number of casualties. it takes six days from the 14th to the 20th of may for the u.s. paratroopers to drive the north vietnamese aggressors out of their positions in the foothills. the communist regulars are well discipli disciplined, well equipped, and tenacious. in spite of heavy ground fire, army aviators get in with their dust off helicopters and the wounded are whisked away to safety. this is the enemy. when he was captured, he was carrying a minnesota gun made in c czechoslovakia. he won't be using it again. as for his comrades, they have been put to rout and in their hasty flight they have dropped their arms. over 100 of the north vietnamese lie dead in the mountains. victory is ours. but for the screaming eagles, the greatest testing is still to come. far to the north, the brigade launches operation hawthorne. this is a forbidding wilderness lying in the foothills of the mountain country which marks the border of cambodia. it's the first week of june and the air is heavy and humid. until now the enemy has held sway here. 30 miles north, the airborne engineers erect a crude bridge. a few miles beyond lies an american special forces camp. it has been under siege by the vietcong for nearly a week. supplies and ammunition are badly needed, and relief troops must get through. the first of the trucks begins crossing. near the bridge the men of b battery 320th artillery prepare for another firing mission. throughout the morning they have rained howitzer shells upon the enemy forces attacking the camp. now with fresh supplies of ammunition, they're ready to begin again. each time the shelling starts, the enemy withdraws their attacking forces to escape the punishing fires. when it is lifted, he regroups and again tries to retake the camp. the vietcong have shown no signs of withdrawing, but the artillery fire directed by those defending the outpost is having a telling effect. the screaming eagles are under fire. the enemy has come to silence the guns. communist fire comes from everywhere. out there the enemy is creeping in. he will try to overrun the american positions. the waiting is agony. then the enemy makes his move. this is it. live or die. in the forefront, general pearson, the boss here in hell. from bastogne to vietnam, the tradition remains unbroken, magnificent. the screaming eagles. the battle wanes a small part of operation hawthorne is over. some of the men of the 101st will fight no more, but for this day the bastions of freedom held. they came from the north, their weapons, not ours have been silenced. throughout the oppressive days and nights of june 1966, operation hawthorne continues. in the violent conflict which rages in the province, the screaming eagles repeatedly beat back prize troop units of the north vietnamese army. in 16 straight days of combat, the brigade envelopes the 24th north vietnamese army regiment and more than 500 of the communist aggressors are killed. it is the largest single battle of the war for the men of the 101st. the bitter struggle to preserve the freedom of this little asian nation is made more bearable as each man is enriched in spirit and strengthened in his resolve. at last the fighting is done. ♪ ♪ all the world are heard about the gallant screaming eagles and the battles of operation hawthorne. in recognition of their outstanding victory, the premier of south vietnam comes to the little town of dutch hill. the premier and the deputy premier expressed the gratitude of their nation in a way that fighting men can understand. these are some of the weapons taken from the enemy, the premier is told. in the hands of the communists, czechoslovakia, russia and even a variety of united states, french and british weapons which had fallen into those same enemy hands. living he of the north vietnamese regular army, six out of the 22 taken alive by the screaming eagles. premier ki confronts the adegreesers. you are lucky the americans have taken you, he smiles. on the 21st of july, following surveillance operations along the cambodian and laucian boarders, a new operation labeled john paul jones gets under way. its purpose is to open and secure a 16 mile stretch of national highway 1 on the coast. the accomplishment of this mission will speed up logistics support of the tuy hoa area. it begins with elements of the 502nd infantry landing at the bay where, without encountering resistance, they begin moving inland to link up with the oncoming units of the 327th. the inland forces push forward, securing the highway and sweeping the adjoining countryside. supported by helicopter gun ships, the troops clean up the operational zone within six weeks. but early september 1966, they have secured the bay and highway one north to tuy han. the brigade captured 40 vietnamese and vietcong and killed 249 others. while operation john paul jones is still in progress, the engineers begin construction work on the connecting highway the screaming eagles have done their job well and a new seaport is born. in the weeks that follow, the brigade protect the farmers as they harvest some 17,000 metric tons of the pressure grain. once again, the seshth becomes a battlefield and the vietcong suffer heavy losses with 239 killed and 42 captured. the vietcong have had enough. they are nowhere to be found. 11 vietnamese are found, however, in a vietcong prison camp. they have apparently received no medical attention while in the hands of the communists. the vietcong for several months, the ailments range from open sores and skin infection toes malnutrition. as well as deformities caused y by -- this man, a forler vietcong was later captured by the vc cannot tell of his unspeakable nightmares. on the 9th of december, the odyssey of the brigade continues. back up north. the vietcong have been cleared from huyan province at this time and the screaming eagles are moved to the north in record time. the deployment of the brigade by means of parachutes marked the first jump in more than a year for many of the men. but they're in superb physical condition and the jump goes well. as 1966 draws to a close, the brigade descends to take part in operation ticket, fighting side by side with vietnamese army forces and militia. the men of the 101st once again will scour the countryside, finding and finishing the enemy. the operations continue until the 21st of january, 1967. then, after more than a year of absence from think brigade. they headed for their first combat. now, the lsts are taking them home. on the 26th, the last convoy rose into camp. it will be one of the before i deer's last official acts as commander, welcoming them home. two daes later, general pearson transfers command of the first brigade, 101st airborne division to the new brigade commander, before i deer general f.h. mathson. general angler pins the legion of merits on the uniform of their departing commander. though the screaming eagles bid farewell to the commander who led them dm 14 combat operations from one end of vietnam to the other. the screaming eagles, as for the rest of the united states military forces in vietnam, the valiant effort to keep that young nation free continues. however far it moves from our shores, the conflict between those who cherish human dignity and those who would snuff it out affects us all. in this belief, the gallant men of the united states army stands steadfast, not only in southeast asia, but wherever they may be asked to serve in freedom of cause. follow the c-span cities tour as we travel outside the washington beltway in cities throughout america. >> the idea is to take the programming for htv and book tv out on the road, beyond the beltway, to produce pieces that are a little bit more visual, that provide, again, a window into these cities that viewers wouldn't normally go to that also have really rich histories and a rich literary scene, as well. >> a lot of people have kind of heard the history of the big cities, like new york, l.a., chicago. but what about the smaller ones, like albany, new york? what's the history of that? >> they've been to over 75 cities. i mean, we will have hit 95 cities in april of 2016. >> most of our following on c-span is event coverage. these are not event coverage type of pieces. they're shorter. they take you some place. they take you to a home, a historic site. >> we partner with our cable affiliates to explore the history and literary culture of various cities. >> the key entry into the certify is the cable operator who then contacts the city. because, in essence, it's the cable industry bringing us there. >> we're really looking for great characters. you really want your viewers to be able to identify with these people that we're talking about. >> it's an experiential type of program where we're taking people on the road to places where they can touch things, see things, and learn about -- you know, it's not just the local history because a lot of the local history plays into the national story. >> if somebody is watching this, it should be enticing enough that they can get the idea of the story. but also, feel this is just in our backyard. let's go see it. >> we want viewers to get a sense that, oh, yeah, i know that place, just from watching one of our pieces. >> the c-span mission, as we do with all of our coverage, bleeds into what we do out on the road. >> you have to be able to communicate the mess aenl about this network in order to do this job. so it's done the one thing that we wanted it to do, which is build relationships with the city and our cable partnerses and fit in and help the team. >> republican from montana, thank you very much for your time today. >> great to be with you. my pleasure. >> the fall of sigh gone happened 40 years ago aurp 30ag. the army and air force reflect on their vietnam war experiences and escape from the country following the fall of saigon. it eventually settled in kentucky. this is hosted by the university of louisville. it's about an hour and a half. >> so you would like to introduce two moderators for tonight. dee dee tram and donald tram. no relation. they are really amazing folks and the leading effort and community leading effort behind moving voices and behind this evening tonight. it is amazing to have worked with them the last few weeks in putting together this event. dede