GBH Openvault

Vietnam: A Television History; Simulated Tonkin Gulf Incident

Part of The Vietnam Collection.

08/01/1964

1) CU Lieutenant. R.P.Connell and Ensign C.W. Bond on bridge looking out aboard USS Maddox; officer in FG scanning through window with binoculars and looking down through radar. VG2) CU Lieutenant Connell looking through window on bridge with his binoculars. VG3) CU Radar repeated on bridge; Lieutenant Connell putting his head down over eyepiece to scan with radar repeater. G4) CU Lieutenant Connell turning around and giving reading from radar repeater. VG5) CU Captain J.J. Herrich sitting in his chair on bridge, speaking with Commander H.L.Ogier. VG6) ECU Captain Herrich speaking with Commander Ogier messenger comes in bringing a message; message; message is handed to Captain Herrich. G7) MCU Commander Ogier and Captain Herrich in battle gear, stepping out on wing of bridge. SV G8) CU Captain Herrich pointing out to sea and looking through binoculars; Commander Ogier is standing by; the two officers then leave scene. G9) ECU Captain Herrich pointing out to sea; DD is seen on horizon in far BG. G10) CU Captain Herrich looking out to sea and pointing with his right hand.11) CU Commander Ogier looking through his binoculars on wing of bridge. VG12) LA MCU Gun director training; lookout in battle dress is seen forward of gun director, looking through binoculars; gun director continues training around. VG13) LA CU Gun director training, showing radar dish situated on top of gun director. G14) LS USS Ticonderoga; smoke flares on water in mid. FG; "copter recovery is made of LTJG Albert J. Showers, VA-56 pilot of A-4A which crashed on take-off from the Ticonderoga. G15) LS Ticonderoga underway; smoke flares off to right mid. BG on water. VG16) MS PAN; SH-3A "copter flying over water and lowering it"s sling to LT. Showers who is situated in a one man raft after the crash; smoke flares seen in BG on water; Pan down, showing sling entering water near Lieutenant Showers. G17) HA MLS Lieutenant Showers leaving one man raft and swimming toward sling, which is some distance from him. G18) MLS SH-3A hovering over Lieutenant Showers during the rescue; smoke flares are seen ir left BG. VG19) MLS SH-3A hovering while hoisting Lieutenant Showers up out of water.20) HA MLS White float, part of a pod from the A-4A, porpoising in water. G21) MLS Men in whale boat close to Maddox apparently picking up part of the gear from the crashed A-4A G22) CU Roger D. McKeithan scanning horizon with his binoculars, while on lookout watch.G23) CU Lookout, L.C. Alexander scanning horizon with his binoculars and passing word on his phones, then lifts binoculars back to his eyes. G24) LA MCU LTJG P.D. Corsett training gun director; his hands are on both the control handles.

Series

Vietnam: A Television History

Title

Simulated Tonkin Gulf Incident

Series Description

This 13 part series covers the history of Vietnam from France's colonial control, through the 1945 revolution, to the 1975 U.S. evacuation from Saigon and the years beyond. The series' objective approach permits viewers to form their own conclusions about the war. 101--Roots of a War--Despite cordial relations between American intelligence officers and Communist leader Ho Chi Minh in the turbulent closing months of World War II, French and British hostility to the Vietnamese revolution laid the groundwork for a new war. 102--The First Vietnam War (1946-1954)--The French generals expected to defeat Ho's rag-tag Vietminh guerrillas easily, but after eight years of fighting and $2.5 billion in U.S. aid, the French lost a crucial battle at Dienbienphu--and with it, their Asian empire. 103--America's Mandarin (1954-1963)--To stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, America replaced France in South Vietnam--supporting autocratic President Ngo Dinyh Diem until his own generals turned against him in a coup that brought political chaos to Saigon. 104--LBJ Goes to War (1964-1965)--With Ho Chi Minh determined to reunite Vietnam, Lyndon Baines Johnson determined to prevent it, and South Vietnam on the verge of collapse, the stage was set for massive escalation of the undeclared Vietnam War. 105--America Takes Charge (1965-1967)--In two years, the Johnson Administration's troop build-up dispatched 1.5 million Americans to Vietnam to fight a war they found baffling, tedious, exciting, deadly and unforgettable. 106--America's Enemy (1954-1967)--The Vietnam War as seen from different perspectives: by Vietcong guerrillas and sympathizers; by North Vietnamese leaders; by rank and file; and by American held prisoner in Hanoi. 107--Tet (1968)--The massive enemy offensive at the Lunar New Year decimated the Vietcong and failed to topple the Saigon government, but led to the beginning of America's military withdrawal. 108--Vietnamizing the War (1968-1973)--President Nixon's program of troop pull-outs, stepped-up bombing and huge arms shipments to Saigon changed the war, and left GI's wondering which of them would be the last to die in Vietnam. 109--Cambodia and Laos--Despite technical neutrality, both of Vietnam's smaller neighbors were drawn into the war, suffered massive bombing, and in the case of Cambodia, endured a post-war holocaust of nightmare proportions. 110--Peace is at Hand (1968-1973)--While American and Vietnamese continued to clash in battle, diplomats in Paris argued about making peace, after more than four years reaching an accord that proved to be a preface to further bloodshed. 111--Homefront USA--Americans at home divide over a distant war, clashing in the streets as demonstrations lead to bloodshed, bitterness and increasing doubts about the outcome. 112--The End of the Tunnel (1973-1975)--Through troubled years of controversy and violence, U.S. casualties mounted, victory remained elusive and American opinion moved from general approval to general dissatisfaction with the Vietnam war. 113--Legacies--Vietnam is in the Soviet orbit, poorer than ever, at war on two fronts; America's legacy includes more than one half million Asian refugees, one half million Vietnam veterans and some questions that won't go away. Series release date: 9/1983

Duration

00:08:33

Asset Type

Stock footage

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Department of the Navy. Ticonderoga (Aircraft carrier). (05/08/1944 - 01/09/1947)

Helicopters

Lifeboats

Binoculars

Lookouts (Military art and science)

Aircraft carriers

Naval officers

Boats and boating

Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Turner Joy (Destroyer). (08/03/1959 - 11/22/1982)

Vietnam (Asia) nation

Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Maddox (Destroyer). (09/1947 - 1969)

Flares

Nationalism and communism

Destroyers (Warships)

Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Constellation (Aircraft carrier). (10/27/1961 - 08/06/2003)

Tonkin, Gulf of (Asia) gulf

Communications, Military

Search and rescue operations

National liberation movements

Headphones

Bond, George F. (George Foote), 1924-

War damage

Radar

Locations

Gulf of Tonkin, Asia

Genres

Documentary

Topics

War and Conflict

Creators

Ellison, Richard (Series Producer)

Publication Information

NARA

Rights Summary

Public Domain Rights Holder: NARA

Citation

Chicago: “Vietnam: A Television History; Simulated Tonkin Gulf Incident,” 08/01/1964, GBH Archives, accessed April 16, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_66CC998E05534141967E221410567EF7.

MLA: “Vietnam: A Television History; Simulated Tonkin Gulf Incident.” 08/01/1964. GBH Archives. Web. April 16, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_66CC998E05534141967E221410567EF7>.

APA: Vietnam: A Television History; Simulated Tonkin Gulf Incident. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_66CC998E05534141967E221410567EF7