Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Braswell Deen

WWII | K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

They were successful on Peleliu, says Marine Braswell Deen, if you can be successful with an 80% casualty rate. He was disturbed to later learn that the airfield that was the objective of the assault turned out to not be needed. At least his exhausted platoon got a much needed break. (3:26)
Back then they called it psychoneurosis. Men spent from battle would sit and stare off into space according to Braswell Deen, who was lucky to survive Peleliu and preparing for Okinawa. Only one man from his unit, Odell Evans, emerged from those two battles unscathed. (3:41)
Braswell Deen was relieved when he landed on Okinawa, but that feeling was short lived. The enemy was mostly on the South end of the island and his unit spent the first few weeks cleaning out the North. He was the talker when they were clearing caves, yelling in Japanese for them to come out before the grenades came in. (6:45)
They took and lost the Okinawan village three times, says Braswell Deen. It was flame thrower tanks that eventually led to the Marines' victory there. As they moved on, he had to leave the man next to him who was shot through the head. It was about this time that an enemy grenade landed in a foxhole and Bill Foster threw himself on it, earning a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor. (4:12)
The Japanese were dug in on Okinawa, like on so many islands, and the Marines were mounting a furious assault. Charging Wana Ridge with a Thompson submachine gun in his hand, Braswell Deen felt like he was hit with a ton of rocks. It was shrapnel and it knocked him out of the fight. Evacuated to the rear, the brave Marine faced a needle. (4:59)
Two weeks after his discharge, Marine Braswell Deen entered the University of Georgia law school, and two weeks after he graduated, he was running for office. After decades of public service, he still thinks about those nights on Peleliu. (2:06)
Brian West

Vietnam | N/A

Growing up in a family of all boys, Brian West went to college in Illinois but couldn't avoid the draft so he decided to enlist in the air wing of the Marines. After going to flight school, Brian left Chicago for Vietnam nervous for the future. (5:55)
Brian West arrived in Danang as a First Lietenant, offloading in torrential rain, a metaphor for what was to come. After getting stationed at Marble Mountain, Brian West settled down into his company and started flying. (7:24)
Learning how to fly over Vietnam was difficult to master, but Brian West started to get the hang of it. West remembers the mission he was on when he was shot over Phu Bai. (9:18)
Brian West and his company had a few different ways to pass the time in between missions. Keeping spirits high was essential to staying sane while abroad. (5:57)