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Pat Cassetta

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Cassetta tells a humorous story about playing Italian love songs on a guitar during his unit's down time. When the men requested that he play Hank Williams, Cassetta's true Italian roots became impossible to deny. (1:09)

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When Cassetta and his unit arrived at Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped, the civilians were in awe of the technology the Americans were equipped with. Cassetta goes on to describe the wreckage and devastation that came as a result of the atomic bomb; it was unlike anything he’d ever seen. (2:37)

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Pat Cassetta describes his life before going to war. He was born in Italy, and when he moved to the United States he had to conjure up a way to get into the Marine Corps. A few months later he was training at Parris Island where a drill instructor mispronounced his name. Cassetta looks back upon the event and his training positively. (5:19)

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While in Okinawa, Cassetta and his unit were hit by a monsoon. The weather was as treacherous as the fighting. And once they moved to Kyushu, even the children there were trained to fight the American army off the beaches. (0:59)

Pat Richardson

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Pat Richardson had served three years and was at at college when he went back for more. His first service was as a nuclear weapons technician, which instilled a good sense of procedure and precision. This helped him tremendously in his later duty as an aviator. (5:18)

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While serving in a remote area of Korea in the early sixties, Pat Richardson was surprised when the water purification unit disappeared overnight. Nobody knew where they were for quite a while. He flew in helicopters while there, never thinking that he would fly them himself someday. (4:32)

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He was at artillery school manhandling howitzers in the mud. That all ended when Pat Richardson went to a briefing from an aviation officer signing up men for flight school. No mud up there. It meant two more years of service, but he still jumped at the chance. (4:28)

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Most days, helicopter pilot Pat Richardson ferried troops on assaults. On other days, there were a variety of single ship missions including "sniffer" missions that were highly technical and a little boring. He would also ferry VIP's and special teams. He recounts one mission down to the Mekong Delta where he picked up an entirely new skill. (8:59)

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Pat Richardson's helicopter was blown up at Phu Loi, but he wasn't in it and it wasn't the enemy that blew it up. While it was up on the rack for maintenance, from out of nowhere a rocket screamed in and it erupted in a huge fireball. As the men on the base scrambled for cover, it became clear that it wasn't Charlie shooting at them. (4:14)

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Pilot Pat Richardson details the different models and modifications of the workhorse aircraft of Vietnam, the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, known as the Huey. He reveals how it got that name, and why his commanding officer was doubly upset that one was accidentally destroyed by an errant rocket. (3:56)