For five days, nine Americans waited inside a house in Huế for a rescue that never came.
Then the enemy came through the door.
In the second and final part of Taking Requests, Taking Fire, John Bagwell’s story moves from siege to survival as the position occupied by AFVN Detachment 5 is finally overrun during the Tet Offensive.
Three men would be killed.
Five would be captured and spend years as prisoners of war.
John Bagwell escaped alone.
Shot through the foot and separated from friendly forces, John found himself moving through enemy-held Huế with no clear path back to American lines. The Army had already reported him dead.
But “The Scrawny Thing” was still alive.
John recounts the chaos of the attack, the men he was forced to leave behind, and his desperate attempt to survive while wounded and alone in a city consumed by fighting.
His escape would take him through the streets and rice paddies around Huế as he searched for a way back to American forces.
Taking Requests, Taking Fire, Part 2 is the conclusion of John Bagwell’s remarkable story — from radio disc jockey to survivor of one of the most dramatic episodes of the Tet Offensive.
It is also the story of the men of AFVN Detachment 5: those who died, those who were captured, and the one man who made it out.
Featured in this episode:
John Bagwell — Armed Forces Vietnam Network disc jockey and Vietnam veteran
Learn more:
Visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund at vvmf.org
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