The Deadliest Pig of the Vietnam War
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- As night ushered in a hushed silence over Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Petty Officer David Larsen sat nervously in a patrol boat as it cautiously made its way through the dense jungle along the perilous upper Saigon River. It was August 2, 1969, and the 21-year-old gunner’s mate was part of a team with a vital yet risky mission: to set up a two-boat waterborne guard post on the murky river and intercept hostile river traffic.
Also on board was a six-man ambush team charged with protecting the pair of patrol vessels from any land-based threats. As the fiberglass boats reached their position, they cut their engines and quietly glided toward the riverbank, where Larsen watched the six soldiers leap onto the shore and quickly disappear into the darkness of the trees, unsure what lurked among them.
Waiting with anxious anticipation, Larsen wiped beads of sweat from his brow. The tension was made even more unbearable by the suffocating humidity. Suddenly, the silence was shattered by a staccato volley of machine gun fire, swiftly followed by the thunderous boom of rockets exploding. Larsen had a bad feeling about this one. Moments later, his fears were confirmed when a distorted, panic-stricken voice came blaring over the radio: the ambush team had been seriously outnumbered and desperately needed help. The patrol crews were under strict orders to stay on their boats come what may, but he wasn’t about to let his buddies bite the dust on the jungle floor…
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As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -
I served with Dave onboard USS RANGER (CVA-61) in fifth division and also in Vietnam in River Division 593 “IRON BUTTERFLY “. He was a great sailor and an outstanding person. I am proud to have been his friend!
Thank you Sir for your service and sacrifice much love and respect.
thank you for your time service to this nation and us. I had 2 brothers who were in Nam you
He is a relative to my family, my youngest brother just got out of the marine corps, timothy larsen, heard awesome stories
I live not far from his hometown. I never knew there was such a war hero close by.
WE need more stories like this,,,,,lotsa guys died or were maimed in body and mind,,,,for some high up leaders of all sides to take control of the little man,,,it goes on today,,,look at the leaders and politicians throughout the world,,,, Dave did what he could and was a terror it seems,,,glad he made it back home,,,
I'm glad you and other CZcamsrs are describing these Veterans Stories and letting us know of their heroism! From WW-II, Korea and Vietnam its imperative to get those stories before we lose more to old age! Thanks!
These memories need to be recorded. I'm 64 and read so many stories about personal experiences that it is hard to imagine some times. This farm boy knew he needed to try and do all he could to save his..."team".
That makes two of us brother 👍
Can you imagine going to war with all these woke kids that don't even know what bathroom to use?
Thank you the history is owned by us.
Yes, very important…🪖
Respect to this brave, brave man. How fortunate we are to have such men.
Как повезло,что маленькие худенькие азиаты уничтожили столько американских оккупантов😂😂😂азия вперед!!!
Now that is a teammate. People in the military understand exactly what he did. You cannot stand the thought of your fellow servicemen dyeing without you doing something about it. Thank You for your sacrifice and service sir. RIP, you earned it.
Never a truer outspoken .
Cometh the hour , cometh the man .
Honour & Respect . Lest we forget . .
R.I. P.
Главное,помните,что американских оккупантов фашистов ненавидят во всем мире и уничтожают их везде.янки гоу хоум иначе мы прийдем к вам,за морем не отсидитесь
LEST WE FORGET, God bless all the veterans from the Vietnam War.They served in a troubled war and were treated terribly when they got home.All those people who disrespected the Vietnam Vets should be ashamed of themselves, Welcome home guys, God bless you all.LEST WE FORGET 🇺🇲🇦🇺🫡🎖️
@BenjaminRowe-hc7uo
From all of us who returned, and the too many that did not. Thank You and God Bless all the Gold Star Families.
We should be ashamed of American
My dad was born and raised in Parsons Ks and served in WW2. The eastern Ks farm boys had a humble grit and love of country that is hard to describe. Most were very soft spoken but tough as nails! Respect to Petty Officer Larson!
I was in the Mekong delta in 2005. I accompanied a friend who had served in the 101st airborne. I went with him so that he could finally bury the demons that had followed him home. He served in Vietnam in 1971-72. It was the best thing that could have happened to him. He had been a tank commander, and at one time was blown out of his tank, being badly wounded. He was patched up in a hospital in country and sent back out in a new tank 6 weeks later. He carried his wounds and was inevitably killed by his wounds. 30 years after the conflict had ended. He pased away 9 months adter we had got back. The changes in his life were obvious to his entire family. I considered it an honor to be his travel mate for such an important trip. I was 2 years too young to have served in Vietnam myself. The Mekong Delta is a very beautiful place. It wasn't during the war.
God Bless every one of these Heroes … who fought for our country.
They fought for each other mostly
Rip Kenny Rankin.
Riv div 521. ..boat 617
Nov 16, 1969
My cousin Wayne Anderson was on the USS Pueblo & was captured by the N. Koreans. When he finally returned, he told me about the treatment the crew & Captain Denton endured. It was bad.
Yep, seems they’re all sadistic bastards in the Asian Pacific during wartime?
@@crazyralph6386 lol, yeah, and our troops were all angels. Its war, you are trained to hate the enemy, then its easy to kill and mistreat them
All these stories have one central theme, one man Can make a difference. 🤠👍🇭🇲
Proud to say I served in the US Navy Riverine Force! Thank you Petty Officer Larsen for your unwavering service to our great country and Navy.
Many many Hero's served in Vietnam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They all were!
@@navret1707 well...
@navret1707 I don't think they all were heroes, to be honest. They had a draft system. Everybody had to go, the alternative was prison. War brings out the best and the worst in people. Don't be naive about it.
Bull they served proudly block me out again coward
Now, these videos are so much better than the Vietnam movies in theaters, IMO. All true American heroes.
Never leave your fellow brothers behind.
This appears to be another exceptional series which I hope to share with my father who served in that war. I have to figure how to make it simple on a weekly basis for him to watch. He's 93 and I'm a 1000 miles away....working on it
The great gun designer genius John Moses Browning invented the “maw duce” M2 50 cal BMG. This weapon is the best belt fed weapon ever devised with the most ballistically coefficient round ever devised. M2’s are still being used today all over the US military and will be far into the future. The Pig or M60 unfortunately is no longer being utilized by the US military.
I served in the ADF.. Sydney University regiment,..got made up as a m60 gunner..not fun to humb around but a pleasure to put down surrpressing fire
@@RoyBennett-dz2cq my son is in the US Marine’s right now he got to shoot a M60 that was the Philippians Marines but the US doesn’t use it anymore he said.
@@craigthescott5074 I know ,it was and still is a great piece of kit.based on the German m42..now they knew how to make weapons!
This guy has a Navy career that my dad mirrored or he mirrored my dads. Went to Vietnam on an Aircraft carrier, my dad on the Kittyhawk, then went to the special operations units we now call SWCC.
Though my dad has long passed away and I cannot remember which flotilla he was in.
Though I think was on a different type boat as he manned a double M2 on the front. He did some dismounted patrols searching for deserters in villages near the shore in the delta.
I’m reading a book about marine snipers now in Vietnam , can never get over the bravery
I just finished reading Last Stand At Khe Sanh.A dam shame the way vets or treated return after they returned home. What's the name of the book your reading?
I went to Vietnam recently. Now the war makes me incredibly sad.
They say America lost the Vietnam war...look at it today and it certainly does not seem so. Vietnam has adopted capitalism and never became the Communist hell hole that Presidents Johnson and Nixon tried bombing into the stone age.
Uh the m60 was called the pig because of weight of it and its components.
I'm using my wife's tablet. The Army had a 155mm howitzer, the M-114, that they called a Pig also.
“Kurtz got off the boat… he left the whole fkn program.”
David Larsen showed great ambition, which is the result of great character.
People like Mr. Larsen who is endowed with it, performed a very good act.
Larsen's principles directed him.
Can think of only one word, Respect !
The M60 was nicknamed 'The Pig' not because of 'It's insatiable appetite for ammunition' but for it's weight to carry slung or handheld and for its cumbersome and quirky breakdown of the weapons components making it both a "pig of thing to carry" and a "pig of a thing to quickly and easily field strip, clean and get back into action".
Facts are what make a good mini doco. Not just made up or misread/misinterpreted nicknames of weapons systems and so forth.
Nobody is forcing you to watch.
@@Kneon_Knight The man is right , but no one is forcing you to listen......
I carried the " pig" as a Marine, a love hate relationship. The weight with heat and humidity was a killer.
@Kneon_Knight no one's forcing you to be an ahole... yet here you are
@@alanbrooke3237 I carried the "pig" in the Army. It was a mother to hump up a Korean mountain, especially in the winter.
Great account and thank you for showing the bravery of David and so very many in that conflict.
RIP Sir. Duty done.
Talking about the M-60 while showing the M-2. SMH
Did you come here just to bitch?
There you go !!!!! //Lars
Yeah he’s showing the hippo not the pig 😂
I know rite!!!!! Smh
Hey if the head of the ATF doesn’t have to be a firearms expert, neither does any CZcamsr. 😅
Why didn't he receive the Medal of Honor?
Not that I agree, but he did disobey orders, so they found a middle ground
When you said the biggest pig I thought you were talking about Johnson.
I was a kid during this era.
These guys were heroic and misused terribly
That boy got busier than a one legged man at an ass kicking contest , R.I.P WARRIOR !
Thanks to all those brave service members. Who fought to keep America Free. 🇺🇲💙😎💪
American wasn't in danger
14,600 pound boat, NOT 14,600 ton boat!😂
Thank you Sailor
There's a difference between weight,& displacement
Yes, I had to go back and hear that again, you are correct.
My uncle Ivan was the Chief Petty Officer onboard the Aircraft carrier Ranger from 1968 thru 1969 then moved onboard the Midway until he retired. He brought me on a tour of the Midway and we tossed a Frisbee on the flight deck. I have a photo album full from my trip out the the Navy base in San Diego all the way from Maryland. He also got me Navy patches from different ships and foreign cash from Viet Nam, China, Japan, England, Spain , Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand.
Excellent work again. How about a video on Melvin Biddle? Or Richard Bong? Carlos Hathcock? Paul Smith? Any of these stories are amazing. Thank you for honoring courage under fire.
👍 Great choices too
👍👍
I vote for WHITE FEATHER
Dan Bullock U.S.M.C a story worth hearing.
Dark Docs has done a video on "White Feather" Carlos Hathcock some time ago.
In the Army we had a Quaid 50 4 50 Cals mounted on the back end of a 5 ton wrecker.
RIP
Brave warrior ; you’re not forgotten
Never underestimate us Kansas boys
Respect
Yeehaiuuu
0145 this came on. Instantly the smells of diesel, and jungle filled my senses
We were kids when we got to Nam. A few months later, we had aged many more than our actual age. Our teenage years were gone even though a lot of us were nineteen when we came home.
This was my husbands story. Severe ptsd the rest of his life till 2012 when he died of agent orange poisoning.
Bless Kansas.
Incredible story. RIP Sailor
At 14:28 claims its a 31 foot 14,600 ton fiberglass PBR seems extremely heavy for a 31 footer.
When I saw the photo of LBJ, I thought that's what the video was titled after...
When good men are doing good things for their fellow countrymen it doesn’t matter what their superiors might think. We just need to act for our brothers & sisters.
My brother and cousin, both joined the Navy at the same time, but didn’t know that until they were assigned to the same assault boat. My brother said it was so hot and humid. 24 hours a day. I had a cousin that was a fighter pilot in Vietnam. He committed suicide many years later, because he could not handle the cancer that most likely came from chemicals in Vietnam. My cousin became a heroin and pot attic, and my brother an
Alcoholic those boats had a high alcohol content in the fuel and by tweaking it somehow it became drinkable. My cousin passed away from liver cancer about 20 years ago, and my brother is still drinking all these years later, despite being about 70 years old. I guess some people can handle the good times with no effect and some can’t
My step-father was on the Riverine boats for THE ARMY as part of the MAC-V SOG 5th SF team and they went in and did hit and fades, LP's, and salting ammo dumps with C-4 7.62 ammo, they also rigged string mines, and they had 2 mortars on the boat. One fired Starburst shots, the other HE and WP rounds. The goal was to make the VC or NVA think they were being hit by a landborne force,,but in reality, it was just to get them to expose themselves and then call in an ARC light or a snake and nape run. While there were M-60's, the best guns were the M-2's that were dual M-2's, an early version of the Mark-19 40mm grenade launcher, an early version of the mini-gun, but also a 23mm cannon, the mortars, and the M-60's that would be limited to 500 rounds and were cooled by river water that was held in buckets above the guns and could be tipped onto the barrels. The riverine units used up the most M-60 a d M2 replacement barrels.on average, 4 per month per gun amd also used an average of 20,000 rounds of ammo per week among boats and 150-200 hand grenades, smoke grenades, WP grenades or thermite grenades per month. They went looking for a fight every night. These were big Mike boats and then smaller airboats with only 2 machine guns and 4-6 guys jumping off. Instead of 'parakeet' ops, they did 'eel ops'.
Salute American HERO, God bless you.
Thank you for your service,
RIP Hero Larson 🇺🇸
God Bless Our Vets!
*What is a Hero ? **_Someone who is scared to death but runs towards the gunfire anyways._*
Bless him Almighty Father
Amazing story
Where there any medals this brave man did not receive ?
Congressional Medal of Honor.
A lot of heros who died for a senseless war...
That's a "ma-deuce", not an m60. (just sayin')
He changed the thumbnail and the title, for some reason...
the ma duece is a50 cal i think. the m60 a 308 cal
@@kevinmartin41377.62
Thanks for your work ,making these documentaries. It's encouraging seeing and hearing what these American heroes faced, surrounded by commie forces, like we are
Respect for all Vietnam veterans
To the fellow with the Story on his friend being “Blown out of a Tank” and serving in the 101st Airborne. I served in the 1st Brigade 101st Airborne in Nam 1966-67 , and 82nd Airborne 1968. To my knowledge the 101st had no Tanks , usually relied on 11th Armored Cav Guys for Force Protection if moving on Roads, so not sure where that story comes from!
RIP, Sir…
Thanks for making this one. My dad built those PBR's in Bellingham WA. I actually have a plaque River Squadron 5 made for him.
Brave man. Much respect.
To all the operation game, warden sailors and marines, my utmost respect
I read a book about the Sea Wolves (Huey's that were for SEAL support), and the author mentioned that the chopper crew would put in a second spring to increase the fire rate of the mounted M-60s. Been about 25 years since I read it, so I forgot the exact method. Recoil/buffer spring, or something like that.
Never get off the boat, man!
Wow a true hero. His response of you know what you have to do tells you all you need to know about this man
RIP Warrior!
Called the pig because it was a pig to carry I thought? It’s got a pretty low rate of fire.
Cool video regardless!
Dude was a real life Rambo! Holy cow!!
Sylvester Stallone went to Switzerland to work as a Handyman/ Gardener during the Vietnam War. Nice and safe , while good ole American boys were dying for their country .
I'm sooo glad I found this channel! I feel like learning something important from this kind of content is a more mature than rotting my brain watching any of the other garbage on the Tube.🤠
Great video and heroic action by Larson and the other Americans. But what was the point of the mission: run off into the jungle until some of you get killed? So many Viet Nam missions seemed to have no legitimate military point.
Thank you for your inspiration and service.
RIP, you warrior poet.
God blessDavid Larson
When I watch these war stories and tales of incredible selflessness and bravery of these soldiers, I like to think that I too, would have the fortitude and strength of character to do the same. But I am not so sure that I would have the courage to not just follow orders and remain safe, while being able to justify my actions by saying “I followed my orders.
These are the greatest stories.
For those who have used both, how did the M60 compare to the 240B? I think the 240B was 26 pounds so it was slightly lighter. How did they compare for range, ease of deployment, reliability, etc.?
Sounds like a interesting story. Wish I could understand the narrator.
He’s a garbler!
Im high as hell. What a grest channel. I watched the tad story. This is well done also.
Salute!!!
Why are so many nave members from Kansas?
They want to see the ocean!
If you've Ever been to Kansas, you'd know !
Kansas has two types of weather.
My Father ( RIP ) grew up in Kansas City Missouri And Kansas, once he joined the ARMY and saw how good other places could be, i think he went back for a quick visit maybe 4 times over the next 60 years. They think it's the center of the Earth. I've met more guys from Kansas and Misery in my 20 years with the SeaBees than from anywhere else ( other than California ). As Dorthy said " There ain't no place like home". The best times she had was when she was gone from there... ☆
Why can’t you spell navy?
💯RESPECT BRAVERY AND HONOUR GOD BLESS YOU SIR ❤️🇺🇸THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE 👋🇬🇧🏴👍
..the narration...reminds me of Geophrey Lewis. ... Lets rock and roll...
Great information, Fabulous video footage, perfect cadence on the speaking role. I approve this channel!
This was a great story. I love the Vietnam war ones.
true heroe!
I picture the narrator talking like that when he brings a beer to his buddy 🙂
My brother David was on one of these boats in Nam 1969 or 70 . I think as a seaman .
Thank you David
Never get out of the boat.
They still lost. Backstabbed by politicians.
My tio a green Beret that serve over there he kewl I had no idea
Man You couldn't get me in the those boats you are sitting duck.
The boats move fast, people on the shoreline do not...
Who is the 'sitting duck'?
I wouldn't wana be on the VC's Receiving end
Respect
and today your soldiers demand lasers, drones, and whatnot gizmos
The ones I see just demand more welfare benefits as they sit on their hands..
Huh? So, they should not use the most advanced weapons today?
Are you alright in the head??? Why do you have to make it negative against today's service members?
What a stupid comment.
stop hating on america your just jealus were the best country in the world
...Jealous...
And please define "best country in the world".
@@gthomas302 we created the internet your on right now including yourube that should be enough
Great video, as always. Just one critique only because it didn't fit the story- you stitch videos together to tell a narrative, however, at the 3:03 mark there is footage of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Just letting ya know because there are several people working on the videos for these particular channels and it's a big operation and probably got overlooked. Anyway, great story! Thanks for telling it!
When I was a young man in a infantry Brigade in Panama I always called the M60 the pig because it was so damn heavy packing in the bush
Можно жить по приказу, а можно по совести, Дэвид жил по совести...👍✌👋
What an f'd up mess that war was.
I served on The Kitty Hawk and destroyer Hoel. Would of liked to serve in the River. However, it was over when I enlisted in 74.
It appears the spirit of bravery still resonates from Kansas. Dodge City and the aura of Matt Dillon still shines.
Just curious............. A fiberglass 31 foot PBR weighing 14,600 tons. I don't think so. Any comments? I am Vietnam veteran USS FOX (DLG-33) 1967-68. ☮