Vietnam

The platoon under attack

Pvt. Boys

Cpl. Wilson

The Frenchman

Vietnam was the final project of the 10th grade history class videos and the most viewed film of the war series. The video shows the experience of serving in a platoon patrolling the Jungle during the Vietnam War in the most tragic outcome. One portion of the video also includes a retelling of the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ during the French Indochina War.

## Plot

### First Half

The video begins with Private Boys stepping off a helicopter for his first deployment into the war after being drafted months prior. Boys is seeking Captain Indiana not only for the reason to meet his new platoon commander, but he also must deliver a message from Colonel Sanders giving the Captain orders to move to a new location. On his way into camp, Boys asks Private Joe where he would he be able to find Indiana. Joe informs him that Indiana has built a tree house as a command post directly above them so Boys climbs up. There is reason to believe that Private Joe was actually a child that lied about his age when joining the army.

Indiana is seen playing his favorite card game, blackjack, with some retard when Boys comes in giving the message. Indiana is slightly disturbed with the news that the platoon has to relocate, but he accepts the orders without complaint and then sends Boys to meet Sergeant Bushido in order to be shown around. When Bushido is found it would seem as though he may have been drunk as he had just finished bottles of gin and whiskey. Bushido asks if Boys is the delivery boy since he had put in for more shipments of whiskey but Boys emphasizes he would like to be shown around the camp. Bushido displeased states "they don't pay me enough to take orders". Indiana then arrives questioning Bushido's actions and then informs the men they will be heading out. Bushido offers to drive the jeep but he soon crashes it. Because of this action many have determined Bushido truly was drunk but no other soldiers yet realize this.

After the accident Indiana leads a small squad of men to figure out the correct footpath with Boys, Bushido, and Corporal Wilson. Boys reprimands Bushido for crashing the jeep asking if he was "drunk or something" to which Bushido essentially replied yes and he still was. Then it was finally realized this man is an alcoholic and should not be trusted. While further travelling down the road the Captain decides to climb a tall tree in order to scout out the area asking for Boys' binoculars. He sends Wilson back to check up on the other platoon members and then begins to climb the tree. Soon after this Bushido and Boys hear a commotion coming from a bush so they investigate. They are suddenly attacked by a bearded man in tattered clothes with a stick. After some confusion and panic the man realizes the two are Americans when he hears them speak and reveals himself to be a former French army soldier. This man known as, "Jacques" or, "The Frenchman" had been fighting in Vietnam ever since the close of the French Indochina War. Boys and Bushido are distrustful of him as they could not believe a French soldier would still be fighting and planned on shooting him if he tried anything suspicious. After questioning him further the Frenchman begins to recite the tale that led him to still be fighting his own guerrilla war.

### French Indochina

The French section beings stating the date May 7th, 1954, the day Điện Biên Phủ fell to Viet-Minh forces. In a black and white flashback Jacques' company is seen under heavy fire defending their position before the Captain decides to pull his men back. Several French troops attempt to retreat but are surprised and slaughtered by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese had the French forces entirely surrounded meaning the only way to receive supplies and reinforcements was by air. This made retreat difficult leading to Jacques' remaining squad member to try and push through the attackers line. In the chaos of this maneuver Jacques is separated and suddenly attacked by an enemy soldier. Jacques and the soldier engage in a fist fight with the communist gaining the upper hand before the French Captain arrives shooting the soldier point blank in the face. Jacques gathers his dropped equipment and continues with the rest of the squad.

The squad eventually reaches what is believed to be safe position, but when they cross over a barbed wire fence they are suddenly attacked once again. Jacques is the only survivor being ordered to continue running on his own and is given a baguette as a ration to survive as long as he could. Jacques continues to run and when trying to return fire discovers he had run out of ammunition. Jacques then continues to flea until finally reaching a safe distance where he stops behind a tree to drink from his canteen. He then spots stick which Jacques says, "Is his greatest weapon and companion for the years to come". This stick becomes Jacques' primary weapon which he uses to ambush Viet-Minh a seen when he uses his baguette as a trap to lure in an enemy soldier. To avoid detection Jacques does not make camp opting to always change his location and surviving by raiding enemy camps. After he is done reciting his story the video shifts back to the the present showing the Americans had sat down to listen to his tale. Upon seeing that Captain Indiana was climbing down the tree he said goodbye to Boys and Bushido and headed back into the jungle laughing his French laugh running away in a flamboyant manner.

### Final half

The two G.I.s then head back to the tree when Indiana misses a branch and then plummets to the ground. The captain is pleased to say he found the correct direction to their destination. Boys attempts to tell Indiana about the Frenchman which he does not believe in the slightest. Bushido also attempts to serve as a witness yet Indiana deems it too ridiculous and unimportant to dwell on prompting the men to run back to the rest of the company. The platoon is then shown marching towards a path in the jungle when suddenly they detect something suspicious. Indiana then goes with Bushido, Pvt. Joe, and Pvt. Benson to investigate to discover a VC tunnel. Indiana asks who would like to clear it out only to be met with silence, so he decides to "volunteer" Bushido. He reluctantly heads in complaining he is not payed enough for such operations and then encounters a Vietcong insurgent wielding an old French MAT-49. It then cuts to the soldiers waiting outside the hole when yelling and gunshots are heard from inside. Joe and Benson are alerted from the commotion yet Indiana is indifferent. Bushido then comes out with a VietCong flag as a trophy and the platoon moves further into the jungle.

The front of the column led by Indiana is shown marching up a hill along with Bushido, Boys, Wilson, Joe, Benson, and Private Matthew. Indiana then suddenly calls the formation to a halt as he deems something is wrong. The platoon is suddenly ambushed by a large force of North Vietnamese and VietCong insurgents. Indiana orders the platoon to move up the hill with the men splitting up to avoid getting killed in a large cluster. The rest of the platoon then joins up with the first column where two soldiers are suddenly killed by a North Vietnamese solider hiding behind a tree. Private Benson shoots the soldier and heads a different direction to find some more allies. Benson manages to catch up with the formation following the Captain. This unit shown where an M60 gunner manages to kill 2 communists before a third shoots him. Indiana avenges his comrade and then grabs the M60 leading Matthew, Benson and Joe forward. They regroup with Boys, Bushido, and Wilson when Indiana gives the order to form a defensive line at a stone wall before then breaking up into two groups to get to J-Point for evac. After clearing out the Vietnamese forces at the other side of the wall the groups head out to their destinations.

Indiana, Bushido, and Wilson go into the jungle to take out more Vietnamese troops while the rest of the platoon head to the open area to throw smoke for the helicopters to land. The other unit making their way to the evac started taking heavy casualties prompting them to further split in two to find a safe way to the landing. Meanwhile Indiana's group comes across more soldiers in an encounter resulting in the Vietnamese dead and Corporal Wilson wounded in the knee. Indiana orders Bushido to carry Wilson to the safe zone while he holds his position. The half with Joe, Matthew, and Benson safely made their way to J-Point but Boys' unit was decimated by enemy attacks. Boys unsure of what to do heads back to the Captain who reprimands him for coming into an unsafe area. The two then hold of more attackers while Bushido gets Wilson the troops that made it at J-Point. On his way back Bushido is suddenly charged at by a VietCong guerilla leading to Bushido tackling the communist to the ground and then stabbing him in the throat before continuing his way back. Indiana and Boys too are fighting in close quarters as the enemy keeps charging them with Boys knocking a man to the ground and Indiana throwing a communist over his shoulder then shooting him.

When Bushido makes it back Indiana is prepared to leave when suddenly Boys runs forward and takes grenade shrapnel to the leg. The two run over to assist but then the Captain is shot in the shoulder. Indiana orders Bushido to go help the Private while he helps himself. Then another Vietnamese soldier comes out about to shoot the Captain when the Frenchman appears knocking the soldier out with his stick. He then picks up the AK-47 the soldier wielded, saluted the Captain, and then ran back into the jungle to fight more Vietnamese. The Captain was in total amazement at this spectacle yet knew he had to keep moving. He gets up and then checks up on Bushido and Boys, ordering Bushido to carry the Private since his own arm was injured. The three then make it out of the jungle to J-Point and get evacuated by helicopter along with the rest of the platoon which had gathered the other dead and wounded. In a final scene a U.S. and a Vietnamese soldier are shown encountering each other when suddenly the Frenchman jumps out blasting the communist with his newfound AK-47 before running further into the jungle in delight with his weapon.

He's up in the treehouseI have a message from Colonel SandersYou the delivery boy?Crashed the JeepEncountering JacquesĐiện Biên PhủThe fistfightle dernier homme deboutContinuer la guerreTunnel troublesNice trophyMarching up the hillThe ambushViet-CongLet's take the fight right to themSuppressing the enemyPushing to J-PointCharlie don't surfWilson's woundA close shaveAw crapUnder threatA savior arrivesI hate this country
## Trivia

- The video was edited twice because in the first edit by Jesse he had too few gunshot noises leading to the decision Eric should re-edit with additional sounds. This sadly had further impact on the video quality of the video since Eric was using some crap free program that put its watermark on the video every 4 minutes.

- Originally, Boys was going to be shown stepping out of a helicopter which would have been Jack's mom's 2007 blue Honda Odyssey, but the scene did not look quite right.

-When falling from the tree Jack actually banged his knee on a rock which really ~~Goddamn~~ gosh darn hurt for awhile.

- Early production was halted since the first weekend of filming Eric was sick and wouldn't come, and then the next week Jesse was sick and wouldn't come. Jack was left saddened and annoyed as pieces of the film were improvised as not to waste time.

- The intro showing a helicopter flight and Boys walking to the tree house was cut on YouTube because the song *Purple Haze* by Jimi Hendrix was playing. This copyrighted the video muting it forcing the change to be made.