Two years after the release of its landmark Emmy-winning series WWII in HD, HISTORY shifts its focus to a new generation and one of the most controversial chapters in American history, the Vietnam War.
In 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder roars across the skies over North Vietnam and the first U.S. ground troops land in the South. American soldiers are outnumbered in the Ia Drang Valley, the first major battle of the war.
American troops launch widespread "search and destroy" operations; body count, not territory, becomes the measure of success in Vietnam. Charles Brown fights for survival on the bloody slopes.
The enemy gains ground when the massive Tet Offensive catches the Americans by surprise. At Khe Sanh and Pleiku, U.S. troops are under siege. Americans mount a counteroffensive but the shock of the assault ignites anti-war fervor at home.
The turmoil of 1968 helps Nixon win the presidency. Troop strength in Vietnam peaks and the draft accelerates. Karl Marlantes endures bitter jungle fighting on Hill 484, and draftee Arthur Wiknik gets a grim introduction to combat.
Troop withdrawals begin as the Americans train their ARVN allies to take over the war. Gery Benedetti patrols the hostile waters of the Mekong Delta. James Anderson leads a battalion into Cambodia after Nixon's controversial order.
Bob Clewell's helicopter crew comes under intense fire in one of the final operations of the war. Joe Galloway returns to Vietnam and in Washington, D.C., Barry Romo throws down his medals in protest.
