On October 1st, 2024, I sent an email to the Moving Image and Sound Branch of the National Archives in College Park Maryland.
Good afternoon
Mark Coonrad, President, A Brave Service
I am trying to locate any film or audio recordings taken of soldiers/activities from the 3-12 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. The unit served in the II Corps sector of Vietnam from September 1966 to December 1970. I know anecdotally through interviews with veterans that cameramen were occasionally on assignment in the 3-12 Infantry Area of Operations, but can’t confirm any specific names/timeframes.
Thank you for your time,
I’ve spent over a dozen days at the College Park campus, but had only used the Textural Records research room. I knew there had to be more records out there, including motion picture, still picture and possibly even audio. With an upcoming five day trip scheduled at the Archives, I wanted to see if I could find something a little more flashy than a dusty, 50+ year old operations report.
I received my reply on October 9th (a pretty good turnaround if you ask me). Much to my surprise, was given three separate video record series that might contain images of the 3-12 Infantry. For two of them, I’d need to access the records in person during my visit. But for the third, I was given a link to view the “reference quality” version of the film.
From within the 19 minute video cut, I was able to pull out over 11 minutes of footage that I can with absolute certainty say was shot at the battalion firebase(s) of the 3-12 Infantry between November 24th-30th. There’s still quite a bit of a mystery about who the soldiers are, and I’m sure some of them are members of Bravo Battery, 6-29 Field Artillery, which served as the 3-12 Infantry’s direct support battery. Others may be Army engineers temporary assigned to the 3-12 to assist with clearing trees and construction of the new firebase. In any case, it’s amazing footage, and I’m happy to share it with all of you.