Description
After more than 50 years, one of Wyoming's most decorated Vietnam War veterans returns to the battlefields that still wake him at 2 a.m.
1st Lt. (Ret.) Lee Alley, a sheepherder's son from Wyoming, led a recon platoon through some of the fiercest fighting in the Mekong Delta, including the battles of Firebase Jaeger and Firebase Cudgel, and was nominated for the Medal of Honor. He came home in 1968 to a country that didn't want to hear his story, and he kept his memories locked away for decades.
John Nguyen was a boy in Da Nang when his family fled South Vietnam in 1975. Years later, he set out to find and thank the Americans who fought for his family's freedom — and found Lee.
Together, they travel back to Vietnam: to Saigon, to John's family, to the bridge Lee feared crossing, and to the battlefields where Lee finally meets the Vietnamese veterans who fought against his men.
A Wyoming PBS Production. A film by Alpheus Media, directed by Mat Hames.
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
• Best Feature Film, GI Film Festival San Diego 2026
• Audience Choice Award and Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award, Heartland Film Festival 2026
• Official Selection, St. Louis International Film Festival
• Official Selection, Lone Star Film Festival 2026
Funding was provided by the National Museum of Military Vehicles, the Wyoming Public Television Production Endowment, Rita Meyer, the Wyoming Veterans Commission, and The Marna M. Kuehne Foundation.
Viewer discretion advised: This film contains descriptions of combat violence. Rated TV-14-V.
Learn more: https://www.wyomingpbs.org/vietnam/
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
4:30 The Road to War
6:05 A Sheepherder's Son
11:22 Coming Home Unwelcome
12:17 Breaking the Silence
16:13 A Boy in Da Nang
20:55 Into the War, 1967
23:56 Back in Vietnam
25:00 Escape From Da Nang
31:13 Saigon and the Tet Offensive
34:54 A New Generation
38:57 John's Family
42:04 Recon: The Tip of the Spear
44:05 The War Museum
47:00 Ben Luc Bridge
50:07 Searching for the Battlefields
54:21 The Battle of Firebase Jaeger
1:02:46 The Battle of Firebase Cudgel
1:11:00 A Tribute to Both Sides
1:13:08 Meeting the Enemy
1:21:09 Letting Go
1:23:44 Old Hatreds Laid to Rest
...
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