“Number One Gun!”: Reflections Of A M-60 Machine Gunner In Vietnam

In this short video, Vic Renza describes carrying the M-60 Machine Gun in Vietnam. He begins by talking about how he carried it, how much ammunition he carried, and cleaning the weapon. He then discusses “the first time I almost got killed,” March 22, 1967, in a fight against North Vietnamese Soldiers. During the fight, he jumped into a dry stream bed and established a firing position. As he raised up to fire the weapon, a single shot from a North Vietnamese Soldier flew past his ear, causing him to seek shelter. He was quickly able to low crawl to a new position and provide suppressive fire to support his company. At the end of this clip, he recounts the “Number One Gun” story, in which his platoon conducted an air assault into a hot LZ near Tuy Hoa in search of Viet Cong guerillas who had been firing on helicopters.