'We Were Soldiers' Veteran Is Reunited with his Captured AK from Vietnam

We've covered the story of the Dillon AK on TFB previously on the blog and due to the efforts of a faithful reader that actually put us in touch with Col. Dillon we were able to actually sit down and interview him about his service in the 1st of the 7th Cavalry, infamous for heroic actions in the Ia Drang Valley under Col. Moore. But in particular, Dillon shared with us the story about how he captured an early model AK47, carved his initials on the stock, was forced to abandon it, and then its miraculous journey to the National Firearms Centre in the United Kingdom.

This video and interview was only made possible by the gracious efforts of multiple people involved:

Col. Dillon and his family for accommodating the interview request.

Jonathan Ferguson of the National Firearms Center

Trevor Weston of the National Firearms Center

TFB reader Mike T. who found Dillon's contact information

Harrison Bresnahan (Bresh) for constantly reminding me of 2/9's inferiority complex in Sangin. Thanks man.

Many THANKS to:

Please Support Them! They help make our videos possible.

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[gageallison]

Trophy guns should be legal. It's sad people fight for us and can't even bring home a ww2 bolt action from the Middle East anymore

[gageallison]

The military needs to let trophy guns be a thing again. It's part of war

[brasstard.]

Soldiers should be able to bring back modern firearms again including machine guns

[ksa]

What an Incredible opportunity it was to interview COL. Dillon !...great story reminded me of listening to my Uncle talk about his Vietnam deployments

[ManDuderGuy]

Give him back his AK.

Put it back where it belongs.

[David-cjwv]

God bless this man. If you're seeing this thank you so much for your service!! :)

[CAJUNAFOL]

I wish they could get the actual rifle back to him.

[BACCHUS]

Fantastic interview Miles, so rewarding to hear these stories from the actual soldiers.

[praporschikkekov]

I'm a simple man - I see "Vietnam", I get flashbacks.




SOME FOLKS ARE BORN MADE TO WAVE THE FLAG...

[justinbilyeu]

Wtf? Give him his rifle back, he earned it.

[GLUSCKMC]

Wow. What an awesome opportunity to talk to an awesome guy. I kind of missed the boat to talk to many WW2 Vets but every chance I get to talk to some Vietnam guys I take it. Being a vet myself, really opens the door to talking to the older guys

[garyhendershot]

Great video! I envy you the opportunity to sit down and talk to this brave man who fought in these famous battles in a war that is largely forgotten and not taught in schools any more. We need to spend a lot more time tracking down these heroes and capturing their stories. Thank you for this video, I really enjoyed it!

[tray-oqnj]

Sucks we were not allowed to bring back firearms like troops in the past.

[TJH]

Title is a little misleading but I am glad to see the firearm is in such a fine museum/collection. This means it won't vanish when some private owner passes away. Interesting video and marvelous chap. I must see if I can "wangle" a visit to the collection.

[cephasmartin]

The bastards need to give it back to Dillon. He earned it!

[Matt_The_Hugenot]

More likely the CIA wanted AKs for a deniable militia in Laos or possibly Cambodia, whoever was responsible for procuring them realised one with an America's name carved into the stock was useless and it got transferred from their via intelligence, UK assets (that's a long story in itself), or Australian forces.

[pffear]

Miles,
Thanks for these stories about the Nam years.
Although it was before my time, I was in 77 to 84, in the 570th MPC
49th MP Bn
49th MP Brg
With the Calif. ANG
At the time I joined in Mar77 the RA's had few actual combat vets in their ranks but the National Gaurd unit I was in had better than 50% combat vet, mostly Nam but a couple saw Korea and my 1st, 1st Sgt. saw
So a lot of my buddies were there.
Where most of the ARMY was learning from a book from a guy who learned it from a book, I was fortunate to learn it from men who lived and rewrote that
And I had the privilege of serving 7 years with some of the finest soldiers who ever shouldered a
And we had men from every MOS and every branch of the service from every corner of that country.
It's been years since my ETS, and a long long time since I've seen anyone from my old unit but this video and those like it bring back some fond
Thank you and Merry CHristmas and Happy New Year

[Rafe-hz]

One of your better videos Miles. Good content, thanks!

[fondrenbear]

That was an amazing story! Thank you for the great video, and thank you for your service Col.

[MrSumGuns]

Awesome story. Thank you sir for your service!