Short thread on Swedish volunteers in the Vietnam war.

Marine to missionary . Björn Dahlin "Sergeant Swede", a having served as a UN soldier in Cyprus wanted to experience more of the military life and went looking for the hardest training he could find, joining the marines in preparation for a deployment to Vietnam

Showing exceptional marksmanship on Parris Island he subsequently became a marine sniper also serving as a forward observer stationed at Camp Carrol close to the DMZ. Because snipers had such a short lifespan he was quickly promoted to Sergent.

Björn served 13 months in Vietnam surviving multiple dangerous operations in the jungles, fighting in Khe Sanh and seeing the Kit Carson scouts in action. After coming back to the USA he served as a marine instructor in San Diego and later became a pastor.

A gut reaction. Per-Olof Ödman Born 1943 in Stockholm didn't live up to his family's expectations in the academic field but excelled as a conscript in the Swedish military. Per-Olof longed for the adventure that the Vietnam war seemed to be.

After being sent off by his father to work a dream geology job in Liberia he still decided to sign up for voluntary military service at the US embassy in Monrovia. Per-Olof was sent to Khe Sanh Immediately upon arrival 1967.

"2nd platoon, Delta company, 1st battalion, 26th Regiment. To hell!" Despite experiencing the Têt offensive and the siege of Khe sanh he was never worried about the outcome stating the enormous resources of the American war machine.

Per-Olof was later redeployed to Quang Tri and Quang Nam for search and destroy operations. On 7 June 1968 during a particularly hot day the platoon was ambushed by NVA. 10 of his comrades was gunned down instantly, Per-Olof only got return fire for seconds before getting hit.

A bullet to the chest and lung, one to the neck rupturing his jugular vein and a third ricocheting fragments into his brain. Surviving miraculously and getting a purple heart he retired and used his pension to work as a photographer and reporter.

A Swedish SEAL. Sadly not much can be found about Per-Erik's Per-Erik Törnblom's experience in the American military. What we do know is that he joined the navy in '55, transferred to UDT-21 and in 1962 were one of the first navy SEALS in SEAL Team 2.

He retired as a Master Chief Botswain's Mate having served 22 years in the navy and earned the Bronze Star in 1969.

I left some stuff out to try and keep it short