VIETNAM

Vietnam• The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in

Vietnam from 1959 to 1975, involving the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (NLF) in conflict with United States forces and the South Vietnamese army.

• The Vietnam War was the longest military conflict in U.S. history.

• The hostilities in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans. Another 304,000 were wounded.

• Approximately 3 to 4 million Vietnamese on both sides were killed, in addition to another 1.5 to 2 million Laos and Cambodians who were drawn into the war.

Vietnam• From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese had struggled for their

independence from France during the First Indochina War. • At the end of this war, at the International Conf. in Geneva,

the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam.(17th parallel)

• North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and who aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Leader was Ho Chi Minh

• The South was controlled by Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French. Leader was Ngo Dinh Diem

• A communist uprising broke out in 1957, which was supported by Soviet Union and China

• The USA supported the south and sent military aid and advisors as early as 1960. The US sent troops in 1965 to prevent the South Vietnamese government from collapsing.

• However, this initiative failed. • In 1975, it came under communist rule. • In 1976, the country officially became the Socialist

Republic of Vietnam.

Vietnam• On December 20, 1960, the northern Communist Party

formed the National Liberation Front (NLF), with the ultimate goal of reunifying the country. In response, U.S. President John F. Kennedy began supplying military equipment and advisors in 1960.

• Matters escalated when North Vietnam launched an attack against the U.S.S. Maddox, one of two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin, on August 2, 1964.

• It was reported that there was another attack on the Maddox and the USS Turner Joy on August 4th.

• Pres. Johnson ordered a retaliatory attack on August 5th.

(Taken from the Maddox on Aug. 2)

Tonkin Resolution

• In response, the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed Johnson to send as much military force as necessary without a formal declaration of war.

• Despite hopes for a limited, "controlled" war, the conflict would drag itself out for another decade.

• New information came out that there was no actual attack on Aug. 4th, however it was used to escalate the fighting into a long and costly war.

• Despite superior U.S. firepower and technology, the North Vietnamese forces were successful in fighting a protracted, guerilla-style conflict.

Operation Rolling Thunder• Operation Rolling Thunder was the name given to the military’s unceasing bombing of North Vietnam, which started in 1965 and ended in 1968.

• The campaign was only to last eight weeks.• It was primarily a campaign to show America’s supremacy in the air.

• It was also done to demoralize and undermine the North Vietnamese government. However, this attempt failed.

Tet Offensive

• The Tet Offensive was a series of planned, surprise attacks by the Vietcong and NVA on many cities and towns in South Vietnam. It was considered the turning point of the war.

• It started on the first day of the Lunar New Year (Tet),January 31, 1968, which was an important holiday for Vietnam.

• A number of targets were high profile, such as the presidential palace, airport, ARVN headquarters and the US embassy.

• It took time for the ARVN and US forces to recoup and took about a week to get back all the territory. It took one month to take back the city of Hue, which was devastated.

• Although the ARVN and US forces took back all of the territory, it was considered a huge blow to the US. It was a political and psychological victory for the NVA and contradicted the claim of the US that the war was coming to an end.

• This was the first helicopter war. • Troops could be rapidly moved to anywhere in the country, ensuring that the amount of combat seen by soldiers during a year’s tour was far higher than during World War II. • This is a picture of US Army helicopters pouring machine gun fire into the tree line during an attack on a Viet Cong camp near the Cambodian border.

Cambodian Incursion• Prince Norodom Sihanouk

wanted to keep the war out of his country. He allowed the North Vietnamese to use a port for Russian supplies and the borders to wage attacks against the US and SVA in the south and return to base their camps.

• These attacks were committed without repercussions. It was frowned upon to cross international borders to wage war, which was why the US could not retaliate.

• In 1969, Nixon looked past international policy and ordered an invasion into Cambodia to take out the NLF.

• Although it interrupted operations for awhile, it had no long term benefits.

The Draft• The Selective Service was signed into effect in 1940 to supplement the

armed forces numbers.• Between 1948 and 1973, it was used during times of peace and conflict.• Men had to register with their draft board. During the Vietnam War,

birthdays were picked and assigned numbers from one to 366, which determined when those people were called for duty.

• In 1973, the draft ended and the US military turned to an all volunteer military

The Draft

• Deferments: Those that went to college and graduate school were exempt from the draft.

• This caused a definite dichotomy between those who could afford college and avoid being drafted with those who could not afford college and were drafted as soon as they graduated high school and turned 18.

• In 1968, the war was seeing the most casualties. Because of this, the government needed more men and discontinued deferments for those going to graduate school.

Vietnam Troop LevelsSource: Congressional Quarterlies

1960 900

1961 3,200

1962 11,300

1963 16,300

1964 23,300

1965 184,300

1966 385,300

1967 485,600

1968 536,100

1969 475,200

1970 334,600

1971 156,800

1972 24,200

By 1972, an estimated 70,000 draft evaders

and deserters were living in Canada

   

   

Sample draft picks

Jan 1 305 Feb 1 86 Mar 1 108Jan 2 159 Feb 2 144 Mar 2 29Jan 3 251 Feb 3 297 Mar 3 267Jan 4 215 Feb 4 210 Mar 4 275Jan 5 101 Feb 5 214 Mar 5 293Jan 6 224 Feb 6 347 Mar 6 139Jan 7 306 Feb 7 91 Mar 7 122Jan 8 199 Feb 8 181 Mar 8 213Jan 9 194 Feb 9 338 Mar 9 317Jan 10 325 Feb 10 216 Mar 10 323Jan 11 329 Feb 11 150 Mar 11 136Jan 12 221 Feb 12 68 Mar 12 300Jan 13 318 Feb 13 152 Mar 13 259Jan 14 238 Feb 14 4 Mar 14 354

• As American service members fought in Vietnam, a different kind of war was taking place for American citizens back home.

• The struggle was between the American people and their opposition to the fighting in Vietnam and the American presidents (beginning with J.F.K.) determination to stop the spread of communism.

• Incidents, such as the police riot in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, became more common, and even became tragic with the shootings of Kent State University student protestors in 1970.

Anti war demonstrations• Massive demonstrations are held throughout the US

against the war.• Many burned their draft cards or leftthe US and went to Canada.

»

» Protestors in Central Park, NY, burn 200 draft cards.

Propaganda

• Leaflets were dropped from US aircraft into the Vietnamese countryside to try and persuade local villagers to support the war against the VC and NVA.

• The NVA also used propaganda to try and hurt the morale of the US troops

Hanoi Hilton or Hao Lo Prison• A total of 771 Americans were captured and interned during the

Vietnam War. • Of those, 113 died in captivity and 658, or 85 percent, were

returned to US authorities. • 472 were tortured and imprisoned in North Vietnam, some longer

than eight years, 263 in the South Vietnam jungle POW camps for as long as nine years, 31 in Laos, 31 in Cambodia and 5 in China (two of whom were held for over 19 years under sub-human conditions).

• The NV pretended to the world that the prisoners were receiving decent treatment and released film footage and pictures as propaganda for the western world.

POWs• In 1967, the propaganda war continued as USAF Lt. Col. James

Hughes was paraded through Hanoi visibly injured the day after his capture. Such scenes backfired, resulting in international revulsion at the prisoners' mistreatment.

• American POWs in the Vietnam War endured the longest captivity of any group of US wartime prisoners. One of them was Navy Lt. Paul Galanti, shown here in an East German propaganda film, sitting under a sign that reads "Clean. Neat."

In this picture by Huynh Thanh My, a Viet Cong suspect, undergoes interrogation by South Vietnamese soldiers in the Mekong Delta. The enemy was not the traditional soldier. The Viet Cong and their sympathizers were fanatical , and included any age or gender. They wore the same clothes and were difficult to impossible to distinguish from supporters. Many soldiers

were killed by booby traps that were all over South Vietnam.

My Lai Massacre• This became one of the most infamous incidents of the

war.• On March 16,1968, three platoons from Charlie Company

were dropped by helicopter in the area of My Lai village. They were told that there was NLF activity in the area and were on a search and destroy mission.

• Soldiers from 1 Platoon went through the village and began shooting at the villagers who were children, women and elderly. Although there is no accurate number, it is reported that there were 300-500 villagers killed out of 700 people.

• It became public knowledge on November, 1969 when a soldier admitted on tv that he killed a number of people there.

• Even though there were several soldiers that were charged, only Lt. William Calley was convicted to life imprisonment.

• He stated that he was following orders and was told that everyone there was either VC or VC sympathizers/helpers.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

• The Ho Chi Minh Trail was not just one trail but a series of trails. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was used by the North Vietnamese as a route for its troops to get into the South. They also used the trail as a supply route – for weapons, food and equipment. In total it was about 1,000 kilometers in length.

• It ran along the Laos/Cambodia and Vietnam borders and was dominated by jungles.

• Due to the intense jungle cover, it was difficult to find the enemy. The US used defoliants, like Agent Orange, to try and destroy as much jungle as possible. However, it was too huge a task.

• These defoliants were said to have caused cancer in many of those soldiers and civilians that were exposed to it.

End of the war• President Nixon made the decision to begin withdrawing

troops in the hopes that the South Vietnamese would be able to take control of the fighting.

• He began to withdraw troops starting in June, 1969. He thought he could pull out the troops and provide aid to the SVA to resist the NV.

• By 1975, the last of the troops were withdrawn.• Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was far enough

south that it did not see much military action.• Two days prior to the fall, 8,000 people were

evacuated from the US embassy by helicopters. It was a difficult maneuver due to the landscape, however the airport was not an option due to the proximity of the NVA.

On April 30,1975 soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army entered Saigon, in the south of Vietnam, capturing the presidential palace and assuming control of the country. The last remaining American military scrambled to safety from their embassy roof. They renamed it Ho Chi Minh City and united the country under communist rule. Many of those who worked closely with the US feared for their lives, but many more flooded the streets to see the tanks take up their positions.

The Pentagon Papers• The Pentagon Papers was a secret study

ordered by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. This 7.000 page document contained all the decision making policies, memorandums, etc. that pertained to the Vietnam War, dating back to Pres. Eisenhower.

• It was leaked to the NY Times by Daniel Ellsberg, who was once an aide in the White House.

• It detailed many lies and deceptions by the government regarding the war, including the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It fueled growing opposition to the war.

• Because of the leak, Nixon went to court to stop the paper from publishing it. The Supreme Court ruled against the government stating it was against the First Amendment.

• Nixon ordered that Ellsberg’s reputation be smeared. His aides broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office for material to make him look bad. This lead to the Watergate incident and the eventual resignation of Nixon.

Images• The Vietnam War was the first war that

was brought into the living rooms of the American public by the news media. Due to the graphic pictures the television crews sent back and the sensationalism of the reporting, the public was negatively influenced to oppose the war. Some of the images and footage were staged for more dramatic stories.

• In 1973 photographer Chick Harrity snapped one of the Vietnam War's most memorable images. It showed a baby girl, named Tran Thie Het Nhanny, lying in a cardboard box next to her brother, who begged on the streets of Saigon. (She now lives in Canada)

Perhaps the most recognized picture from the war is this by Eddie Adams. It shows the South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong officer with a single shot to the head. Photographs do not tell the whole truth, however. The prisoner had just killed at least eight people, which is what led Gen Loan to carry out the execution. The image was to change the public perception of the war and haunted Gen Loan until his death.

From a journalist’s perspective, especially a photo-journalist, the war in Vietnam was unique. With virtually unrestricted access to the battle fields many photographers came to depict war in a way never seen before or since. Despite the technology, this was a guerrilla war with much of the fighting at close quarters, allowing intense moments to be recorded on film.

This meant risk; over 135 photographers from all sides are recorded as dead or missing. Here AP photographer Huynh Thanh My covers a Vietnamese battalion pinned down in a Mekong Delta rice paddy, about a month before he was killed in combat on October 10, 1965.

Chris Noel. Truly an amazing young lady.

Christmas Noel (her real name) was a model, actress and later a radio announcer for Armed Forces Radio ("Good Morning Vietnam").

Because of her sexy voice and looks she became an instant hit with the troops. She spent four years in Vietnam visiting bases and hospitals. Her helicopter was shot down twice and the Viet Cong had a bounty on her head.

This photo was taken in 1967 as she was visiting wounded troops at the 82nd Evacuation Hospital in Qui Nhon. She is literally wearing one of the first miniskirts ever in Vietnam.

Prior to going to Vietnam she was cast in several movies including one with Elvis Presley. Unfortunately, because of her association with the troop visits in Vietnam some of the movie studios blacklisted her due to the growing antiwar feeling in the United States. After she returned from Vietnam she had great difficulty getting work.

Because of some of the ugly things she witnessed on her visits to combat areas she suffered from delayed stress syndrome. Many Viet vets consider her a combat veteran.

Terms• ARVN- Army of the Republic of Vietnam/The South Vietnamese Army• Viet Cong- Vietnamese rebel forces sponsored by the North Vietnamese

Army/NVA and the South Vietnamese Liberation Army• Charlie- another name for the Viet cong• Cu Chi Tunnels - The Cu Chi tunnel complex was an underground Viet Cong

fortress that at its peak covered 250 kilometers from the Cambodian border to the outskirts of Saigon. Dug by hand, the tunnels connected VC controlled areas and contained weapon stores, first aid centers, bomb shelters, kitchens and sleeping quarters.

• Tunnel Rats -Name given to the volunteer soldiers who explored the Viet Cong / NVA underground tunnel and bunker complexes. Tunnel rats were typically small in stature and were often only armed with a pistol and a flashlight.

• Ho Chi Minh- leader of the North Vietnamese Army• Grunt- name for a soldier

Vietnam poetryVIETNAM THESIS

Some of us were warriorsand some of us were cowards.Some of us fought for gloryand others for survival.Some of us knew the reasons;but most of us knew better.

Some of us were there by choice;but most of us by decree.The seasoned ones had known why,but the young ones never would.After a while we all knew it really didn’t matter.

All of us became kindred;a handful far less than that.And the ones who had it worstwas every last one of us!Although every one of uswas always too scared to know.

Too many feel guilt and shame,and too few pride and honor.Too many fought too bravely;too few had the sense to run.Too few made it home alive,and too many never did.

For duty was our thesisand patriotism our code.Yet all of us knew the priceOur service was called to pay.But no one knew the reqardsthe home front waited to serve.

They declared it on the newsand at every stateside port:We were killers and butchersand not the sons of freedom.So we were greeted with scornand showered with apathy.

Yet despite the passing yearsand the revisions of time,We all had two enemiesand they came f rom either side.Although the one should have knownwhich side all of us were on.

Patrick P. Stafford

•

War of VietnamOne day a man was sent to a place called VietnamHad gotten the call from uncle SamHe told his wife and kids don't worry I'll be backstuffed all his clothes in an old torn sackAs he boarded the plane to go to warhe had no Idea what in the hell he was fighting foras he got to his platoon #113Dense jungle was all that he had seenAnd to that young boy war was just a gameBut after the first year, he could hardly remember his nameAfter seven years of fightingHe'd seen all his buddies dieHe just sat down in the Jungleand began to cryThey walked day and night, wherever they could roamThen one day they got the call, that they were going homeHe told them he'd been in Vietnam, they asked what forNobody cared that he had been at warAs he got older, looked at his past and sighedAt the age of eighty that once young man diedEight years of fighting was all the he could bareAnd when he returned home, realized his own country didn't care

Jay Nemeth

Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.c.• 58,209 names honoring the U.S. servicemen and women who

died, are POWs or are missing in the Vietnam War • Names with a diamond are confirmed dead, and a name with a cross indicates the

person is either missing in action (MIA) or was a prisoner of war (POW) and not accounted for to date.

Tim O’Brien

• He was born in Minnesota in 1946. His father was on the library board of his town and his mother was an elementary school teacher, which he said influenced his love of reading and writing. He wrote his first story at the age of 10.

• He went to college, majored in political science and graduated in 1968. While he was in college, he turned against the war and participated in some minor anti-war protests. Two weeks after graduation, he received his draft notice.

• He had intended to go to graduate school, but went to Vietnam instead. He felt it was his patriotic duty, even though he hated the war. He served a 13 month duty, during which he earned a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and the Combat Infantry Badge.

• After the service, he went to graduate school, worked as a journalist at the Washington Post and wrote about his experiences in Vietnam.

Make love not war

Hanoi Jane aka Jane Fondawith the Viet Cong

Naplam