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The Home Secretary, Mr James Callaghan, arrived in Grosvenor Square last evening to watch the police gradually clear it of demonstrators. He was met by the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, Sir John Waldron, who had spent most of the afternoon among his men in the Square.

The major section of the marchers, estimated at about thirty thousand, continued along their proclaimed route to Hyde Park. On the way they handed in a petition to No.10 Downing Street, and after listening to speeches by their leaders, dispersed quietly.

In Grosvenor Square however, the breakaway element maintained constant assaults against the police cordon for four hours. At the height of the melee the police line nearly gave way, but it was immediately reinforced, and no demonstrators came nearer than 50 yards to the Embassy building.

During scuffles in which a police line in South Audley Street was broken through some of the demonstrators turned their banner stakes into spears, which they hurled at the police. Fireworks were constantly thrown, both into the crowds and into the police lines.

Last night, as the marchers retreated in front of the advancing police line, Grosvenor Square was a litter of lost shoes, broken glass, torn banners, and discarded clothing.
Topics

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A peaceful march - except in Grosvenor Square

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The Home Secretary, Mr James Callaghan, arrived in Grosvenor Square last evening to watch the police gradually clear it of demonstrators. He was met by the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, Sir John Waldron, who had spent most of the afternoon among his men in the Square.

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Vietnam War protests began small among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses but gained national prominence in 1965, after the United

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Find out more about the history of Ho Chi Minh, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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recording

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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In January 1967, when the First and 25th Infantry Divisions of the United States Army began Operation Cedar Falls, their all-out offensive against the Communist strongholds of the "Iron Triangle" northwest of Saigon, Vo Thi Mo, 20, was ready.

Born in Cu Chi, in the middle of the Cedar Falls battle zone, Ms. Mo had been in the fight against American troops and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam - the South Vietnamese force, known as ARVN - since the age of 13, when she helped to build the extensive tunnel system that southern Communist forces, known as the National Liberation Front (and to its enemies as the Vietcong), used as barracks, command center and communications network.

By 1967 she was a "deputy of hamlet combat," and 50 years ago this month she led three commando squads against a battalion of the 25th Division.

"I had never been at any military school," said Ms. Mo, now 70 and still living in a small house in Cu Chi. "As a girl, I was so scared when I cocked a gun for the first time. But, you know, I learned a lot on the battlefields."

That poorly equipped, poorly supplied Communist forces were able to resist a sustained mechanized onslaught was a testament to the resilience, adaptability and tenacity of fighters like Ms. Mo. Their ability to survive, at a terrible cost, and learn from the experience helped shape their strategy for the rest of the war.

To understand the experiences of Vietnamese on both sides of the war, I've studied hundreds of Vietcong reports and communications, soldiers' diaries and letters, captured by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and archived at Texas Tech University. I've also conducted dozens of interviews in Vietnam in which former soldiers like Ms. Mo reflected on the war, and Cedar Falls in particular. Besides Ms. Mo, the other interviewees spoke on condition that their initials, but not their names, would be published.

Even a half-century later, Col. Q.T.N., an 81-year-old former regiment commander and one of the few survivors of a division that was considered among the most hardened units of the Vietcong, shuddered as he recalled Cedar Falls in an interview at his home in Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City.

After bomb and rocket attacks from B-52s, jet fighters, helicopters and heavy artillery secured the area, American tanks and troops came in "to search for and destroy us," Colonel Q.T.N. said. "The lands of Cu Chi, Ben Cat and Ben Suc" - villages at the perimeter of the Iron Triangle - "were razed as if they were some evils peeled off the skins of our body. Therefore, we called the operation Peeling the Shell of the Earth."

He added: "Although they could not eliminate our leadership, they destroyed our bases, especially war supplies. To be honest, they created many difficulties for us and established a secure perimeter for themselves in the northwest of Saigon."

Hai Nguyen is a doctoral candidate in history at Texas Tech University and a research associate at the Texas Tech Ethics Center.

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Opinion | As the Earth Shook, They Stood Firm

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In January 1967, when the First and 25th Infantry Divisions of the United States Army began Operation Cedar Falls, their all-out offensive against the Communist strongholds of the "Iron Triangle" northwest of Saigon, Vo Thi Mo, 20, was ready.

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Journal

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User account | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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The president's perspective

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Richard Nixon: Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam

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The American Presidency Project contains the most comprehensive collection of resources pertaining to the study of the President of the United States. Compiled by John Woolley and Gerhard Peters

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In January the U.S. military and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary. Sort of. I am one of those modern soldiers with commitment issues. I enlisted in the Air Force Jan. 31, 1972.

My current and final enlistment in the Army National Guard will end May 31, 2015, the month I turn 62. In between, I switched to the Army in 1975, the Army Reserve in 1981, then I took 23 years off between 1984 and 2007 before re-enlisting in the Guard.

To say a lot has changed since I flew to Lackland Air Force Base 41 years ago hardly begins to describe the difference between serving at the end of an unpopular war and serving today.

My military career started with a wicked hangover from pitchers of beer in Boston bars the night before an early flight to San Antonio, Texas. My shoulder-length hair was shorn by a gleeful redneck. My first drill sergeant was what the Air Force called a BB Stacker. His Vietnam War service had been in Thailand loading bombs on B-52s and living off base in a hooch that came with food, laundry, housecleaning and companionship for $50 per month.

This married-with-kids master sergeant loved telling us stories of loading bombs and getting loaded himself. Though I can't remember that drill sergeant's name, I thought of him several times during a 90-day military school I attended at Fort Meade, Md., from August to November of last year. The majority of the soldiers in the Army Student Company had just finished basic training. The rest of us shared their training schedule and their leaders.

In 1972, when we marched in formation, we sang songs about killing Viet Cong. We sang songs about the sex and heroism in our future. Most of all we sang about Jody. Marching songs used to be referred to as Jody Calls. Jody is the guy who is back home sleeping with your wife, eating your food, driving your car, emptying your bank account and, in the saddest versions, turning your own dog against you.

The songs we sang at Fort Meade during this summer and fall were more thoroughly bowdlerized than Sunday school stories. Cub Scouts could sing these songs in front of their mothers. No sex. No death. No cheating, lying, drinking or drugs. Certainly no songs with refrains like "Jody got your girl and gone" or "Napalm sticks to kids."

When we ran in formation at Fort Meade, we almost always sang:

When my granny was 91, she did PT just for fun
When my granny was 92, she did PT better than you
. . and so on up to age 97. The song is clean, affirming of 90-year-old women, and mildly insulting to the wheezing 20-year-old struggling to keep in step at a run.

We also sang Airborne running songs:

C-130 rollin' down the strip,
Airborne Daddy gonna take a little trip
Stand up hook up shuffle to the door,
Jump on out and count to four. . .

The songs we sang at Fort Meade never varied.

In Army tank training in 1975 we sometimes sang the version above and sometimes this:

C-130 rollin' down the strip,
Blew a tire and the [two-word expletive deleted] flipped. . .

We were really loud on the second line of the verse. This version goes on to insult the Air Force.

When my daughters were in preschool, I taught them some very sanitized marching songs. The girls learned "They Say That in the Army" which is a complaint song about food, coffee and Army life in general. It has many verses such as:

They Say That in the Army the coffee's mighty fine,
It tastes like muddy water and smells like turpentine. . .

Each of the various verses ends "Gee Mom I wanna go, but they won't let me go."

The girls also learned the "Yellow Bird" song:

A yellow bird,
With a yellow bill,
Just landed on,
My window sill,
I lured him in,
With crumbs of bread,
And then I crushed his (Slam left foot to the ground) little head.

The word emphasized with a stomp was not "little" when we sang the song. And just that one word makes a lot of difference.

A decade later my youngest daughter and some of her high school friends saw the movie "Jarhead." Lisa came home and said with a smile, "Dad, you never told us the real words to those songs."

Lisa also wanted to know who Jody was. The older guys in the audience were laughing at places she and her friends did not get the joke. I explained Jody. Lisa and her friends went back to the movie now that they had Jody decoded.

Most of the soldiers I marched with at Fort Meade were in their early 20s, around the age of my daughters are now. They had no idea who Jody was and had never sung a marching song laced with sex, violence and words they use every five seconds in the barracks. Those words make for very loud cadence. But we sang no bad words at Fort Meade.

When the Army fights wars without enemies, we have to sing about running, old ladies, jumping out of airplanes, bad food or wanting to visit Mom. Winning hearts and minds may be good policy, but it makes for lousy marching songs.
Sgt. Neil Gussman enlisted in the Air Force in 1972. He first served on a live-fire missile test range in Utah until he was blinded in a test explosion. When he recovered, he re-enlisted in the Army in 1975 serving as a tank commander on active duty and in the reserves until 1984. He re-enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2007 serving with 28th Combat Aviation Brigade. He deployed to Iraq in 2009-2010 with the 28th CAB and still serves with the unit today. He blogs about life in the Army. He lives with his wife and six children in Lancaster, Pa.

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united states defense and military forces

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lackland air force base (san antonio tex)

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In January the U.S. military and I celebrated our 42nd anniversary. Sort of. I am one of those modern soldiers with commitment issues. I enlisted in the Air Force Jan. 31, 1972. My current and final enlistment in the Army National Guard will end May 31, 2015, the month I turn 62.

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Vietnam, 40 years post war

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Today, 40 years after the American war in Vietnam ended in ignominious defeat, the traces of that terrible conflict are disappearing.

Traveling through Vietnam during the latter half of April 2015 with a group of erstwhile antiwar activists, I was struck by the transformation of what was once an impoverished, war-devastated peasant society into a modern nation. Its cities and towns are bustling with life and energy. Vast numbers of motorbikes surge through their streets, including 4.2 million in Hanoi and 7 million in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). A thriving commercial culture has emerged, based not only on many small shops, but on an influx of giant Western, Japanese, and other corporations. Although Vietnam is officially a Communist nation, about 40 percent of the economy is capitalist, and the government is making great efforts to encourage private foreign investment. Indeed, over the past decade, Vietnam has enjoyed one of the highest economic growth rates in the world. Not only have manufacturing and tourism expanded dramatically, but Vietnam has become an agricultural powerhouse. Today it is the world's second largest exporter of rice, and one of the world's leading exporters of coffee, pepper, rubber, and other agricultural commodities. Another factor distancing the country from what the Vietnamese call "the American war" is the rapid increase in Vietnam's population. Only 41 million in 1975, it now tops 90 million, with most of it under the age of 30 -- too young to have any direct experience with the conflict.

Vietnam has also made a remarkable recovery in world affairs. It now has diplomatic relations with 189 countries, and enjoys good relations with all the major nations.

Nevertheless, the people of Vietnam paid a very heavy price for their independence from foreign domination. Some 3 million of them died in the American war, and another 300,000 are still classified as MIAs. In addition, many, many Vietnamese were wounded or crippled in the conflict. Perhaps the most striking long-term damage resulted from the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange (dioxin) as a defoliant. Vietnamese officials estimate that, today, some 4 million of their people suffer the terrible effects of this chemical, which not only destroys the bodies of those exposed to it, but has led to horrible birth defects and developmental disabilities into the second and third generations. Much of Vietnam's land remains contaminated by Agent Orange, as well as by unexploded ordnance. Indeed, since the end of the American war in 1975, the landmines, shells, and bombs that continue to litter the nation's soil have wounded or killed over 105,000 Vietnamese -- many of them children.

During the immediate postwar years, Vietnam's ruin was exacerbated by additional factors. These included a U.S. government embargo on trade with Vietnam, U.S. government efforts to isolate Vietnam diplomatically, and a 1979 Chinese military invasion of Vietnam employing 600,000 troops. Although the Vietnamese managed to expel the Chinese -- just as they had previously routed the French and the Americans -- China continued border skirmishes with Vietnam until 1988. In addition, during the first postwar decade, the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party pursued a hardline, repressive policy that undermined what was left of the economy and alienated much of the population. Misery and starvation were widespread.

Nevertheless, starting in the mid-1980s, the country made a remarkable comeback. This recovery was facilitated by Communist Party reformers who loosened the reins of power, encouraged foreign investment, and worked at developing a friendlier relationship with other nations, especially the United States. In 1995, the U.S. and Vietnamese governments resumed diplomatic relations. Although these changes did not provide a panacea for the nation's ills -- for example, the U.S. State Department informed the new U.S. ambassador that he must never mention Agent Orange -- Vietnam's circumstances, and particularly its relationship with the United States, gradually improved. U.S.-Vietnamese trade expanded substantially, reaching $35 billion in 2014. Thousands of Vietnamese students participated in educational exchanges. In recent years, the U.S. government even began funding programs to help clean up Agent Orange contamination and unexploded ordnance.

Although, in part, this U.S.-Vietnamese détente resulted from the growing flexibility of officials in both nations, recently it has also reflected the apprehension of both governments about the increasingly assertive posture of China in Asian affairs. Worried about China's unilateral occupation of uninhabited islands in the South China Sea during 2014, both governments began to resist it -- the United States through its "Pacific pivot" and Vietnam through an ever closer relationship with the United States to "balance" China. Although both nations officially support the settlement of the conflict over the disputed islands through diplomacy centered on the ten countries that comprise the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, officials in Vietnam, increasingly nervous about China's ambitions, appear to welcome the growth of a more powerful U.S. military presence in the region. In the context of this emerging agreement on regional security, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, and U.S. President Barack Obama will be visiting Vietnam later this year.

This shift from warring enemies to cooperative partners over the past 40 years should lead to solemn reflection. In the Vietnam War, the U.S. government laid waste to a poor peasant nation in an effort to prevent the triumph of a Communist revolution that U.S. policymakers insisted would release a Red tide that would sweep through Asia and imperil the United States. And yet, when America's counter-revolutionary effort collapsed, this dire prediction was proved false. Instead, an independent nation emerged that could -- and did -- work amicably with the U.S. government. This development highlights the unnecessary nature -- indeed, the tragedy -- of America's vastly destructive war in Vietnam. It also underscores the deeper folly of relying on war to cope with international issues.

Lawrence Wittner (www.lawrenceswittner.com) is Professor of History emeritus at SUNY/Albany. His latest book is a satirical novel about university corporatization and rebellion, What's Going On at UAardvark?

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Today, 40 years after the American war in Vietnam ended in ignominious defeat, the traces of that terrible conflict are disappearing. Traveling through Vietnam during the latter half of April 2015 with a group of erstwhile antiwar activists, I was struck by the transformation of what was once an impoverished, war-devastated peasant society into a modern nation.

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After the war: life for American soldiers

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They were wary of official calls to intervene abroad in the cause of democracy and freedom, and the bipartisan consensus that had supported American foreign policy since the 1940s dissolved. Democrats, in particular, questioned the need to contain communism everywhere around the globe and to play the role of the planet's policeman.

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dung lai!

stop!

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boonies

infantry term for the field; jungles or swampy areas far from the comforts of civilization

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Charlie

Viet Cong; the enemy

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chop chop

slang for food

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bouncing Betty

antipersonnel mine with two charges: the first propels the explosive charge upward, and the other is set to explode at about waist level.

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boo-coo

bastardized French, from beaucoup, meaning "much" or "many".

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Vietnam War, 1970: CBS camera rolls as platoon comes under fire

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Creedence Clearwater Revival Fortunate Son

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Vietnam slide show to the song fortune son

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Number of troops in Vietnam over the years

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(Originally published by the Daily News on Jan. 24. 1973. This story was written by Jeffrey Antevil.)

Washington, Jan. 23 (News Bureau) President Nixon announced tonight that the United States and North Vietnam have concluded an agreement to end the longest war in America's history and bring "peace with honor" to Vietnam.

The peace agreement will be formally signed by the U.S. and South Vietnam and North Vietnam and the Viet Cong at Paris on Saturday.

Announcement of the ceasefire came just 11 years, one month and one day after the first American death in the Vietnam conflict - 25-year-old Army Specialist 4th Class James Thomas Davis of Livingston, Tenn., slain in ambush by the Viet Cong 25 miles from Saigon on Dec. 22, 1961.

In his announcement, Nixon addressed the South Vietnamese, telling them that by their work and sacrifice they had won the right to establish their own government and gained the strength to maintain it.

Nixon explained his silence in recent weeks by saying that any comment he might have made possibly could have interfered with the sensitive negotiations.

He told the nation, bitterly divided over the conflict, that it should be proud of the 2.5 million young Americans who served unselfishly to help a friendly government maintain its freedom.

Nixon said nothing meant more to him at this moment than that the long misery of the wives of the prisoners and men who were listed as missing was coming to an end.

The President praised the late President Lyndon Johnson for his arduous efforts to find peace in Vietnam, and expressed deep appreciation for Johnson's support of the Nixon efforts to bring the war to an honorable end.

In one of the ironies of history, Nixon's announcement came one day after the death of Johnson, who sacrificed his political career in the search for peace.

Nixon's address, from the Oval Office of the White House, followed briefings for his cabinet and for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders.

Nixon said that "within 60 days from the time the ceasefire takes effect, all Americans held as prisoners of war throughout Indochina will be released."

The President recalled that he had outlined conditions for such a ceasefire during his speech last May 8. "All the conditions that I laid down then have been met," he said.

Nixon's announcement of a Vietnam peace agreement came almost four years to the day from the first peace talks in Paris. It was on Jan. 26, 1969, that American, North Vietnamese, Viet Cong and South Vietnamese negotiators first gathered at the Hotel Majestic in Paris to try to end the long and bloody war, which cost the U.S. 46,000 dead in combat.

The agreement announced tonight "meets the goals and has the full support of President Nguyen Van Thieu and the government of South Vietnam," Nixon said.

But he warned that its terms "must be scrupulously adhered to." He said United States will abide by the terms - and expects North Vietnam to do the same.

He said the agreement recognizes the Thieu government "as the sole legitimate government of South Vietnam." The United States, the President declared, will continue to aid that government militarily.

"Ending the war is only the first step toward building the peace," he declared.

In speaking of the long awaited release of U.S. PWs, Nixon paid tribute to "some of the bravest people I have ever met" - the wives and families of the prisoners, who, he said, steadfastly supported his quest for the "right kind of peace."

"When others called on us to settle on any terms," the chief executive said, PW relatives stood firm, telling him to fight for "peace with honor" so that their loved ones "haven't died and suffered in vain."

"Nothing means more to me," said Nixon in a firm yet emotional voice, than to have found the way to bring the men home.

The statement which Nixon read in his speech tonight simultaneously issued in Hanoi. It said:

"At 12:30 p.m. (Paris time) today, Jan. 23, 1973, The Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace, was initialed by Dr. Henry Kissinger on behalf of the United States and Special Adviser Le Duc Tho on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

"The agreement will be formally signed by the parties participating in the Paris conference in Vietnam on Jan. 27, 1973, at the International Conference Center in Paris. The ceasefire will take effect at 2400 (midnight) Greenwich Mean Time Jan. 27, 1973.

"The United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and contribute to the preservation of lasting peace in Indochina and Southeast Asian."

"Let us be proud that America did not settle for a peace that would have betrayed our allies," Nixon said. "Let us be proud that America did not settle for a peace that would have abandoned our prisoners."

Nixon said Kissinger and Tho initialed the agreement at 12:30 p.m. (Paris time, 6:30 a.m. New York time) today, just before Kissinger returned to Washington to report the President.

The president thanked the American public for what he said was their patience and understanding as the U.S. negotiated the peace.

"The important thing was not to talk about peace, but to get peace," Nixon said.

Speaking about President Johnson and the vilification" he endured during his search for peace, Nixon concluded his 10-minute speech with a eulogy to LBJ:

"No one would have welcomed this peace more than he. And I know how join me in asking - for those who died, and for those who live - let us consecrate this moment by resolving together to make the peace we have achieved a peace that will last?"

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President Nixon declares an end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in 1973 - NY Daily News

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(Originally published by the Daily News on Jan. 24. 1973. This story was written by Jeffrey Antevil.) Washington, Jan. 23 (News Bureau) President Nixon announced tonight that the United States and North Vietnam have concluded an agreement to end the longest war in America's history and bring "peace with honor" to Vietnam.

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Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon (Official Video)

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The soldiers did not know what to expect in Vietnam for all of it was a mystery, what they would see next and where they would go or what circumstances they would find themselves in. The war was a place which altered one's whole character, leaving everything as unknown, even themselves.

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Most of the war was kept hidden from U.S. citizens so that the truth was a secret; covered up, and no one really knew what was going on for soldiers in Vietnam.

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In this political cartoon a general is painting of the truth about Vietnam. This is significant because in the beginning before the media became involved the people were lied to about the motives to fight in Vietnam. Once the media became involved it exposed the cruelties and true horrors of what was happening there. This also was the beginning of people's distrust in the government. The bucket in the left side of the picture explains how the government dealt with ther Vietnamese. They would go into their territory and kill off as much of their culture and families as they could. The police officer is painting over what they wanted to cover up during the war. In the end, their was no victory in the war. Many were killed and the that was the truth that many Americans did not see.

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political cartoon #3 - T he Truth is revealed..

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In this political cartoon a general is painting of the truth about Vietnam. This is significant because in the beginning before the media became involved the people were lied to about the motives to fight in Vietnam. Once the media became involved it exposed the cruelties and true horrors of what was happening there.