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The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.

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Vietnam was a casualty. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled.

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there were many protests in america because of the war and there were many schools that got shot up.

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The USAF contributed to the Vietnam war by pulling off bombing operations

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There Was No Rules At All
Stories from Vietnam

Haywood T. "The Kid" Kirkland from Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans (1984)

In an article in the New York Times Magazine on March 24, 1968, reporter Sol Stern observed, "In Vietnam between 1961 and 1964, Negroes accounted for more than 20 percent of Army fatalities, even though they represented only 12.6 percent of Army personnel in Vietnam" and even less in the general U.S. population. "Simply put, the statistics show that the Negro in the army was more likely than his white buddy to be sent to Vietnam in the first place; once there, he was more likely to wind up in a front-line combat unit; and within the combat unit was more likely than the white to be killed or wounded." Black Vietnam vets who were not killed in Vietnam returned from the war to encounter persistent racism and widespread unemployment. Many became openly critical of the war and joined organizations fighting against war and for civil rights. Stern quotes one returned Black veteran from Vietnam as saying, "I would never fight on a foreign shore for America again. . . . The only place I would fight is right here." Here Haywood Kirkland describes the Vietnam war and its aftermath from the standpoint of a Black GI.

-Introduction from Zinn and Arnove's Voices of a People's History of the United States

I got drafted on November 22,1966. I had been working for a book distributor and as a stock boy in some stores coming out of high school. A lot of dudes were trying to do things to get deferments. One of my brothers put some kind of liquid in his eye and said he had an eye problem at the physical. He never went.

I didn't try anything. I knew when I got drafted I was going to Vietnam, no matter what I did. I knew because of the vision I had when I was twelve.

As soon as I hit boot camp in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, they tried to change your total personality. Transform you out of that civilian mentality to a military mind.

Right away they told us not to call them Vietnamese. Call everybody gooks, dinks.

Then they told us when you go over in Vietnam, you gonna be face to face with Charlie, the Viet Cong. They were like animals, or something other than human. They ain't have no regard for life. They'd blow up little babies just to kill one GI. They wouldn't allow you to talk about them as if they were people. They told us they're not to be treated with any type of mercy or apprehension. That's what they engraved into you. That killer instinct. Just go away and do destruction.

Even the chaplains would turn the thing around in the Ten Commandments. They'd say, "Thou shall not murder," instead of "Thou shall not kill." Basically, you had a right to kill, to take and seize territory, or to protect the lives of each other. Our conscience was not to bother us once we engaged in that kind of killing. As long as we didn't murder, it was like the chaplain would give you his blessings. But you knew all of that was murder anyway.

On May 15, 1967, I came into Vietnam as a replacement in the Third Brigade of the Twenty-Fifth Division. The Cacti Green. It was the task-force brigade that went anywhere there was trouble. The division was down in Cu Chi, but we operated all over II Corps and Eye Corps.

At the time I basically had a gung ho attitude about being a soldier. But could I get in the best situation and not get hurt was a legitimate concern of mine. So I checked out that the line companies-ones making all the heavy contact-are the ones who are getting overran. I thought maybe I should avoid that and volunteer for one of these long-range recon patrols. It was a smaller group, and I had an opportunity to share my ideas and help make some decisions. With a line company, you're really just a pin on the map for sure.

The recon unit was basically to search out the enemy and call in air strikes or a larger military force to engage the enemy. Most of our activities was at night. We was hide by day, and out by night.

The politics of the war just had not set in when I got there. They told us not to fire unless fired upon. But once we enter into a village, we literally did anything that we wanted to do. There was no rules at all. I began to see a lot of the politics....

You would see the racialism in the base-camp area. Like rednecks flying rebel flags from their jeeps. I would feel insulted, intimated. The brothers they was calling quote unquote troublemakers, they would send to the fields. A lot of brothers who had supply clerk or cook MOS [Military Occupational Specialties] when they came over ended up in the field. And when the brothers who was shot came out of the field, most of them got the jobs burning sh-- in these 50-gallon drums. Most of the white dudes got jobs as supply clerks or in the mess hall.

So we began to talk to each other, close our ranks, and be more organized amongst ourselves to deal with some of this stuff. The ones like me from the field would tell the brothers in base camp, "Look man, you know how to use grenades. If you run into any problems, throw a grenade in their hootch."

When I came home, I really got upset about the way my peers would relate to me. They called me a crazy n----- for going to the war. And I was still dealing with Vietnam in my head.

Well, they sent me to Fort Carson in Colorado to do the six months I had left. I really didn't want to give no more of myself to the Army. So I played crazy.

I told people I ain't know what rank I was. I told them I was busted in Vietnam. I didn't wear no emblems. I was a buck private. I don't know where the papers at.

They made me cut my bush. What I did, I did not get another size hat. So the hat was falling allover my eyes.

Then I convinced the doctor that my feet was bad. I had jungle rot. I couldn't run, couldn't stand for a long time. I couldn't wear boots. All I could do was wear these Ho Chi Minh sandals I had.

And I would fall out in formation in my sandals, my big hat, and my shades. I rode them right to the point they was about ready to kick me out of the military.

Then on my twenty-first birthday they said they was going to the Democratic convention. Our unit was going to Chicago to be the riot squadron. I told them I'm not going there holding no weapon in front of my brothers and sisters. The captain said, "Kirkland, you going to Chicago if I have to carry you myself." But I went to the doctor and told him I had a relapse of malaria. He said he couldn't really tell me anything. I would have to stay in the hospital for the weekend. He thought he was getting me. I said, "That's fine."

I was successful playing crazy. I got an honorable discharge. Because I was a veteran with medals and an honorable discharge, Washington city had a job offer for me. The police force or the post office. The police force had too much military connected to it. My whole thing was to get the military out of my system. I chose the post office. Basically I was sitting on a stool sorting mail. Stuffing mail, sorting mail, do it faster. The supervisors were like the first sergeants. Six months later I resigned. I just got tired of it.

I was also enrolled in a computer-operations school. They fulfilled out none of their promises. It was a $2,200 rip-off of the VA [Veterans' Administration] money I got for school. They folded at the graduation of my class.

Well, I was getting more of a revolutionary, militant attitude. It had begun when I started talking with friends before leaving 'Nam about being a pan of the struggle of black people. About contributing in the world since Vietnam was doing nothin' for black people. They killed Dr. [Martin Luther] King just before I came home. I felt used.

Back To History Is A Weapon's Front Page

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There Was No Rules At All: Stories from Vietnam | Haywood T. “The Kid” Kirkland

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There Was No Rules At All Stories from Vietnam Haywood T. "The Kid" Kirkland from Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans (1984) In an article in the New York Times Magazine on March 24, 1968, reporter Sol Stern observed, "In Vietnam between 1961 and 1964, Negroes accounted for more than 20 percent of Army fatalities, even though they represented only 12.6 percent of Army personnel in Vietnam" and even less in the general U.S.

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National Geographic documentary on the Vietnam war

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Death Count

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Electronic Records Reference Report

Introduction

The following tables were generated from the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files, which is current as of April 29, 2008.

The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of June 8, 1956, and the most recent casualty record contains a date of death of May 28, 2006. The Defense Casualty Analysis System Extract Files were created by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The records correspond to the Vietnam Conflict statistics on the DMDC web site, which is accessible online at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/main.xhtml.

The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files is the successor database to the Combat Area Casualties Current File. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the DCAS contains 27 more records than the Combat Area Casualties Current File as of December 1998, which contains 58,193 records. Additionally, there are some changes to the fields between the two files, most notably in the respective date-of-death fields. The date-of-death reported in the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files is either the actual date-of-death or the date-of-incident, whereas the date-of-death for the Combat Area Casualties Current File is either the actual date-of-death or the date on which the casualty was declared dead.

The full casualty records of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files are accessible online for name searches (as well as for searches using any of the other fields identified in the data layout of the files in this series) for records of specific casualties via the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) resource.

The following casualty tables were created by using AAD to query the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the DCAS. These tables represent statistics for a selection of categories based on the fields of the file. The selections of fields used in creating these tables were made on the basis of usefulness and interest to prospective researchers and the general public. These tables are for informational purposes and do not answer all questions of a statistical nature regarding U. S. casualties of the Vietnam War. Note that AAD can also be used to query the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the DCAS for more complex Vietnam War casualty statistics than what are provided on this page, such as the number of casualties by race for a specific home state of record.

A full series description for the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files is accessible online via the National Archives Catalog under the National Archives Identifier 2163536. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File is also accessible for direct download via the National Archives Catalog file-level description, National Archives Identifier 2240992.

Alternatively to the download option, we can provide reproduction copies of the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File on a cost-recovery basis upon request. Information regarding the ordering of electronic records is provided online on our Ordering Information page.

DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by CASUALTY CATEGORY (as of April 29, 2008 )

This table contains record counts based on the codes recorded in the "CASUALTY CATEGORY" field of the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File. In the case of the "PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS RECOVERED)" and "PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS NOT RECOVERED)" categories of the table, the record counts are based on the codes in both the "CASUALTY CATEGORY" and "REMAINS RECOVERED" fields.
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by CASUALTY COUNTRY/OVER WATER CODE (Country of Casualty) (as of April 29, 2008 )
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by HOME OF RECORD STATE CODE (as of April 29, 2008 )

Note that State Lists of Fatal Casualties of the Vietnam War sorted alphabetically by the last name of casualty are available online at www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-lists/.
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by HOSTILE OR NON-HOSTILE DEATH INDICATOR (as of April 29, 2008 )
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by INCIDENT OR DEATH DATE (Year) (as of April 29, 2008 )

Researchers may note substantial differences between the above record counts generated from the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files and those previously posted online that were generated from the Combat Area Casualties Current File. The reason for the differences is due to the fact that the date reported for the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files is the date-of-death or the date-of-incident, whereas the date for the Combat Area Casualties Current File is the date-of-death or the date on which the casualty was declared dead. The difference in the dates reported is reflected in the names of the respective fields for the two files, which for the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the DCAS is named "INCIDENT OR DEATH DATE", whereas for the Combat Area Casualties Current File the field is named "DATE OF DEATH or DATE DECLARED DEAD".
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by MEMBER'S GENDER (as of April 29, 2008 )
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by MEMBER COMPONENT CODE ( Service Component) (as of April 29, 2008 )
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by MEMBER PAYGRADE (as of April 29, 2008 )

This table contains record counts based on the codes recorded in the "MEMBER PAYGRADE" field of the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File . Note that the code list for this field does not distinguish Officers from Warrant Officers. The code list provided by the creating agency gives the meaning "OFFICER" for the codes O01, O02, O03, O04, O05, O06, O07, and O08. This code list also gives the meaning "OFFICER" for the codes W01, W02, W03, and W04. 1,274 records of the 1,277 records that contain the codes W01, W02, W03, or W04 in the "MEMBER PAYGRADE" field also contain one of the codes for Warrant Officers in the "MEMBER RANK OR RATE" field.

Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.

DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by MEMBER SERVICE CODE (Branch of Service) (as of April 29, 2008 )
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by RACE OMB NAME ( Race) (as of April 29, 2008 )
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by RELIGION CODE (as of April 29, 2008 )
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
Contact Information

For more information, please contact:
Reference Services, Electronic Records
Email: cer@nara.gov
Telephone: (301) 837-0470
Mail: 8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001.
January 2018

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Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics

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Electronic Records Reference Report Introduction The following tables were generated from the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files, which is current as of April 29, 2008. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S.

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we don't give much thought to the Vietnam war

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yee

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Documentary Films | Why America Lost the Vietnam War (Full Documentary)

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Vietnam Map

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https://www.pow-miafamilies.org/status-of-the-issue.html

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Viet Cong Tunnels and Traps - Platoon: The True Story

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https://thevietnamwar.info/where-did-the-vietnam-war-take-place/

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Information presented by SFC (Ret) David Hack. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. Hack received the Purple Heart for major combat injuries, and spent the rest of his military career as a recruiter for the US Army in Akron, Ohio.

U.S. Congressman Press Release

Totals

9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975.

2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam.

240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

Of Those Lost

The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1961. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. The Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.

Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old.

The oldest man killed was 62 years old.

58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations.

Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old.

11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old.

Of those killed, 17,539 were married.

The average age of the men killed: 23.1 years.

Veteran Successes

Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.

They have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.

Their personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.

87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem.

There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same age group (Source: Veterans Administration Study).

Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes.

85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life.

97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged.

91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served.

74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome.

Many Still Missing
As of April 14, 2017, there are 1,611 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War across Vietnam (1,258), Laos(297), Cambodia(49), and China(7).

Vietnam Combat Area Casualty File

The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports.

The average age of the 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action).

Deaths Average Age

Enlisted: 50,274, 22.37 years

Officers: 6,598, 28.43 years

Warrants: 1,276, 24.73 years

E1 525, 20.34 years

11B MOS: 18,465, 22.55 years

Totals: 58,148, 23.11 years

Myths and Facts

Myth: Common belief is that most Vietnam veterans were drafted.

Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers.

Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 - 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population.

Fact: Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group.

Myth: Common belief is that a disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War.

Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Sociologists Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book "All That We Can Be," said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used like cannon fodder during Vietnam "and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia, a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war."

Myth: Common belief is that the war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated.

Fact: Servicemen who went to Vietnam from well-to-do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. 79% had a high school education or better.

Myth: The common belief is the average age of an infantryman fighting in Vietnam was 19.

Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age.

Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam.

Fact: The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike (a professor at the University of California, Berkeley), a major military defeat for the VC and NVA.

Myth: The common belief is that the domino theory was proved false.

Fact: The domino theory was accurate. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. If you ask people who live in these countries that won the war in Vietnam, they have a different opinion from the American news media. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism.

Myth: The common belief is that the fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World War II.

Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour.

As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. The helicopter provided unprecedented mobility. Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords or 1962 would secure the border).

Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972 (shown a million times on American television) was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang.

Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture, was Vietnamese. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. News media have reported tha an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc.Those are incorrect. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. They were Kim's cousins not her brothers.

Census Stats and "I Served in Vietnam" Wannabees

1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census figures).

During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served was: 9,492,958.

As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between '95 and '00. That's 390 per day. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. This makes calculations of those alive, even in 2017, difficult to maintain.

The Department of Defense Vietnam War Service Index officially provided by The War Library originally reported with errors that 2,709,918 U.S. military personnel as having served in-country. Corrections and confirmations to this errored index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally listed by the Department of Defense (All names are currently on file and accessible 24/7/365).

Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. - Nixon Presidential Papers.

The United States Did Not Lose The War In Vietnam, The South Vietnamese Did. Read On...

The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973.

How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? We fought to an agreed stalemate. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. It called for release of all U.S. prisoners, withdrawal of U.S. forces, limitation of both sides' forces inside South Vietnam and a commitment to peaceful reunification. The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. There were almost twice as many casualties in Southeast Asia (primarily Cambodia) the first two years, after the fall of Saigon in 1975, than there were during the ten years the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. Thanks for the perceived loss and the countless assassinations and torture visited upon Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians goes mainly to the American media and their undying support-by-misrepresentation of the anti-War movement in the United States.

As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. It was reported as an overwhelming success for the Communist forces and a decided defeat for the U.S. forces. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. General Vo Nguyen Giap, the designer of the Tet Offensive, is considered by some as ranking with Wellington, Grant, Lee and MacArthur as a great commander. Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. It resulted in the death of some 45,000 NVA troops and the complete, if not total destruction of the Viet Cong elements in South Vietnam. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. This was another example in the Vietnam War of an inaccuracy becoming the perceived truth. However, inaccurately reported, the News Media made the Tet Offensive famous.

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Information presented by SFC (Ret) David Hack. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. Hack received the Purple Heart for major combat injuries, and spent the rest of his military career as a recruiter for the US Army in Akron, Ohio.

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https://www.businessinsider.com/17-wild-facts-about-the-vietnam-war-2015-7

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Documentary Films | Why America Lost the Vietnam War (Full Documentary)

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Long and costly war

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The Vietnam War

Vietnam War Facts: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) about the Vietnam War (November 1, 1955 - April 30, 1975).

How long was the Vietnam War? The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, 5 months, 4 weeks and 1 day and was America's longest involvement in any war. The first US combat troops were sent to Vietnam in March 1965 and left in August 1973.

When did the Vietnam War start? The date of the Vietnam War started was November 1, 1955.

When did the Vietnam War end? The Vietnam War officially ended on April 30, 1975 although direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973.

Why did the Vietnam War start? The main cause of Vietnam War between the north and the south was because the Communist government of North Vietnam, under Ho Chi Minh , sought the reunification of the two countries and led a guerrilla war by the Viet Cong against anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam . The United States entered the conflict to halt the spread of Communism in Indochina.

Vietnam War Facts for kids: Who won the Vietnam War? The Vietnam War ended in victory for the Communists after American troops were withdrawn in 1973, and South Vietnam was completely taken over by communist forces in 1975. It can therefore be argued that the United States did not lose the War In Vietnam, the South Vietnamese did - after America withdrew from military action and Congress cut off funding. At the peak of US involvement the Vietnam War was costing $2 billion every month. The South Vietnamese were finally defeated by the North Vietnamese who remained well supported and supplied by China and the Soviet Union.

Vietnam War Facts for kids: How many people died in the Vietnam War? How many people died in the Vietnam War? By the end of the prolonged conflict more than 3 million people, including over 58,000 Americans, including 38,224 Army and 14,844 Marines, were killed in the Vietnam War. More than half of those killed were Vietnamese civilians.

The United States Policy of and the Containment during the Cold War Domino Theory played major parts in the US decision to enter into the Vietnam War. The purpose of the Containment policy was to restrict the spread of communism abroad by diplomatic, military and economic actions. The Domino Theory speculated that if a region came under communism, other countries would follow. The Containment Policy and the speculations of the Domino theory resulted in the Vietnam War and arguably led to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand staying free of Communism.

Definition: The Viet Cong were Vietnamese supporters of the communist National Liberation Front (NLF or National Front for the Liberation of the South) in South Vietnam who fought the guerrilla war between 1959 and 1975 to take over from President Ngo Dinh Diem and his American backers. The Viet Cong were also known as the 'VC' or 'Charlies' in US Army slang.

Definition: The Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) was formed in 1941 and primarily led by Communists under Ho Chi Minh to counter the Japanese invasion of Vietnam. Japan handed Vietnam to the Viet Minh in 1945. The Viet Minh were helped when the Communist Party of Mao Zedong was victorious in China in 1949.

Definition: The nickname "Ho Chi Minh Trail" was given by Americans, for the Truong Song Road. The Ho Chi Minh Trail consisted of many different roads, trails and foot paths that stretched for 9,940 miles from North Vietnam, through Cambodia and Loas, and into Southern Vietnam. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was designed to get supplies and troops into Southern Vietnam. There were also checkpoints along the trail that had underground medical and rest centers that provided shelter for the troops.

The Americans fought a hi-tech war, using B52 bombers, artillery, helicopters, napalm and defoliants such as Agent Orange and Agent Blue. Agent Orange' was the name of a chemical herbicide (that came in orange containers) which US forces sprayed extensively in order to kill vegetation in the Vietnamese jungle and infiltrate Viet Cong hideouts from 1962 to 1971. The Agent Orange chemical was used for chemical warfare during Operation Ranch Hand.

The key events during the Vietnam War included the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (August 2, 1964), the My Lai massacre March 16, 1968, the anti-war movement, the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 and the most famous battles such as the Tet Offensive (1968), the Easter Offensive, Battle of Hue, Battle of Khe Sanh and the Battle of Hamburger Hill. For details of the famous dates and events refer to the Vietnam War Timeline .

In 1965 the casualties mounted in the Vietnam War and there was a surge of the Anti-war movement in America. 'Teach-ins' were held at many campuses to discuss issues surrounding the conflict and reasons for opposing it. Others expressed anger at the Draft which enabled college students to defer military service until after graduation. This led to protests from low income families and minorities who could not afford to go to college or university. The Anti-war movement was also backed by young people during the Flower Power era of peace and love, a counterculture that saw the growth of the Youth Movement.. Opposition continued to grow and draftees refused to go to Vietnam and the number of prosecutions and protests rose.

The anti-war protests resulted in the American people becoming divided into two camps over the long standing conflict. Those who wanted America to stay and fight were called the Hawks and those who wanted the United States to withdraw from the Vietnam War became known as the Doves.

The Paris Peace Accords was signed on January 27, 1973 and included a ceasefire agreement ending US Involvement in the Vietnam War and the End of the Vietnam War . The last non-combat US troops left Vietnam on March 29, 1973 and the last POW's were released on April 1, 1973.

No sooner had the US troops withdrawn, the ceasefire agreement collapsed and the North Vietnamese Army launched a full scale invasion of the south. Saigon was captured on April 30, 1975 and renamed as Ho Chi Minh city. President Nguyen Van Theu's South Vietnamese government surrendered to the Communists, marking the end of the Vietnam War.

Vietnam War Facts for kids: The Vietnam War Memorial The Vietnam War Memorial is a monument that was built in honor of individuals in the American armed services who died during the conflict. The monument consists of a black marble wall and is located in a 3 acre park area of Constitutional Gardens in Washington, D.C., The Memorial Wall was designed by American architect Maya Lin and consists of two 246 feet 9 inches (75.21 m) long walls. The names of those KIA (Killed in Action), or MIA (Missing in Action) during the Vietnam War are inscribed in the black marble wall.

Vietnam War

● Facts about the Vietnam War for kids and schools
● Summary of the Vietnam War in US history
● The Vietnam War, a major event in US history
● Dwight Eisenhower from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961
● Fast, fun facts about the Vietnam War
● Foreign & Domestic policies of President Dwight Eisenhower
● Dwight Eisenhower Presidency and Vietnam War for schools, homework, kids and children

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The Vietnam War Vietnam War Facts: Fast Fact Sheet Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) about the Vietnam War (November 1, 1955 - April 30, 1975). How long was the Vietnam War? The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, 5 months, 4 weeks and 1 day and was America's longest involvement in any war.

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25% of soldiers were draftes

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Kids learn the history of the Vietnam War during the Cold War. A fight between the communists of North Vietnam and the US supported South.

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Vietnam War, (1954-75), a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Called the "American War" in Vietnam (or, in full, the "War Against the Americans to Save the Nation"), the war was also part of a larger regional conflict ( see Indochina wars) and a manifestation of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies.

At the heart of the conflict was the desire of North Vietnam, which had defeated the French colonial administration of Vietnam in 1954, to unify the entire country under a single communist regime modeled after those of the Soviet Union and China. The South Vietnamese government, on the other hand, fought to preserve a Vietnam more closely aligned with the West. U.S. military advisers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, and active combat units were introduced in 1965. By 1969 more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and China poured weapons, supplies, and advisers into the North, which in turn provided support, political direction, and regular combat troops for the campaign in the South. The costs and casualties of the growing war proved too much for the United States to bear, and U.S. combat units were withdrawn by 1973. In 1975 South Vietnam fell to a full-scale invasion by the North.

The human costs of the long conflict were harsh for all involved. Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., inscribed with the names of 57,939 members of U.S. armed forces who had died or were missing as a result of the war. Over the following years, additions to the list have brought the total past 58,200. (At least 100 names on the memorial are those of servicemen who were actually Canadian citizens.) Among other countries that fought for South Vietnam on a smaller scale, South Korea suffered more than 4,000 dead, Thailand about 350, Australia more than 500, and New Zealand some three dozen.

Vietnam emerged from the war as a potent military power within Southeast Asia, but its agriculture, business, and industry were disrupted, large parts of its countryside were scarred by bombs and defoliation and laced with land mines, and its cities and towns were heavily damaged. A mass exodus in 1975 of people loyal to the South Vietnamese cause was followed by another wave in 1978 of " boat people," refugees fleeing the economic restructuring imposed by the communist regime. Meanwhile, the United States, its military demoralized and its civilian electorate deeply divided, began a process of coming to terms with defeat in what had been its longest and most controversial war. The two countries finally resumed formal diplomatic relations in 1995.

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Vietnam War | Facts, Summary, Years, Timeline, Casualties, Combatants, & Facts

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Vietnam War (1954-75), conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. It was part of a larger regional conflict as well as a manifestation of the Cold War.

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The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.