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America became involved in the Vietnam war because they wanted to protect areas of the world from falling under communist influence. Many Americans did not feel that our involvement in the war was not justified and that we should bring the troops home from Vietnam. America's involvement in the war was limited at first but increased largely as the years went on. It was not until US ships were fired at that Kennedy sent ground troops into Vietnam. Kennedy also ordered the troops to build strategic hamlets which were heavily defended villages that south vitanamese people migrated to, to live in. US military involvement ended on August 15th, 1973

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Nixon tries to convince Americans that it was necessary to become involved in Vietnam war. That the Americans should trust their government to make the right decisions.

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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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The fatal crash of a helicopter mission to recover the bodies of U.S. servicemen missing since the Vietnam War is bringing new attention to the soldiers and civilians putting their lives on the line a quarter century after the war's end to bring home missing Americans.

Through a Pentagon program called Joint Task Force Full Accounting, created in 1992, 604 sets of remains believed to be unaccounted-for Americans have been returned to the United States.

As recently as October, the remains of 11 U.S. Air Force servicemen classified as missing-in-action from the Vietnam War were identified and being returned to their families for burial. More are expected to return May 4.

"The recovery effort has continued at a fairly steady pace," says Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Defense Department's Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office, who says there are as many as 1,000 sites that await investigation.

A team of seven task force investigators and nine Vietnamese died April 6 when their Russian-made helicopter crashed in Vietnam. They were an advance team for future recovery sites and included the incoming and outgoing heads of the program there. It was the first loss of life for the program.

"These joint teams have maintained a truly remarkable safety record, particularly given the dangerous and difficult terrain in which they work," Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday.

Their loss will be a blow to the program, says Ann Mills Griffith, founder of the National League of POW/MIA families. Of the three military personnel who died, she said, "It's not easy to replace people like that, they're all volunteers. There's an awful lot of commitment on the part of these guys who operate in the field out there."

Currently, 1,981 Americans remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, many of them pilots believed lost on land or over the ocean. Some 600 of those are believed to be lost at sea are not expected to be recovered.

Coordinated Efforts

The task force was created in response to presidential, congressional and public interest, and made possible by increasing cooperation between the target countries, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, according to the program. The United States spends about $20 million annually on recovery operations in those countries.

The task force has more than 180 investigators, analysts, linguists and other specialists representing all four services and Department of Defense civilian employees. Teams of more than 90 visit Vietnam four or five times each year for monthlong operations. They do investigations, archival research, an oral history program and remains recovery operations.

"Often times you excavate a site, you know which airplane it is, you may even find a dog tag of the serviceman, but you do not find his remains," says Greer. "So you keep looking, you move your excavation 20 yards to the south, or the west, or you find villagers who say, 'yes, we pulled him out of the cockpit and buried him over here.'"

The task force's operations are supported by casualty resolution specialists and anthropologists from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, representatives of the Defense POW/MIA office, and personnel from U.S. Pacific Command.

Task force teams also work with recovery officials from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Of the 2,583 American originally missing in 1975, most of the unaccounted-for, 1,923 of them, were lost in Vietnam, either on land or over water off the Vietnamese coast. Another 569 were lost in Laos, 81 in Cambodia and 10 in China.

Ordnance demolition specialists are important components of the teams, clearing recovery areas of land mines, bomblets from U.S. B-52s, and other unexploded ordnance. Other perils of the recovery missions include disease and wildlife, in particular a snake called the bamboo viper.

None Returned Alive

Finding and returning live Americans is the task force's highest priority. But no missing American has ever returned alive from Southeast Asia since "Operation Homecoming," the massive prisoner release of 591 Americans in 1973 by North Vietnam.

There have surfaced numerous, first-hand reports of unaccounted-for Americans alive in Southeast Asia, according to the program. But most of the reported "live sightings" turned out to be resolved through correlation with accounted-for personnel, and some have turned out to be fabrications.

The U.S. government says it has so far been unable to obtain definitive evidence that Americans are still being detained against their will in Southeast Asia. But officials say they don't discount the possibility.

A Global Effort

The Joint Task Force Full Accounting is just one part of a massive $100 million-a-year program to recover unaccounted for Americans from WWII to the present.

By far the majority of missing Americans remain unaccounted from WWII - 78,000, according to Greer. Thousands of them went down in ships and aren't expected to be recovered, he says. But the remains of airmen continue to be found, including some from recently excavated cites in Papau New Guinea and, in February, those of a 16-year-old P-51 Mustang pilot whose plane disappeared in heavy fog over northern France in January 1945.

Another 8,800 Americans are missing from the Korean War. And 124 are missing from the Cold War. Recoveries worldwide are on the rise, to about 100 each year, says Greer.

"We're doing many more a year ago than we were 10 years ago, because the pace has greatly increased in North Korea. It was zero, now we're doing 10 operations per year," says Greer.

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U.S. Successful in Recovering Vietnam War Remains

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The fatal crash of a helicopter mission to recover the bodies of U.S. servicemen missing since the Vietnam War is bringing new attention to the soldiers and civilians putting their lives on the line a quarter century after the war's end to bring home missing Americans. Through a Pentagon program...

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The conflict in Vietnam ended 40 years ago, with chaotic scenes in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on the heart of power, its tanks ploughing through the gates of the South Vietnamese presidential palace on 30 April 1975.

On board one of the tanks was Pham Xuan Do, who is seen in the picture above proudly wearing his uniform from the time.

The picture was taken during a project led by Raul Roman, co-founder of UBELONG, and Lonnie Schlein, a former New York Times photojournalist who took a party of 14 people to Vietnam in May, with the aim of capturing the stories of those who fought for the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) or Viet Cong.

Do served in the NVA as a lieutenant captain from 1965 to 1975. He said he misses some of the excitement of war, but now that time has passed feels "forgiveness".

The projects aim is to see the war from the perspective of North Vietnamese veterans, and to mark 20 years since the then US President Bill Clinton normalised diplomatic relations between the two countries, on 11 July 1995.

"It's really important work because the world needs to be reminded that the dark shadow of the Vietnam War still looms large in this country," says Mr Roman.

"This work is really special also because it's an international civic initiative by ordinary citizens, a sort of peace mission designed to bring people together."

The group conducted more than two dozen in-depth interviews with veterans, travelling to Hanoi and rural locations bombed during the war.

Many of these areas were subjected to use of the toxic chemical Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed over jungle areas to destroy enemy cover.

Vietnam says several million people have been affected by Agent Orange, including 150,000 children with severe birth defects.

Here are a selection of the stories they uncovered.

Le Ba Bon

Le Ba Bon, 63, was from a family of rice farmers and withdrew from school in 1972 to join the North Vietnamese Army. He said: "Starting life after the war was terrifying to me. With my injuries, I could not continue my education or find a job. But I have let go of my hurt and pain. It's time to look into the future and begin cooperating." (Photograph by Joey Rosa)

Pham An Thic

Pham An Thic (left) served in an artillery unit from 1965 to 1977 and was the only son in his family who survived the war. His mother, Dau (right), now almost blind, remembers receiving the letters from the government announcing that her other four sons had been killed.

"I didn't know how they had died," she said.

"I didn't know what they were doing when they died. I just knew that they were gone. Losing a child is the greatest sadness."

Thic's wife (centre) waited for him for 12 years. "I did not know if he was dead or if he was alive," she said.

"All I could do was to take care of my children and work hard so I could feed them.

"I wasn't special. I was one of thousands of Vietnamese wives and mothers who had to survive without their husbands during the war."

She recalls the day her husband returned. She was working in the rice fields when one of their neighbours gave her the news. "I ran all the way home," she said.

"I was so happy to see him after so long." (Photograph by Raul Roman)

Tran Thi Thon

Tran Thi Thon served in the North Vietnamese army from 1965 to 1975, delivering supplies from the North to the South.

"The day I remember most vividly was the day we found a downed American pilot.," she said.

"I saw that he had lost his shoe, so I took my shoe off and strapped it on his foot.

"Then, I took my handkerchief out and wiped the blood off his face.

"I felt very sympathetic because he was just another human and he didn't want to be in this war just like I didn't.

"The pilot then told my crew to hide, as a rescue helicopter was on its way and they would shoot us.

"But the helicopter never came and the pilot was captured by our soldiers."

While making her deliveries, she saw a yellow liquid covering the jungle.

It felt cool to the touch, so she and her teammates picked leaves and rubbed the substance on their skin to refresh themselves. It was Agent Orange.

Now, the skin on her arms, legs, and stomach is covered in scars.

She underwent several operations to repair the damage.

But the worst consequence of the exposure were the birth defects of her son, who died of lung cancer at the age of 35, and her daughter, who is physically and mentally disabled. (Photograph by Lonnie Schlein)

Luong Ngoc Lam

Luong Ngoc Lam was photographed at Friendship Village, a shelter for veterans and children affected by Agent Orange. He served as a field soldier for the NVA from 1966 to 1975.

His proudest moment was participating in the taking of Saigon.

"When the war ended, I had not seen my wife in 10 years," he said. "I returned home to learn that she had held 10 funerals during that period, including one for my younger brother.

"Coming home to learn that he had been killed was devastating." (Photograph by Joey Rosa)

Luong Duc Pho

Luong Duc Pho was a driver, transporting soldiers in his jeep as well as rebuilding and clearing roads to facilitate the transportation of weapons and food.

Pho waited 15 years to recover the body of his brother killed in the war.

"The young generation doesn't know anything about the hardships of war," he said.

"They have never been through this. They don't know what being hungry means.

"It is important that they learn more to understand what we endured and why we did it." (Photograph by Raul Roman)

Tran Van Van and his wife, Pham Thi Sang

Tran Van Van and his wife, Pham Thi Sang, are pictured at their home in Binh Giang.

Van served in the North Vietnamese Army from 1965 to 1972 and was stationed on the border of Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh trail, tasked with protecting the road from bombers.

"We were bombed so often, and so many people died on the battlefield," he said.

"The badly injured were taken to the aid station, but I buried my dead friends on the battlefield. I miss them greatly."

He was eventually discharged after being injured in a bombing. He often relives that event in his nightmares.

While Van was fighting, his wife worked as a rice farmer in order for the family to survive.

"We were very poor and always hungry because there wasn't enough rice for me and my babies," she said.

"One of the hardest moments of my life was when I had to go into the fields after my baby was born, but I had no choice.

"I didn't want to tell Van so I wrote him letters of encouragement to stay and fight in the war. Our country was more important."

During the seven years in the army, Van only saw his family once, for a 10-day span in 1968.

During that time he and his wife conceived a child, Tran Van Tin, now 46, who was born with severe health problems which is believed to be due to Van's exposure to Agent Orange. (Photograph by John DeSanto)

Vu Thanh La

Vu Thanh Lan fought with the Viet Cong in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai for more than a decade.

"I don't allow my grandchildren to ask about the war because I don't want to poison their views of the United States and the world," he said. (Photograph by John DeSanto)

Nguyen Van Vuong

Nguyen Van Vuong started as a soldier in the North Vietnamese Army in 1966 and ended his service in 1971 after contracting malaria.

In the battle of Quang Tri, during the Tet Offensive in 1968, his unit of 100 men was devastated. He was one of 20 who survived.

Later, he lost most of his hearing during a bombing raid. Returning home after the war was not easy.

"My village was destroyed and government assistance couldn't support me," he said.

"My dream was to start a family, but it was not to be." (Photograph by Lonnie Schlein)

Tran Van Thinh

Tran Van Thinh joined up aged 19 and ended his service with a high rank and multiple medals of honour.

In the battle of Quang Tri in 1968 he was hit by a bomb that blew off part of his left arm and shattered his right leg.

Married for 30 years with one son and two grandchildren, he lost two brothers in the war.

"I was very young. All I knew at that time was that I had to fight the Americans to reunify my country," he said.

"My most disturbing memory was killing two American soldiers." (Photograph by Joey Rosa)

All photographs © UBELONG.

The Vietnam War

1954 - Geneva Accords signed dividing Vietnam in two - the Communist North helps guerrillas in the South fight US-backed Southern troops

1964 - US bombs targets in North Vietnam

1965 - The first US combat troops arrive in Vietnam

1973 - The Paris Peace Accords on "Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" are signed, officially ending direct US involvement - but fighting between North and South continues

30 April 1975 - North Vietnamese troops enter Saigon - South Vietnam is controlled by Communist forces and the country is reunited ending the war

It's estimated that more than three million people were killed in the conflict

Other pieces that might be of interest include: How photographs told the story of the Vietnam War Searching for the truth about my mother Photographs by US Rifleman Charlie Haughey who served in Vietnam from March 1968 to May the following year Guide to the Vietnam War Mai Nam, a photographer with the North Vietnamese Army For those in the UK Storyville: Last Days of Vietnam can be seen on BBC 4 at 22:00 on Monday 13 July 2015.

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The conflict in Vietnam ended 40 years ago, with chaotic scenes in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on the heart of power, its tanks ploughing through the gates of the South Vietnamese presidential palace on 30 April 1975.

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"Little Big Man"

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"M*A*S*H*"

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Errors or Inaccuracy Continue reading

December 4, 2016 · 4:21 pm

Print by Joe Kline
498th Air Ambulance Platoon

Vietnam medevac missions
by Williams S. Phillips

In April of 1962, the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) arrived in Vietnam with five UH-1 "Huey" helicopters. They took the call sign Dustoff. Over time the number of medevac detachments grew in Vietnam until the entire country had coverage and Dustoff became the universal call sign for all medevac missions.

A Dustoff crew consisted of four people: two pilots, a medic and a crew chief. Usually, one pilot would fly the helicopter while the other acted as the aircraft commander. The commander would navigate, monitor all of the radio transmissions, talk to the unit requesting the medevac and would take over flying if the pilot were injured. The medic kept the helicopter stocked with the necessary medical supplies and the crew chief would maintain the helicopter in top working condition. They would both load the patients onto the helicopter and the medic would administer any necessary medical treatment on the way to the hospital, often with the help of the crew chief. The medic and crew chief would stay with a particular helicopter while the pilots were interchangeable between helicopters. These crews saved many lives and were universally respected by all of the soldiers in the war.

Evac Hospital 93rd, Long Bình, 1966
List of Medical Units in Vietnam
December 30, 2015 · 11:02 pm

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Errors or Inaccuracy Continue reading December 4, 2016 · 4:21 pm Print by Joe Kline 498th Air Ambulance Platoon Vietnam medevac missions by Williams S. Phillips In April of 1962, the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) arrived in Vietnam with five UH-1 "Huey" helicopters. They took the call sign Dustoff.

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The pentagon papers began to get posted in the New York times. Including documents about american involvement in Indochina

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During the campaign president Johnson hinted that Goldwater could not be trusted. He would eventually send the US into war. Increased involvement in the war was caused by Johnson.

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United States involvement in the Vietnam War was one of the most important events in the post-World War II period. The political, social and military consequences of US involvement and defeat in Vietnam have been keenly felt within the US and the international community, and the 'lessons' learned have continued to exert an influence to the present day.

This book focuses on the effects of US propaganda on America's Western allies - particularly France, West Germany and Great Britain - from the time when the Vietnam War began to escalate in February 1965, to the American withdrawal and its immediate aftermath.

One of its main aims is to assess the amount and veracity of information passed on by the US administration to allied governments and to compare this with the level of public information on the war within those countries.

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U.S. Official Propaganda During the Vietnam War, 1965-1973

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United States involvement in the Vietnam War was one of the most important events in the post-World War II period. The political, social and military consequences of US involvement and defeat in Vietnam have been keenly felt within the US and the international community, and the 'lessons' learned have continued to exert an influence to the present day.

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The Vietnam War: Facts & Info About the Most Controversial U.S. Conflict

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All the facts and information you need to understand the Vietnam War, America’s most controversial conflict, which began in 1954.

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The Vietnam War pitted communist North Vietnam and the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and the United States. The war ended when U.S. forces withdrew in 1973 and Vietnam unified under Communist control two years later.

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Pete Seeger - Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)

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Pete Seeger performs "Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)" on Music Scene from January 5, 1970. [HD Remastered]

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Pete Seeger: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

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Creedence Clearwater Revival: Run Through The Jungle

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War Slang-                                            angel track:an armored personnel carrier used as an aid station

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War Slang-                                            angel track:an armored personnel carrier used as an aid station

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bac bac:

bastardized Vietnamese for "to shoot"

berm: perimeter line of a fortification; usually raised above surrounding area

can cuoc: an identification card

eagle flights: large air assault of helicopters

firefight: a battle, or exchange of small arms fire with the enemy