Once again, Hanoi was surprised by the speed of their success. [233], According to Russian sources, between 1953 and 1991, the hardware donated by the Soviet Union included: 2,000 tanks; 1,700 APCs; 7,000 artillery guns; over 5,000 anti-aircraft guns; 158 surface-to-air missile launchers; and 120 helicopters. Forces. This effort to highlight the positive aspects of a nursing career reflected the feminism of the 1960s1970s in the United States. For this figure, Guenter Lewy assumes that one-third of the reported enemy killed may have been civilians, concluding that the actual number of deaths of the VC and PAVN military forces was probably closer to 444,000. Two other cleanup sites being reviewed by the United States and Vietnam are Bin Ha Air Base, in the southern province of ng Naia 'hotspot' for dioxinand Ph Ct Air Base in Bnh nh Province, according to U.S. [46], The ROK Capital Division reportedly perpetrated the Bnh An/Ty Vinh massacre in February/March 1966. [103], On 9 August 2012, the United States and Vietnam began a cooperative cleaning up of the toxic chemical from part of Da Nang International Airport, marking the first time Washington has been involved in cleaning up Agent Orange in Vietnam. The study's authors stated that methodological limitations of the study include imbalance between rural and urban areas and the potential exclusion of high mortality areas. Marine Corps general Victor H. Krulak heavily criticised Westmoreland's attrition strategy, calling it "wasteful of American lives with small likelihood of a successful outcome. [235] The KGB had also helped develop the signals intelligence capabilities of the North Vietnamese, through an operation known as Vostok (named after the Vostok 1).[236]. [104], Following the end of the war, many refugees fled Vietnam by boat and ship. 20 million gallons of toxic herbicides (like Agent Orange) were sprayed on 6 million acres of forests and crops by the U.S. Air Force. [77], Various names have been applied to the conflict. [154] Johnson did not, however, communicate this change in strategy to the media. The north was supported by the Soviet Union, China,[21] and other communist states, while the south was supported by the United States and other anti-communist allies. Another notable work was the diary of ng Thy Trm, a North Vietnamese doctor who enlisted in the Southern battlefield, and was killed at the age of 27 by U.S. forces near Qung Ngi. In response, China invaded Vietnam in 1979. [40]:328. This may require viewing multiple records or images. [40]:685690. Vermont, National Guard, Vietnam war, 1950-1967, United States Military Personnel who Died During the Vietnam War, 1956-2003, https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=United_States,_Casualties_of_the_Vietnam_War_-_FamilySearch_Historical_Records&oldid=5256823, This article describes a collection of records, National Archives and Records Administration Logo, Combat Area Casualties Current File, 6/8/1956-1/21/1998, Date of death or repatriation (return or restoration to ones own country), The ancestor's Social Security or service number, Use the information found on the casualty list to search for a death record for your ancestor, Use the information found on the casualty list to search for other military records, Use the information found on the casualty list to search for the family in census records, Use the information found on the casualty list to search for the family in additional state and county records, Look for variant spellings of the names. For additional information about image restrictions see Restrictions for Viewing Images in FamilySearch Historical Record Collections. [97]:706, The Johnson administration employed a "policy of minimum candor"[97]:18 in its dealings with the media. In total, the Soviets sent North Vietnam annual arms shipments worth $450million. [263][264] Some women also served for the PAVN and Viet Cong intelligence services. Some advocates within the peace movement advocated a unilateral withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam. Westmoreland predicted victory by the end of 1967. Rather and Jeffrey Michael Duff, Register of Vietnam War casualties from Kentucky Frankfort, Kentucky : Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, c1988 FS Library 976.9 M28k B.J. The past and future of a right-wing myth (Harper's Magazine)", "CJO Abstract China's 1979 War with Vietnam: A Reassessment", Documents Relating to American Foreign PolicyVietnam, Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives, Glossary of Military Terms & Slang from the Vietnam War, Impressions of Vietnam and descriptions of the daily life of a soldier from the oral history of Elliott Gardner, U.S. Army, Stephen H. Warner Southeast Asia Photograph Collection at Gettysburg College, UC Berkeley Library Social Activism Sound Recording Project: Anti-Vietnam War Protests, 19651975 Another Vietnam; Unseen images of the war from the winning side, Archival collections about the Vietnam War, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnam_War&oldid=1158746549, Hot Landing Zone. The Viet Cong was now tasked with destroying the ARVN and capturing and holding areas; however, the Viet Cong was not yet strong enough to assault major towns and cities. [200]:331 The significant decline in U.S. morale was demonstrated by the Battle of FSB Mary Ann in March 1971, in which a sapper attack inflicted serious losses on the U.S. Defense Department officials believed that these body count figures need to be deflated by 30 percent. Rummel estimates 212,000 killed by Khmer Rouge (19671975), 60,000 killed by U.S. and 1,000 killed by South Vietnam (196773). [195] ROTC enrollment decreased from 191,749 in 1966 to 72,459 by 1971,[196] and reached an all-time low of 33,220 in 1974,[197] depriving U.S. forces of much-needed military leadership. Diem brought the landlords back to the villages. [245] Statistics for 19681972 suggest that "about 80 percent of the terrorist victims were ordinary civilians and only about 20 percent were government officials, policemen, members of the self-defence forces or pacification cadres. Group 559 was tasked with expanding the Ho Chi Minh trail, in light of the near constant bombardment by US warplanes. [245] The Phoenix Program, coordinated by the CIA and involving US and South Vietnamese security forces, was aimed at destroying the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong. As Robert F. Kennedy noted, "Dim wouldn't make even the slightest concessions. [33][34] The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable. [72][40]:131. If the town could be taken, the provincial capital of Pleiku and the road to the coast would be exposed for a planned campaign in 1976. [40]:686, The success of the 19731974 dry season offensive inspired Tr to return to Hanoi in October 1974 and plead for a larger offensive the next dry season. 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272, https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/main.xhtml, State Lists of Fatal Casualties of the Vietnam War, www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-lists/, RE: Seeking photos & records of 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group in Vietnam or other conflicts, Find answers to your research questions at, How to File a FOIA Request for Archival Records. Shelby L. Stanton, 'The Rise and Fall of an American Army,' Spa Books, 1989, xvi. Some mines were set only to go off after heavy vehicle passage, causing extensive slaughter aboard packed civilian buses. [85]:377379[40]:88 The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 convinced many Washington policymakers that the war in Indochina was an example of communist expansionism directed by the Soviet Union. Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines[97]:556 all agreed to send troops. [338] Although a variety of birth defects have been observed, the most common deformity appears to be spina bifida. PDF May 2021 - Veterans Affairs [35], For official US military operations reports, there was no established distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA. [88][40]:75 According to then-Vice President Richard Nixon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up plans to use small tactical nuclear weapons to support the French. [358]:376377, On 25 May 2012, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation of the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War. [161] Up to the war's end, the Viet Cong and PAVN would initiate 90% of large firefights, of which 80% were clear and well-planned operations, and thus the PAVN/Viet Cong would retain strategic initiative despite overwhelming US force and fire-power deployment. [229] Anti-war protests declined after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and the end of the draft in January 1973, and the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam in the months following. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara stated that "the achievement of a military victory by U.S. forces in Vietnam was indeed a dangerous illusion. Bomb Tonnages Dropped on Laos and Cambodia, and Weighing Their Implications", "Generations Divide Over Military Action in Iraq", "McNamara on Record, Reluctantly, on Vietnam", "Ia Drang The Battle That Convinced Ho Chi Minh He Could Win", "Chapter 2, US Ground Strategy and Force Deployments, 19651968", "TWE Remembers: General Westmoreland Says the "End Begins to Come Into View" in Vietnam", "Interview with NVA General Tran Van Tra | HistoryNet", "The Urban Movement and the Planning and Execution of the Tet Offensive", "Opinion | The Tet Offensive Was Not About Americans", "Survivors Hunt Dead of Bentre, Turned to Rubble in Allied Raids", "U.S. General Considered Nuclear Response in Vietnam War, Cables Show", "North Vietnam's "Talk-Fight" Strategy and the 1968 Peace Negotiations with the United States", "The Madman Nuclear Alert: Secrecy, Signaling, and Safety in October 1969", "Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972", "The "Green Beret Affair": A Brief Introduction", "R.O.T.C. Tet Offensive | Facts, Casualties, Videos, & Significance [243]:251 One example cited by Turse is Operation Speedy Express, an operation by the 9th Infantry Division, which was described by John Paul Vann as, in effect, "many M Lais". He argued that with two months of good weather remaining until the onset of the monsoon, it would be irresponsible to not take advantage of the situation. "[56] Investigations by Korean civic groups have alleged that at least 9,000 civilians were massacred by ROK forces. Vietnam War, Awards and Decorations of Honor, 1965-1972. [219] President Dng Vn Minh, who had succeeded Huong two days earlier, surrendered to Lieutenant colonel Bi Vn Tng, the political commissar of the 203rd Tank Brigade. [160]:508513 North Vietnam was allowed to continue supplying troops in the South but only to the extent of replacing expended material. Her diaries were later published in Vietnam as ng Thy Trm's Diary (Last Night I Dreamed of Peace), where it became a best-seller and was later made into a film Don't Burn (ng t). Estimates of casualties of the Vietnam War vary widely. Others, such as Stephen Spiro, opposed the war based on the theory of Just War. The ethnic minority peoples of South Vietnam, like the Montagnards (Degar) in the Central Highlands, the Hindu and Muslim Cham, and the Buddhist Khmer Krom, were actively recruited in the war. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 [40]:227, The National Security Council recommended a three-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. [72], The Phoenix Program, a counterinsurgency program executed by the CIA, United States special operations forces and the Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus, killed 26,369 suspected of being VC operatives and informants. [249]:78 Torture was conducted by the South Vietnamese government in collusion with the CIA.[250][251]. By 1973, approximately 7,500 women had served in Vietnam in the Southeast Asian theater. 32(1). [200]:331[160]:407 In 1969, field-performance of the U.S. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, between 200,000 and 400,000 boat people died at sea. [317], Between 1953 and 1975, the United States was estimated to have spent $168billion on the war (equivalent to $1.59 trillion in 2022). "UCDP/Prio Armed Conflict Database", Uppsala University, sfn error: no target: CITEREFRummel1997 (. [37] However, the figures do not include deaths of South Vietnamese and allied soldiers. In 1998, after a high level review by the. [97]:230, Between 1954 and 1957, the Dim government succeeded in preventing large-scale organized unrest in the countryside. [74], Prior to Tet, in November 1967, Westmoreland had spearheaded a public relations drive for the Johnson administration to bolster flagging public support. McNamara claimed this program would provide valuable training, skills and opportunity to America's poora promise that was never carried out. [40]:718720, On 30 April 1975, PAVN troops entered the city of Saigon and quickly overcame all resistance, capturing key buildings and installations. In 1965 alone they comprised 14.1% of total combat deaths, when they only comprised approximately 11% of the total U.S. population in the same year. [292][A 13] However, in the years following the war, a vast number of South Vietnamese were sent to re-education camps where many endured torture, starvation, and disease while being forced to perform hard labor. Military information officers sought to manage media coverage by emphasizing stories that portrayed progress in the war. [150]:58 Tellingly, South Vietnamese forces were again defeated in June 1965 at the Battle of ng Xoi. [citation needed] However, heightened oil prices meant that many of these assets could not be adequately leveraged. In most cases, they never knew the outcome of their ultimate sacrifice whether it was on a beach in Normandy, a Middle Eastern desert, a jungle in Asia, or a field in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The war also spilled over into the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos which also endured casualties from aerial bombing and ground fighting. Vietnam War: Causes, Facts & Impact - HISTORY [169][170]:104 In Saigon, Viet Cong/PAVN fighters had captured areas in and around the city, attacking key installations and the neighbourhood of Cholon before US and ARVN forces dislodged them after three weeks. "[171][172], During the first month of the offensive, 1,100 Americans and other allied troops, 2,100 ARVN and 14,000 civilians were killed. He further suggests that 222,000 civilians may have been counted as enemy military deaths by the U.S. in compiling its "body count" raising the total to 627,000 killed. President Dim was overthrown and executed, along with his brother, on 2 November 1963. This report provides U.S. war casualty statistics. 89. 500 thousand tons were dropped on Cambodia, 1million tons were dropped on North Vietnam, and 4million tons were dropped on South Vietnam. An entire American army was sacrificed on the battlefield of Vietnam. 155 years since soldiers from both sides of the Civil War, number of active-duty deaths per 100,000 between 1861 and 1865, those U.S. soldiers who have left battlefields wounded, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. "[137] Johnson knew he had inherited a rapidly deteriorating situation in South Vietnam,[138] but he adhered to the widely accepted domino theory argument for defending the South: Should they retreat or appease, either action would imperil other nations beyond the conflict. There was an active strategy of recruitment and favorable treatment of Montagnard tribes for the Viet Cong, as they were pivotal for control of infiltration routes. President Thieu demanded changes to the peace accord upon its discovery, and when North Vietnam went public with the agreement's details, the Nixon administration claimed they were attempting to embarrass the president. 1. [85]:353 Westmoreland outlined a three-point plan to win the war: The plan was approved by Johnson and marked a profound departure from the previous administration's insistence that the government of South Vietnam was responsible for defeating the guerrillas. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The M14 was a powerful, accurate rifle, but it was heavy, hard-recoiling, and especially unwieldy in jungle fighting, as it was unsuited for the combat conditions, often suffering from feed failure. Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics "[213] All U.S. forces personnel were completely withdrawn by March 1973. Significant numbers resettled in the United States, Canada, Italy, Australia, France, West Germany, and the United Kingdom. The past and future of a right-wing myth". As the PAVN launched their attack, panic set in, and ARVN resistance withered. [128] The Kennedy administration sought to refocus U.S. efforts on pacification- which in this case was defined as countering the growing threat of insurgency-[129][130] and "winning over the hearts and minds" of the population. After two clashes that left 55 ARVN soldiers dead, President Thieu announced on 4 January 1974, that the war had restarted and that the Paris Peace Accords were no longer in effect. [18], R. J. Rummel estimated that PAVN/VC forces killed around 164,000 civilians in democide between 1954 and 1975 in South Vietnam, from a range of between 106,000 and 227,000, plus another 50,000 killed in North Vietnam. On 13 December 1974, North Vietnamese forces attacked Phc Long. During the withdrawal the PAVN counterattack had forced a panicked rout. The Memorial is dedicated to honor the courage . [85]:353354 Westmoreland and McNamara furthermore touted the body count system for gauging victory, a metric that would later prove to be flawed. Increasingly, each new regime was viewed by the communists as a puppet of the Americans; whatever the failings of Dim, his credentials as a nationalist (as Robert McNamara later reflected) had been impeccable. Encounter Books, December 2022. [107] According to Gabriel Kolko, 40,000 political prisoners had been jailed by the end of 1958. [328]:4447 An estimated 125,000 Americans left for Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft,[329] and approximately 50,000 American servicemen deserted. The Wall - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund [267] Many women joined provincial and voluntary village-level militia in the People's Self-Defense Force especially during the ARVN expansions later in the war. The files were created by the Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Service, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, Statistical Information Analysis Division. [176] In a speech before the National Press Club he said a point in the war had been reached "where the end comes into view. He seemed concerned only with fending off coups and had become more paranoid after attempts in 1960 and 1962, which he partly attributed to U.S. encouragement. On 23 September 1945, French forces overthrew the DRV government, and declared French authority restored. [253] The US Department of Defense estimates the VC/PAVN had conducted 36,000 murders and almost 58,000 kidnappings from 1967 to 1972, c. Cao was a Catholic who had been promoted due to religion and fidelity rather than skill, and his main job was to preserve his forces to stave off coup attempts; he had earlier vomited during a communist attack. [112]:73, In March 1956, southern communist leader L Dun presented a plan to revive the insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the other members of the Politburo in Hanoi; however, as both China and the Soviets opposed confrontation at this time, L Dun's plan was rejected. [341] They appealed, but the dismissal was cemented in February 2008 by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. [87] [271] Many mixed-blood Amerasian children were left behind when their American fathers returned to the United States after their tour of duty in South Vietnam; 26,000 of them were permitted to immigrate to the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. Public and congressional reaction to Nixon's statement was unfavorable, prompting the U.S. Senate to pass the CaseChurch Amendment to prohibit any intervention. At the same time, Hanoi realized it could not achieve a "total victory" and employed a strategy known as "talking while fighting, fighting while talking", in which military offensives would occur concurrently with negotiations. Hanoi wished to avoid the coming monsoon and prevent any redeployment of ARVN forces defending the capital. [93][97], Civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John Lewis, Muhammad Ali and others, criticized the racial disparity in both casualties and representation in the entire military, prompting the Pentagon to order cutbacks in the number of African Americans in combat positions. Learn about our current programs and exhibits related to the Vietnam War. In March 1970, Prince Sihanouk was deposed by his pro-American prime minister Lon Nol, who demanded that North Vietnamese troops leave Cambodia or face military action. Following Vietnamization many Montagnard groups and fighters were incorporated into the Vietnamese Rangers as border sentries. The American Army's decline was readily apparent in this final stage. On 22 March, the PAVN opened the siege of Hu. It was additionally aimed at bolstering the morale of the South Vietnamese. "[216], At the start of 1975, the South Vietnamese had three times as much artillery and twice the number of tanks and armoured cars as the PAVN. Minh's regime was overthrown in January 1964 by General Nguyn Khnh. The AC-130 was a heavily armed ground-attack aircraft variant of the C-130 Hercules transport plane, while the Huey is a military helicopter powered by a single, turboshaft engine; approximately 7,000 UH-1 aircraft saw service in Vietnam. In one study, ninety-two percent of participants suffered incessant fatigue; others reported monstrous births. It has also been called the "Second Indochina War" [78] and the "Vietnam conflict". Another French-speaking journalist, Catherine Leroy, was briefly captured and released by North Vietnamese forces during the Battle of Hu, capturing some famous photos from the battles that would appear on the cover of Life Magazine. The casualty date is the date the person was killed or wounded in combat or injured during an accident; for the missing, the date is when the person was reported missing. [1] These photographs have become a part of the Coffelt Database. US ground forces also had access to B-52 and F-4 Phantom II and other aircraft to launch napalm, white phosphorus, tear gas, chemical weapons, precision-guided munition and cluster bombs. [55] Widespread reports of deliberate mass killings by Korean forces alleged that they were the result of systemic, deliberate policies to massacre civilians, with murders running into the hundreds. [28][4] Higher estimates place the number of civilian deaths caused by American bombing of North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder at 182,000. Opposition to the Vietnam War tended to unite groups opposed to U.S. anti-communism and imperialism,[227] and for those involved with the New Left, such as the Catholic Worker Movement. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge would eventually kill 13 million Cambodians out of a population of around 8million, in one of the bloodiest genocides in history.[64][303][304][305]. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. Two letters will find a very short list. Bombing was not restricted to North Vietnam. On 23 July 1962, fourteen nations, including China, South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, North Vietnam and the United States, signed an agreement promising to respect the neutrality of Laos. For a full history of wars in Vietnam, see, "Second Indochina War" redirects here. United States involvement in the Vietnam War began shortly after the end of World War II in Asia, first in an extremely limited capacity and escalating over a period of 20 years.The U.S. military presence peaked in April 1969, with 543,000 American combat troops stationed in Vietnam. "[146] Due to the particularly heavy impact of cluster bombs during this war, Laos was a strong advocate of the Convention on Cluster Munitions to ban the weapons, and was host to the First Meeting of States Parties to the convention in November 2010. "It was the epitome of immoralityOne of the times I counted bodies after an air strikewhich always ended with two napalm bombs which would just fry everything that was leftI counted sixty-two bodies. PAVN and VC losses were reported as 1.1 million dead and civilian deaths of Vietnamese on both sides totaled 2.0 million. Civilians flooded the airport and the docks hoping for any mode of escape. [179], On 10 May 1968, peace talks began between the United States and North Vietnam in Paris.
