The Vietnam War began following World War II as the Viet Minh, a movement imbued with nationalism and communist philosophy led by Ho Chi Minh, sought to gain the country’s independence from French colonial rule. French involvement in the Vietnam War ended in 1954 following the disastrous defeat at Dien Bien Phu. However, the United States became increasingly embroiled in the effort to prop up the pro-Western government of South Vietnam in its continuing fight with the communist North and its insurgency, the Viet Cong. U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War escalated steadily during the 1960s, but eventually American military personnel were withdrawn in 1973. In April 1975, communist forces occupied the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, unifying the country and ending the Vietnam War.
Vietnam War
I fired the M79 grenade launcher in advanced infantry training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in 1965, and had one on the back seat of my machine-gun jeep during my tour of duty in South Vietnam in 1966-1967 as a member of the U.S. Read more
Vietnam War
The city of Hue was the capital of a unified Vietnam from 1802 until 1945. With its stately, tree-lined boulevards, Buddhist temples, national university, and ornate imperial palace within a massive walled city known as the Citadel, Hue was the cradle of the country’s culture and heritage. Read more
Vietnam War
As the sun rose on May 8, 1967, it illuminated the 525-foot-high hill known as Con Thien where the Marine Corps had established a firebase two miles south of the Demilitarized Zone in South Vietnam. Read more
Vietnam War
The American pilots did not see the North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 fighter jets approaching their strike aircraft as they zeroed in on Than Hoa Bridge on April 3, 1965. Read more
Vietnam War
Among the most effective and feared weapons of the communist North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong insurgency during the Vietnam War was the rocket-propelled grenade, commonly known as the RPG. Read more
Vietnam War
The U.S. military had 409,000 soldiers and Marines in South Vietnam organized into approximately 100 infantry and mechanized battalions at the start of 1968. Read more
Vietnam War
It was dark and difficult to see on the night of April 18, 1966, but the U.S. Navy was counting on that. Read more
Vietnam War
Lieutenant Frank Boccia could hear the platoon ahead moving forward, reconnoitering by fire, spraying the trail and the jungle alongside it with M16 and M60 fire. Read more
Vietnam War
In a 1921 bombing test, U.S. Army Air Corps General Billy Mitchell’s airmen sank the former German battleship Ostfriesland. Read more
Vietnam War
Marine Private Jim McGarrah arrived at Phu Bai in South Vietnam in late 1967 and was sent to what was euphemistically called “The Rockpile,” a firebase that overlooked the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Vietnam. Read more
Vietnam War
The call of a nation on its civilian population either to create a military force or to augment a standing army is virtually as old as civilization itself. Read more
Vietnam War
For about half an hour artillery and rockets fired from UH-1B helicopters from the Aerial Rocket Artillery battalion had pounded an area in Vietnam’s Central Highlands between Chu Pong, the 1,000-foot massif straddling the border with Cambodia, and the Ia Drang River. Read more
Vietnam War
In 1989, this writer had occasion to interview four-star General William Childs Westmoreland, now 86, formerly U.S. military commander in South Vietnam and at the time of the interview a retired Chief of Staff of the Army. Read more
Vietnam War
When one thinks back to the weapons of mass destruction that emerged in the 20th century, usually the atomic bomb or poison gas come to mind. Read more
Vietnam War
As darkness fell along the upper Saigon River in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, one of two River Patrol boats of the U.S. Read more
Vietnam War
The old Imperial capital of Hue was ready for the Tet Festival, a joyous occasion celebrating the Vietnamese Lunar New Year on January 31, 1968. Read more
Vietnam War
In early 1967, the thinly populated, rugged, and mountainous Khe Sanh plateau lay in the northwest corner of South Vietnam, bordered by Laos to the west and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and North Vietnam to the north. Read more
Vietnam War
Lieutenant General Lewis Walt was not a happy man. The burly III Marine Amphibious Force commander had just been ordered by Commanding General William C. Read more
Vietnam War
On the morning of February 23, 1945, on the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima, a 40-man patrol gathered at the 5th Marine Division headquarters for their final briefing with battalion commander Lt. Read more
Vietnam War
As an icon of the Vietnam War and an angel of mercy for American troops who fought there, the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, affectionately known as the “Huey,” has gone on to become the most recognizable helicopter in the world. Read more
